Great Britain

[Cynthia]

I'm not british, duh

[hecter]

So why didn't you just delete it then?
Good work.

[neoni]

'britishness' is a nonsense concept created by successive unionist governments to quell scottish, welsh and irish nationalism.

didnae work


edit;
no, i'm not proud to be 'british' and would never consider myself such (but that's a different matter), britain has an appauling history of deciet, cowardice and murder. the 'empire' was a joke, land stolen from natives who had nothing but spears to defend themself - you're proud of that?


are you proud of what you did to ireland or scotland, by the way?

I dont really think thats fair because the romans were worse than the british but they're always remembered as a good thing

i'm not saying what the british did wasn't bad but we were one of the first empires to give nations freedom without too much of a fight

the romans aren't still doing anything bad, the english are.

[neoni]

britain has produced many life changing household items of the 21st century for ex..... Steam engine,
Steam Locomotive,
Telegraph,
Electromagnet,
Telephone,
Television,
Pennicilin,
Hovercraft.

Most of them were invented by Scots.

Fair enough, but how does that reflect on anyone else who lives in scotland or england?

i liked stopper's post best. Says it all.

very few scots consider themselves british, even unionists, and i doubt the inventors of them would've. diddle's listing them as if they reflect on britain, and bigbullyweedave was just pointing out that they're not 'british' inventions, but scottish, and for some reason very few english people seem to recognise the difference.

[b-b5]

I am most proud of Slough. I dont think even concentration camps can rival the glory that is Slough

[DAZMCFC]

i say i am british and not english because of my scottish family. we have a british army,navy and air force. we have a british passport. we all need each other, the scots provide oil and booze, the welsh provide sheep and coal and northern ireland provide graham norton. the english provide the arrogance of being british.

[diddle]

that was an inspiring, and surprisingly accurate, speech. But now think about the quality of life you lead in britain....we have bars, post offices, cafe's, playgrounds, free schooling, most of us live the lives of kings and queens in comparison to some other countries

oh and by the way...city suc, glory glory man utd, this seasons ours

[gethine]

liverpool were r-o-b-b-e-d robbed. in a british way.

[diddle]

oooh, never mind (scouser)

[Dariune]

I can understand the Scots, Welsh and Irish all wanting to sustain their own identity.
I can respect it and i respect those that uphold that value but i do think its taken too far by the respective countries.

Yes in the past England has done some pretty shitty things to all of those countries. But so have the Scots done shitty things to each other and likewise the irish and Welsh.

Personally i think you can argue and respect your own identity while being allied with the British and more over supporting the english and being supported by the english.

As was mentioned there are great many contributions to englands successes from the small countries. We (the english) need them if we are to ever make any more great achievements.
However the same is true reversed.

[neoni]

it's not about the past, though.
yes, england has done things to us in the past, but i don't deny that we've done things to the english. scotland suffered hugely in world war two at the hands of the germans, but i don't think many scots have anything against germany or germans, and i know i certainly don't. the norwegians were attacking us constantly for two hundred years, but we certainly have nothing against them, and in many ways the nationalists aim to model our country after them.

the problem i, and i'm sure most nationalists (or just supporters of independence), have, is that england continues to cripple scotland. our land is used to dump the nuclear waste, that our people don't want in the first place. our people are disposed of in wars that england wanted, but the scots did not (or didn't by a far higher majority). people are sick of having 'britishness' constantly shoved down our throats, and being told we're racist if we don't support england in football, the 'british' media doesn't acknowledge our existence, 'britain' is used, almost exclusively, to refer to england alone south of the border. 'british' weather reports tend to just be english and welsh ones etc, i could go on but i don't have time.

the situation here is ridiculous, and many scots bitterly resent england and the english, but, if at all, it isn't just about what they've done to us in the past.

not to mention the fact that we don't have a voice politically at all, the scottish parliament is a joke, and westminster can so casually disregard anything we want (70s referendum??)

[heavycola]

britain has produced many life changing household items of the 21st century for ex..... Steam engine,
Steam Locomotive,
Telegraph,
Electromagnet,
Telephone,
Television,
Pennicilin,
Hovercraft.

Most of them were invented by Scots.

Fair enough, but how does that reflect on anyone else who lives in scotland or england?

i liked stopper's post best. Says it all.

very few scots consider themselves british, even unionists, and i doubt the inventors of them would've. diddle's listing them as if they reflect on britain, and bigbullyweedave was just pointing out that they're not 'british' inventions, but scottish, and for some reason very few english people seem to recognise the difference.

OK, but what IS the difference? That was my point.

[neoni]

it's like a norwegian taking credit for every european invention

[diddle]

stop writing long posts, keep em short and snappy, i am of little intelligence (see the poll question of my idiots forum in flame wars for further proof) and i don't like using it

[mr. incrediball]

the most greatest and best word in the dictionary is "britain", i've seen dictionary's where it is written in liquid gold by angels, with decorations, a union flag and a page long definition referring to how great it is!

[neoni]

stop writing long posts, keep em short and snappy, i am of little intelligence (see the poll question of my idiots forum in flame wars for further proof) and i don't like using it

says a lot about your faith in britain, doesn't it?

[Ruben Cassar]

I am not British however if I was British I would be damn proud of it. In fact there was that saying a few years ago that if you were born British it was like winning the lottery of life.

Seriously now about this England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland debate, personally I find it incredible that people are still bickering about these things. Do you think Scotland would be better off by being independent? What could it gain? I respect the Scots and I believe that each region of Great Britain should preserve its culture and traditions but Great Britain is fine as it is.

However nowadays not even a united Great Britain can fend on its own. It needs the European Union. There isn't a single state in Europe that could fend on its own. How could Wales for example compete with giants like the USA, China, India, Russia and Brazil economically? I think it's time for not only Great Britain to remain united but for the whole of Europe to work together as a bloc or else we will never be able to keep the pace.

[gethine]

to be fair, i have not said that the smaller countries could prosper (or even survive) if the uk fractates, i only said that i would describe myself as welsh.
the reason scotland is short changed in weather reports is because, from my own experiences, it is always brass monkeys up north.

[neoni]

Seriously now about this England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland debate, personally I find it incredible that people are still bickering about these things. Do you think Scotland would be better off by being independent? What could it gain? I respect the Scots and I believe that each region of Great Britain should preserve its culture and traditions but Great Britain is fine as it is.

http://snp.org/independence/benefits

[Stopper]

the reason scotland is short changed in weather reports is because, from my own experiences, it is always brass monkeys up north.

Brass monkeys? Scotland has palm trees, you know. Can Wales say that? (And in an intelligible accent?)

[heavycola]

I am not British however if I was British I would be damn proud of it.

WHY? It would be an accident of BIRTH, nothing more. I am happy and grateful to the cosmos and my parents that I live in a wealthy, advanced democracy where i can live in relative peace and prosperity, and I would fight to defend that if i had to. England is a beautiful country with an old and wonderful culture, but that had NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.

So WHY would you be proud? Surely one is proud of one's achievements, not accidents of birth. Patriotism is nothing more than a fulcrum with which political propagandists bend the masses this way and that with empty emotion and appeals to our worst nature.

[gethine]

the reason scotland is short changed in weather reports is because, from my own experiences, it is always brass monkeys up north.

Brass monkeys? Scotland has palm trees, you know. Can Wales say that? (And in an intelligible accent?)

I could write a book about it without using a single vowel, such is the power of the welsh alphabet!

[Ruben Cassar]

I am not British however if I was British I would be damn proud of it.

WHY? It would be an accident of BIRTH, nothing more. I am happy and grateful to the cosmos and my parents that I live in a wealthy, advanced democracy where i can live in relative peace and prosperity, and I would fight to defend that if i had to. England is a beautiful country with an old and wonderful culture, but that had NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.

So WHY would you be proud? Surely one is proud of one's achievements, not accidents of birth. Patriotism is nothing more than a fulcrum with which political propagandists bend the masses this way and that with empty emotion and appeals to our worst nature.

Who said that it has anything to do with you? You can have your own personal achievements in life. However you should be proud with the achievements of your country and your ancestors.

The British have done a lot for mankind, and if I would be proud of that if I was British. The fact that you are ready to fight to defend your land and your culture shows that you are patriotic after all.

[neoni]

what i want to know is how anybody can look at the following, and claim that this is a 'union of equals'

(i don't have the right software to be doing this so don't complain about the quality)


england ALWAYS get what they vote for, scotland gets what they vote for when it suits the english, and that isn't particularly often.

[Ruben Cassar]

what i want to know is how anybody can look at the following, and claim that this is a 'union of equals'

(i don't have the right software to be doing this so don't complain about the quality)


england ALWAYS get what they vote for, scotland gets what they vote for when it suits the english, and that isn't particularly often.

And the graph conveniently stopped at 1997 when both the English and the Scots got what they wanted? It just means that in Scotland Labour gets more votes...nothing else...