What Is "Britishness"?

In a recent survey by the Daily Torygraph, sorry Daily Telegraph, front page headline June 17th 2014 (can't seem to find it the net at the moment) it was said that Politicians are to blame for the rise in fear of Immigration. Fear is the big word here.

Then there is the Conservative half of government calling for schools to teach more "Britishness" in schools. This has set many people thinking "So what is Britishness anyway?".

I would fall into the UKIP/BNP category of a British man. White and several generations of ancestors all born in this country. This set me thinking about what it was to be British. Should I look back at my forebears and see if I can gain any clues?

As for the current regime at Whitehall my main concern is that the term Britishness is wrapped up in a soft nostalgic wrapper that keeps out the chill of Imperialism. 

Emily Pankhurst
British Suffragette

Looking back at my countries history, lets say back 1000 years or so, which is dominated by subjugation by the French (William 1 was probably a bit Danish/Norwegian really), war with Europe (especially Spain - never mind France and the Catholic church) and a lot of Irish bashing (right into the 20th Century). Our much cherished democracy had to be extracted  from the monarchy and ruling classes with the spilling of much blood and in fact it is less than 100 years that Women have had the vote. 

The British Empire? It has what made this country what it is but I am sorry for that all you out there. 

So it seems that violence, subjugation of the population especially women but also religious groups along with racial persecution are British values. This would make Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden "shoe ins" for a British Passport. Good start eh?

Now my Father did a lot of work on the family history on his and my Mothers side of the family. What he found was that I am descended from a long line of serfs and "salts of the earth"farm labourers and other non skilled professions. Not much of a programme for "Who do you Think you are?" It is, incidentally, the reason I hate gardening and such. Obviously I am genetically programmed to be a labourer and therefore see gardening as "Work" and as such is not to be enjoyed but endured so as to earn a crust for me and my family. 

My forbears worked hard physically. It is, to me, an astonishing feat of indomitability  that they were able to raise families and pass on their genes to my rather saggy and sad bundle of bones and blubber. 

So where does that leave the initial question of Britishness. I guess what my reading of the family story is that one generation did what it could do to make it better for the next. 

When you consider the privations of my ancestors what they all tried to do was make the best of their lot in life. A phrase that comes to me is from a book by Spike Milligan where he recounts a last letter he wrote to his parents at a point of personal crisis whilst serving in the artillery in Italy. It went along the lines of not making his ultimate sacrifice to preserve the past but for a better tomorrow.

The evidence of my forebears was that the present was not much cop but if we give it a bash maybe we can make the future better. 

So what would I call Britishness. An acceptance that as things stand life is rubbish  but we can make it better, maybe. In the meantime lets have a drink!

Not my ancestors!

It seems to me that have we have spent the last 400 years trying to shrug off the shackles of the past. This does make us anxious and so nostalgia for things of old does linger but for the most part we have an intrinsic belief that we don't do it that way any more for a reason!

Now try teaching that in schools. 

Another thing that struck me during this blog though was just how British it was  go abroad to fight for a cause that you found just. I am not a supporter of this by any means but I was struck by the number of literary figures that are today admired who fought for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (most famous would be Eric Blair better known as George Orwell). Where is the difference between this and young lads going to fight in Syria? I am not saying Islamic extremism is a just cause I am just saying that the British have "previous" on this score.

My final words are that we must keep moving forward not backwards.