Liberty, Parliamentary democracy, the rule of law.
Historically, this involved a small state, or rather a government that did
not intervene unnecessarily in the lives of individuals, sadly that is
disappearing.
Traditionally, liberty meant that everything was permitted unless
specifically forbidden. This contrasts with some other countries where
everything is forbidden, unless permitted.
Freedom of religion and conscience is another aspect of liberty, deriving
ultimately from the religious settlement at the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
Sadly this is also being eroded, as witness the recent controversy over
Catholic adoption agencies, which will be forced to provide 'services' to
those they regard as adopting a sinful (that is practising homosexual)
lifestyle or to forfeit the right to public funding.
Liberty has also involved the toleration of minorities; welcome to refugees;
and such like. However there have to be limitations on this, where one
person's liberty limits the freedom of another. Sexual Offences legislation
is an example of this, but so is the common law civil wrong of nuisance.
That leads to another aspect of Britishness - the common law and an
unwritten constitution (both tempered by statute). We have a constitution,
but uniquely it is not to be found in one single document.
Generosity is perhaps derived from the principle of self-reliance (with an
obligation to provide for those who are less fortunate), the opposite of
having a paternalistic state. Originally, welfare (in the form of the poor
law) was provided at a local level from local taxation. The centralisation
of this in the 1940s into a cradle-to-grave welfare state has had the
unfortunate effect of producing a dependency culture, and in creating
poverty traps. The welfare state has become a new kind of Britishness, but
perhaps contrary to some older aspects of that.
However, much of the above can be deduced from one single source, our
Christian heritage. However, I wonder whether the present political
correctness allows that to be taught as part of 'citizenship'.
Peter King
49, Stourbridge Road,
Hagley,
Stourbridge
West Midlands
DY9 0QS
01562-720368
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of John C Symons
Sent: 01 February 2007 12:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LOCAL-HISTORY] Britishness
Hi,
In 1790 William Dalton produced a jigsaw puzzle illustrating letters
of the alphabet in conjunction with images of 26 nationalities and
texts describing their attributes. For the Englishman he wrote:
Generous and affable, desirous of liberty in the greatest extent.
He could well have been describing Britishness.
John
|