Land of extremes

摘要

MORE than most people the British pride themselves on being sensible. Others might go in for such silly things as revolutions and theories. Britons prefer pragmatism to ideology, moderation to extremism, continuity to change. Walter Bagehot- praised his fellow-countrymen for their "inconsistent moderation". George Orwell thought that the essence of Englishness lay in continuity. "It stretches into the future and the past, there is something in it that persists, as in a living creature." George VI once pronounced that"abroad is bloody".