I currently live in the UK (moved a few years ago), and one of the single most infuriating thing in the culture here is how “we’ve always done it this way” is THE answer when it comes to justifying anything moronic or broken.
I know that resistance to change and attachment to traditions is not a uniquely British thing but it’s markedly worse here than anywhere else I’ve lived.
I was told in history lessons, that it was also why UK didn’t modernize after WW2.
While the rest of Europe modernized, especially Germany that had to rebuild a lot.
But when UK rebuild, they made the same mistakes as the first time all over again, because of tradition as you say.
As a counterpoint to that, after WW2 the UK created the National Health Service, comprehensive education and the rest of the welfare state, while nationalising many huge industries. For the UK that was pretty radical stuff, and it lasted until the 1980s when Thatcher and her mob started tearing it all apart.
Whether you’d call that modern I’m not sure, but it wasn’t traditional either.
I currently live in the UK (moved a few years ago), and one of the single most infuriating thing in the culture here is how “we’ve always done it this way” is THE answer when it comes to justifying anything moronic or broken.
I know that resistance to change and attachment to traditions is not a uniquely British thing but it’s markedly worse here than anywhere else I’ve lived.
I was told in history lessons, that it was also why UK didn’t modernize after WW2.
While the rest of Europe modernized, especially Germany that had to rebuild a lot.
But when UK rebuild, they made the same mistakes as the first time all over again, because of tradition as you say.
As a counterpoint to that, after WW2 the UK created the National Health Service, comprehensive education and the rest of the welfare state, while nationalising many huge industries. For the UK that was pretty radical stuff, and it lasted until the 1980s when Thatcher and her mob started tearing it all apart.
Whether you’d call that modern I’m not sure, but it wasn’t traditional either.