There was a time when Britannia ruled the waves and the sun never set on the Empire. We had such a sense of self-importance that the ‘great’ in ‘Great Britain’ seemed just as much an advertisement of our cleverness, power and civilisation as a geographical description.

But times have changed. Now there are regular, angst-ridden debates about ‘British identity’ and ‘British values’. What does it mean to be British? In fact, what is the point of Britain at all? We fight wars alongside America to prove that we’re still at the ‘top table’ of world affairs. This year, our foreign secretary even spent a few days running a conference with a Hollywood actress in a desperate bid for a little reflected glory. At home, the rise of UKIP - with its Euroscepticism and anti-immigration policies - suggests that we’ve turned away from the world. Have we gone from Great Britons to Little Englanders?

Yet underneath, there is still a little bit of that imperial arrogance left. We may not have the power to invade anyone anymore, except on the coat-tails of others, but we still claim our military is the ‘best in the world’. We cling to our permanent seat on the UN Security Council as proof we still matter in the world. We like to puff up our successes in culture and science to suggest that economic power is less important than inherent smartness. Londoners love to revel in how cosmopolitan they are, living in a ‘world city’.

But how does the rest of the world see us today? Do they agree that Britain is still a player in world affairs? Is Britain a creative, cultural melting pot or a dying force in the arts? How do foreigners experience living here? Together with the Foreign Press Association, we’ve brought together a group of journalists living in London who report on Britain for their respective countries, to see how the world sees us.

Watch the debate: