Proud to be British

[Angry Ram]

8 hours ago, Highgate said:

You have so many things in Britain that you can be justifiably proud without having to parade around the expensively adorned products of centuries of ruthlessness, greed and inbreeding.  I'm not saying the current lot are anything like their ancestors, but their ancestors were, if you go back far enough, horrendous.  Why celebrate a tradition like that?  Why not celebrate, instead, the people who struggled to wrestle power away from the monarch's grasp and give it to the people of Britain via a parliament.  It's a pity the job was never quite finished in Britain or elsewhere. 

I agree with you, it would be nice for British people to have a day to celebrate their Britishness.  Even nicer it wasn't centred around royalty or the military. There is no reason why you can't simply create such a day.  It could hardly be called racist if all races are welcome.

You can have your very own Morris Dance in your garden... Fill yer boots.

You seem to dig out this country at every opportunity, so what are the things that you are proud of and should be celebrated?

[Anon]

I always get a bit confused when people want to add in another bank holiday for St George's day, or in this case, a Britain day. Surely the most typically English thing to do on our patron saint's day is to go to work and not make an unnecessary fuss, otherwise we might end up like the French who have a day off to commemorate things like Robespierre having a particularly satisfying bowel movement or one of Marshall Joffre's many "glorious" defeats.

[Stive Pesley]

9 hours ago, A Ram for All Seasons said:

I remember when the Queen visited Derby in 1977. I had never seen the Queen in the flesh before (or since), so I decided to go down to the Market Place to have a look.

I was standing next to a fella, probably in his fifties, who was a lot taller than me (I'm just over 6 ft.) and built like a brick outhouse.

He was crying like a baby and the tears were pouring down his cheeks in torrents.

I still don't understand to this day what that was about. Can anybody enlighten me?

I can yes. It's because he was a prat

 

 

[JoetheRam]

Why are we equating Royalism (is that a word?) with Patriotism?

I love England, despise the monarchy. It's fantastic that I can say that and not be locked up, or worse. 

Do we really need a specified day to celebrate our nationality? No, to do so would be un-English.  Who needs it when you've won first prize in the lottery of life anyway?

 

[Highgate]

12 hours ago, Angry Ram said:

You can have your very own Morris Dance in your garden... Fill yer boots.

You seem to dig out this country at every opportunity, so what are the things that you are proud of and should be celebrated?

It's monarchies that I was busy whinging about, whatever country they may be in.  I thought I was quite complimentary about the UK (or at least inoffensive). What have I said that wasn't merely a criticism of the concept of royalty in general? 

 

[ramit]

In many countries the president has much the same role as a king or queen, an ornamental one.  So why do we do it?  What is this fixation with having a head of state with little actual power?  Is it so that we can pretend to be living in a dictatorship, the psychological pining for a strong leader? A daddy syndrome?

Pretending, posing.  Like converting war into football.  It's all very strange to me

[McRamFan]

7 hours ago, ramit said:

In many countries the president has much the same role as a king or queen, an ornamental one.  So why do we do it?  What is this fixation with having a head of state with little actual power?  Is it so that we can pretend to be living in a dictatorship, the psychological pining for a strong leader? A daddy syndrome?

Pretending, posing.  Like converting war into football.  It's all very strange to me

More people in the world watched the sixth in line to the throne than the inauguration of the supposed most powerful person in the world. 

The commonwealth has grown, could even say it is bigger than the empire. 

[eddie]

Half of the people on here proclaiming their pride at being British have made enough disparaging posts about the Welsh and Scots in the past.

[Gaspode]

15 minutes ago, eddie said:

Half of the people on here proclaiming their pride at being British have made enough disparaging posts about the Welsh and Scots in the past.

Quite right - Derbyshire > English >             British >                                                         European    (in descending order of importance.....)

[ramit]

4 hours ago, McRamFan said:

More people in the world watched the sixth in line to the throne than the inauguration of the supposed most powerful person in the world.

Hardly surprising, as it was on every channel

 

[Angry Ram]

1 hour ago, eddie said:

Half of the people on here proclaiming their pride at being British have made enough disparaging posts about the Welsh and Scots in the past.

Examples... 

[McRamFan]

22 minutes ago, ramit said:

Hardly surprising, as it was on every channel

 

No it was not.

[Anon]

25 minutes ago, McRamFan said:

No it was not.

You get the point though? It was on way more channels than it needed to be. Youtube changed their home button to a link to the livestream of the wedding.

[eddie]

1 hour ago, Angry Ram said:

Examples... 

Are you serious?

You see that little search box at the top? Just type in 'Welsh' and read some of the comments yourself.

[Angry Ram]

24 minutes ago, eddie said:

Are you serious?

You see that little search box at the top? Just type in 'Welsh' and read some of the comments yourself.

Are you serious about using those comments as back up your comments.. 

I searched 'Welsh' - 74 results. Without checking the context of each post, I can only find 15, at a stretch that might (loosly) be anti Welsh.

One of those was from a lad from Norwich as well. If I am honest, only one or two were really anti Welsh and most of those came from the Cardiff weather thread.

So there is clutching at straws and making yourself look a bit of a tool. Well done, you have a skill for this.

[McRamFan]

5 hours ago, Anon said:

You get the point though? It was on way more channels than it needed to be. Youtube changed their home button to a link to the livestream of the wedding.

He was not making a point, he made a sweeping generalisation.

It was across so many channels and platforms because the demand was there, you get that point?

[BaaLocks]

I don't get nationalism at all - my birth in Britain was nothing of my making and I have no reason what so ever to feel that somehow I have been gifted the chance to live in the best country in the world. I'm not saying I'm not happy to be here and grateful for the fact I didn't end up being born in some pretty grim corners of the world but I can't help but feel that any time excessive national pride has become a trend in a country it has seldom ended well. Not always in a World War but the many flavours in between are so often tinged with ill feeling for others that I simply can't embrace it.

[King Kevin]

22 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

I don't get nationalism at all - my birth in Britain was nothing of my making and I have no reason what so ever to feel that somehow I have been gifted the chance to live in the best country in the world. I'm not saying I'm not happy to be here and grateful for the fact I didn't end up being born in some pretty grim corners of the world but I can't help but feel that any time excessive national pride has become a trend in a country it has seldom ended well. Not always in a World War but the many flavours in between are so often tinged with ill feeling for others that I simply can't embrace it.

That post suits your username perfectly.

[bcnram]

16 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

I don't get nationalism at all - my birth in Britain was nothing of my making and I have no reason what so ever to feel that somehow I have been gifted the chance to live in the best country in the world. I'm not saying I'm not happy to be here and grateful for the fact I didn't end up being born in some pretty grim corners of the world but I can't help but feel that any time excessive national pride has become a trend in a country it has seldom ended well. Not always in a World War but the many flavours in between are so often tinged with ill feeling for others that I simply can't embrace it.

You have been gifted being born in a country that is relatively free where within the law you can do pretty much what you want. What you or anyone does with that in making a contribution to the country even if only being a good person is up to you. So in that point I would say you have been gifted an opportunity.

 

On the other hand, the USA where they have the same freedoms is so crazily nationalistic that it is unhealthy for them and the rest of the World. So my point is - I haven't got a clue, but I am pleased I wasn't born into real poverty with little healthcare and sanitation. 

 

[Highgate]

57 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

I don't get nationalism at all - my birth in Britain was nothing of my making and I have no reason what so ever to feel that somehow I have been gifted the chance to live in the best country in the world. I'm not saying I'm not happy to be here and grateful for the fact I didn't end up being born in some pretty grim corners of the world but I can't help but feel that any time excessive national pride has become a trend in a country it has seldom ended well. Not always in a World War but the many flavours in between are so often tinged with ill feeling for others that I simply can't embrace it.

You are right nationalism can go horribly wrong very quickly.  And nationality is nothing more than an accident of birth usually!.  But on the other hand i understand the feeling of affection and belonging to a homeland, as long as that doesn't include some sort of notion that that country or its citizens are somehow better than others.

When nationalism gets tied to ideas of ethnic identity then it's usually at its most poisonous.