“Big sporting events and spectacles might give the national morale a shot in the arm, but they are too transient and taste-specific to stand as robust symbols of nationhood.”

English philosopher and journalist

Julian Baggini is an English philosopher, journalist, and writer. He is known for writing about philosophy for a general audience, and for co-founding The Philosophers' Magazine. He has written more than 20 books on philosophy, as well as works on atheism, secularism, and national identity. He has also contributed to newspapers and magazines, and serves as a patron of Humanists UK, which promotes secular humanism.