I am glad to be British because

No I didn't say he was a Brit, Iam64 I said he was from the British Isles. The group of Islands known as the British Isles includes Ireland. Great Britain, on the other hand, does not.

A NYA.... I totally agree with you and found your comments uplifting!!

I feel English but accept I'm British. I love coming home from holidays abroad to the familiarity of my homeland.

By the way, isn't terry Wigan Irish, not Northern Irish, in which case he isn't a Brit (indinana's comment earlier). By now tho, he must have honorary brit status. (Ok I won't mention him again)

nhs.

we would be in big trouble if it were not for the nhs. I have a file bulging with appointment letters and reports for the children.

send code of practise. ok the school maynot always follow it but there is a law you can beat them round the head with if they do not. metaphorically.

weather. not too hot or too cold, v ofen at least.

police force are pretty good. (though the south wales are shite with respect to domestic violence. could not find anyone to speak to me after I had had a bottle thrown at my head)

As a woman I'm happy to be able to go where I want to go, by myself and dressed as I want to dress. I'm free to express my opinion without being in danger of arrest or worse.
I'm glad there's very little likelihood of being gunned down, bombed or my house being destroyed by an earthquake or an act of war.
I'm happy that my children and grandchildren stand a good chance of growing up safe and well.
I know that I can buy food and keep warm and if I'm taken ill I will be treated reasonably well for free.
That will do for starters.

i don't think anyone has mentioned the culture or the food, unless I have missed it. Whenever we come back to England it is what we look forward to most. Theatre in Britain is unrivalled in spite of all the cuts and the food is so varied. I wouldn't want to see the NHS disappear as it is one of the countriy's greatest achievements, but, in my limited experience it is no better than the system we have here. Many of the points mentioned I could apply to here, but would I come back to England if the country leaves the EU? Probably!

Oops, just noticed that on my post at 10.32 I said I was 'proud' to be British. I meant, of course, that I was 'glad'.

Before anyone reminds me that my being British is an accident of birth and therefore I cannot possibly be proud, blah blah blah.....

I don't know how to reply, I have never thought of myself as British , I honestly don't know what being British means to me , I do know it means born in the UK

And you Indi.

No country is perfect, but Britain is as good as it gets. I am extremely proud to be British. I'm English but think of myself as British.
This is a beautiful country and I truly love it.

That was about Terry Wogan...

Stop butting in on my one-sided conversation rq!

But he is from the British Isles

(for gracesgran)

I agree, Gracesgran I do feel lucky to have been born here.
There are other countries where I would not have minded being born and I would not have known any different of course, but I thank my lucky stars that I was not born in some other countries.

British humour and eccentricity is another on my list

Someone did. It was probably Gracesgran.

Terry Wogan? I didn't mention him - anyway he's Irish!

It is a children's poem! As I child I used to think like that. Much the same as feeling sorry for all my friends because their mum wasn't as good as my mum.

A nice, positive thread, stb Please could posters who want to introduce a sour note about politics go and start another thread on the political threads with their lemons. Please. This is 'Chat'.

If you hadn't commented in this way rosequartz I would not have replied as I am about to. You may, of course, ask people not to reply in a particular way but others may, of course, wish to reply to what has been put to them - all of those on the forum.

I do not see this as a "nice, positive thread". To me it sounds empirical and slightly xenophobic but I do realise that is part of some of the "British" way of thinking.

PC, patronising, oldfashioned, whateva - but a lot of little all-sorts-of-nationalities, and big ones too, do seem to think that they would like to live in Britain. We must be getting something right.

Is unthinking PC-ness exclusive to the Brits? Or do you find it everywhere?

Flip me roseq! I hope it's not banned from British schools!!! It's Robert Louis Stevenson! (Going back to the poem) You can't ban anything from our greatest and best poets.

What a lovely thread! Thanks soon for starting this

I am proud to be British for all the reasons given above.
We are so lucky to be able to live without fear - either of our fellow men or of natural disasters which rarely reach these shores.
We are so lucky to live among people who are, generally, polite and pleasant. Some of the rudest people I met were, ironically, in the queue to enter St Peter's in Rome. Shocking behaviour by people of all nationalities, shamelessly pushing in and then looking blankly at anyone who remonstrated, or shouting back at them and refusing to move to the end of the queue.
We are so lucky to have plenty to eat - and plenty of variety to choose from; to have a temperate climate which makes our country so beautiful and colourful; to have a justice system that is not corrupt; to have free schooling; and yes to have a good NHS.
To feel, on the whole, safe.
I have travelled quite a lot, but whenever I come home I look at our country with new eyes, every time, and know I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Has anyone mentioned fish and chips. No one does it quite like the Chinese round here we do.