British Unity in Diversity

Read rhese chree quescions, then find answers in che arcicle below.

a Who finds che labę! 'Bricish' leasc accepcable: che English, the Scots or che Welsh? b Whac four things have concribuced co creacing a sense of Bricish idencicy? c Why do some people feel chat 'Bricishness' is no longer a useful concepc?

British Unity in Diyersity

Whac is Britishness? Is il moce chan the sum of ics parts - or less? Many Scots and not a few Welsh belieye Ihat Britishness is no morę than a disguised yersion of Englishness. I hate just visited three towns with the same name - one each in Scotland. Wales and England - to try to discoyer whether thcre is an overarching sense of identity that it still makes sense to cali British.

Nobody in Newport. Shropshire, had a problem with Britishness. In Newport Gwenf some of the' Welsh fell British. though others preferred to cali themselvcs European. But it was in Ncwpon-on-Tay. ncar Dundee, that we fnund the greatest rcluctance to sign up to a common identity of Britishness.

Here is Billy Kay. a local writer: ‘The British identity that I'm supposed to feel pan of I see as being first of all an imperial identity through the Empire and then an identicy which has been forced by the idea of people

coming tosether to fight two world wars. I don't think thafs a healthy identity to carry into the 21 SC cenimy."

This is a common complaint - that Britishness is something from the past ch3t has little relecance today. When the Act of Union was signed in 1707. people had to be persuaded to altach an extra loyaity to their long-standing allegiance to region or nation.

Successiee govemments used the common reiigion of Protestantism as a propaganda weapon to encourage the English, Scottish and Welsh lo unito around a common flag - and against Catholic enetnies.

The Empire - which was always the British. not the English Empire -was also a unifying force. It drew heavily on the expeni.se of the Scots and Welsh as doctocs. traders, ejtplorers and administeators,

Then there was the monarchy. Queen Vtctoria perhaps perfected the an of being tnonarch to all of Britain and the Empire. Meanwhile. successive wars have brought Britons together in defence of the Empire and the Union. It was the Battle of Britain. not the Battle of England. that took place over the Channel and southem coumies,

Bul history is history: the Empire has gone, the Churcb no longer binds us. the Armed Forces are shrinking and the monarchy is troublcd Some people feel that the gluc of nationhood has dried up. Aiex Salmond. leader of the Scottish nationalists. no longer wams to be attaclted to what he sees as a Britain in deciine. He looks to Europę as Scotland's ncw stage.

So do a surprising number in Newport, Gwent. Alan Richards, a salcs director. has found that doing business with Europę has changed his outlook. 'I see our futurę very much as being linked to Europę as a whole: that includes England. I see England merely as pan of Europę.'

The negativity that makes Britain great

Tom Horan

The Daily Telegraf)!)

“What makes Britain such a creative nation?” wonders Tom Horan. Our triumphs at this year’s Bafta and Grammy awards dcmonstrated oncc again how our smali island punches abovc its weight in the arts. Part of this success can be put down to “prosaic” faclors sttch as tlic global dominancc of (he P.nglish languagc. But wliat really drives our crcativity is our talent lor “negativity”. As you’d cxpect of a country that can support 22 national newspapers, we are “great haters”. We love fiuding fault and cutting the rich and famous down to size. We are cynical and rcsentful of success - unpleasant ąualitics that liave the welcome side-effect of spurring artists to challenge the status quo. As soon as a type of musie or fashion becomes dominant, “a new subset of Brits will emerge who are intent on doing the opposite. Thus did punk oust próg rock in the 1970s, and then Britpop see off house tnusic when that, too, became ubiquitous”. It’s this “curious mixture of bloody-mindedness and open-mindedness” that makes British culture “synonymous with a kind of integrity”.