British Values
ExMemSec just asked me if I could name the 'five British values' (according to HM Government).
Let's see if I can still do the LJ cut thing, so you don't have to read what they are, until you've thought for yourself (see value 3 below)
Wellllll, I said. First off, there's fair play. It's close to the Australian fair go. But not quite the same. Like the difference between a British Pie and an Australian Pie, it's there, but I'm ashed if I can explain the difference. [this isn't in the government list]
Second there's. ... well, I don't think there's a word for it ... perhaps committee-mindedness. The fundamental belief that there is no problem so large or complex that it cannot be tackled by forming a committee with a chair, a minuting secretary and a treasurer. Particularly the minuting secretary bit. You don't need money or power if you have minutes. [in the government list are 'democracy' and 'respect for the rule of law', but neither come close to committee-mindedness]
Third, although it might be called a vice, it's sheer bloody-mindedness. I think I and HM Gov are in agreement here. But they call it individual liberty. For example, at this point, ExMemSec said 'I wanted you to guess HMG's list', and I said 'but I want to tell you my list'.
Fourth, there's something which might be called 'creativity' or 'inventiveness', but has a pecularly practical focus. Necessity (or at least Would-like-to-have) is its mother. It gives us longitude, steam engines and the internet. It does not give us Art Movements or Cuisines. [not in the list]
Fifth, there is tolerance. Or tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is what you do when someone sits down next you on the tube, and eats a bag of raw garlic. Acceptance is what you do when someone sits down next to you on the tube and they are carrying a clove of garlic. For British people, the acceptance field is amazingly wide, so wide, it counts as a value. But we have a way of tolerating what we find unacceptable that is one of our most important values. It includes our unique way of sharing the 'they have crossed the divide, in my book' feeling with other right-thinking folk in the region of the person behaving unacceptably, but through a body-language and nuanced comments. Never through violence. Unless alcohol is involved (British vices, there's another topic). Occassionally, a committee is organised. According to HM Goverment, one of our values is "tolerance of those with different faiths andbeliefs". Some how, I don't think 'belief that it is acceptable to eat half a dozen bulbs of garlic on a crowded tube train' is what they meant. Faiths and beliefs (in Gov-speak) pretty much fall into accepted, not tolerated ground. Intolerant committees are doubly dispised: we tolerate intolerance in your head, but intolerant in committee is intolerable.
According to HM Government - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380595/SMSC_Guidance_Maintained_Schools.pdf the other British values are mutual respect, democracy, and the rule of law.
I obviously need to go back to school, because while I recognise these values as human values (or at least Western values, or possibly Western European values), they're not distinctively British. They're the values I would expect someone from pretty much anyone, anywhere. Probably from someone from either Georgia. Certainly from someone from Germany.
Children are pretty smart. If you tell them that 'democracy' is a British, as opposed to a wider human value, they'll think you don't know what you are talking about.
Let's see if I can still do the LJ cut thing, so you don't have to read what they are, until you've thought for yourself (see value 3 below)
Wellllll, I said. First off, there's fair play. It's close to the Australian fair go. But not quite the same. Like the difference between a British Pie and an Australian Pie, it's there, but I'm ashed if I can explain the difference. [this isn't in the government list]
Second there's. ... well, I don't think there's a word for it ... perhaps committee-mindedness. The fundamental belief that there is no problem so large or complex that it cannot be tackled by forming a committee with a chair, a minuting secretary and a treasurer. Particularly the minuting secretary bit. You don't need money or power if you have minutes. [in the government list are 'democracy' and 'respect for the rule of law', but neither come close to committee-mindedness]
Third, although it might be called a vice, it's sheer bloody-mindedness. I think I and HM Gov are in agreement here. But they call it individual liberty. For example, at this point, ExMemSec said 'I wanted you to guess HMG's list', and I said 'but I want to tell you my list'.
Fourth, there's something which might be called 'creativity' or 'inventiveness', but has a pecularly practical focus. Necessity (or at least Would-like-to-have) is its mother. It gives us longitude, steam engines and the internet. It does not give us Art Movements or Cuisines. [not in the list]
Fifth, there is tolerance. Or tolerance and acceptance. Tolerance is what you do when someone sits down next you on the tube, and eats a bag of raw garlic. Acceptance is what you do when someone sits down next to you on the tube and they are carrying a clove of garlic. For British people, the acceptance field is amazingly wide, so wide, it counts as a value. But we have a way of tolerating what we find unacceptable that is one of our most important values. It includes our unique way of sharing the 'they have crossed the divide, in my book' feeling with other right-thinking folk in the region of the person behaving unacceptably, but through a body-language and nuanced comments. Never through violence. Unless alcohol is involved (British vices, there's another topic). Occassionally, a committee is organised. According to HM Goverment, one of our values is "tolerance of those with different faiths andbeliefs". Some how, I don't think 'belief that it is acceptable to eat half a dozen bulbs of garlic on a crowded tube train' is what they meant. Faiths and beliefs (in Gov-speak) pretty much fall into accepted, not tolerated ground. Intolerant committees are doubly dispised: we tolerate intolerance in your head, but intolerant in committee is intolerable.
According to HM Government - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380595/SMSC_Guidance_Maintained_Schools.pdf the other British values are mutual respect, democracy, and the rule of law.
I obviously need to go back to school, because while I recognise these values as human values (or at least Western values, or possibly Western European values), they're not distinctively British. They're the values I would expect someone from pretty much anyone, anywhere. Probably from someone from either Georgia. Certainly from someone from Germany.
Children are pretty smart. If you tell them that 'democracy' is a British, as opposed to a wider human value, they'll think you don't know what you are talking about.