Today seems to be a good day to reflect on patriotism and being a patriot of the Left.

The infuriating thing is how the debate often tends to be polarised between lefty cosmopolitans who hate any idea of attachment to one's country, and 'my country right or wrong' blockheads.

The best way to think about it, I think, is on the analogy of family. Families can be difficult, of course, but basically, most of us love our family. That attachment is not usually 'rational'. Even those most blinded by partiality won't claim that their dad or sister are....

...'objectively' the cleverest, or kindest, or most beautiful person in the whole world. But familiarity, shared bonds of memory, relationships built out of enduring good and bad times together, common experiences and references, and love knit us together as families.

So we tend to love our own family best, even though we recognise the faults of our family members and are on occasion ashamed. And having a particular partiality for our own family doesn't mean that we hate other families, even though in some sense we think ours is the 'best'.

So it is with patriotism. I share with my compatriots a whole wide range of things - a shared language, a shared culture, a whole frame of common reference. We share a country which is lovable in its particularities and our familiarity with it. Sometimes the bonds of country...

...fray, like they do in families. We have those dodgy uncles who post 'Britain First' memes, those callow little cousins who briefly become admirers of Lenin. There are things in our past that we're not so proud of, but an awful lot to be proud of. And the narrative and story...

...we tell of our country is not a monolith. Different groups can find different niches within our rich history & cultural resources to mine, different stories to forge. These fit into an overarching national story that is not infinitely malleable, but is generous and capacious.

Crucially, patriotism does not imply hatred of other countries. I love England, but that doesn't mean I have to hate Johnny Foreigner or bash the French (although we might have a bit if lighthearted badinage from time to time). In fact, I admire other countries for their own...

...distinctive characteristics: I respect the doughty patriotism of the French, with their long lunches and bluntness, the style and relaxed friendliness of the Italians (and so on). In fact, because I have a special partiality for my own country, I respect them the more, as...

...I appreciate that, just as within the warp & weft of England, the wrinkles, niches & particularities, one finds its genius & comes to love it, so with other countries. I dislike globalized capitalism because it tends to erase these precious distinctions and tries to reduce...