Britain has always been an interesting front in the War Against Christmas—there's actually an Established Church there, so the usual separation-of-church-and-state nonsense doesn't apply at all, but the War goes on anyway. This morning, I see it has provoked an interesting reaction in the English city of Milton Keynes:

The city has been warned it will get a 'costly' visit from the English Defence League (EDL) if the council changes the name of its Yule time celebrations. In a letter to council chief executive David Hill, protest group EDL promised a visit if the authority resorts to "politically correct appeasement" by changing the name of Christmas to 'winter festival'. It also points out the average cost of one of its demonstrations to a local authority is £500,000, an amount the letter said: "it is hoped will be avoided by your council."

EDL ready to take action if Christmas is lost, MiK News, November 17 2010 Milton Keynes officials responded with a distinctly suspicious harrumphing, but did say they "had no intention of renaming Christmas or anything else and we hope people enjoy their Christmas holiday". The English Defense League's response:

A spokesman for the EDL said: "The EDL can confirm that they did send out a letter requesting that all councils keep the word Christmas. "The response has been very favourable with the majority of responses, to date, confirming that they will keep the word Christmas in their celebrations."

Sean Gabb has argued that the English Defense League may be "the beginning of the next stage in working class dissent from the established order of things" in Britain. The Church of England is even more degenerate than its U.S. counterpart, and the British working class now appears to be almost entirely post-Christian. Nevertheless, they clearly—and rightly—see the war on Christmas as an attack upon their national identity.