The English are as obsessed with propriety as their Victorian forebears. If someone takes a shit in the middle of a garden party, the English carry on as if nothing happened. Reality denial is a strength...until it becomes delusion. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_3-23zAWM …
This has been evident many times in English history from Scott of the Antarctic to WWII. The ability to carry on blithely is an advantage. Insouciance is a form of power. But if you don’t start building planes when the Germans are rearming...you’re in trouble.