I have always tended to agree with Samuel Johnson that, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" and I get itchy when we rush for our banners and flags. But I was depressed yesterday when in a conversation with one of my colleagues about Ofsted and British Values I recalled a short satirical email I wrote almost 10 years ago,
"We are committed to promoting the core values of Britishness which are clearly demonstrated by our current government
- Arrogance - everything good has happened because we made it happen and everything bad was someone else's fault (either foreigners or Marxists who are everywhere)
- Narcissism - we are brilliant and the best and if only everyone else was more like us the world would be a better place
- Xenophobia - there is no problem big or small that cannot be blamed upon bloody foreigners (see above arrogance)
- Self interest - we will pontificate about others not following our example whilst shamelessly filling our pockets when we think no one is looking
- Laziness - never do anything positive or productive when you could spend the time moaning and blaming someone else for the problem"
I wrote that before Brexit before Boris Johnson and Liz Truss...
It now looks prophetic. How sad that satire plus time becomes tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment