LONDON -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown has been calling for a national debate on the subject of British identity and what he terms "Britishness."
In the past, the British have been not too concerned with such matters. It all seemed simple enough and hardly worth discussing. Britain was an island with clear boundaries set by the sea around it. On this island lived the British race. So why worry about anything beyond that?
But times have changed. Suddenly the question of national identity seems much more complicated and surrounded by feelings of unease and loss of definition.