Distinguished contributors from a range of disciplines explore the question of Britishness – past, present and future.
- A lively and authoritative discussion of an important, timely and contemporary issue
- Investigates how devolution has brought a new focus on the future of Britain and the nature of Britishness
- Discusses the challenge of a more diverse society, with the search for a basis of social cohesion and solidarity
- Examines Gordon Brown's Britishness project, with its aim of producing a statement of British values
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction: The Britishness Question
Andrew Gamble and Tony Wright 1
‘Bursting with Skeletons’: Britishness after Empire
David Marquand 10
Does Britishness Still Matter in the Twenty-First Century—and How Much and How Well Do the Politicians Care?
Linda Colley 21
Being British
Bhikhu Parekh 32
Britishness: a Role for the State?
Varun Uberoi and Iain Mclean 41
England and Britain, Europe and the Anglosphere
David Willetts 54
What Britishness means to the British
Peter Kellner 62
The BBC and Metabolising Britishness: Critical Patriotism
Jean Seaton 72
Don’t Mess with Missionary Man: Brown, Moral Compasses and the Road to the Britishness
Gerry Hassan 86
Britishness and the Future of the Union
Robert Hazell 101
Devolution, Britishness and the Future of the Union
Charlie Jeffery 112
Englishness in Contemporary British Politics
Richard English, Richard Hayton and Michael Kenny 122
The Wager of Devolution and the Challenge to Britishness
Arthur Aughey 136
Do We Really Need Britannia?
Bernard Crick 149
Churchill’s Dover Speech (1946)
Peter Hennessy 159
Index 167
These are some of the questions tackled in this wide-ranging discussion of the British question. This book could not be more timely. Devolution has brought a new focus on the future of Britain, and the nature of Britishness. So has the challenge of a more diverse society, with the search for a basis of social cohesion and solidarity. Against this background, Gordon Brown has launched his Britishness project, with its aim of producing a statement of British values.
All this provides the rich material for this book. Distinguished contributors from a range of disciplines explore the question of Britishness – past, present and future. The result is a lively and authoritative discussion of an important contemporary issue.
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He is joint editor of The Political Quarterly and his books include Between Europe and America: The Future of British Politics (2003) and Politics and Fate (2000).Tony Wright is MP for Cannock Chase and Chairman of the Public Administration Committee in the House of Commons. He is joint editor of The Political Quarterly and his books include The British Political Process (1999) and Socialisms: Old and New (1996).
Andrew Gamble and Tony Wright have also co-edited The New Social Democracy (1999) and Restating The State? (2004).