So... well, that was your choice, and I feel a little sad about it. You consider yourself a Londoner, but have no roots there. Don't take it the wrong way -I have been here in Latvia for 16 years, but I don't presume to call myself anything other than a Brit - that's where I was brought up - that's where my roots are. Sure, I have learned Latvian and integrated and I have two delightful daughters who are half British/half Latvian, and the experience here has dramatically coloured my understanding ... but I am British - it can never be washed away, and I wouldn't want it to be. After all, I chose to come here: another country.

This is where the rise in nationalism comes from - actually, it isn't really a 'rise' - more a rise in the significance of the question. It comes from having this certainty of your national identity threatened, diminished, traduced, or just forgotten in convenience.