“Britishness”

In the light of my Australia Day experiences it was interesting to see a BBC news item on the need to teach Britishness. Now I remember being taught this in primary school and in Chapel. We were taught that the British had civilised the world (civilised here in used in the sense of Linklater’s Private Angelo). My daughter recently came back with a history essay in which the English had civilised the Welsh in the 13th Century a practice they took into other countries with rigor. Imposing culture in the name of civilisation and reason has bad precedent. What is democracy is defined by the constitutional position of the dominant power. Maybe it would be better if we taught ethics and history from multiple perspectives rather than using a single vision lens?