A definition of Britishness?

So we are not the only people who find self-promotion embarrasing.The International Herald Tribune in its search for a definition of Brtishness raises questions like

“What does it mean to be British? How do you express it in a country that believes self-promotion to be embarrassing? And how do you deal with a defining trait of the people you are trying to define – their habit of making fun of worthy government proposals?”

I guess this reading or misreading of the British character might help us for insight into our own.