feeling proud to be British

Granny23 I do agree each part of this small island has its own identity, many folk make the mistake of referring to the UK as England, I don't think it is a deliberate way of snubbing Wales, Scotland or N. Ireland, its mostly a slip of the tongue and not worth worrying about. I am half welsh, half English and have lived most of my life in the highlands of Scotland. As for most if not all men and women were conscripts, not true, my father volunteered to fight for what he thought was right, this was a decision he made after visiting Germany for a holiday with my mother. Whilst there they witnessed some disturbing activities, which made him feel sure we would be at war within a few years. He was right and its thanks to him and all the volunteers and conscripts alike that we now enjoy our freedom. Bless them all, Welsh Scottish English Irish.
I speak for many of my Scottish friends who are also proud to be BRITISH. I am also proud to be part of a large Scottish family.

I'm with Granny23 on the annoyance of the UK/Britain = England thing, and the (OK, it's not the most important thing in the world) assumption that everybody gets A-level results. No doubt it'll be the same when the GCSE results come out. The Standard Grade, Intermediate, Higher and Advanced Higher results came out on August 6th, if anyone's interested.

If/when Scotland becomes independent it will not detract from the history that we all share, including the fact that people from the different parts of the UK were fighting in the British forces. My mother was half English and I have family of whom I am very fond in England, but I will still vote Yes and expect to be part of a country which works in harmony with the rest of the UK, but raises its own taxes and make its own way in the world.

As part of my heritage is not English, Scottish, Welsh or Nothern Irish but I was born and brought up in the UK I do say I am British.

None of my ancestry is British but I was born and raised in London. Does being born in a stable make one a horse? Certainly, I do not feel any kind of nationalistic pride and tend to distrust it in others.

Do those of you who feel proud to be British because British soldiers fought in a war against Nazi Germany also feel ashamed to be British because British soldiers tortured and killed civilians in a war against Iraq? If not, why not? Where is the logic?

Mo Farah makes me proud to be British. Also Christine Ohorogu.
The armed forces don't really, other than the fact that they are rather better trained than some. Some terrible things were done in WW2, e.g. bombing Dresden.
As a Welsh person I do get irritated sometimes when the English talk as if we are all English. I think the English also have no idea how much they are hated by some people in the other parts of the UK. I know people who would support Italy or France if they were playing rugby against England.
Looking forward to the Commonwealth Games though, as this is the only time the nations get to compete separately in athletics.

Rory Bremner Radio 4 ' What is Britishness'..really funny, especially the Queen on the Jubilee ride down the Thames, worth a listen.

I think it is good to be proud of what you are and where you come from, though like most of us, I have mixed ancestry, from Scandinavian invaders to Russian Jewish refugees from the pogroms. My husband, sons, father-in-law and many others all served in the armed forces and none did anything to be ashamed of, as far as I know. FiL was killed in the DDay aftermath, and some uncles were killed in that war too: the war that had to happen to remove Hitler and the Nazis.

But mainly, I think the best part of being British is that our complex hybrid language is the world language. True, more people in the world speak a Chinese language than English, but English is so very widespread, and is the lingua franca of most of the world.

Furthermore, our law is the basis of law in so many countries, and is from a great base: not retributive justice, not religious 'justice', but habeas corpus and cold rule of law. I'm especially proud that Britain and much of the commonwealth have abolished the death penalty.

Lovely post joan. The Australians seem to be incredibly proud of their country. Best country in the world etc
The negative aspects of this seem to be that their national identity does sometimes seem to be very anglo-saxon and that there is a lot of anti-pom sentiment (some conflict here maybe?). In WA many people think "poms are smelly" - maybe because they were when they got off boats in times gone by (and Fremantle prison was apparently incredibly vile smelling)
My son was amused when an Indian immigrant said to him "you're a pom but you're not at all smelly!

Oh, the Pom thing is still around, but not as much as when we came 34 years ago. Pom derives from 'immigrant' to 'Jimmy Grant' to 'pomegranate' to 'pom'. Not Prisoner of Mother England as some would have it.

I think the idea of Friday bath day in England led to an assumption we might pong, but our own observations have been that the locals can be very smelly. No-one has ever dared make assumptions of my personal hygiene , nor my husband's!!

Oh that is interesting joan. They love it when they beat the poms at anything don't they.

Yes - I think there is a mass nervous breakdown here over the cricket. One doesn't mention it in polite company!!

My daughter has met virtually no anti-British feeling in New Zealand - in fact, she has been overwhelmed by the kindness and friendliness of the 'natives'.
I know from bitter personal experience how the English are hated in certain other countries of the UK - the excuse when challenged being that we had put up the prices of the houses. Apparently, there was no criticism of the locals who were delighted to sell us those houses at inflated prices. My four year old daughter was turned away from a birthday party to which every other child in her class had been invited. It is the only time in my life I have met racism.

I'm still a bit stunned by the ease with which some people in other parts of the British Isles express "hatred" of the English. This casual racism would be frowned on if directed at other national groups - yet the "support any team but England" approach is so regularly repeated, and rarely challenged.

Your post has confused me Greatnan

Well, I'm proud to be Norfolk, born and bred. I'm proud to be English. I'm proud to be part of the close family of nations called Britain. I'm proud to belong to a country which is part of that loose wider family called the Commonwealth. But I cannot, however hard I try, make myself feel European.
(And yes, sometimes I do feel ashamed when I read or encounter actions which let our culture down)

You can only be proud of what you yourself have achieved. You can't be proud of being born in a certain position in a small island off the continent of Europe. How can you be proud of that? Where anyone is born is a matter where the parents happened to be when you were born. So that was Liverpool? Manchester? Suffolk? Glasgow?
How can this game of skittles make you proud?

A winner of a certain sport can be proud that he/ she has won and if you believe they have done it for their country then you will believe anything.

^ BUT^ what a Wonderful small island this most certainly Is !!

@MargaretX - I'm wit' you, Booboo (Yogi Bear impression).

Being born in some location is not an achievement. I am very fond of my country - most of the time - but pride doesn't come into it.

One can be very proud of this "SMALL" island , I certainly am . What about National Pride eh !!!!!!!!!!

I'm Spartacus very proud to be British.

Merlot

absent I tend to agree with you. I am glad that I live in the UK but I dislike nationalism and the way it is used to divide the peoples of the world.

Did you move to NZ to be nearer to the family Absent?

Nonu That was my main reason. I am now a 15-minute drive away rather than 38 hours of flights.

margaret I agree that you can be proud of personal achievements but maybe you can have reflected pride in others' successes?

I hate the kind of nationalism that is akin to 'jingoism' but think it is good to value cultural traditions etc. I think it is because the English have tended to be the colonialists and , dare I say, agressors, there has been less of a need to preserve 'Englishness' whereas in Scotland and Wales there are traditional dress /songs etc . Defended and preserved because they were under threat .... well it's a theory.