Peter Moore: Why are young people not proud to be British?

It’s appalling.

Young people between the ages of 18 and 27 are not proud to be British, only 11 per cent would fight for Britain, half think we’re stuck in the past and believe we are a racist country and nearly 60 per cent are ashamed to be British.

This generation is now known as Generation Z, which I pronounce zed not zee. Does this mean the future of our country is bleak?

Older generations have always moaned about the “youngsters of today”. They are “not like in our day”.

I suspect that when caveman Ug’s son invented the wheel his dad said: “What use is that? Complete waste of time. There’s nothing wrong with legs.”

In 1933 the Oxford Union passed the motion, “This house would not in any circumstances fight for King and country”. This is the generation that fought bravely six years later to defeat fascism.

My generation of baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, should have become one of the most revolutionary generations ever. We produced some of the most shocking satire from Beyond the Fringe to That Was The Week That Was. Jokes about the Second World War and vicious attacks on politicians shocked the older generation.

The 1960s was a time of protest songs such as Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, God on our Side and Blowing in the Wind. “If God’s on our side he’ll stop the next war”.

Joan Baez sang Kumbaya. There were other hard-hitting songs such as Eve of Destruction. These protest songs were followed by John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance.

This was also the time when there were mass protests against the Vietnam war and sit-ins at universities and colleges. In 1968 there was a major protest and riot outside the American embassy in Grosvenor Square, London.  Mick Jagger urged insurrection while Lennon was preaching peace and love.

I understand that the 60s was a decade of drugs, sex and rock and roll but somehow they all by-passed me.

What happened to my revolutionary generation? I don’t think Sir Mick Jagger is still demanding insurrection.  We are the same generation but many have now swung to the right, supporting Brexit and Reform UK.

We are all shaped by events when we are growing up. Us baby boomers were brought up in the shadow of the Second World War. Both my parents were in the Army. Both hated the idea of war having seen it at first hand but knew that some regimes are so evil we are left with no choice. The cold war was at its peak and we were told how to cope with a nuclear attack although I was never sure that climbing under a desk would make much difference. President Kennedy was shot when I was 13 and Marin Luther King when I was 18.

But what was happening when Gen Z were growing up? The oldest was born in 1997, 15 years after the Falklands War and six years after 9/11. They were four when the allies invaded Afghanistan and six when we invaded Iraq. To my generation the motivation for World War Two was clear. To Gen Z the invasion of Iraq is highly controversial and the invasion of Afghanistan ended with the Allies pulling out and the Taliban regaining control.

On the domestic front they have lived through Covid. The schools were shut and they could not go out. We had a succession of prime ministers and fairly chaotic governments. The country’s finances are dire and they have seen education and the NHS struggling to cope. At the same time governments have prioritised older people when student loans and rents have gone up. It is hardly surprising that they are not passionately supportive of the country.

Does this make me worried for the future? I am an optimist. To misquote the Bible, Gen Z shall inherit the earth. We’ve been here before.

“I see no hope for the future today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond measure” was written by Hesiod in ancient Greece 3,000 years ago.