What are British values?
Everyone has values that they believe in and choose to live their life by. In Great Britain we share lots of values that make our nation a great place.
We all live by and respect the same laws. These keep us safe and are rules for everyone to make our world fair.
Everyone should learn to value the opinions of the people around them and to appreciate that everyone is different. We should celebrate our similarities and our differences and promote peace through a culture of respect and tolerance.
Everyone has freedom of speech which means that we are all entitled to our own opinions. What is important is that we respect everyone's opinions and don't try to force them to change them. We all also have the right to be free people and make our own choices about our lives. Any choices we do make should be thought through carefully and we should consider the effect they might have on other people. Everyone has the right to be different and live their life how they want to. Individual Liberty is something that makes our country special and great.
We should all take care of the people in our family. Families are made up of lots of different people and are very varied. No two families are the same, but we should learn to appreciate and respect each other and support each other where we can. Make time to be with your family. They are the most important people in your life.
The United Kingdom has a lot of interesting history that we learn about in school. It is through our past and history that our country is what it is today. The past makes us who we are and we should want to learn about the people and events that shaped our lives in history.
We have many different traditions. Some are ancient and some are more modern. These traditions are things that we can all enjoy and share as British people.
In this country we have democratic rights to allow everyone to have their voice heard and to share their opinions on important matters. Democracy means that we all have a chance to vote for a Prime Minister and Government, and that we can express our views on how the country runs. Democracy is the fairest way to make sure everyone is included.
Who are the British? Ask us and you will find that we dance to music from America, Africa and Asia; we eat food from Ireland, Italy and Jamaica; we speak more than three hundred languages and we know over four hundred different ways to cook a potato. We look Celtic, Arab and Bengali; we wear kilts, saris and football shorts, and if you get very close to us and look right into our eyes, you can almost see the history of the whole world. The British are not a single tribe, or a religion, and we don't come from a single place. But we are building a home where we are all able to be who we want to be, yet still be British. This is what we do: we take, we adapt, and we move forward. Benjamin Zephaniah.