English people are second class citizens

Actually just think many British people don’t care about it. I grew up in a very white working class council estate and I don’t remember a single person celebrating it. I’ve never heard of anyone making a deal out of it.

We weren’t perfect during the Holocaust btw. We refused to let Jewish refugees fleeing Romania into Palestine. Look up the Struma Voyage.

Err … of course i don’t have proof and I don’t remotely believe it. Even the evidence of the individual existence of the apostles is fairly poorly evidenced. The point is it is a legend that was widely believed for centuries and is fundamental to Scotlands story and that is why St Andrew was chosen as the patron saint. Whereas St George never had any connection to England, apocryphal or not, and was just chosen because he was trendy with crusaders, which is why he was the patron saint of so many countries.

St Patrick was British and the son of Roman colonialists, which is also quite funny if you are into saints and patriotism.

American isn’t a country…it’s a nationality.

Homing in on one of your suggestions for things to be celebrated might reveal why people find it a bit simplistic.

The Beatles were descended from Irish immigrants and played/wrote US rock and roll (and other styles). This was derived from Blues styles played by former slaves in the southern states of the USA. The Beatles had access to records because they would arrive in Liverpool on merchant ships, so Liverpool itself plays a huge role in their success.

It’s too ‘basic’ to say ‘we gave the world The Beatles’. The Beatles exist because of a complex socio-economic, geographical, cultural and historical set of conditions.

Don't they? I quite like a little bit of Shakespeare.

It isn't, just because the media and Mr Farage are telling you that, doesn't mean you have to believe them. Being racist is considered racist. Being patriotic is fine.

Well being patriotic is considered being racist nowadays so maybe then I am

The way Shakespeare is taught in this country means that most people dislike his plays. To see them as originally intended is a privilege that’s not accessible to many - putting on free plays in town squares would be a great way to celebrate being English.

We should definitely have a National Cat Day.

OP, if you want to celebrate St. George then have a big party to celebrate a man from the Middle East who never set foot in England, and never slayed a dragon (on account of dragons not existing).

I guess the flag being hijacked by those far right loony groups who call themselves things like the White Templar Knights put a lot of people off.

May Day is a very English celebration - maypoles, morris dancers, real ale, and the like - and absolutely nobody complains about that - the very essence of Englishness.

Fly your flag,don't fly your flag
With all that going on in the world a bit of Chinese made nylon is you're most pressing issue you've got problems.

I couldn’t agree more.

You're not serious?!!!! I think the original inhabitants of America, India, and Australia might have something to say about England's impact on them (massively undemocratic).

I'm afraid you're looking at this from the perspective of the coloniser. The dictionary definition it is what one "nation" does to another. To you, the Irish and the English may have been very distinct: to the indigenous they were all newcomers under the aegis of a foreign government.

Your claims that I've minimised anything make no sense and given that you've been unable to refute any history I've pointed at it's not for you to say that I'm unaware of basic facts.

Ringo's parents got divorced when he was three.

Not a lot of people know that.

Wow!

I was persevering until you said passing democracy to the world 🤣🤣🤣 and THAT thought process is the reason that the English celebrations always have a slightly sinister connotation

To talk of colonisation as being something done by one state to another trivialises the meaning of colonialism and the effects it had on indigenous populations. In any event, if you insist on seeing things that way, there was an Irish state before 1801 and after then it was simply part of a larger state and so participated in the acts of that state. But I think that's a red herring.

I'm talking about colonisation as in the actual definition of it. You seem to be talking about emigration and some of those emigrants doing bad things which yes of course happened but did not happen by order of king or government in the same way that the British Empire did. Ireland did not send out its people to take over any lands in Ireland's name.

There wasn't an Irish state before 1801 - it was ruled either directly or indirectly by the British monarch / parliament and it certainly wasn't "simply" part of a larger state after that. Why would you bother to get into a conversation about "facts that have to be faced" when you don't know the simple facts.

It is exactly this type of whataboutery and minimising of the past of the British Empire without even knowing basic facts that gets people's backs up.

This
What a load of tripe 😁

Well I think the blame for colonialism very much does rest with the whole of the UK and not just s part of it.

The word Scotch tends however to be used only in relation to whisky. The term for the nationality is Scottish - you're welcome.

Tarmac roads were invented by John Macadam- you have never driven along a road made the Roman way .

Napoleon and Hitler.

Larry swiped my colleague when he tried to fuss him. Colleague was a knob, made me love Larry even more. 😽

Is anyone else getting bored of this shit?

Be careful what you wish for.
Most Irish people I know cringe at how St Patricks Day gets celebrated nowadays: loads of faux-Irish tat, 'leprachaun' hats & fake orange beards, tricoloured balloon arches outside pubs and all the rest of it.
Personally, I'm glad we don't -yet- do the same sort of thing for any other 'national' patron saint's day (although i did see a disturbing photo of someone dressed as a daffodil for St David's last year! usually people just wear traditional Welsh/ Scottish outfits rather than some gimmicky throw-away fancy dress items).

ETA: How would you like to celebrate 'Englishness'?
(ps: as others have said, neither democracy nor beer were invented in England)