‘In a global era, we need our roots more than ever’

Chris

You fell for this intellectual pygmy's (with apologies to the undertall - it's a metaphor alright?) piffle?

Surely by now it must be obvious to everyone that this man just spouts words. He is too dim to come up with any real meaning. Someone's told him to keep on about Britishness in an attempt to combat the English electorate's irritation with having an incompetent Scot foist on it. He doesn't mean anything.

It was just the same when he went to the European Parliament and spouted about what a great European he was. In someone else it might have been hypocrisy, but Brown doesn't have the intellect to achieve that state. He literally doesn't know what he's talking about.

Ray

As with most European nations, like it or not we British have traditionally defined ourselves by ties of blood and kinship (or race, if one dare mention the word).

This remained so down the centuries, our ability to absorb foreigners (be they Roman, German or Norse invaders or French and Flemish refugees) assisted by the fact that until the twentieth century most newcomers were also white and European, greatly assisting their subsequent integration.

That we have been able to by-and-large absorb non-white, non-European arrivals too is testimony to the British sense of fair play that owes so much to both our core Christian values and our permissive legal system ("everything is permitted except what is expressly forbidden").

However, this should not conceal the fact that doing so has involved a painful degree of enforced social engineering that should never have been undertaken without a proper national debate about the full impact of mass immigration into this country (and, of course, of whether we wanted it in the first place), which successive governments - the Blair/Brown government par excellance - have cynically denied us.

Brown bleating on about 'Britishness' is thus very much an attempt to shut a stable door after the horse has bolted.

sarahsmith232

why the need for an insular, separatist form of self identity in such an internationalist society? GB is an old fashioned Scot, he'll not really be aware of how international we've all become. this is just old fashioned insular nationalism, rebooted and rebranded for an international english 21st century, nationalism is obsolete and unnecessary. there's a need to integrate muslim's etc but is the answer to this a return to early 20th cen' nationalism? as well, Matthew d’Ancona displays the typical mind set that is so all gung ho about the need for nationalism - he writes that 'I think the relationship between tolerance, liberty, fairness and ideas of justice are not the same in every country.’ and what he obviously feels he doesn't need to point out is that, in his opinion, our versions are the superior. every nationalist, no matter how idealistic, is a supremacist. probably unintentional but nevertheless, separating yourself, dividing us from our fellow europeans and the rest of the world with your versions of british superiority is just the same old arrogant and ignorant nationalism. no different from the nationalism of old and will lead to the same old place - xenophobia, hatred of foreigners, absurd arrogance. why promote it when an international form of self identity can just as beneficial?

Wilhelm

The reason why Gordon Broon is always squeeeling on about being British is that Broon is Scots and he's running England, he doesnt have the consent of the English people, so he's an illegitimate leader and Broon knows it.

William Pender

No, Matthew; on this one you missed the sweet spot. Prevailing political correctness has forced the indigenous population to surrender too much of its heritage, history, ancestry and identity - no longer is there such a thing as Britishness - es evidenced by seeking to define it.

John Corfield

You bang on about British values but to millions in England they see themselves as English not British as do the Scots and Welsh peoples who see themselves as definitely not British as highlighted in your recent excellent BBC radio programme.
Britain is a political construct, nothing more nothing less, thats why you find it so difficult to find British values they are vapour, hyperbole.
Being English defines us as being of Anglo-Saxon,Jutes, Frisian, Scandinavian and Norman Ancestry, a Northern European race of people defined by our history, culture and language.
You Mr D'Ancona of Maltese ancestry and the myriad of other immigrants who call themselves British are not or can ever call themselves English, just like I cannot call myself a Maltese or Indian even though I was born In India in 1946.
Maybe deep in your psyche you acknowledge this and are so keen to promote yourself as British.
I once put it to an Indian born in England who said he was now English, I said I was born in India therefore on his argument I am an Indian, "don't be ridiculous he retorted you are a white man a European you could never be an Indian".
The hypocrisy is there for all to see.
I am proud to be English, our history, culture and language and bridle at being called British, I will never recognise or acknowledge that dubious labelling though forced to on Governmental forms.