Tradition, innit.

I am starting to believe that what the British construe as their national claim to pragmatism may well be little more than a tendency towards inaction.

The British dither. Not just in speech but in action too. The endless modifiers and hesitancies that mark their speech protrude into the pysical world and cause the momenturm neccessary for change to dawdle. To stagnate. They consider too long and too much, the moment passes, action remains steady and inert and in the end, impotent. They do nothing.

The reaction to this is often a return to the safety of tradition, to take a pride in their capacity for endurance, to tolerate quietly with a stiff upper lip.

But, I am starting to think the reason the British make so large a virtue of putting up with things the way they are, is because it makes a handy camouflage for what, in truth, is a vice.

This is a sedentary nation, prone to apathy, melancholia, malaise. A potato on the couch of Europe.