Britishness part one

The previous post on Irishness leads quite nicely to the question of whether there is an equivalent myth in Britain. I know there's not meant to be but every now and again I look at something and think, gosh, that's good, that would only ever have been made in Britain, so I reckon there must be something there. And this something is probably a lot more interesting and less white-old-man-ish than understatement and being scared of women.

Here are a few quick notes about where I'm looking:

1. In processes rather than in content Needing to reinvent, subvert, and spot angles. I reckon this is the most fertile area. The ad industry in the sixties, Face in the eighties, dyson in the nineties, our, erm, finance system in the noughties. All about clever reinvention and destruction of past certainties: all absolutely British.

Which is connected to...

2. Having a class system that is solid enough to kick but cracked enough to give some footholds The class system gives you a reason to want to get further up - if the cultural rewards aren't there people woudl just chase cash. However, the class system means that if you direct your cleverness into competence you probably won't get anywhere. If you want to get noticed you really need to try and shake things up.

This is why brits often care a lot more about clever new ideas than about ideas delivered well. Branson has based his career on this fact.

3. Being a bit rubbish at running things If everything is well organised and seems fair (like in Finland) then you don't expect to rethink the rules. Every British kid is brought up knowing that authority is regularly quite silly and can be challenged a bit.

4. Being scared of theories And more broadly, of anything that makes you look French. Theories can be good but they can also make you cruel. Plus, theories are what educated people use to keep everyone else out - culture is far more hierarchic in France than in the UK.

5. Having lost an empire without ever finding a role Like when rich people lose everything. It can leave you bitter but it can also leave you with a zen like understanding of power and wealth - you know it comes and goes so you don't take it too seriously. Not sure I really believe this. More thinking needed.

That will do for now, I'll come back to the list later. I'm quite conscious that I haven't mentioned cultural diversity yet, this is really because I'm not sure what I think about it. It feels like this is probably where my life in London diverges pretty widely from the rest of Britain so I'm not sure it's going to be a good place to start looking.

I've also only focussed on the positive. There's nothing here about reactionary prejudice, Nimbyism, or the tory party. To be fair though, Ireland doesn't tend to talk too much about those either.