I think all the talk about British values misses one singular point, that really makes the discussion what it is; stories, or values embedded in what we used to be.
Conservatism is that; going back to what we were, to find out what we are today.
In Great Britain, there are several sources to what Great Britain is now; the Roman histories as Camelot and the knights around the round table, the viking stories of marauders pillaging the countryside, being the best warriors of their time, of our time in fact, the gallic stories of romance and Scots of the highlands.
What does these stories have in common, and how may we say that we can find values in these stories?
There is a continuum as I see it; the beginning of the Romans, the consecutive fights in the 500´dreds, the fights with the vikings and then the expansion of the Empire. The idea, that there is a balance between on one side justice, and the other side freedom, consecrated in the Magna Carta. Where we at one side have justice as the ruling principle of common law, and freedom as the ruling principle in the democratic assembly. Throw in the values of equality professed at the round table of the knights. There you have it; freedom, justice and equality.
But we need to focus on the values that are really threatened today. Is it romance, freedom, justice or equality? Well, the justice system is threatened by competing courts called sharia courts. But truly this is only a nuisance, not a real threat. Romance and equality is not threatened much, perhaps romance because of the freewheeling ideas of the young. But after all, England will always be a land of romance. Then we end up at the most threatened value, the value of freedom.
This value is truly threatened. Not just a little, a lot. Threatened by an alien system in the EU, who have no idea about the free thought of the free man. Threatened by islamic extremists, who dream about giving us the deathkiss of the caliphate.
Freedom is threatened, and that is exactly why UKIP is a succes. UK Independent. The overall message the constituency thought to convey to the political establishment by voting UKIP, is the fact that the freedom of the fair isles of England is under threat.
This is not just an accidental value, it is the value of the viking ancestors of the British. This is why we in Denmark shine on the international scene; we invented the value and the consecutive system that was made with it; the Thinge and the Freestate.
So to fight for British values in a situation where everything is at stake, you need to realize that freedom is not just another thing we can live without. It is the very lifeblood of what it is to be British. The true value that Britain has spread to the world, through democracy.
Something to stand up for, something to fight for, something that if not tended to, is lost.
So, look into yourself, find your strength, you are as much vikings inside as we are here in Denmark, and honestly as the old berserkers stood their stand where they put up shop, so should England, so should Britain, NEVER SURRENDER!
G-d bless England.