ABSTRACT
If you believe political statements, you’d have to think that values matter a great deal. Consider inaugural speeches by recent British prime ministers. The current prime minister, David Cameron, took o ce pledging, “Above all it will be a government that is built on some clear values, values of freedom, values of fairness and values of responsibility.” His predecessor, Gordon Brown, accepted his position as prime minister while claiming, “All I believe and all I try to do come from the values that I grew up with – duty, honesty, hard work, family.” A decade ago, Tony Blair stressed, “Integration is not about culture or lifestyle … it is about values. It is about integrating at the point of shared, common unifying British values.”
