From food to politics, 14 celebrities share what Britain means to them in 2025, offering perspectives that go far beyond red carpets and runways. Their reflections—proud, critical, and often funny—capture a nation juggling creativity and diversity with class tensions and post-Brexit unease. In an era of global identity crises, it’s a mirror well worth gazing into.
People from elsewhere get a lot wrong about our country.
Garfield: People with the British accent get away with a lot. People just imagine we’re smarter than we are. I’m not against that, personally…
Cox: [The world] doesn’t see how democratic we are, honestly. We are regarded as a monarchy, which we are, but that’s mainly a kind of carapace, rather than who we are.
Dimoldenberg: In people’s view, it’s either The Crown or Oliver Twist, when actually there’s varied different groups across the spectrum of class, race and political divide.
Isaacs: I do think we’re less important than how we like to paint ourselves. I don’t think other countries really care what we think and what we say, but we have an outsized nuclear arsenal, and that gives us a place on the [UN] Security Council.
More picks on Britain
The Brexit Catch
“Britain’s fishermen became the folk heroes of Brexit. In Brixham, they were promised a brighter future. Did it ever arrive?”
The Last Straw
“Inside the tiny community of English master thatchers, a fight is unfolding over a tradition that may not survive.”
Brass Bands
“I quite like the brass band version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, but I’m not sure it’s what Freddie Mercury had in mind.”
On Walking
“To love walking is to love the body, and this has been a barrier for me.”
If a Tree Falls
“The trial of the Sycamore Gap killers.”
Reckoning With Belonging in Britain
“Journeys to England’s asylum hotels prompt reflections on what it means when the country you call home may no longer want you.”
