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Factual: Politics

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad.

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.

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Analysis: Britishness

Britishness

14/06/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, Britishness

Dr John Bew asks what the state can do to promote national identity.

Can politicians make us more patriotic? Dr John Bew compares the old and new governments' approaches to Britishness and examines plans to teach more British history in schools.

Gordon Brown's government attempted to create a shared British identity based on values. The project was dismissed as too top down by the Conservatives. But now they too are advocating state-directed measures to inspire patriotism: Education Secretary Michael Gove has called on schools to teach traditional British history as a means of reinforcing a sense of British identity, with British Empire expert Niall Ferguson to guide them. Historian John Bew asks whether such a strategy can really be a force for social cohesion. 

Dr John Bew is lecturer in War Studies and deputy director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King's College London. 

Producer: Helen Grady
Editor: Innes Bowen.

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