WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING BRITISH?

What's Wrong With Being British?

Peter Whittle

World rights: Biteback

Publication: May 2012

‘Why are young people so ignorant of British history?’ ‘Why do I feel that I should keep quiet about being proud to be British?’ ‘Why am I frightened of being called an extremist if I want to celebrate being British?’ ‘Why are more and more people calling themselves English rather than British?’ ‘Why are the British characteristics we used to be proud of now considered funny?’ ‘Why does it seem that all British culture means now is cheap celebrities and endless shopping?' ‘Why do we seem so ready to do ourselves down?’ ‘Are our ruling elites ashamed of us? Who are these elites anyway?’ ‘Why is it that people keep telling us that Britishness is just an invention, unlike other, supposedly more genuine nationalities?’

What’s Wrong with Being British? will explore in an authoritative, accessible and entertaining way the reasons why people are asking these questions.  It will demonstrate how the answers to some are straightforward, and to others more complicated.  It will illuminate and explain how we came to be living in such a cultural landscape. It will reassure some, and hopefully educate many others. And above all, it will add to the ongoing debate an all-important voice- one which has been missing for far too long.

Peter Whittle is the author of Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain (SAU 2008), Private Lives: Voices from the Front Line of British Culture (SAU/NCF 2009), A Sorry State: Self Denigration in British Culture (NCF 2010) and Monarchy Matters (SAU 2011). He is a columnist for Standpoint magazine and has contributed to the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, Daily Mail, Los Angeles Times and the Financial Times among others.

Peter appears regularly on the broadcast media, including BBC 2’s The Review Show, The Daily Politics, Radio 4’s Start the Week and The Moral Maze, Channel 4, Sky News and Channel 5. He has produced and directed numerous factual programmes for both UK and USA networks. He is founder and director of the New Culture Forum.

www.peterwhittle.co.uk