1. The British referendum of 23 June 2016, in which 51.9% of Britons voted in favour of leaving the European Union, has caused so much vexation both at home and abroad, that it will be many years before we are able to objectively assess its full import. Such is the continuing vexation that I can almost hear a good friend of mine, speaking in a striking broad Buckinghamshire accent similar to that of Baldrick, a character of the BBC sitcom Blackadder – asking a simple question with a surprised but inimical expression on his face: “If you, our politicians are so clever; how is it you did not see Brexit coming: Howzat!”
A sense of injured justice
2. I have personally steered clear of the whole subject for more than a year. During that time however, an elderly gentleman friend here in the City of Taipei, Taiwan, has continually asked me time without number, whether England is now finished as a global power. My response to him then as now has been: it’s much too soon to tell. Because put simply, I really do not know what the future holds for the United Kingdom. I am not sure I’m confident enough to write about Brexit right now, seeing that its shock-waves have spread all the way to the USA and other parts of Europe. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The Dawn Wind”, immediately comes to mind: as it seems to me the whole world is oscillating between bravado, cynicism and fear. The air in England has for long been growing thick with a sense of injured justice; it is this demand for satisfaction, which may have precipitated the Brexit referendum result.
3. It was partly in answer to this apparent public clamour for satisfaction that the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, commissioned in 2015 Dame Louise Casey to look into, among other things, the small matter of integration of immigrants and social cohesion. Her report, published towards the end of 2016, was controversial. It concluded that, “Governments have failed for over a decade to ensure that social integration in the UK has kept up with the ‘unprecedented pace and scale of immigration’ and have allowed some local communities to become increasingly divided…”
What is Britishness anyway?
4. The findings of the above report, the current difficulties in Europe and Brexit brought to my remembrance a discussion I had in 2008 with an old friend, in a small English town, Buckingham. It was prompted by the fierce storm of controversy, precipitated by the then, Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams’ lecture – Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective. The controversy exposed deeply unsettling ethnic and religious tensions existing in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
5. Dr. Williams’ crime, if we may call it such, was to think aloud, at a possible adoption of certain aspects of what is loosely known as Sharia or Islamic law, in Britain at the Royal Courts of Justice on 7 February 2008; it was perhaps the most noteworthy and timely contribution, to a vexing question in modern Britain then as now: What is the meaning of Britishness? What follows below is my endeavour to answer the question, thanks in large measure, to a fireside chat with a Buckingham friend, whom we may call, in the interest of discretion, Charlie the Honey Badger of Buckingham.
6. It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of this question given what we now know since the referendum of June 2016. Indeed, a whole new industry has come into being with a view of trying to make sense of what it is to be British. To be fair, a small number in this so called industry are making a significant contribution towards this debate, but there are some, who are no more than playing the role of mere busy-bodies: the ‘something must be done brigade’. And yet, despite their combined efforts, we are no where near to a definitive articulation of what it means to be British, let alone quell the growing disquiet associated with it. It is against this background that I had my conversation with Charlie, at the Villiers’ Hotel, in the historic town of Buckingham almost 10 years ago.
The magical powers of the English weather
7. Charlie the Honey Badger of Buckingham is not the sort of man you would wish to meet on a dark night in the street of any town or city in England. At the time of our first meeting all those years ago, he had long dishevelled hair, a broad nose, hawk-eyed, pasty complexion (probably due to heavy drinking), and a nervous tic in his right eye. But in England, all you have to do to break the ice with a complete stranger, it is said, is complain about the weather, and a friendship is begun. The thing is: the English know a thing or two about the weather; for the English weather is famous for its changeability. And it was on a foul morning that Charlie and I first met in the autumn of 1989, in Central Milton Keynes, the Old Bus Station, at Elder Gate. He was the driver of a bus, operated by Payne Bus Company, which interestingly enough, the English badger was its symbol; the bus company is now defunct. I was on my way to Buckingham University to attend an interview, for a place on a two year law degree programme. Our newly found friendship quickly blossomed, largely due to the weather and the fact that I was the only passenger. The bus company barely made money; it operated thanks to a grant from the Buckinghamshire County Council. Charlie very kindly drove his bus off the authorised route and dropped me off at the University’s main Office in Hunter Street. When my interview for a place at the university was done, and after I had made my way to the bus station near what used to be a sheep market, opposite the Masonic House Surgery, I was very surprised to find Charlie still on duty; we picked up our conversation from where we had left off.
A Market Town steeped in history
8. Buckingham, which literally means, ‘meadow of the Bucca people’ is a market town situated in North Buckinghamshire with a population of about 11,500 people. The population was considerably less in the late 1980s. It was historically the county town of Buckinghamshire, having been so declared by Alfred the Great in the year 888. The town was first settled by German settlers who were led by Bucca, hence its literal meaning, and their settlement was located at the top loop of the Great Ouse River. The location is now the seat of the University of Buckingham, Britain’s first private university. The town has had a chequered history – changing hands regularly between the Saxons and Danes between the 7th and 11th centuries. Most notable of these changes was in 914 when King Edward the Elder and a Saxon army encamped in Buckingham for four weeks forcing the local Danish leaders to surrender. A fort was subsequently built at a location which is now the home of St Peter and St Paul, the Buckingham Anglican Parish Church. The town received its Charter in 1554 when Queen Mary created the free borough of Buckingham. The town is noted for being the final resting place of St Rumbold, a Saxon Saint, and the grandson of Penda King of Mercia. St Rumbold’s claim to fame was that during his short life, he repeatedly professed his Christian faith when only a babe and demanded to be baptised.
A local working class lad – born and bred
9. Charlie described himself as a Buckingham man, born and bred, and has lived in the town all his life. He is a bus driver (probably retired now) and considered himself as a typical white working class man. Charlie is one of six children, having lived nearly all his childhood life in a rented council house. To those not familiar with a term; a council house is social housing built by local government or municipalities in the United Kingdom. Council houses made their first appearance after the First Great War when David Lloyd George’s Government passed the 1919 Housing Act. Charlie was the first in his family to buy and own a house (I remember helping him with some legal matters during the conveyance process for his house) – something that caused him a great deal of embarrassment. He has no qualifications to his name except for his City and Guild Certificates in motor mechanics. Like many of his generation and social background, Charlie confessed to making a number of serious mistakes, which necessitated him to go out and earn a living at a very early age. He is a hard worker.
Are you English or British?
10. When I asked Charlie whether he identified himself as an Englishman, he responded unequivocally: “I is English – a Bucks boy, born and bred.” He added, “Buckingham has been very good to me and I is totally loyal to the town…although I will criticise the town sometimes…I do feel I have the right to do so…But I can’t bear others… especially the wrong sort of people, criticising my town. This is my town” I then asked what he meant by the wrong sort of people. “The wrong sort of people, are people who have probably been here for a very short time…the sort I would describe as them foreigners!” He went on, “There is in Buckingham a saying which goes something like this: ‘you are not a Buckingham man until you’ve lived here for at least 20 years.’ The point here is that you are an outsider until you have shown yourself to have thrown your lot in with the rest of us, sink or swim, and that takes at least 20 years. It is therefore not fair for someone who has barely been in the town 6 months and starts complaining about this and that…slagging off Buckingham!” Charlie continued: “Now some criticisms are indeed well founded and I would agree with them somewhat, but as to whether I would support the person making them, is an entirely different matter. What you have to understand is this: so much has changed within my life time…in the last 50 years …and the speed of change has been at a time, well…breath-taking for ordinary folk like me. It is very scary! So scary, that some folk don’t know whether them foreigners are coming or going! There is a certain sense of unfairness about it all. It rankles – to be honest!”
11. Still curious as to whether Charlie the Honey Badger of Buckingham saw himself more of an Englishman, I pressed him further. In reply, Charlie made it very clear to me that as far as he was concerned, he was British. “I is more British than English…I think!” he said. But I interrupted him before he could continue and reminded him that it was common knowledge that being British was interchangeable with being English. For example, people abroad use British to describe anyone from the United Kingdom just as easily as they would use English to describe a British person. Indeed, in some societies such as here in the Far East, people rarely make any distinction unless when dealing with someone from the ethnic minority community. So, which is it Charlie, are you English or British? I asked. “I is British,” Charlie responded and went on to add, “The more I think about it, the more I see myself as British and less English.” Why, I pleaded…! “Because I is holding a British Passport whenever I go abroad…ok…I now have a UK Passport with Europe on it but I is British…because my citizenship is British.” He replied. I then asked him what if any, did he mean by English?
A creeping change in the English way of life
12. “Anything that is quintessentially English….the English are a complicated lot…right down the middle really, from the spoken word to the individual.” He said. And after a long pause, Charlie went on to add: “It used to be said that an Englishman’s house was his castle. I am not sure that is true anymore these days. So much has changed in the last 50 years or so that the country in some places does not feel English anymore! It makes people like me feel uneasy. I is a stranger in my own country!” I couldn’t help but feel that even Charlie was slightly confused as to what passed for an Englishman on the one hand, and what constituted a British man on the other. Not wishing to upset his train of thought, I asked him why he thought the English felt uneasy. To which Charlie answered: “It is not because of the much talked about immigration, though that is a contributing element, but the real problem is the seeming and creeping change in the English way of life. The drip, drip, drip factor…if you know what I mean…that is the real problem and no one seems to know what the real cause is. It is the not knowing that I find frightening…the apparent feeling of a sense of unfairness. Things are not helped by our politicians trying to deal with the situation in the English sort of way…we the English are so good at working ourselves into a flap without doing very much at all! What is really worrying is that some nasty people will take advantage of the situation to suit their own ends.” How do you mean? I enquired.
13. “It is difficult to explain really.” Charlie answered and continued, “…although the English are renowned for their stubbornness, the English are surprisingly compliant to a fault; they will comply with any form of rule – written or otherwise. Take the good old queue as an example. No where is it written that we should form a queue, say, at the Post Office, at Clay’s the Butchers, or at a Bus station. And yet, as long as you have more than two people in one place, we instinctively form a queue. It’s very English…if you ask me!” But surely that must be the most endearing attribute to Englishness or shall I say, Britishness – the subtle accommodation of all sorts. I interjected. To which Charlie went on to add: “That’s the problem with us…the English. We follow the rules to the black letter of the law, unlike the French. And that’s why Europe is gradually taking over our country without us firing a shot! Can you imagine what is happening here in England happening in France? We are not even allowed a referendum on whether we wish to be a part of the United States of Europe or not.” So, it is Europe that’s the problem? I asked.
The French are definitely different
14. But before you answer the question whether Europe is the problem, you mentioned the French, what about them? I asked. To which Charlie replied: “The French are certainly different from us English… The French think the whole world speaks French… Have you tried buying anything from a shop in France, especially if you only speak English, as I often do, whenever I is in France?” No, not really, I have never been to France…so I can’t comment on that. But, what was your experience the last time you were in France? I asked. “The last time I is in France,” Charlie answered and continued, “I tried asking a shop keeper something, in simple basic French, I is trying to be as polite as possible: ‘sais pas, moi’ and the look on the man’s face…Thunderous! It was…it could have killed you stone-dead on the spot!” And what happened next, I probed. Charlie ignoring my question continued with his thread of thought: “The French are vicious people. It’s no wonder they spent many years killing each other…cutting each other’s heads off…! They are a law unto themselves…! They are the only people I know who will think nothing about putting up blockades for whatever reason and sing songs while at it.” OK! I get your point, I interrupted him, let’s get back to Europe…shall we!
Bloody smoking ban
15. “Please don’t get me wrong on Europe. There are some good things coming out of Europe, you know! But there are some whose wisdom I question.” Charlie answered, smiling knowingly. He continued: “Take for example the smoking ban. Can you imagine how crazy it is! I can recall in my younger days when going to the pub was a bloody joy. Mind you,” Charlie paused briefly to take a sip of tea. He used to be a hard drinker and having suffered from serious bouts of alcoholism, I could see he was now making an effort to keep off the hard stuff. He was now content with the good old cuppa…of English tea. And, as we were at the Villiers Hotel in Buckingham, he pushed the boat out and treated himself to a large pot of Earl Grey. He wouldn’t have it any other way! Wiping his clammy broad fore head with a stained (stained by nicotine no doubt), dirty handkerchief, he continued, “Come to think of it, the pub is probably the most powerful symbol of Englishness or Britishness. Go anywhere you will, on the British Isles – you will find a pub. We had real freedom in them days. You could go down to your local pub, say, the Woolpack which is not far from here; and enjoy your real English ale (the Moorland Old Speckled Hen is my preferred ale, I miss it terribly) and a cigarette to boot, without anyone hassling you. Come to think of it, I think, smoking is a patriotic duty for every Englishman – even if it is probably at my own health risk. It’s my choice! ”
16. “But all that changed, the minute the bloody smoking ban was introduced – from Brussels.” Pausing for another sip of tea, Charlie continued, “Europe is to blame for it and our British way of life is now gone out of the window. And for what!” But surely, I interrupted rather impatiently, smoking is bad for you Charlie the Honey Badger, surely you know that’s true! “Ah! Ah! There you go now…! Yes, yes, I know.” Charlie answered in a rather exasperated way…irritated by my intervention. He went on to add: “But I also know them people, such as my aunt, who died from cancer without ever smoking a single ciggy! My aunt was 40 years old when she died. She had never been anywhere near a smoking environment. I think it is morally wrong to force us…who smoke…run us out of our local pubs and other public spaces. That is what is unfair and I personally feel…if I may say so, I no longer have any choice!” Changing the subject a bit I asked if Charlie could tell me how he would describe a foreigner.
Multicultural society
17. “Oh! Wow, that’s a hard one!” Charlie responded, and continued: “We are now supposed to be a multicultural society. But nobody ever explained to folk like me what multiculturalism is all about. It is, I think, the reason why it is difficult for the likes of me to tell who is who these days…that someone born abroad can quite easily get a British Passport, a free house, a free education and free medical care on the Nation Health Service is beyond me. Travel is so easy these days and from my point of view, as long as someone has a British Passport, he is British regardless where they come from.” So, anyone with a British Passport, is in your eyes, British? I eagerly asked. “Yes, except…hmm…well…hmm” Charlie struggled to answer.
18. Suspecting a little hesitation on his part, I jumped in and questioned, except what? To which Charlie went on to say: “Except where someone…having come and settled here…and still wishes to live and behave as if he were still in his own country…if you get my drift…” Please expand. I pleaded. “Well, let’s say someone who is born abroad, settles here and brings with him all his cultural baggage and somehow expects me to behave like him, then I have a big problem.” How do you mean exactly? I pressed him.
19. “The thing is, I don’t care which part of the world they come from… for all you know he could very easily have come from Russia, America, India or Africa…if he expects me to talk like him, dress like him, eat like him etc, etc…I know it is a bit extreme to say so, but it sometimes feels like that. Then I have a problem.” Charlie replied and continued: “You see Britain has come to be what she is after many centuries of giving here and there, giving and taking….creating a subtle understanding…some call it…fudge…but it works for Britain. The ‘fudge’ which is our country and our culture has come about after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and if I may say so, the likes of me…ordinary folk, have only come to enjoy our way of life…only in the last 70 years. People often forget how tough life was for ordinary poor folk like me. We were never rich. I grew up on stories of poor houses, alms houses and the slums. My grandfather came from the Newcastle slums and settled in Buckingham after the First Great War. He worked himself to the bone; so did my father. I think it is foolish to hand over what little we have fought and worked for, to someone new to our country, and all of a sudden he wants us to be like him. It is simply ain’t fair!” Please expand, I begged him for more details.
It ain’t fair!
20. “Imagine my local town, Buckingham.” Charlie continued. And, leaning across with a hint of conspiratorial air about him, he spoke in a whisper: “By the way, Buckingham is very lucky to have the University of Buckingham. Them posh folk say it is the only private university in the whole of England. It has enriched my town very much. Many overseas students who come to study here go home as soon as their education is finished. Some stay on and settle and are doing well both for themselves and for the town. Indeed, some have even married local girls; one foreign girl, I think she was Israeli, married a local boy, a mechanic. I know the mechanic well and they both had a beautiful little boy. But the foreign girl died a few years after the baby was born, I think she died of cancer.”
21. “But…” Pausing for another sip of his tea, and continued: “Imagine a situation where someone born and bred abroad comes and settles in the town without even bothering to learn the basics of my language, isolates himself, cut himself off from the local people with whom he is living, without bothering to integrate with them…and somehow expects me…us…the locals…to accept him. Can you imagine the cheek of it! It’s like he is having a laugh…taking the piss!!! Where is the fairness in that, I ask you?”
22. “And to cap it all: he starts dissing off my town…complaining that it does not have this or that, and the locals are disrespectful to him. I only have one word for such a person: On yer bike mate! Go home if you don’t like it here!” He continued: “You see I is not racist…I have no spite towards anyone whatsoever! And I think you will find that many British people feel the same way as I do. But I take a view of live and let live! We are a Christian country even though I for one, have not been inside a church for a very long time…but you will find that Christianity is at the very heart of who we are, and I think that is why people in troubled parts of the world would sooner come here than go anywhere else. I accept Britain is not perfect by a long shot but…Oh…please! Give me Britain any time.” So, do I take it you have no truck with multiculturalism? I asked.
A unique sense of humour
23. “I didn’t say that.” Charlie replied. “I think you are being cheeky, really! I have a lot of time for what other cultures have to offer so long as our culture is respected as well. It is all about fair play. The problem comes when someone wants to force me to be something that I am not – especially if it is by means of blackmail.” How do you mean by blackmail? I asked. Charlie continued: “You may recall my telling you a few months back that if the situation is not handled properly by our politicians, it may easily play into the hands of nasty people. Nasty people may either be local or newcomers. If they want to cause trouble, blackmail is one of the ways they can do it. But let’s take as a simple example…that long standing British tradition of laughing at ourselves. We even laugh at, or if you like, take the Mickey out of God himself! It is our traditional sense of humour. Yes, yes, I know there are areas which due to taste and sensitivity, it is wise to steer well clear of. But even when you stray into such areas, we do not hang you on a gibbet for it or cut your head off or through you off a tall building. Now, you get some newcomer who thinks very highly of himself and, who take himself much too seriously to the point that whatever you say is taken as an insult. And that is not all. He will not settle down until the insult is punished. That is what I call blackmail and it should be resisted.” Am I to take it that, laughing at oneself is an attribute of British-ness? I enquired.
24. Charlie smirked as he prepared to answer the question. He normally smirks and at the same time scratches his groin area, apparently, something he often does in moments of hilarity. “Yes, I think it is!” Recalling so vividly an event with great excitement, he started: “Let me tell you of an experience I had when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the University of Buckingham in 1996. I was part of the crowd which lined up the streets as the Duke and the Queen went about their usual walk…to meet the locals. The Duke spotted me and for some reason which I cannot explain, he made a beeline towards me…for a chit chat. The Duke asked me what I did for a living. I says to him, ‘I is a bus driver.’ ‘Oh,’ says the Duke. And I says to him, ‘what do you do for a living then?’ Then the Duke just burst out laughing…! He could see straight away the funny side to my question. After a short silence, and looking at the derelict Prebend House, as it was then, pointing at it, he asked what the building was all about. I says to him, ‘you mean Prebend House.’ The Duke being of hard of hearing replied, ‘what…a brothel!’ ‘No, no!’ I says, ‘It is Prebend House; used to be a block of flats in them days….’ To which the Duke says, ‘bloody typical! Fancy me to get it so wrong!!!’ And we all laughed. Now, you cannot make small talk with big people like that in them foreign countries without getting into serious trouble….especially making light of a situation like that.” Charlie added: “I is proud of being British. Not so much in the big things…I leave the big things to the politicians, seeing that they are so clever; but in the little things, small things – which when put together, I think, that’s what makes Britain what it is today. Indeed, being a little man such as I is, my main concern is that which is closest to home: Buckingham. I don’t want to see Buckingham lose its character. Buckingham to me is what Britain is all about; Buckingham is all I know. I is safe, secure in my local town and, I is proud of it. I hope this short interview answers your question about Britishness.”
No precise definition of Britishness
25. Although the above conversation with Charlie the Honey Badger may be forgiven for coming across as somewhat too simplistic and parochial in its outlook; it nevertheless gives us a glimpse into what may be interpreted by some, as the intangible elements which make for Britishness. It is apparent that Britain has always been an immigrant country both from within and without – thus any attempt to establish in substance that which is British is, on the face of it, a futile exercise; there is no precise and consistent definition. I think it is fine not to have a black and white definition. I do not believe there is any real need for any British subject to be pigeon-holed by way of a clear-cut definition; various shades of grey are just as acceptable. Indeed, some of us fall in more than one pigeon-hole.
26. But my discussion with Charlie makes one thing clear. The incoming of new blood into the British social framework is a good thing in a thousand ways: it is well that Britain should make room for others who are different, they enrich her. But caution must be had, however. The seeming goings and the comings, the adding and the taking away will inevitably change the cornucopia that is the subtle substance or texture, which makes the concept of Britishness so unique. And, in light of the 2016 Brexit referendum, if care is not taken by our seemingly sophisticated politicians, there is a real prospect that the quintessentially British thread which binds diverse peoples together, may be rendered asunder and lost in the long run.
The incontestable value of fair play
27. As someone who may be properly described as something of a colonial, that is, someone whose formative years were spent in a newly independent former British Protectorate of Uganda, I can think of nothing more quintessentially British than a sense of fair play. I learnt all about fair play at the sporting-fields of Budo, a school whose traditions are rooted in British colonialism; as a boy I was introduced and encouraged to participate in team sports, where taking part was valued more important than winning. I will not pretend to be a connoisseur of cricket, but I have fond memories of playing the game; and the idea of fair play was drummed into us at a very young age. It is no wonder Charlie speaks of it with a passion; for as every Englishman will know from child up, fair play is the foundation upon which the rule of law, freedom and democracy are based. It is the fertile soil in which the wonderfully rich and varied tapestry of Britain has taken root. But, as an old proverb puts it: ‘Bread that is eaten is soon forgotten.’ So it is, even with the bread which fair play gives to individuals; having eaten of it, most people are wont to forget the hand that has provided the bread. It is critical that this should not be the case with British people – regardless whether they are newcomers or not. Fair play is the best guarantor of freedom; and, freedom is not granted but earned.
The high cost of freedom
28. Charlie the Honey Badger was right about something else: that if the concept of fair play is undermined, there is a real risk that some nasty people may see it as an opportunity which they may take advantage of. It is often forgotten that in Britain, freedom was earned with the blood, sweat and tears of those who determined to end authority which was not founded on a level playing field. British people today are the beneficiaries of those who went before and were courageous enough to lay down their lives. Despite the consequences of the Brexit referendum; this may be severe as we are as yet to ascertain how it will all unfold, the British are nevertheless at some advantage in the sense that they stand tall on shoulders of men and women who fought for liberty throughout the ages! And, as much as the concept of Britishness resembles the weather in many respects, as it is impossible to capture its particular substance, and yet its lack of a specific definition may probably be its greatest strength. It is for this reason that the British people should be vigilant lest they be seduced by a false sense of security found in this cause or that, thus reducing them to mere spectators in the great game of history; the sort of spectators who were taken unawares by the surprising result of the Brexit referendum.
29. Many of us when in a strait, and I am here thinking about the major financial crisis of 2008, and the subsequent austerity measures adopted by the British government; are hardly reasonable in our hasty endeavours. Fear, especially the fear of the stranger, blindfolds judgement, and makes fools of us; it leads to a visceral desire that the above disasters should be paid for by some scapegoat or other. It is in such times that one finds any number of people (some of whom nasty people) lining up to play a leader of sorts, some motivated by nothing more than a desire to cut a figure on the political stage. Therefore, it is essential that right thinking citizens should continually remind themselves that the march of generations is not a procession of others passing before their eyes, while they sit idle, like onlookers, at the window; but they must recognise that they too, are in the procession themselves, and they also bear responsibility to add to the achievements of those that have gone before. We do not have to do great things, but in the fashion of Charlie the Honey Badger, be content in the doing of the small things – do the little we can – in our peculiar corner of Britain.
Take heed of our rich history and literature
30. The bewildering news lately coming out of Europe; namely, that Far-Right MPs have taken their seats in the German Bundestag, for the first time since the 1960s; the astonishing news of the recently elected Sabastian Kurz, Austria’s 31 year old leader, is most probably going to enter into a coalition government with a Far Right Party that was founded by a Nazi; the Spanish crisis following the Catalan’s declaration of independence, have all served to concentrate my mind. Charlie the Honey Badger of Buckingham may have been right about another fact. The European one size fit all diktats such as the smoking ban, although well intended, are not necessarily in keeping with the rules of fair play; we must give room for dissenting voices, especially those voices of people with whom we disagree with most violently. It is an exaggeration to suggest that a little give here and there, will unleash an avalanche of old grievances, feuds, boundary shifts, leading to chaos in Europe. The adage that cast iron breaks easily comes to mind, and Europe might be better served by a certain degree of flexibility. Flexibility can indeed be a basis for stability.
31. His sentiments on fair play have an echo. That echo may be found in the rich British history and literature. I am particularly thinking of the writings of both C. R. L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling. In their book, ‘A School History of England,’ published in 1911, they write:
“‘My son’, said the Norman Baron, ‘I am dying, and you will be heir
To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for my share
When we conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand this:-
The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite,
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right;
When he stands like an ox in the furrow with sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, ‘This isn’t fair dealing,’ my son, leave the Saxon alone.”
Centralised decision making
32. What a pity that the British political class seem to have forgotten the wisdom of the old Normans; for if they had taken notice of this ancient wisdom, the political class would have clearly foreseen the inherent impulse in Europe towards centralised decision making borne out of the ambitions of the Commission in Brussels. They should have foreseen that this ambition would be interpreted as an indefinable challenge to the British way of life – both in terms of parliamentary sovereignty and the concept of fair play in the United Kingdom. Yes, Europe has been a force for good in the United Kingdom as Charlie clearly points out above; for Europe has been instrumental in the continuance of peace on the European continent since the last Great War; but I think the political class were remiss in not giving ordinary people like Charlie a coherent and meaningful explanation on a number of important issues, most noticeably immigration. This failure in leadership may explain why many ordinary folk in England and other countries in Europe feel alienated, excluded from the script as it were. It is because people like Charlie did not see themselves in the script; they were easily swayed into voting for Brexit albeit by a small majority, when they were given a chance.
A clarion call
33. Thus the reaction to Dr Williams’ lecture all those years ago, and the Brexit referendum result, must be seen as nothing but a clarion call to all concerned to sit up and take notice; and work together to put the British house in order, especially now that opinion in the country is so polarized, lest it should fall asunder. This is especially true in light of the growing disenchantment, a perception if you like, that those in authority appear to be on some kind of a jolly at the expense of the little people like Charlie. These jollies are giving way to a perceived culture of grubbiness in public life, the taking what you can attitude, and the seeming intrusiveness, even on things such as the smoking ban; the smoking ban in of itself is a great benefit, but its management left a nauseating air in the minds of many people like Charlie, which is at odds with the ordinary understanding of playing fair.
33. Evidently; trifling with a boon of a British sense of fair play is, I think, madness of folly. This is what I think led to the Brexit referendum in June 2016. But there is good news however: although there is a manifest change in the constituent elements that give rise to Britishness, as long as there are characters like Charlie the Honey Badger left on the British Isles who believe in a sense of fair play, the quintessential British nation is here to stay for many generations to come. The British have an uncanny ability to re-invent themselves. As I conclude this blog post, I can’t help but remember what the Duke of Wellington is reputed to have said to Napoleon Bonaparte before the commencement of the Battle of Waterloo. He said, in effect, that the English were like an old rope. Though it breaks here or there, all you have to do is to tie it up and you’ll have a rope. On the premise that the English are but an important strand of the many fibres that constitute the British nation, there is every reason to believe in the mysterious concept of Britishness – though for the life of me, I can’t quite put my finger on it, will survive Brexit.