The Wykehamist The Wykehamist Cloister Time 2017 | Page 3

more heavily on the wealthy and large
corporations as well as the expansion of the
welfare state and greater social protection. The
Labour Manifesto also attempts to tackle
problems of job insecurity by passing
legislature including such measures as:
increasing the rights of the worker; banning
zero-hour contracts and amending company
laws so that directors are also liable to their
employees. Corbyn also suggests ways in
which to “widen ownership of the economy”.
The government would, under a Labour
administration, extend state ownership over
the railways, postal service, and key utilities.
A national bank would also be set up. Marx
advocated these ideas of public ownership and
public responsibility.
What Marx said might matter because many
believe he identified a number of problems
that are present in modern Britain. Whilst his
solutions have been shown to be impractical,
this should not take away from the relevance
of his criticisms. One can view these criticisms
as a possible reason for Corbyn’s own success
and it is possible to see the influence Marx has
had on the Labour Party’s manifesto. Perhaps
the solution lies somewhere in between: a free
market economy where the ills of capitalism
are recognised and addressed through
comprehensive reform.
║FEATURE ARTICLE
British Values
Alexander Ind (H)
In November 2014, the Department for
Education declared that all schools should
promote “fundamental British values”. The
advice was supposed to encourage integration
and stop extremism developing at schools,
after a plot was uncovered to introduce an
Islamic agenda into some state schools in
Birmingham.
So, what are British values? According to the
Department of Education, they are democracy,
the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance
of those with different faiths and beliefs.
These are all great virtues, but they are not
unique to Britain. However, Britain does have
some values which truly distinguish us as a
nation, and which have been instilled in our
history, our culture and our country’s
personality for centuries. The most important
of these is our sense of fair play and decency.
We don’t dive at football (or at least not as
much as the Italians) and we declare our fouls
at snooker. We play by the rules. We form
queues at the cinema. In the tube, we stand on
the right and we walk on the left. We are
modest and considerate. We respect personal
space. We don’t put our seats back in
airplanes. We don’t talk in lifts or in the men’s
loos. We respect individual freedoms. If you
want to have a tattoo on your face and a ring
through your nose, that’s just fine, we won’t
stare at you.
The British are good winners. A great example
was David Cameron’s magnanimous victory
speech back in 2015, when he won the General
Election. Cameron had just pulled off one of
the most extraordinary victories in the history
of British politics, defying the opinion polls to
win a parliamentary majority against all the
odds – in other words, the exact opposite of
what Theresa May achieved in the 2017
General Election. But there was no
triumphalism. He praised Ed Miliband for his
generosity and public service, he
acknowledged the role of Nick Clegg in the
previous coalition government, he talked about
“governing with respect” and tried to appeal as
much to the people who had not voted
Conservative as those who had. Compare that
to Donald Trump’s speech at his presidential
inauguration. There was no acknowledgment
of Hillary Clinton and no appeal to a broader
audience. The message was simple: “America
first” as delivered by The Donald. It was
populist, graceless and divisive.
The British are also good losers (maybe
because we get lots of practice). The ultimate
good British loser was Captain Oates. In 1912,
a British expedition to the Antarctic ended in
disaster, after a Norwegian team beat them to
the South Pole. On their disastrous journey
back, one member of the British team, Captain
Oates, was suffering from terrible injuries and
frostbite and was holding up the team’s
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