welcome
The Critic Magazine

The Critic Magazine

World

World

The impoverishment of British values | Jake Scott | The Critic Magazine

The Critic Magazine
Summary
Nutrition label

66% Informative

Konstantin Kisin made waves recently with a succinct summary of British Values.

He was responding to a proposal by Labour MP Tahir Ali of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley that the UK ought to explore the possibility of reintroducing blasphemy laws.

Yet, the whole point of “liberal principles” is that there is very little on which we all agree.

Before 2008 , blasphemy laws were part of the legal landscape of England and Wales — and continued to be so in Scotland until 2021 .

Was no one really British before these laws? I am concerned with the moral claim that “ British Values” flow from, or are expressed in, these legal norms.

It would seem to me that Kisin is instead making a civilisational argument, that the values he lists are more specifically ways of thinking and behaving common in Western Civilisation .

If a referendum was passed on the question should women be forced to wear religious dress?’, would that make the conclusion acceptable? Probably not. I don’t know how Kisin would be able to argue against it, though, given that it is “what we agree on”.

VR Score

67

Informative language

65

Neutral language

34

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

62

Offensive language

likely offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

detected

Time-value

medium-lived

Source diversity

1

Affiliate links

no affiliate links