Euro

Posted 2:02 PM by Dil
Yes, of course we British pride ourselves on our belief in decency and fair play. But that does not distinguish us from any other nation on earth. Ask an American, a Belgian, an Indian, a German, an Australian or a Russian if he believes in decency and fair play, and he is hardly likely to answer: "No, mate. Those are British values, and I'm not British. I believe in indecency and unfair play."
What distinguishes us from other peoples is the peculiarly British institutions that have evolved through our island history to give form and expression to our national ideas of decency and fair play: the monarchy, Parliament, the common law, the Armed Forces, the pound sterling, the established Church, the BBC, the jury system, the Football Association, the class system, Fleet Street, the City guilds, the Civil Service, the Commonwealth, MCC, the social services. These, rather than any abstract notions of decency, are what make the British distinct from other peoples and make us behave in a distinctively British way towards one another.

- Tom Utley, "The Daily Telegraph", on defining 'Britishness'
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~odyssey/Politics/Quotes/Current_Affairs.html

Tom Utley, Telegraph commentator
stupid right winger