Was musing on this the other day after watching a Panorama special on ‘Britishness’. For those of you not from this wet little corner of NW Europe the Right in Britain, led by the paranoid ranting of the Daily Mail (barely concealing its origins as first a pro-Empire and then pro-Fascist newspaper), have been harping on for a while now about the decline of ‘British’ identity. It seems the British way of life is threatened by three major developments:
1) the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales (with a corresponding resurgence in their respective national identities)
2) an emerging European Superstate that wants to govern every aspect of British life and
3) increased immigration.
The problem as the documentary itself demonstrated is that no-one can quite agree on what exactly Britishness is. Politicians from across the spectrum now agree that there is something uniquely British that needs to be preserved, queue talk of a British National Day, of British Jobs for British Workers and citizenship on the national curriculum, but ordinary Joe Public when quizzed generally struggled to identify what this was.
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games demonstrated that there is no single defining essence. What we got was a Red London bus, David Beckham, a young British Indian girl walking on the backs of ‘passengers’ queuing for the bus with umbrellas and a rendition of Led Zepellin’s “Whole Lotta Love” sung by X-Factor winner Leona Lewis.
Some people interviewed came up with feelings (proud), other with values (democracy) others simply shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t know. Panorama interspersed all this with photos of the Queen, the Red Arrows flying squadron and clips of John Cleese doing his famous ‘silly walk’ in the once ubiquitous suit and bowler hat of civil servants.
The problem of course is that Britain and Britishness were ‘created’ after the Union of Scotland and England in 1701, in many ways to placate Scottish fears that they were being absorbed or conquered by England. Great Britain was a union of nations united by monarchy and parliament. In addition most identities are defined in opposition to something that they are not, an ‘other’, so during the 18th, 19th and most of the 20th centuries it was easy to cast British as not German, not French, part of Europe but distinct from it and of course all this was aided by a worldwide empire that facilitated the development of a jingoistic patriotism in this new identity.
Today in a world where we do not face an immediate enemy from across the Channel, in a post-imperial world where we have become a multicultural nation is there any such thing as British? and what is it other than a residual attachment to a weakening union. Sure we can point to the flag-waving of the Last Night of the Proms and the rallying chorus of ‘Rule Britannia but other than intangible qualities is there anything tangible left? Interestingly most naturalized immigrants to Britain prefer to identify as British rather than for example as English which is seen as being a predominantly ‘white’ identity defined in contrast to our Welsh and Scots neighbours and those meddling Europeans. Anyway enough of the academic musing here is a list of things that make me think of Britain and arguably ‘feel British:
1. The Queen – ‘God Bless her’ :-)
2. The Flag – arguably one of the most distinctive in the world
3. The Humble Cup of Tea
4. Warm ale (with a nice frothy head – if you are northern)
5. Our irreverence for political authority and the long history of political satire and comedy that goes with it.
6. Our music – infinitely preferable to Euro-pop
7. Our island status and long association with the Sea, trade, travel, exploration
8. The Weather – and its impact on defining our national character. Of course we whinge, so would the Aussies or anyone if they had such unpredictability on a daily basis
9. Sport – from Football to Rugby and the Olympics.. (and the passion it generates)
10. Our quirkiness – where else do you get cheese-rolling, welly-throwing, plough-races, sheep-dog trials, bottle-kicking, caber-tossing, bog-snorkelling, gorilla-runs, and birdmen competitions?
In a nation built on successive waves of migration from German tribes (Angles and Saxons), to Vikings, Normans, Huguenots, Jews, South Asians and new-Europeans how could Britishness be built on blood and belonging? If we threw all immigrants out the only people left would be the descendants of the Beaker and Celts so in other words the Welsh! So if you love her Madge, drink tea, think we rock musically, and love watching football and
eating chips in the rain – welcome to the club. And we don’t need a ‘test’ or a government promoted class to tell us who we are.
The problem as the documentary itself demonstrated is that no-one can quite agree on what exactly Britishness is. Politicians from across the spectrum now agree that there is something uniquely British that needs to be preserved, queue talk of a British National Day, of British Jobs for British Workers and citizenship on the national curriculum, but ordinary Joe Public when quizzed generally struggled to identify what this was.
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games demonstrated that there is no single defining essence. What we got was a Red London bus, David Beckham, a young British Indian girl walking on the backs of ‘passengers’ queuing for the bus with umbrellas and a rendition of Led Zepellin’s “Whole Lotta Love” sung by X-Factor winner Leona Lewis.
Some people interviewed came up with feelings (proud), other with values (democracy) others simply shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t know. Panorama interspersed all this with photos of the Queen, the Red Arrows flying squadron and clips of John Cleese doing his famous ‘silly walk’ in the once ubiquitous suit and bowler hat of civil servants.
The problem of course is that Britain and Britishness were ‘created’ after the Union of Scotland and England in 1701, in many ways to placate Scottish fears that they were being absorbed or conquered by England. Great Britain was a union of nations united by monarchy and parliament. In addition most identities are defined in opposition to something that they are not, an ‘other’, so during the 18th, 19th and most of the 20th centuries it was easy to cast British as not German, not French, part of Europe but distinct from it and of course all this was aided by a worldwide empire that facilitated the development of a jingoistic patriotism in this new identity.
Today in a world where we do not face an immediate enemy from across the Channel, in a post-imperial world where we have become a multicultural nation is there any such thing as British? and what is it other than a residual attachment to a weakening union. Sure we can point to the flag-waving of the Last Night of the Proms and the rallying chorus of ‘Rule Britannia but other than intangible qualities is there anything tangible left? Interestingly most naturalized immigrants to Britain prefer to identify as British rather than for example as English which is seen as being a predominantly ‘white’ identity defined in contrast to our Welsh and Scots neighbours and those meddling Europeans. Anyway enough of the academic musing here is a list of things that make me think of Britain and arguably ‘feel British:
1. The Queen – ‘God Bless her’ :-)
2. The Flag – arguably one of the most distinctive in the world
3. The Humble Cup of Tea
4. Warm ale (with a nice frothy head – if you are northern)
5. Our irreverence for political authority and the long history of political satire and comedy that goes with it.
6. Our music – infinitely preferable to Euro-pop
7. Our island status and long association with the Sea, trade, travel, exploration8. The Weather – and its impact on defining our national character. Of course we whinge, so would the Aussies or anyone if they had such unpredictability on a daily basis
9. Sport – from Football to Rugby and the Olympics.. (and the passion it generates)
10. Our quirkiness – where else do you get cheese-rolling, welly-throwing, plough-races, sheep-dog trials, bottle-kicking, caber-tossing, bog-snorkelling, gorilla-runs, and birdmen competitions?
In a nation built on successive waves of migration from German tribes (Angles and Saxons), to Vikings, Normans, Huguenots, Jews, South Asians and new-Europeans how could Britishness be built on blood and belonging? If we threw all immigrants out the only people left would be the descendants of the Beaker and Celts so in other words the Welsh! So if you love her Madge, drink tea, think we rock musically, and love watching football and
eating chips in the rain – welcome to the club. And we don’t need a ‘test’ or a government promoted class to tell us who we are. 
