I apologise on behalf of my ancestral and adopted homeland.
The bloody-minded eccentricity worked better when practised by a smaller middle and upper class. Now we are more egalitarian and there isn't enough space, especially in the cities, for people to simply do as they damn well please - as pleasing as the concept is. Part of the problem is that many of the people from Elsewhere or from previously societally neglected backgrounds have not imbibed the unspoken rules of Britishness (or let's be honest: Englishness), and what they damn well please may be unpleasantly disruptive.
Fundamentally I like this diverse Britain more. It's fairer and culturally richer and more interesting. However I detest the lowest-common-denominator control-freaky "solutions" developed by the previous government. It remains to be seen how those will evolve. I hope we can again become a beacon of freedom, adapted to the more complex challenges of our times. As Europe had to experiment with 20th century totalitarianism to discover it was rubbish, so we have been experimenting with the 21st century version, and perhaps we will learn something constructive from it.
no subject
The bloody-minded eccentricity worked better when practised by a smaller middle and upper class. Now we are more egalitarian and there isn't enough space, especially in the cities, for people to simply do as they damn well please - as pleasing as the concept is. Part of the problem is that many of the people from Elsewhere or from previously societally neglected backgrounds have not imbibed the unspoken rules of Britishness (or let's be honest: Englishness), and what they damn well please may be unpleasantly disruptive.
Fundamentally I like this diverse Britain more. It's fairer and culturally richer and more interesting. However I detest the lowest-common-denominator control-freaky "solutions" developed by the previous government. It remains to be seen how those will evolve. I hope we can again become a beacon of freedom, adapted to the more complex challenges of our times. As Europe had to experiment with 20th century totalitarianism to discover it was rubbish, so we have been experimenting with the 21st century version, and perhaps we will learn something constructive from it.