Gordon Brown has made Britishness one of his defining issues. To meet the challenges of globalisation, migration and devolution, he seeks to bind the nation around British values - liberty, responsibility and fairness.
A noble aim, but a national identity based on a set of fixed, exclusive, civic values is bound to fail. Our national identity needs a more subtle vein, and culture (including heritage) must be an equal partner.
In the past, strong feelings of difference from the other - a protestant tradition in all four parts of the UK, set in opposition to Catholic France, for example - as well as shared projects of conquest and empire brought together the four nation states and fostered a British identity. As these features of life waned, so national identity weakened.
So how to recapture it? In the US they salute the flag, they pledge allegiance. Their national identity is civic. But American bonds - religion, reverence for the office of president, the capitalist dream - do not have the same power here. The sceptical, secular, ironic characteristics that are deep in the British soul require a different path.
The life-story we carry with us defines us more than the passport we hold. Since the founding of our nation, plurality has been at the heart of Britain and our ability and openness to adapt to and benefit from a rapidly changing society is the very nature of our Britishness.
Empire and our island history of maritime trade have brought cultural enrichment from all over the world, which has been taken in and made a part of Britain. Crucially, the ability of those that don't make up the dominant culture to give is as important as the openness of our culture to receive.
This reciprocity is difficult with values - accept them, or you are not British - but easier to achieve in the cultural realm. Every society has its cultural glories, and far from threatening others, they are gifts which an immigrant group can contribute to their new home and see in its changing character.
But simply exchanging food or music is not enough to make a coherent society. We need to understand the true history and cultural identity of the other if we are to make real relationships. As chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the past seven years, I have seen the power that exploring heritage has to connect people.
From miners' banners to local dialects, through bringing together people divided by sectarianism to explore their shared pasts, the unifying theme is that heritage is vitally important in telling us about who we are and where we come from.
A fixed set of values can never do that. Cultural change and exchange is what will make us a stronger nation. This continual altering of our identity is the essence of Britishness itself.
Liz Forgan is a former chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She recently became a trustee of the British Museum
A noble aim, but a national identity based on a set of fixed, exclusive, civic values is bound to fail. Our national identity needs a more subtle vein, and culture (including heritage) must be an equal partner.
In the past, strong feelings of difference from the other - a protestant tradition in all four parts of the UK, set in opposition to Catholic France, for example - as well as shared projects of conquest and empire brought together the four nation states and fostered a British identity. As these features of life waned, so national identity weakened.
So how to recapture it? In the US they salute the flag, they pledge allegiance. Their national identity is civic. But American bonds - religion, reverence for the office of president, the capitalist dream - do not have the same power here. The sceptical, secular, ironic characteristics that are deep in the British soul require a different path.
The life-story we carry with us defines us more than the passport we hold. Since the founding of our nation, plurality has been at the heart of Britain and our ability and openness to adapt to and benefit from a rapidly changing society is the very nature of our Britishness.
Empire and our island history of maritime trade have brought cultural enrichment from all over the world, which has been taken in and made a part of Britain. Crucially, the ability of those that don't make up the dominant culture to give is as important as the openness of our culture to receive.
This reciprocity is difficult with values - accept them, or you are not British - but easier to achieve in the cultural realm. Every society has its cultural glories, and far from threatening others, they are gifts which an immigrant group can contribute to their new home and see in its changing character.
But simply exchanging food or music is not enough to make a coherent society. We need to understand the true history and cultural identity of the other if we are to make real relationships. As chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the past seven years, I have seen the power that exploring heritage has to connect people.
From miners' banners to local dialects, through bringing together people divided by sectarianism to explore their shared pasts, the unifying theme is that heritage is vitally important in telling us about who we are and where we come from.
A fixed set of values can never do that. Cultural change and exchange is what will make us a stronger nation. This continual altering of our identity is the essence of Britishness itself.
Liz Forgan is a former chairwoman of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She recently became a trustee of the British Museum
