This in the Groaniad today -
Oxford social anthropologist Kate Fox writes: "The English are not usually given to patriotic boasting - indeed, both patriotism and boasting are regarded as unseemly, so the combination is doubly distasteful. But there is one significant exception to this rule, and that is the patriotic pride we take in our sense of humour, particularly our expert use of irony." This cherished national characteristic has long been a source of pride, as a character in Alan Bennett's The Old Country demonstrates. "We're conceived in irony," says Hilary, the spy who has defected to Moscow. "We float in it from the womb. It's the amniotic fluid. It's the silver sea. It's the waters at their priest-like task, washing away guilt and purpose and responsibility. Joking but not joking. Caring but not caring. Serious but not serious." But if we laugh less and don't revel in irony any more, what on earth are we good at? Volume car manufacturing? Be serious.
