The liberal media constantly slating Britain.

Liberal?
I think you mean conservative?

Why have you written English white elite with capital letters?

What does "going out on a shield" mean? is it a reference to Agincourt or something?

The so called 'liberal' media is overwhelmingly right wing, actually.

"As a union we are strong" - er, what? it's only a matter of time before N. Ireland secedes (and good luck to them I say) and Scotland gains independence so they can rejoin the EU lucky bastards. Strong union my arse.

"This constant slating of England and its colonial history is really getting to me". Good. It ought to. It's about time the English White Elite was forced to acknowledge its brutal history of land grab, suppression and enforcement.

If the best you can muster is the Beatles, Stones and Kinks then you aren't very clued up. The Clash were better.

‘British exceptionalism’ still exists - but now sometimes seen in a reversed way - that we are exceptionally bad. I don’t think that’s anymore true than the idea that we were ever exceptionally morally ‘good’. We did start the industrial revolution, have a huge empire, spread our language and have international clout so I can see why 100 odd years ago people felt proud to be British - it was a different time with different ethics.
All countries have violent and oppressive histories. Mankind is a violent animal. We do seem peculiar in this country in that we are expected to feel personal guilt for the action of our forefathers (or more likely someone else’s forefathers, let’s not forget the ruling class was tiny). But we don’t seem to expect other countries to feel guilty about the their past actions, we wouldn’t dream of trying to make a Belgian teenager feel personally guilty about the Congo. We never discuss the failings of other countries in comparison to our own - when I chat to friends from France and Spain we basically all have the same issues in our countries.
Our country isn’t exceptionally bad - it’s pretty good for many people! There are problems of course - but so there are in all countries. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for better, but the “this country is awful” attitude is very silly when considered on a global scale.
I think it’s this divide between people thinking we are so awful or so amazing that’s driven Brexit etc. Ridiculous populism from both ends.
We are just a fairly normal Western European nation.

Are you drunk, OP?

This is some weird copy and paste shit, right? Also incoherent.

How can anyone be "over-educated"? Donald, is that you?

astonishing cruel empire

Except for most of the other empires.

You don't see a French, Spanish or Portuguese commonwealth.

As for the Belgian activities in Africa best not say.

the mainstream British media is trying to send the British public down a rabbit-hole of self-loathing.

I would ask you to be SPECIFIC about exactly which organisations in what media are producing what reports on which topics, and what language and other techniques they are using to do - exactly what?

But you clearly have your own agenda and think all us mums are too thick to notice. So don't bother because I'm sure you can't anyway.

Hmmm, very slightly in the OP’s defence, there are people with mixed English / Scottish / Welsh / NI heritage who do consider themselves “British” rather than identifying with a specific home nation, but saying it doesn’t matter at all is crass because to many people it does.

not being sure if I am from England, or the UK. Who gives a toss? It's all the same thing. As a Union we are strong.

You are both ignorant and deluded.

The British Empire was responsible for some horrific atrocities. But hey, I’m sure the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans interned and tortured after the Mau Mau uprising found great comfort in the music of the Kinks

It’s possible to acknowledge these atrocities and still feel fortunate to be British (I won’t say “proud” because I didn’t choose to be born here, so it was no achievement on my part). And our mainstream media is not nearly as liberal as you seem to think.

As a liberal, I kind of loathe being governed by a bunch of truly useless populist conservatives who appear to have no plans for anything. Maybe that’s what you mean 🤷‍♀️

Fuck that noise, I'm seriously thinking about joining YesCymru

I think that you've got a cheek "telling off" the leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Surely you'd support people from those countries feeling National pride ?

Did you not see the front pages of newspapers in the run up to the General Election? They are very conservative and often foreign owned by people like Rupert Murdoch who peddle very right wing material is other countries like the US (Fox News)

All of your great English things are from 50 years ago! You might want to update that list with more current examples like Adele.

Something about going out on a shield?

Well this is startlingly incoherent, but assuming you're posting in good faith...

The British media (particularly print) is overwhelmingly conservative. Not really sure who you're referring to as the liberal media here.

British colonial history is a stain on the world and should not be celebrated.

What trading bloc are you talking about? The UK is already a 'trading bloc', so I'm not sure who else you mean? Unless you're advocating to join the EU?

Nice essay.

What's your agenda?

Where to start.

The universal language is a result of an astonishing cruel empire. It wasn’t a gift. It was a forceful imposition.

You seem to conflate “English” with “British”. Why? Check yourself.

You mentioned “the Beatles, the stones, the kinks” twice. Memory problems?

British colonial history deserves far more than “slating”. Far, far more.

A bit strange to “proud of” of being a certain nationality. You didn’t chose where you were born. Getting born in a particular geographical spot is not an achievement.