What Does It Mean to Be British and Does It Still Matter

“What does it mean to be British and does it still matter”

“What does it mean to be British and does it still matter”^[1] is the second article of “What does it mean to be British” ^[2] and they are both published in The Guardian. It discusses what it means to be British. The article is published in The Guardian on the 17th June 2012 and is written by Yvonne Roberts. The Guardian is a British newspaper and the paper has been publishing since 1821. The paper’s political alignment is centre-left which is associated with social democracy and the ideology promotes social justice and a welfare state. ^[3] 

The article raises the question: “What does it mean to be British and does it still matter” because of the Queen’s diamond jubilee and Olympics. They ask 5 different people, with different background and ethnicity, to discuss the topic. Even though they have different background they all, more or less, have the same stance on the issue. They do feel proud of being British and they praise the British community and state.

This paper aims to prove that being British is not about being a flag-waving nation, but a country with multiculturalism that is proud of their democracy and the different nationalities.

 As written above, The Guardian is a left-centered paper and this can be seen here: “We've been very worried on the left because we think of people who have waved the flag for the wrong reasons”. This shows that they have chosen people from the left wing to discuss the matter and The Guardian political stance.

An Asian woman named Shazia Awan, who was born and raised in Wales, is discussing the topic of immigration. She is proud of being British and to be born in a western society: “As a society we have become ungrateful… we're actually quite a caring, accepting, tolerant nation. There are a lot of negative associations about British identity”. She thinks that people of Britain have negative associations with British identity because they have a reputation about being hostile and not welcoming towards people with another religion and culture.

In the bottom of the article it says that she is an former Conservative party parliamentary member and this can also be seen in her statements: “I've met asylum seekers who have left home, country, everything, in the hope that there's something better in Britain. You've got people that say, 'I don't see myself as British' and I think, well, you should be jolly well ashamed of yourself”. The policy of the conservative party: “ Are standing up for hardworking people”^[4] and they want to close bogus colleges and restrict access to work, healthcare and bank accounts. This shows that she is less for immigration than some of the other parties. Shazia Awan also relates being English with her childhood: “I spoke English at school and Welsh, but at home I've never spoken a word of English. I spoke Punjabi and Urdu because our languages were important to us. But integration is very important”. She thinks that speaking another language at home can slow the immigration and even though she has shown that it can be possible to speak different languages and still be British, she still makes it a negative thing to do. This contrary to the fact that they all stand for Britain being a melting pot of different cultures: “To be British is very much about being a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds. That's what I do love about Britain, the fact that there's people from so many different backgrounds who can share their own cultures, their backgrounds, their attitudes, and we live in a tolerant society where that is accepted and celebrated”.