Tim at an Englishman's castle points out that the Scottish Raj has apparently decided to try and throw a crumb of comfort to the English by searching for some suitable "icons" of England. Needless to say they consulted the great and the good and didn't bother to ask hoi polloi, presumably because hoi polloi would have simply chosen the flag of St George, and that apparently is not appropriate.
Now the government is funding a list of national icons that some hope could save England from the “white van man” image of a St George’s flag stuck to the inside of a vehicle window.
Now if his flag is apparently not appropriate might I suggest that a suitable icon be this:
Of if that isn't English enough how about something to celebrate England's history like a redcoat: or perhaps a volley from them: Or even one of their weapons such as the Brown Bess musket or the classic Lee Enflied .303
Of course an argument could be made that this is divisive since the redcoats were used to suppress rebellious scotch and then recruited the same along with other non Englishment to suppress the French, Indians, Zulus etc etc. The same argument probably applies to the Navy, despite that fact that it is one of the earliest English acheivements being founded by King Alfred the Great and key to England's subsequent fortunes.
If, in these times of wimpy pacifism, these icons are deemed too warlike and likely to incite the population to revolt against their scotch overlords, perhaps we could go for a document. Perhaps the Magna Carta or the 1689 Bill of Rights... although perhaps those too would be considered a trifle revolutionary in these times of ID cards and the like. No doubt there are other possibilities that will spring to mind.