For five years now schools in England have been required to promote “British values”.

Drinking tea, forming queues and an inability to speak foreign languages don’t make the list. But democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different beliefs or faiths do.

I would imagine that most right-thinking, liberal-minded people can agree with that list. We might argue that they should be promoted not just throughout the UK but throughout the world, as far as possible.

But if children learn from the example of grown-ups, then it has to be said that they’re not being taught much in the way of British values at the moment.

What happens to “the rule of law” when even the Prime Minister is prepared to break a law he doesn’t like? No doubt burglars don’t like the law against theft either,

And what about “mutual respect and tolerance of different beliefs”? There’s little of that either. MPs who happen to believe Brexit is a bad idea are subject to horrible abuse and even death threats from those with a different belief.

It ranges from right-wing newspapers calling them “traitors” or “enemies of the people” and mobs shouting “Soubry is a Nazi,” through to a situation where MPs get bricks through their windows and need panic buttons installed in their homes.

It’s now the norm for politicians to have police protection at public events. Between September 2018 and July this year there have been 238 crimes against them.

Yet when an MP warns Boris Johnson about these daily threats he dismisses her concerns as “humbug”.

His henchman Dominic Cummings was equally dismissive, saying of the death and rape threats it was “not surprising some people are angry”.

What about “democracy”? Brexiteers like to say that our departure from the EU is about respecting democracy as expressed in the 2016 referendum. But democracy is not just about counting votes every few years; it’s about the freedom to debate ideas without fear of violence. If people are too frightened to stand for election, democracy is undermined.

“Individual liberty” means freedom of speech – the right to disagree. Nobody in this day and age should be subject to death threats for their views. We stopped burning heretics at the stake 400 years ago.

When we disagree with someone, we should be civilised enough to agree to differ – not threaten to kill them. I would have thought that was the British way.

Where did this extremism come from? Some suggest the inflammatory language of Boris Johnson is partly to blame. A threat issued against Labour MP Jess Phillips quoted him, by saying Brexiteers would “die in a ditch”.

And of course social media is viewed as a culprit. The internet has allowed those who want to send threatening or abusive messages a level of anonymity. But it has had the effect of normalising verbal attacks on politicians. Some stupid people assume they’re now fair game for abuse.

But I think there’s been a shift in our culture over the past few decades that is playing a part. And it could be yet another US import.

Hysterical, extreme reactions were never part of the British personality. We were supposed to be measured and moderate. We left weeping in public to Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks and other American Oscar winners.

Not any more. The weirdest aspect of Princess Diana’s death in August 1997 was the very un-British reaction among thousands of people who didn’t know her. They thronged the streets of London, and those who weren’t sobbing uncontrollably were wiping away tears and comforting each other as if they had just lost their mother.

Only two people lost their mother. William and Harry deserved our sympathy – but they must have been appalled and probably angry about our hysteria, as if we were all entitled to feel as upset as they did.

Now emoting is everywhere. None of the “reality” talent shows are without their screeching, shouting audiences, most of them on their feet. What happened to a decorous British ripple of applause?

If you can weep and wail hysterically at anything, it’s not really too far from wailing abuse and threats at politicians as well.

Britons used to be buttoned up. Now they let it all hang out. Let’s refasten our buttons.