Original post by L i bI'm not particularly sure to what extent we do have a shared set of values. In terms of politics, there's a huge divergence even within this country as to what our values should be.
So when the language of shared values is used, it's often in fairly broad strokes: fair play, a vague sense of individual rights, democracy. You might argue that these values, broadened out, are little more than common human values. Dig a bit deeper, and we usually see dispute about what they mean in practice.
You only have to look at the UK. We each understand human rights quite differently, and a sizeable chunk of the population simply don't believe in a universally applicable scheme of rights ("he's a nonce, he shouldn't have human rights"). Parliamentary democracy is another one: it seems our parliamentary democracy is held pretty much in contempt by many.
Even democracy as a concept is undermined: look at the aftermath of the last referendum, with zoomers galore gathering to declare it effectively illegitimate. We had Scots nationalists suggesting that it was actually a vote to Remain, mainstream Remainers saying old people's votes are worth less, Lib Dems suggesting people didn't understand the question.
How much do we actually share? What values really unite the Corbynista and the High Tory old buffer in this country? What validity do they have beyond our shores, even with the likes of Canada, New Zealand and Australia?