British values

I keep reading about British values being eroded, threatened, undermined, disrespected etc etc etc. I regularly see Facebook groups springing up showing pictures of kids playing out or idyllic country villages, seemingly trying to portray a lovely, trouble free Britain, far removed from todays reality.

I have values, but theyre not especially British, I’d hope they’re evident the world over. Respect, empathy , basic manners and time for others. I’m sure many people that aren’t world leaders hold these dear.

So what are our ‘British values’ folks? Can anyone enlighten me?

 

Giving Jonny foreigner a taste of cold hard steel and making sure we’re at the forefront of world politics.
Ensuring the superiority of the British over other nations of the world, particularly those of a dusky hue.
Failing to win a major title at football on the world stage.

 

“British values” don’t exist, just a smoke screen for bigots. On a less serious note I would say the top 3 British values are;
1. Loving a good queue - if there was an Olympic sport we would win gold.
2. Passive aggressive complaining- tutting/eye rolls/ false laughs - as a way to communicate displeasure rather than just telling people how they are feeling.
3. Complaining about the weather.

 

We've become the US in that a large portion of our dumbed down population have gone all nostalgic for a (non existant) past of white picket fences, kids with respect and nuclear families. When all we ever had was rampant xenophobia, poison rivers beneath a shivering sun, and a terraced house in a mean street back of town where only rats could run.

 

take everything give nothing any new so called friends I've been coming across,seems alot of folk dont know that giving makes one feel good,youd get baited up and eaten by alot of society if you didn't no wat was going off,it usually costs me a tenner me and our lass call it fck off money,cheaper in the long run.

 

4. Sarcasm, there is no other nation who uses sarcasm in every day life like we do.

 

Apathy?

 

Schools are required by law to promote the fundamental British values of: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

I don’t see how those values are particularly ‘British’ but that’s the official definition.

 

Biggest change in our society in the past 10 years is the " Me" element.
The days of appreciating others and respect for people's rights are long gone.
Driving is a perfect example. I'm coming out of Morrisons and I'm turning right up to Agnes Rd, as I'm entering the roundabout to turn right the SUV coming from left dives across me, only to be followed by the lady behind who never even looked.I sound horn saying what are you doing only to be told to F off . luckily I missed her by inches.no acceptance of fault or apology..sadly this is common in all things now I think it's called being entitled...shop assistants who never look at you is another. Please and thank you disappearing. Sad really

 

Pint of Carling with a full English at 5 am in an airport like a true patriot.

 

There you have it. You could have gone left you silly old sod .

 

Sounds like my local Wetherspoon.

 

When speaking to foreigners in English it's expected of you to raise your voice considerably.
They only understand when you shout at them.

 

10 years? Its over 30 since Thatcher said "There's no such thing as society" and plenty of people voted for her.

 

Reading threads like this always amazes me how many British people hate Britain and British people. It really is a most peculiar thing and quite specific to the UK I think.

What's even more weird is the reason often given for it is that the population is "bigoted" or "racist" when Britain frequently comes out on world surveys as one of the least racist countries in the world. Bizarre.

 

No such thing as British values. There may be a lot of British people who have values but they're not uniform or constant. My values are British but I suspect they differ markedly from Rishi Sunak's.
My values are respect for others. toleration and compassion coupled with the belief that anyone who doesn't support BFC is a deluded nob.

 

Anyway, I'll have a go. Of course there's such a thing and everyone knows what it infers. To me it means:

- World-leading judicial system which most of the rest of the Western world is based on.
- Air of respect, tolerance and politeness extended to strangers and engendered by queueing and the way we use language
- World leading cultural (music, arts, theatre) and sporting excellence.
- Small "c" conservative family values such as respect for the institution of marriage and the family unit.

What's not to like and be proud of in that lot?

 

I think that the bigots and racists have a much more prominent platform these days on social media. They may only be a small percentage, but they can be pretty loud, making them appear far greater in number than they really are. And because they're shouting in English and we generally live in an English language bubble, we're bound to notice them more than someone spouting off racist bile in French, or Italian for example.

And as for it being a uniquely British thing to have a disproportionately negative view of your own country, it's definitely not. I can only go on Russia, but the way plenty of Russians describe it, you'd think it was a cross between the Soviet Union and Africa, populated mostly by utter morons. I fully understand why a lot of them are extremely depressed about the political situation there, but living standards in Moscow and St Petersburg are easily as high as in Europe, with some of the highest literacy levels in the world. I just think that humans in general are very bad at appreciating what they've got.

 

Yes but Russia is ACTUALLY shiit ;-)

 

The small towns are utterly horrific in general. But the big cities are by and large clean and vibrant with efficient and very affordable public transport. That's not to say that there aren't still issues, especially with the wealth gap, chronic alcoholism in the provinces, endemic racism and homophobia among the less educated, 25% mortgage rates to name a few - but a lot of the urban infrastructure functions far better than in the UK.