I think what I meant to say is...it would be awful if (for example coz it's what I was waffling about) Maori culture died out, of course it would...but it's a culture of oral storytelling...and I don't think that will, kids love a story...plus the ideas of respecting nature and all that...people are always going to love and admire that stuff.

The British traditions...well I'm not entirely sure what he means when he says that (morris dancing?)...coz hasn't our culture always been one more based on ideas and ingenuity and all that? Which by it's nature does evolve...

Well, quite.  As people, we're nothing like what we were even 50 years ago.  Some core ideas, such as liberalism, have been around for 300 years or so while at the same time others, like the divine right of kings, died out.  The artefacts of colonialism in our culture is about 400 years old.  The idea of rights dates back 800 years.  But we abolished slavery about 200 years ago.  Not that long ago, we used to hang gay people and women were denied the vote.  But now we don't.  He's not really being very clear at all.

A lot like Thatcher going on about wanting a return to "Victorian values".
What, workhouses and sending kids up chimneys?

I willn't use the term Thatcherite because it annoys Danjay. So let's say that since '79 we have suffered market economy fans in government. I believe that it was the evil one herself who said that one can't buck the market. Hence we will get economic migrants. Some would say this is a good thing; we need lotsa young tax paying workers to support the rest of us as we age, we are thus able to poach all the best brains from elsewhere. Some would say it's a bad thing for the reasons Griffin and co believe. Loss of warm beer, village greens, bobbies on bicycles two by two etc. Who knows?