BEING BRITISH

I recently read a ferocious book called ‘Up the British’ by Richard Osborne. It argues basically that ‘Britishness’ is a wholly unpalatable construct based upon the unsavoury foundations of an exploitative, racist Empire; a misplaced superiority complex; and our wildly over-inflated opinions regarding the cherished likes of Shakespeare and Churchill. What’s more, it suggests that this notion of our national identity is primarily used to keep the many in their places, propping up an anachronistic class system whilst impeding our national progress or a realistic self-appraisal.

Do I agree? Well, it’s easy to see his point... but no, I don’t. The idea of Britishness fascinates me – and I certainly agree with Osborne in seeing its importance. I’m a History teacher and I entirely believe the current is explained by the past – just as our personality and views are so much explained by upbringing and background. In this there are negatives – the arrogance of our sunburned chanting masses abroad is for example very much based on a heady heritage of ‘Two World Wars and one World Cup’.

But it’s not all bad. Like it or not, our little island has indeed contributed a great deal – whether industrial advancement, language, elements of liberal democratic government or the Rule of Law, Fawlty Towers, sports such as football and cricket, etc etc. To disown all that seems to be to suggest a complete disconnection with what has gone before – as if each generation is an island. That surely can’t be the case – we bear the genes of our ancestors, and it’s legitimate to take pride in their achievements as we follow in their footsteps.

Should we also feel ashamed for their failings? Yes, of course. As a teacher, I would hope to honestly depict that, whilst the British did more than any to end slavery, it made a heck of a lot of money from it first. Likewise, the British Empire – a subject I’ve much enjoyed teaching and examining over the years – should be vividly depicted in its moral failings (the preventable deaths of millions in Indian famines springs to mind) as well as in its achievements. But neither should the actions of 19th Century men be examined entirely in the light of a 21st Century outlook. Unreasonable as colonialism may now seem, those who participated did at times have decent intentions. Some, alas, didn’t. But, to take one example, it’s worth noting that the Indian Mutiny against us in 1857, whilst fuelled partly by our seizing land and profits, was as much prompted by the British desire to end local infanticide, the burning of widows and ritual murder. If the British had just stayed at home throughout, blissful and uninterrupted native development would not have been the result; rather a French colony quite probably more inhumane.

And as for the charge that Britishness keeps us in our place - propping up an antiquated class system? Well, it's easy to go there. I see the irony in the Union Jack being perhaps most beloved by the odd fellowship of braying polo-set boarders and by the BNP-fodder 'salt of the earth' working classes (I use the term with hesitation - it would take another article to work out what it means nowadays). It's a strange communion most observable in wartime - where the former pile out of Sandhurst, ordering the latter in the direction of the bullets. It most certainly reminds all concerned that we are far from equal.

But then, and allow me a controversial moment here, equality is bunk! It really is and it always has been. Life in Britain isn’t fair and much is dictated by the ‘accident of birth’. That’s not a swindle – it’s inevitable. For a start, the genetic material we bear means some are going to be more intelligent, more attractive and more whatever else it takes to achieve success. Due to the nature of these things, they are likely to be the offspring of those for whom the same could have been said in the previous generation. Socio-economically the same applies. Those born into money are usually those born to parents who have made money or who at least have stewarded it well. If that happens to one day be me... well then I demand the right to have my children benefit from such prudence! Compassion is imperative, at every level, but I certainly resist the idea of an artificial and punitive equalisation that pretends we're all the same.

Now I’d like to see a Britain that rewards nurses over arms-dealers, or that is less impressed by a plummy accent. But, again, it's not all terrible. Opportunities for all do exist. Universities have been opened up, perhaps even to the extent of devaluing the degree! I went to the same school, sat in the same lessons, and had the same access to higher education as many living on ropey local council estates. If there was a difference between us it was perhaps one of expectation or ability, but not of opportunity. There are certainly many countries in which neither one of us could have pursued higher education or a professional career whilst lacking a starting point of wealth or connections. Thankfully Britain is not among them.

So am I proud to be British? Yes I am, frustrating as it can sometimes be. The weather’s awful, the trains are late and FAR too many people read the Daily Mail. But I love our sense of humour, multicultural London, the fact we‘ve qualified comfortably for the World Cup (well, England has!) and that we’re incorrupt enough to care we helped pay for a politician’s duckhouse. And, perhaps above all, I’m proud that, despite our timeless failings, we have done at least as much as anyone else to help shape the modern world.