Event Category: Parliament Week

British Values

S1 00:00:04:03

Great Britain. The British Isles. Britannia. We all know what it means to be British. And of course, we all share the same values.

S2 00:00:17:01

Whoa, hang on. Do we, though? It seems to me there's a lot of debate about that.

S1

Well, you can't get more British than Shakespeare.

S2

What about music festivals?

S1

Bangers and mash.

S2

Barbecues in the rain.

S1

Seaside holidays.

S2

Chicken tikka masala.

S1

Bagpipes.

S2

Seagulls.

S1

Royal Guards.

00:00:22:22 00:00:25:15 00:00:26:13 00:00:27:27 00:00:28:14 00:00:29:14 00:00:30:18 00:00:31:04 00:00:31:18

1/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S2 00:00:32:08

Folk music.

S1 00:00:32:20

British bulldog. Taxis.

S2 00:00:34:21

Carnival. Bowls. British Values. What do you think they are and what do they mean? We sent a film crew out onto the streets of London during the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee to ask random people some key questions about Britain's identity. Are you British?

S3 00:00:54:07

I am. Yes.

S15 00:00:55:11

Yes. Yes.

S4 00:00:55:23

Yes recently. This is the fifth year that I'm living in the UK and I am applying for becoming British. That's why I am still learning from it. I'm from Iran.

S5 00:01:06:00

I'm as English as they come.

S6 00:01:07:28

Yes. In education. In values. And in understanding the system. Yes.

S7 00:01:12:05

I'm Welsh, actually, I'm from Wales. I now live in Newcastle. But yeah, British through and through.

2/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S17 00:01:17:04

Yes.

S8 00:01:18:00

No. We are from India. And we are just students here. Master students.

S13 00:01:23:03

Yes.

S19 00:01:23:14

No.

S10 00:01:24:16

I am British, born in Scotland, but I classify myself as British. British subject.

S2 00:01:29:18

What do you think of when I say Britain?

S5 00:01:33:16

The Queen, the castle and the corgi.

S12 00:01:40:00

Uh... good humour.

S13 00:01:45:12

Football.

S12 00:01:46:10

Rain. Although it's not raining.

S14 00:01:50:20

The bus. The red bus. Of course. Yeah.

S12

You have a pretty flag.

00:01:53:01

3/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S9 00:01:57:07

Traditional royal telephone. I mean, not royal.

S6 00:02:00:13

Number one is the monarchy because there is no other country on the planet Earth that has a constitutional monarchy that has that unique arrangement between parliament, the ministers and monarchy.

S2 00:02:16:03

What do you think Britain's values are?

S5 00:02:19:18

There ain't any - that's the problem eh.

S7 00:02:21:08

With things like democracy, it's obviously really important for our country. And we see around the world where that isn't the case. You know, and how sad that is.

S6 00:02:29:11

Fairness. That means everybody has a say. Everybody has a part.

S4 00:02:33:24

Hospitality. Accommodating all people from all around the world, I mean me as well. And the second thing is that they're very kind and very warm.

S5 00:02:42:21

Today everyone's out being patriotic, isn't it? But yeah. Any other day. No, no one's too English are they.

S12 00:02:46:29

Being kind? Um, help each other and go to the pub and have fun.

4/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S10 00:02:59:23

British values used to be according to scripture, according to the Bible.

S15 00:03:04:11

When we talk about British, we're talking about generosity. Caring. And consideration for other people. Humanity. Humanity. Everything. Multiculture. Multiculture. Yes, of course. Yeah.

S17 00:03:19:20

I think there's a stigma with British. I think for a lot of people it's probably being well spoken. I think it's being quite upper class, and I think that stigma hopefully has now gone.

S7 00:03:33:04

Um having your own individual views. Teaching children that they should have a right to be heard and we should listen to them and respect their views and they should therefore respect the views and the rights of other people that they're growing up with.

S2 00:03:48:08

Next, we told them the government's four official British values: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

S12 00:04:03:24

I think they're very good. They should stick to them.

S4 00:04:06:12

Yeah, I see it in everyday aspects of my life. I can feel it and touch it. Yeah. All these four values, especially democracy.

S2 00:04:13:28

Are the British living up to those values?

5/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S6 00:04:17:18

Tries to.

S15 00:04:18:27

Yeah. Yes they are. Yeah.

S11 00:04:20:19

No. Do we hell. No, no, not at all, I don't think so.

S3 00:04:26:03

I think generally the majority of people want to. Whether our leaders do is another matter.

S10 00:04:30:20

Well, you can't live up to them if you forget God, see if you forget God in your life, you live a life of sin.

S9 00:04:37:03

They've been supportive for us. And they are always ready to accept everyone from any country or anything like.

S13 00:04:43:15

I wouldn't agree to that.

S19 00:04:47:05

Yeah. No, I don't think fully.

S17 00:04:48:13

Yeah. Rule of law, I think that's a difficult one. I think you should learn enough I think this day and age, and especially down to being able, like, competent when you leave school, to be able to say, well, what is right and wrong?

S19 00:05:01:18

Not, not every member of the country is equal under the law. And especially those in power. Which is quite hypocritical of them.

6/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S13 00:05:10:11

You can't preach something and then not do it.

S17 00:05:12:13

Democracy can be quite a big thing in terms of what we have that other countries necessarily don't. And I think sometimes that can be in a positive or a negative manner.

S3 00:05:21:13

Sometimes there are only poor choices, but we still have to make a choice.

S19 00:05:25:22

The actual concept of monarchy is completely contradictory to democracy as a sentiment. It's just one person who has arbitrary power.

S10 00:05:33:20

We're supposed to be the United Kingdom, but in my opinion, we are now the perverted kingdom. The situation is now that lying has been institutionalised in the political realm.

S1 00:05:42:12

You definitely feel that our British values have been lost. It seems.

S10 00:05:46:11

Not lost, destroyed.

S2 00:05:48:26

What examples are there of British values in action?

7/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

S4 00:05:53:09

I got a neighbour. She's almost about 70 years old, and she told me that she's going to throw a party for the elderly people that are living in the care house - care homes. And she's doing very much in order to prepare food for these parties, for the platinum Jubilee parties. And I'm so excited to see how she's keen to prepare everything for people.

S7 00:06:15:22

Where we live near Tynemouth, the north coast, there's some groups that support people who are struggling with mental health and they do that by going wild swimming early in the morning. So there's groups for children and for adults to get into the water on the North Sea. Right. Pretty cold and doing that, fresh, in the morning, in the middle of winter, is really helpful for your mental health.

S17 00:06:39:10

Through work, you know we have the values of treating everyone fairly, making sure that, you know, that we take everyone at face value, that nobody, you know, like pre-judging or down to, you know, anything to do with religion or ethnicity or anything like that. And I think you need to have those values going forward because everybody's equal on that point. So hopefully that's what the next generation will see.

S2 00:07:00:28

Any country's values change with time and vary from person to person. Traditions matter more to some than others.

S1 00:07:08:22

Ha! Indeed they do.

S2 00:07:10:13

But new traditions need the chance to evolve. What do you think of the government's official values and what makes Britain 'Britain' in the 21st century?

8/9

Clip: British Values.mp4

9/9