I am glad to be British because

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

(for gracesgran)

But he is from the British Isles

Stop butting in on my one-sided conversation rq!

That was about Terry Wogan...

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.

And you Indi.

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

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 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!

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.

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)

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)

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

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.

I saw this thread last night and couldn't think of what to say then and still don't. I don't know why I am glad to be British, I just am. We have a lot to be thankful for if we compare the UK to other countries, but some countries do some things better. Overall though, I would rather live in the UK. If I had to pick something in particular, I would be torn between the NHS and that English is my first language.

Crun I'm a Yorkshire woman and proud of it. I'm also proud to be born British but I'm not, and never could be English since I have no English blood in my veins.
I Scot is always a Scot no matter where he lives and a Welshman ditto. But without English blood how can you be English?

I think of myself as English, always have. And DH says he is Cornish.
There are so many great things about this country that it would take me too long to list them all. I'm very grateful to have been born here.

I am glad that English is my first language too - I would not like to have to learn it as a foreign language!

I never think of myself as English or British. Yorkshire, yes, but not British.

English as a foreign language is not that heard to learn. I was born and raised in Germany and came to the UK when I was 18 on a language scholarship. This was 30 years ago and I never went home. I now use both the German and English language professionally and am completely bilingual. My nationality is British and so is my passport.
Home though is England, Kent, "my beach" where I run with my dogs, roast chicken with stuffing, freedom to think what I want and say what I feel, which is not possible in Germany even now. Too many nonsensical rules and unnecessary regulations over there - they have no compassion, only laws.

You Yorkshire lot can't help yourselves can you. "Gods own county" folk to a tee. (I can understand why as well when I was in the Yorkshire Dales a couple of months ago it's a very lovely county.)

I'm from Yorkshire originally but I think of myself as thoroughly British. I have as much fondness for the red rose of Lancashire, where I spent the later half of my childhood, as I do for the white rose of Yorkshire where I spent the first nine years of my life. I have two half-Scottish kids and one half-Welsh. Home at the moment is in Scotland and it feels like home but I don't feel particularly Scottish, just British. Actually, the part of Scotland where I live used to be Welsh-speaking.

Oh, and all my kids have Irish ancestors.

Definitely a Brit of the British Isles

I'm glad to be British because it's where I was born and grew up. I expect I'd feel exactly the same about any other country in which I had been born and grown up. People tend to, don't they?

Thatbags I think somehow when we have lived in a place from a young age the familarity of our landscape and way of life is some how very deep in our psyche.