Alan Johnson say children should be taught 'Britishness': is anyone else concerned that as it seems from...

Question

recent reports that 'Britishness' includes -
(1) Being the fattest people in Europe
(2) Having a reputation for being obnoxious especially when young and abroad (which links to)
(3) Having an inability to control our alcohol intake (no matter what hours the pubs open)
(4) Watching too many hours of fatuous soap operas, 'reality TV shows', house makeover /sell the crap from your attic/'Emigrate (from the UK) to the Sun' programmes - EVERY DAY!
(5)Having an increasingly worrisome pre-occupation with the concept of 'celebrity'
(6)Still thinking naked women in a daily (so-called)newspaper, and 'publications' like 'Nuts', 'Chat' and other 'brain-dead' gossip magazines are 'worth buying'!!!!!
...That maybe we DON'TWANT our kids to learn about being 'British'!

...Middle Class Yahoo Answerers or Britain - I salute You! ;-D

(comment added after first 6 anwers!)

I presume not many Chavs read the Society and Culture Questions section...What a surprise!

Answer 1

That's a bit of a sweeping generalisation which identifies basically one particular group of "British" people as being representative of the whole Country. I think what you should be asking is "Do the British people want to remove all Chav's from Society, so we do not need to attempt to teach these same people how to be respectable citizens and show their Britishness, rather than being the sub human scum they are". Maybe that's taking it to the extreme, but it is generally only one section of our Society that continues to cause embarrassment to the British (and I would say that it is more often than not, English, as you don't hear many stories of the Scots Welsh or Irish getting involved the same)

Answer 2

I agree with you. I do take exception to the retard thing, though. having a brother with learning problems bullies would use the word retard in a negative way to make fun of him. but i do agree that when i was little the word retarded was used to describe the clients my dad worked with, and PCness has changed all this. where i live there is a huge 'aborigional' population, or was it "first nations?" i'm not really sure what they want to be called anymore, all i know is people will actually shush me if i say indian. again it's all in how it's being said. i'm not yet a parent but the children i nanny sing the wonderpets song all the time so i know they've seen it(we don't really watch tv when i'm there so it's not with me) the children have no speach problems, and i don't have any problems with showing characters who are different, it's not hurting anyone. I don't agree with the sports thing either, however i have seen some parents who make it so much more than just a game, and families that say it's NOT OK to lose. this is sad but i think this is the reason for the rule. also the christmas thing- i'm a christian, i don't care if you want to celebrate haunaka, or kwansa or nothing, or everything, but don't try to take away my belief in a holiday. that in my books is not fair. it's a christmas tree, not a holiday tree, no other belief has a tree, why can't they just leave that one alone? haha, and i like how they took away the angel topper and replaced it with a star thinking it had less significance, guess they will just never get it. my thinking is i'm never going to be PC if there is something i believe i'm gonna speak up for it, regardless of what people think, to me being offended is a choice, and when people choose to be offended by every little thing it is them who lose out on quality of life not me.

Answer 3

Your very basic rendition of descriptions is only relevant to the underclass of Britain,namely chavs!
The real British people are upstanding, hardworking, decent, law abiding citizens who want our country and British identity back! Of course we should all be taught Britishness!!!The real British people are fed up of foreigners coming to Britain and abusing our hospitality. This has resulted in us losing out on a hell of a lot. The majority of foreigners who have chosen to live in our country do not, and will not conform to our way of life; or at the very least, respect our beliefs and culture. They are protected by political correctness which is a crock of sh*t! We have no rights in our own country, and we have lost our identity! Britain has been far too accommodating for too many years now. Diversity does not work. Blair has bred hate mongers. And made the British respond to the unfair way in which we have ended up being the second class citizens.
Everyone else but the British are allowed to preach and practise their religion without hindrance. We have lost our British identity it is so wrong! Is it any wonder that we have grown resentful over the years?
Check out the following:
Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.
And the most British thing of all? - Suspicion of anything foreign.
Enoch Powell was right!!!!

Answer 4

Agreed.
Another one you missed out: the Great British pig-headedness e.g. "I'll drive my grey car in this blizzard with my lights off because it's daylight and the streetlamps aren't on".
Unfortunately many of the things you mention apply not to just chav scum but also to many who are middle class (or think they are).
Struggling to find something positive about being British now.

Answer 5

woo you are such a cynic i am sure there are positive things about being British as well how about being a friendly nation
having freedom of speech free education and health care are just some

Answer 6

I do want my children to be educated about their identity, but as the points you raise bother me as well, I would make sure that I teach them correct values/behaviours and possibly remove them from any lesson that I do not approve of.

Answer 7

don't be so stupid, he wants children to be taught our great history, to be respectful to authority and the monarchy. to be taught Christian values and to be proud of their country