Mastodawn

I keep hearing a lot about 'British Values', and as someone born and educated in Britain I'm not entirely sure what those values are, or who gets to decide what they are. I went to our governments website to find out, and it appears British Values are comma separated. Glad I cleared that up. #british #culture

Eventually I found out what these values are. They are: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Not sure how arresting me if I have "I support Palestine Action. I oppose genocide" on a piece of cardboard lives up to the values of individual liberty or respecting those with different beliefs, but maybe I've misunderstood.

@RichBartlett
Those “British values” sound good. When do they arrive? 😁

Russell Garner Oct 9

@Su_G @RichBartlett they're on a six-week boat over from China

@rgarner
Ah… the famous ‘slow boat from China’! 😂

Wilfried Klaebe Oct 9

From China? When did they ever have those values there?

@rgarner @Su_G
@RichBartlett

@Su_G I think they were made up by a previous administration when they were writing the failed PREVENT strategy (to prevent people being drawn into terrorism) and they realised they were heavily leaning a concept of British values which were so vague as to be meaningless!

Natz 🏴‍☠️ ☮️ 🌱Oct 23

@RichBartlett well, on Matthew Wright’s show on LBC @ZackPolanski nailed it with democracy, compassion and kindness to others. I can get alongside those #BritishValues

#ZackPolanski #GreenPartyUK

Victoria🏳️‍⚧️3d ago

@RichBartlett British values are: enslave half of the world and steal their riches. That's how Britain always conducted itself and never changed that. The only reason why they're rich is because they all stole that from others.

@tragivictoria strong agree. Shame we've let the worst people run the country for so long!

David Njoku Oct 8

@RichBartlett I think of the queen every time I make a CSV file. Don't you?

@davidnjoku surely that would be the king?! I'm just glad we've got sensible values, properly separated values, in plain text. This is how we built an empire.

ask an Irish person
or anyone from any of the places that used to be coloured bubblegum pink on the maps of the empire where the sun never set what "british values" are

@thingsofshane yup, makes it quite hard to be proud to be British when you remember what we've done to the world. But at least we've learned from it and are no longer jingoistic bigots who treat anyone 'other' like trash :/

Colin Rowat Oct 9

@RichBartlett Oxford comma separated?

Tom Chadwin Oct 9

@RichBartlett The cardinal British value: never merge cells

sleepfreeparent Oct 9

@RichBartlett there's a reason one of those commas is named Oxford, dammit

Michael Weiss Oct 10

@sleepfreeparent @RichBartlett came here to say this

Quantum ⊂ AI Oct 9

@RichBartlett do British Values validate in https://csvlint.io/ though?

CSV Lint

@pikesley schema Error - Below Minimum :D

Paul Barnfather Oct 9

Well, that's a relief. I was worried they might be JSON...

@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 #FBPE Oct 9

@RichBartlett
"comma separated"
- so basically a queue
- meaning something other than what was directly expressed.

Not a bad description of the better side of British values.

@RichBartlett only Oxford commas

Rodrigo Escobar Oct 9

@RichBartlett @RobW values queuing up separated by a small, perhaps awkward pause. It checks out.

SensibleOtter Oct 10

In all honesty, there is probably nothing more British than using a comma successfully, and appropriately. 🤭

Dan Caseley Oct 10

@RichBartlett
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

VS

"Tea, please, and CSVs"

@fishbowler I like it, but I don't hear a lot of 'please', so I'm going to suggest an improvement, "Tea, Queues and CSVs", given our to predilection for standing in line and tutting at anyone who attempts a more unstructured approach.

@RichBartlett Wait! This explains a lot. If British values were separated by nested parentheses instead of commas it would symbolise a new era of flexibility. A Scheme-style renaissance beckons…

Filip Lachert he/him Dec 27

@RichBartlett those 21,226 results look inspiring.

Filip Lachert he/him Dec 27

@RichBartlett those 21,226 results found look inspiring. Possibly.

David Cantrell 🏏Dec 28

@RichBartlett I think this newspaper front page from 2014 sums it up

Eli the Bearded Dec 28

CSV: Commonwealth Standard Values?

Elvis Prestwick 3d ago

@RichBartlett Crown Sovereignty Values.

Bob Thomson 3d ago

@RichBartlett its Doctor Who, the BBC and the NHS. All the things reactionary brits hate basically.

@RichBartlett it’s interesting that people with strong opinions about “British Values” invariably seem to have ones I find abhorrent, and extremely un “British”.

But here is a lovely (and quite canny and well timed) piece of interfaith solidarity, which I find tremendously excellent, and very much the sort of thing I would want to hope Britain considers as a value. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/20/attorney-general-richard-hermer-kemi-badenoch-public-prayer

Attorney general asks if Kemi Badenoch would object to Jewish public prayer

Exclusive: Richard Hermer, who is Jewish, says Tory leader and shadow minister seem ‘to only have an issue with Muslim events’

The Guardian

@benjohn I think that's British in both kindness, and as an act of dissent against the general slide into the racism which the Labour party often seems to tolerate or even echo.

@RichBartlett I am British and I wholeheartedly approve.

@RichBartlett Well, time to emigrate to somewhere whose values are tab separated I guess.

quangobaud 2d ago

@uoou @RichBartlett

We have always been at war with Tabsinsteadofspacesia.

@RichBartlett ping @brodriguesco :)