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The problem with being British…No-one really knows what it means.
Well they do but it means something different to everyone, though there is a rubber stamped definition, given to us by the establishment media and Government.
An official set of rules and an excepted view bestowed and woe betide anyone who strays or questions this straitjacket.
You tend to find that it often splits down ideological lines and then splits further down by class. The ruling class — and they are always with us — their form and shape shift over the centuries but they are always the ones with the wealth, the assets, the capital, the influence on the levers of power, or just have their hands firmly gripped round those levers, pulling them for their own benefit.
How does British patriotism define itself?
Where does English end and British start? The two seem to have become blurred, mainly by proponents of Englishness:
- Love of country, regardless of what it has and does get up to.
- Love of football.
- Love of being drunk.
- Love of being violent.
- Love of Queen. A peculiarly British thing.
- Love of flag as the embodiment of patriotism and loyalty.
- Love of being white.
Britain has a further problem, it is a nation constituted from three Countries, all of which have distinct characters and cultures, though that does tend to be forgotten depending on which sporting event is being held, which neatly encapsulates the national schizophrenia that inhabits the UK.
I spent much of my first 11.5 years growing up as a child of the 1970’s, which though a turbulent time politically, there was an understanding, even by me as a child, that the Government was there to make your life better and to improve your lot…
Of course, the arguments were always about who could do it better but there was an accepted consensus that a civilised society should be managed in a certain way. Housing. Free education. Health…
