IT may have escaped your attention - it did mine - but August Bank Holiday was meant to be Britishness Day.

In what appears to be an increasingly neurotic need for this country to define its identity, immigration minister Liam Byrne suggested we hold street parties, carnivals and festivals to celebrate all that's great about being British.

He claimed widespread support for it being held on a bank holiday weekend as it is summer and already a bank holiday.

But, in a perfect encapsulation of all that is foolish in trying to establish any set notion of Britishness, he inadvertantly upset the People's Republic of Scotland by not recognising our brothers and sisters north of the border celebrate their bank holiday at the start of August.

The SNP wasted no time in pointing out what it viewed as Byrne's "blunder", accusing the minister of trying to bolster support for the government.

And therein lies the problem.

If anything, Britishness must be defined by space not race.

Britishness should include everything - every manner, culture, attitude, belief, thought and community - within its borders at any given time.

As our Olympians proved so royally, we are capable of achieving great things with dignity, respect and an endearing humility.

We love fair play, honesty, hard work and recognition.

Heroic deeds become us well, as do creative excellence, philosophical brilliance, political genius and industrial distinction.

We're forgiving, earnest and willing to recognise effort as well as attainment.

We love the underdog and show due reverence to the leader that earns it.

We're proud of our democracy and should treasure, protect and defend our freedoms of speech, movement, assembly, association and the press.

As an island people we've always looked beyond our borders both for trade and new blood.

We're a mongrel race - multiculturalism and ethnic diversity are nothing new to these crowded shores.

We're bawdy, irreverent free-spirits who can be a little stroppy and love to squabble, brawl and drink too much.

But if we accept all that we must also look at our capacity for puny pettiness - the shop-your-neighbour, fill-their-bin, ban-it-now, Asbo-issuing small-mindedness that has replaced the vacuum left by the retreat of the best aspects of community spirit.