Britishness
What makes us British and how is this changing
This was a lively meeting with twelve members attending. The living room was decorated with Union Jack bunting and flags and I had put British ornaments on the mantelpiece.
We used Bill Bryson’s book ‘Notes on a Small Island’ at the start of the discussion. He points out very many of our British traits – our politeness and ability to say sorry for everything, the way we endlessly queue for things, our friendliness, our eccentricity, our sense of humour, our lack of reverence for those in authority. Much of it is recognisable and funny.
Everyone agreed that this is part of our ‘Britishness’. Also our sarcasm that other nations fail to appreciate, our tenacity and sense of fair play, and our determination to stay free at all costs. The Romans needed to keep three legions here to subdue us, other bigger countries needed only one. We haven’t changed much! We fought the Second World War for some time completely unaided by anyone but ‘with British grit’ determined to fight to the end for freedom.
We tried to determine if ‘Britishness’ had changed. The only changes we could see were that we are much more of a multi-cultural society now and we are picking up traits from other nations and incorporating them into our way of life. Look at cooking – not the suet puddings of yesteryear but a vibrant mix of cuisines from all around the world. But we ourselves do not seem to be changing. People coming to live here are expected to pick up our ways, our humour, our way of doing things. Britishness is alive and well and only changing in insignificant ways.
We finished the evening with that most British fare – scones, cream and jam. After all, what could be more British than that!!
