CAMBRIDGE LETTER
Being British
BILL KIRKMAN
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National identities, by their very nature, are not monolithic though it would suit politicians better if they were.
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HALTWHISTLE is the centre of Britain. Visitors to this small town, roughly halfway between Newcastle and Carlisle, are reminded of the fact by a signpost in the market, which gives distances to the far north of Scotland, the most westerly part of Cor
nwall, and other landmarks of England, Scotland and Wales.
We have just spent a week near Haltwhistle, a place where we often stay. It is in Northumberland, ideally placed for visiting Hadrian’s Wall, the astonishing monument to the Roman occupation of England, which marks the northernmost boundary of the Roman empire. It is quite close to the border between England and Scotland.
The people of Haltwhistle are proud of their central position. It is a talking point for tourists who come to visit the Roman wall. That said, I cannot pretend that the sign post in the market is constantly examined. We, like many others, often ignore it as we walk past.
The need for a national day
This year, however, there is a special reason to take rather more notice of it, because of a new government policy proposal. The proposal is to introduce an annual “Britain Day”. Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities, who announced it, made it clear that she was not suggesting that people should “stand in the front gardens and salute the Union Jack” on a British national day. “The point of it”, she explained, “would be to celebrate the contribution that we all make to society, but particularly to recognise the local focus of that contribution.”
The idea would include having citizenship ceremonies, and getting immigrants to earn their citizenship with a system of points, gained through volunteering or being a good neighbour. Children are to be given citizenship packs at the age of 18, telling them how to behave as adults.
I have to confess to being underwhelmed by all this — and I am not alone in my scepticism.
One reason for my lack of enthusiasm is nurtured by the “Haltwhistle is the centre of Britain” assertion. It is of course a perfectly justified claim, and it is a useful reminder of the geographical reality of Britain. The north of Scotland is several hundred miles away, as is Land’s End in Cornwall, but the centre of Britain is much closer to Scotland than to the main areas of population in England.
Immediately that serves as a reminder that there are significant differences between views, attitudes and assumptions of people from different parts of the British Isles. It is not just that the Scots and the Welsh are very different from each other, and from the English, but among the English, too, there are marked regional variations.
This is not to suggest that the country is deeply divided on regional lines. It is clearly true that many beliefs and values are widely, and commonly, held. They include serious matters, such as the rule of law, and individual freedom (and worries about some infringements of that are to be found throughout the United Kingdom). They include also some probably less serious things, such as a sense of humour which employs self-deprecation and understatement.
Interesting questions
The question which the “Britain Day” proposal raises for me is how on earth will people be encouraged to adopt it with enthusiasm. Thousands of people do serve their communities as volunteers in many different capacities. They serve as school governors, sit as members of local councils, work for charities, run youth clubs, drive handicapped people to the shops, and so on and so on. It is difficult to see how having a “Britain Day” will help with this. People do not volunteer in order to gain points, as if the whole thing were a kind of supermarket reward card.
A letter in The Guardian raised an interesting question, asking why ministers, instead of proposing a “British Day”, do not “do something useful instead, such as taking on the rich”. The implication in that s
omewhat cynical remark is worth pondering: in so far as we are a society which is less than harmonious, and which lacks common values, that surely has something to do with the increasing disparity of wealth between the haves and the have-nots, and the increasing tendency of our political leaders to confuse money with social value.
I shall continue to be happy to be reminded by the signpost in Haltwhistle that it is the centre of Britain — but I shall not dance round it to celebrate being British. That would be far too un-British a thing to do.
Bill Kirkman is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge, UK. Email him at: bill.kirkman@gmail.com 
