feeling proud to be British

I like the national anthem. I'm tone deaf so its easy to remember. And I wish the Scots would be independent and then all that dosh (Bennett is that the word)would go to the far more deserving NE. Always remembering that the finest view in Scotland is the road south.
Tongue in cheek emoticon

I think we need a British national anthem containing no reference to the monarchy.

GSTQ is an embarassment because it's such an awful song. End of.

Agree GSTQ is an embarrassment - because it is used as the English anthem as well as the UK one. Thus alienating all us "celts" by the end of the first phrase. When Wales play England - GSTQ is the anthem of the enemy!
Having just landed in Anglesey it is very interesting to notice that the default language is Welsh not English. Am learning fast. Todays 2 new words: mws piws. Say it out loud and all will be clear. Its a puce/purple moose! (on a van)

Ooh! I forgot the Pictish blood that DDs one and two have. Even more Scottish than Scots who came from Ireland.

Or did they?

And does it matter?

British Isles includes Scotland and Wales.

Blame the Romans, why don't you?

I'm British, born in England, think of Scotland as home. Two of my kids are half Scottish. One is half Welsh. All of us have chunks of Irish and Norse genes, and possibly others.

We're British with no chips on shoulders.

Ariadne , your DH can join me next year in countless telephone calls to the Beeb during the Games, they need reminding they are the BRITISH B C .

I agree on the National Anthem, it is boring. I am not anti royalist but why must we sing about a person not our country , not forgetting one verse is of one of our four countries killing the 'natives' of another of our four countries , oooops

Oh yes, Annie Theseus (DH) gets furious, and rightly so, and as for the "English Nationa Anthem" words fail me. There are, at the rugby matches, the Welsh, the Scots, the Irish belting out wonderful national songs (the Welsh winning hands down!) And all we can up with is the British National Anthem, which is fairly boring. (Ducks for cover.)

I am very happy to explain, when abroad "I am English, he is Scottish, we are British." I can say it in several languages too!

I have never thought of myself as British, I am Welsh, born and live in Wales which is part of the U.K. I am not comfortable with the word 'British' never have been. As a child I thought being British meant born in England - sorry, no offence to anyone.

I think this has much to do with schooling in the fifties, history of the U.K. was not realy history of the four countries , how many in English schools were taught the history of Wales, Scotland and Ireland? Not how England oppressed these three countries but how these Celts had to be brought to heel was the history taught in our schools . And we are our history.

What I have never understood is why English people who move to North Wales complain that Welsh is spoken, baffles me. I don't expect to hear the Welsh language spoken in England.

Anyway, I blame the BBC sports dept, just wait for the coverage of the Commonwealth Games next year. ' England has won x medals' this will be followed by the other three countries lumped together lol

dorsetpennt I agree! And Northern Ireland's problems have similar roots, deep in the past. "the Irish are a people enmeshed in their own history." (Joyce, I think.) To some extent this applies to the Scots - and I am married to a Scotsman. My FiL talked about the Highland clearances with "a year in my eye, lass." True, it was horrific, but that was then and this is now. Good luck with independence, say I. There is certainly the determination and will to carry it out, and it will defy history when the Act of Union goes.

I really am not attacking anyone here, but it seems to me that we down here have managed to get over the Civil War and move on!

Well Granny23 come the Scottish revolution you'll have even more reason to be proud. I am tired of this 'English Bashing' that we get from those north of the border. Yes we did treat you very badly in the past and that must never be forgotten. However, continuing the battle hundreds of years later isn't going to right the wrong . This was the reason the Serbs wiped out all those Kosovan men - due to a medieval battle between them [Christian] and the Kosovans [Muslims].
I have no problem with Scotland going it alone, good luck to them, why shouldn't they? Same with Australia, Canada [my country] and New Zealand.

If worried about material the Guardian has, then go to the editor. Don't pick on the boyfriend of one of the journalists, a foreign national, and take advantage of the fact that he is a very vulnerable position, using an inappropriate bit of legislation. And bully him. Shocking abuse.

Oops! Thanks Nonu!

www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/aug/21/nsa-files-david-miranda-detention-latest-news

www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/08/201382011404941429.html

Shelby , you have to "blue" it , for people to see !

The only 'grounds' were political - both UK and US. They knew they were going to do this well before the event and so did the UK and US.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/aug/21/nsa-files-david-miranda-detention-latest-news

The police are there to protect us against anything that threatens, and if they have suspicions then they have to investigate.
It seems sometimes quite often they are damned if they do and damned if they don't!

"Miranda wasn't arrested, he was detained - it appears with no valid grounds. Police abusing their powers."

There were though to be grounds. The Police would appear to have established that the grounds were false - how is that 'abusing their powers?'

Dixon was only ever a TV show...

Abuse of the anti-terror laws. I do not want to live in a totalitarian state. This Government, those before and no doubt those of the future continue to try and micro-manage our daily-lives. 1984 it is.

Everything you post on here is possibly being monitored - we live in a surveillance state.

Miranda wasn't arrested, he was detained - it appears with no valid grounds. Police abusing their powers.

I want to be kept safe, yes, but agree with gracesmum comment above "Many of the qualities of British life we think we enjoy no longer apply today. I am thinking of justice, equality before the law, fairness, tolerance, freedom of speech....."

Thank you for the welcome, Nonu.

From near the end of a Wikipedia article about the Stockwell shooting: The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said "a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes and to reiterate that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death."

That looks like an admission by the police that they were in the wrong. The fact that this admission was made is a good thing, is it not, even though it does not mend the tragedy? In some countries such an admission would never happen.

Plus, this is totally unconnected with the Miranda case. Nine hours is a long time but it is within the law under which he was questioned, apparently.

Even Theresa May couldn't come up with valid grounds for his being held for the maximum time and admitted ted there was no reason for him to be arrested and taken to a police station which is what you might have expected if he was considered guilty of a crime . I am all for ensuring our safety so it is surprising that no check is made on bags etc when visiting the Kensington Roof Gardens - what a vantage point. And I suppose they had to shoot that poor Brazilian at Stockwell underground station too? I mean shoot first and ask questions afterwards. Not convinced.

To Boots by the way !

I agree with your last two paragraphs !

I do not recall seeing your name before , are you new ?

If so, welcome , it can be fun on here .

gracesmum you don't seriously expect the security services to reveal that do you? They are doing a very difficult job in trying to protect us and are seemingly damned if they do and damned if they don't.

It's not a game and they are not doing these things for fun or to annoy or encroach on civil liberties but to save lives.

Held for 9 hours ??? On what grounds??