Sexual Politics

• Edward Carpenter, 1844-1929: Prophet of Human Fellowship by Chushichi Tsuzuki
  Cambridge, 237 pp, £15.00, November 1980, ISBN 0 521 23371 2

The British were the only people who went through both world wars from beginning to end. Yet they remained a peaceful and civilised people, tolerant, patient and generous. Traditional values lost much of their force. Other values took their place. Imperial greatness was on the way out: the welfare state was on the way in. The British Empire declined: the condition of the people improved. Few now sang ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Few even sang ‘England Arise’. England had risen all the same.