I have been reading a book recently. It's a good book, well worth a read, and it's called "The English" and it is written by Jeremy Paxman.
Now when he is busy being aloof and pretentious, I have no time, possibly less, for Paxman and his bad manners when interviewing slimy fatcat politicians. They may be evil, but even in WWII we would give captured Nazi pilots a fag and a cuppa.
However, this book has touched a nerve with me. Largely because more and more, it seems, we are losing the National identity which we are so proud of not having. But this is the paradoxical problem. We aren't even sure what it is we are losing, since we (being English) are so very good at understatement.