Why don't we sometimes talk about what is good about Britain for a change?

Lovely post, everything I would have said seems to have been covered.

GillT57

I agree with most of the things listed, and always tell my children that although things may not always be brilliant, we can go to bed at night knowing we are safe. I love where I live, and thus my fury at the current government who are intent on destroying all that is good like the NHS, clean water, schools, environmentally sound farming, beautiful countryside etc. We are in general a tolerant and welcoming country, built over generations of immigration and assimilation and I despise people like Farage who abuse this for their own ends.

Thank you, GillT57\

I feel like that, too and I dislike the insinuation that people who are angry about the destruction of the things that made us proud to be British are somehow haters of their country.

I agree with most of what people have said on this thread, too, but a few years ago I could have added more positives about our position in the world and how other nations saw us.

Scones

And libraries.

Witzend...not wishing to derail this fabulous thread, I wonder if the 'running down' in this country is a symptom of our first past the post voting system. A lot of people are left disenchanted. Also, our print media's reason for being seems to be running the country down at it is contagious.

Now! Back to good things - our wonderful national parks and the National Trust.

I’m not sure it’s necessarily political - perhaps more of a fairly common mindset, that just about everything foreign or ‘abroad’ is bound to be better.

A seriously trivial example, but an extremely Francophile SiL of mine once insisted that the Knorr packet soup she’d bought in a French supermarket, was bound to be much nicer than the equivalent from a U.K. ditto. (which she’d never dream of buying.)
I never did get around to buying one of each and comparing the list of ingredients! I should have bet her £20 that they’d be the same.

Yes MEGS 3rd post in

History, architecture, countryside, seaside, cities, towns, villages, hamlets, free education for all, free healthcare for all, policing by consent, our diversity, stoicism, humour, good manners, sense of fair play, generosity.
Our inventors, entrepreneurs, risk takers, authors, artists, poets.
And so much more.
What a lovely thread Monica thank you. You too Alegrias for your powers of persuasion.

Has anyone mentioned. FREE SPEECH.

Chewbacca

Most museums and art galleries are free to enter for all.

Yes, we had a bit of a shock on a visit to Amsterdam 3 years ago - IIRC it was €18 to enter the Rijksmuseum. Even for oldies like us.

On our way home from 7 glorious days in the Lakes.
If I never got on a plane again I don’t care, Britain has it all.

I think British people are generally nice. We speak to strangers, we help each other. I like living here.

I agree with most of the things listed, and always tell my children that although things may not always be brilliant, we can go to bed at night knowing we are safe. I love where I live, and thus my fury at the current government who are intent on destroying all that is good like the NHS, clean water, schools, environmentally sound farming, beautiful countryside etc. We are in general a tolerant and welcoming country, built over generations of immigration and assimilation and I despise people like Farage who abuse this for their own ends.

And libraries.

Witzend...not wishing to derail this fabulous thread, I wonder if the 'running down' in this country is a symptom of our first past the post voting system. A lot of people are left disenchanted. Also, our print media's reason for being seems to be running the country down at it is contagious.

Now! Back to good things - our wonderful national parks and the National Trust.

Most museums and art galleries are free to enter for all.

To add to my pp, I think running one’s own country down (I’m talking England here, not the U.K. generally) is something of a national pastime for a good many.

As someone who lived in other countries for 13 years and has travelled extensively to many more, I’ve never encountered it to any extent anywhere else. People are more likely (at least generally, in my experience) to tell you how wonderful their own country is.

British people -
Our olympians and paralympians
HM The Queen
Mary Berry
Sayeeda Warsi
Chris Packham
Marcus Rashford
Everyone on the TV/radio/stage/screen who makes us laugh, cry or rage against the machine.
Grayson Perry
Sarah Gilbert
Tom Jones
Billy Connolly
Zadie Smith
Nurse, doctors, teachers, the people who make our buses run and recycle our junk.

Yes big thanks to Monica, you often come across to me as one of our most balanced posters.

Thank heavens for this thread, MOnica. There is so much that is good about this country, but the bad gets emphasised all the time.

Kandinsky

What a lovely refreshing thread - makes such a nice change from the usual ‘we’re an inconsequential island that’s nothing but an embarrassment’ c**p we get on here.

Ditto to that!

I'll expand on queuing - people often chat to one another when queuing in this country.
I've done it overseas only to be looked at as if I'm peculiar.

All of the above and

Queuing
Castles (thanks to those Norman invaders)
Farm shops selling local produce
The ability to criticise our politicians without fear of arrest
Clean water

vegansrock
Can’t you get clean water out of a tap in any other country?
Even in countries like Australia no, not always - twice filtered rainwater is the norm.

No where is a utopia, but I consider myself lucky to be born in a country that has a democracy and freedoms, just to read about how harsh some regimes are often brings that into focus.

I remember years ago having an extended stay in Australia, when my then husband was considering working there and we both thought it would be a good place to settle, it suddenly hit me how much I took for granted about England as far as history, particularly old buildings in a country that is so new, an ancient building was something built in the 19th century. Somehow, and it sounds ridiculous, but waking up to constant blue skies and sunshine made me long for the seasons. That's not to say Australia isn't a great place, but of late it does seem to be right at the front line of adverse changing weather patterns.

All that aside, I love the beauty of the countryside here I think I have a heightened appreciation of the natural world as I've got older far too busy to stand still and appreciate that in my younger days.

I think for a relatively small place we punch well above our weight in many fields we've given the world so many diverse innovations we are at the fore of music, fashion and the arts. Amazing inventors, heavens Tim Berners- Lee The World Wide Web doesn't get much bigger than that!

We are cosmopolitan and diverse.

I think I read somewhere we as individuals and as a country are one of the largest contributors to aid overseas particularly when a disaster such as the devastating Tsunami occurred.

When we staged the Olympics it was a real tour de force starting with Danny Boyle's highly original, quirky opening sequence. I think many of us were dreading it, maybe anticipating a pig's ear, but it turned out really well and bearing in mind how small we are as a nation, ranked 2nd in our medal count, amazing! I found myself really enthused about it all at the time and I don't even like sport usually.

Our NHS of course, it has it's problems, probably always will, but one only have to look to the unaffordable health system for most people the US, to appreciate what we have is special.

Our humour is unique, often quirky and self deprecating but I think that is a British characteristic it envelopes new waves of immigrants who also buy into that "lets poke fun at our culture" I'm, thinking of shows such as Goodness Gracious Me, I suspect many different ethnicities feel comfortable doing that here, because it's what we do and have a long tradition in showcasing our foibles and quirks and seeing the ridiculous side of certain behaviours. Many cultures don't have the luxury of being able to self ridicule.

Alegrias
I adore Derbyshire. And I love those 2.

The ability to not take ourselves too seriously

Kandinsky

What a lovely refreshing thread - makes such a nice change from the usual ‘we’re an inconsequential island that’s nothing but an embarrassment’ c**p we get on here.

That didn’t need saying on a positive thread sorry but it didn’t

Sport and being sporting.

lavenderzen

Our countryside is beautiful, especially my part of the world in Derbyshire.

Just a bit off topic - did anyone watch the Hairy Bikers last night from the Peak District? Beautiful Derbyshire!

So add to the list:
Local food specialities, as Jaxjacky said.
The Hairy Bikers!