British Unity in Diversity

(Mary Ann Sieghart, The "Times")

What is Britishness? Is it more than the sum of its parts - or less? Many Scots and not a few Welsh believe that Britishness is no more than a disguised version of Englishness. Exploring the questions of national identity for the BBC, I have just visited three towns with the same name - one each in Scotland, Wales and England - to try to discover whether there is an overarching sense of identity that it still makes sense to call British.

Nobody in Newport, Shropshire [England], had a problem with Britishness. In Newport, Gwent [Wales], some of the Welsh felt British, though others prefer to call themselves European. But it was in Newport-on-Tav, near Dundee [Scotland], that we found the greatest reluctance 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 part of I see as being first of all an imperial identity through the Empire and then an identity which has been forced by the idea of people coming together to fight two world wars. I don't think that's a healthy identity to carry into the 21st century.'

This is a common complaint - that Britishness is something from the past that has little relevance today. When the Act of Union uniting England, Wales and Scotland] was signed in 1707, people had to be persuaded to attach an extra loyalty to their long-standing allegiance to region or nation. Successive governments used the common religion of Protestantism as a propaganda weapon to encourage the English, Scottish and Welsh to unite around a common flag - and against Catholic enemies. The Empire - which was always the British, not the English Empire - was also a unifying force. It drew heavily on the expertise of die Scots and Welsh as doctors, traders, explorers and administrators. Then there was die monarchy. Queen Victoria [1819- 1901] perhaps perfected the art of being monarch to all of Britain and the Empire. Meanwhile, successive wars have brought Britons together in defence of die Empire and the Union. It was the Battle of Britain, not the Battle of England, diat took place over die Channel and southern counties.

But history is history; the Empire has gone, the Church no longer binds us, the Armed Forces are shrinking and the monarchy is troubled. Some people feel that the glue of nationhood has dried up. Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish nationalists, no longer wants to be attached to what he sees as a Britain in decline. He looks to Europe as Scotland's new stage. So do a surprising number in Newport, Gwent. Alan Richards, a sales director, has found that doing business with Л Europe has changed his outlook. 'I see our future very much as being linked to Europe as a whole; that includes England. I see England merely as part of Europe.'

But he is still unusual: probably a majority of die Welsh still think of themselves as British too. We are all capable of overlapping loyalties and identities - Britishness need not detract from Welshness. And as a nation we have a surprising amount in common. We are good at winning wars together. We are all good explorers, travellers, traders, philanthropists and inventors. We share a sense of fair play, and probity in public life. We respect the law.

These British values and ways of thinking that we all share have been somewhat eclipsed by Scottish and Welsh strivings for national identity. So frustrated are they by English political domination that they have allowed themselves to forget how much die nations of Britain still have in common.

Some people see the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales as a threat to the Union. But it could be that, by venting their differences through politics, the Scots and Welsh would feel more comfortable as part of die joint enterprise called Great Britain.

Comprehension questions

1. What is Protestantism and in what countries do people belong to this religion?

2. Within what time framework did the British Empire exist?

3. In what way did the country develop when Queen Victoria ruled?

4. When did the Battle of Britain take place?

5. What are the aims of Scottish nationalists?

6. What is understood by the Union and who supports it?

7. When was the transfer of political power from Westminster to self-governing national assemblies effected?

Discussion questions

1. What was the aim of the author's visit to the three towns of Britain? What conclusions did he come to?

2. What does a sense of identity imply?

3. Why are people reluctant to sign up to an identity and to the British one in particular?

4. What forces have brought the English, Scottish and Welsh together? Why are these factors no longer as strong as they used to be?

5. What can save and what can aiin the Union?

6. What is Britishness?

Exercise 34

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