‘A very English chat’ works to tackle England’s growing social division and polarisation with a simple response to a potentially difficult and divisive question around ‘What does it mean to be English in 2026?’

We ask you to identify five objects that signify what Englishness means to you in 2026 - using the idea as a starting point to make it easier to have respectful conversations around the subject.

Asking what does being English mean can be a big daunting question. To inspire or stretch your thinking we freely share a ‘Conversation Starter’ containing a cross-section of other people’s five objects explaining their sense of their England story. For anyone wanting to explore even deeper or wider we also freely share a ‘Toolkit’. It provides tools to further stretch your own ideas as well as better understand other people’s perspectives of your shared national identity.

You’re invited to share your five objects to be included in a virtual ‘pocket museum’ telling ‘The story of England 2026 in 50 objects’. Do share your five objects here

Here are Joe’s 5 objects:

• A proper, classic pub (let’s say, the Briton’s Protection in Manchester) and a proper pint of bitter (let’s say, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord).

• My hometown, Portsmouth HMS Victory and the maritime history, and going to the Isle of Wight on the hovercraft (also known to locals as the time machine that goes back a few decades).

• Really English English bands from The Beatles to Oasis via The Kinks, Madness, Ian Dury and XTC.

• The genius of British humour Spike Milligan, Peter Cook, Fawlty Towers, Tommy Cooper, Billy Connolly.

• Sherlock Holmes Re-reading the Sherlock Holmes stories in front of a roaring fire while rain lashes against the window