Britain is one of the greatest countries in the history of the world.

I don’t say that lightly. I don’t say it from a textbook or from a politician’s script. I say it as someone who’s lived it, fought for it, and carried its values into some of the darkest corners of the earth.

And on the eve of one of Britain’s most controversial protests, due to take place on the 13th of September 2025, I write these words from another conflict zone in the Middle East. I am far from home. Far from my family, far from everyone and everything I love. But that distance only makes me more determined to speak the truth about our country and the values it stands for.

I joined the British Army at the age of sixteen. Just a boy. I spent eighteen years in uniform. Eighteen years serving our country, serving alongside some of the finest men and women I could ever hope to meet. I saw courage, loyalty, sacrifice – values that define not just our armed forces, but Britain itself.

Since leaving the military, I’ve continued that journey. For years, I worked as a hostile environment security advisor, protecting journalists and news crews in conflict zones around the world – men and women risking their lives to tell the truth.

And for the past decade, I’ve been a humanitarian bomb disposal operator. My colleagues and I have rendered safe tens of thousands of explosive devices in foreign lands. Mines, IEDs, cluster munitions – all manner of weapons designed to inflict maximum pain and suffering. We’ve cleared roads so families could go home. We’ve made schools safe so children could learn. We’ve protected farmers so they could plant their fields again. We’ve saved aid workers, journalists, and peacekeepers so they could do their jobs. In short, we’ve helped ordinary people live free from fear.

That, to me, is the epitome of British moral values – courage in the face of danger, service without expectation of reward, and a belief that even in the midst of chaos, life has dignity and worth.

Over the years I’ve seen mankind at its very best and its very worst. I’ve seen brutality, cruelty, indifference to human life. But I’ve also seen compassion, resilience, and extraordinary generosity. And through it all, I’ve carried with me the lessons Britain gave me: that liberty matters, that law matters, that justice matters.

That’s why I can say, without hesitation, that Britain is not just another country – it is one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever known.

From the Magna Carta to parliamentary democracy, Britain pioneered the very idea that rulers must answer to the ruled. From Wilberforce to the Royal Navy, Britain led the way in abolishing the slave trade – not just at home but across the seas, at enormous cost to itself.

And when tyranny rose in the twentieth century, it was Britain, under Churchill’s defiant voice, that stood firm when the rest of the world faltered. Without that stand, the world today might look very different indeed.

And yet, in our schools, universities, on social media and in our public life, the story we tell is one of shame. Britain the oppressor. Britain the coloniser. Britain as something to apologise for.

Now, let me be clear: no country is perfect. Britain has made mistakes, just as every nation has. But here’s the difference – Britain has also had the courage to confront those mistakes, to reform, to change, to lead. And on the balance sheet of history, Britain’s contribution to freedom, justice, science, and human dignity is extraordinary.

I don’t say this from a position of privilege or ignorance. I’ve walked through the rubble of wars. I’ve cradled children injured by explosives left behind by men with no regard for life. I’ve seen widows return to their homes because our teams made those homes safe. I’ve looked into the eyes of people who could not understand why strangers from Britain were willing to risk their lives for them.

And do you know what I told them? That this is who we are. This is what Britain does. We stand up. We show up. We do the hard thing, because it’s right.

That’s not racism. That’s not privilege. That’s Britishness.

And part of that Britishness – the part I hold most dear – is tolerance. It is the right to free speech. It is the right to gather, to disagree, to protest peacefully. These are the freedoms generations of our countrymen fought and died to defend.

So yes, I’ll say it again, because it deserves to be said: Britain is one of the greatest countries in the history of the world.  Not because we are flawless. Not because we never stumbled. But because time and again, when it mattered most, we stood for something bigger than ourselves.

As protests unfold at home, I can only hope that those who take to the streets remember the values that make Britain what it is. That they remember the dignity, the restraint, and the courage of generations before them. That they carry themselves with honour, and that their voices are heard in the way our forefathers intended: peacefully, respectfully, and with pride in the nation we all share.

I’ve spent my life serving under that flag, and I’ve seen those values lived out by my closest friends, my colleagues, and my country. They are values worth remembering, worth teaching, and worth defending.

And I, for one, will never apologise for them.

Thank you.

(Chris Hunter is a personal friend of Stuart Higgins and this piece originally appeared on the Linkedin social media platform. Chris gave permission for its reproduction on Teddington Town)