The true meaning of being British

Mar 20 2008 by Peter Jackson, The Journal

HOW should we celebrate Britishness or the process of becoming British? Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wants a national holiday and for schoolchildren to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen – perhaps to be mumbled bashfully and to be followed by a nice cup of tea.

In truth, a more appropriate way of celebrating Britishness in the early 21st Century would be to drink oneself into a stupor then sign up for a loan one has little prospect of repaying. Indeed, the Government seems determined to achieve this for young people with 24-hour drinking and the introduction of university tuition fees.

For debt – great stonking amounts of debt – is truly now part of the national culture. In the UK, total personal debt stands at £1.3 trillion and this year, debt freedom day – the notional day by which the average worker has earned enough just to pay interest on their debts – fell last Monday, a month later than last year.

Yes, if you are the average John – or Joanna – Bull, then, according to the latest research, you spent the first 70 days of this year working just to clear the interest on your credit card and loan debt. Britons now pay almost £1.5bn in interest payments in personal loan debt interest payments alone.

This, however, is small beer compared to the debts the Government has been accruing on our behalf.

Government net debt is now about £540bn, or 37% of GDP, compared to 30% in 2002. To make matters worse, some analysts have pointed out that if debts from Northern Rock, the Public Finance Initiative and public sector pension schemes were added, then Government debt would be well over 100% of GDP.

Whether such accounting adjustments are made or not will make no difference to the reality of the situation, which is that the whole country, from the individual to the State, is in hock up to its eyeballs.

This is not a good situation to be in even when times are good and the economy is booming. It is a particularly bad place to be when one of our major trading partners is slipping into recession, we face economic slowdown and we are engaged in an increasingly expensive war. Welcome to Britain.

For debt – great stonking amounts of debt – is truly now part of the national culture