Ve haf vays (or do we?)

Can you legislate for people's behaviour? Clearly certain Ministers believe you can. They are calling for a raft of measures designed to make us all act and feel more "British". This includes the idea of having a national "Britain Day". I remain to be convinced that this is anything more than meaningless sound-bite politics. For starters - just what do they mean by Britishness? As far as I can see, the measures they are proposing have simply to do with a sense of common community - nothing to do with Britain as such. Which brings us to the basic question - can you make people behave in a certain way through legislation? I suppose you could point to race relations and sex equality as being two areas where this has succeeded - or has it? Has it actually altered the way people think - and rather than behaviour, that really is the problem here. The London bombers, as far as I can see, behaved pretty well as good, upright citizens. It's what they were thinking that mattered, and I cannot see that what is proposed would have any effect on that.