What makes you proud to be British?

[AnythingButMagnolia]

A friend and I were talking about coming home from holiday and appreciating the UK 'anew' after being in other cultures. One thing she said was "we are so *tolerant". It gave me a warm fuzzy glow. I think that's really something to be proud of.
*
i recognise some posters may disagree but I am thinking in broad terms and historically etc etc...
Don't mean to start a 'heavy' thread, just a place to share other warm fuzzy things.

Apologies for random bold. Was an asterisk fail.

I love being British, I love British culture. I like how multicultural we are, how polite we are generally and tolerant, how we know that any problem can be easily fixed with a cuppa. I like that we can take the piss out of ourselves and our friends without causing offence.

I like that we believe everyone has the right to healthcare and that right doesn't depend on how much money or insurance you have.
I think that we believe life should be basically fair. I know it doesn't always pan out like it should, but the inherent belief exists.
I also like that most people know how to queue properly and there is societal disapproval of people who ignore the rules.

I love that you can only get a proper decent cup of tea in Britain. I love coming home from holidays purely for this reason.

However, I'm not "proud" to be British because I feel you can only be "proud" of things you've actually done or achieved rather than just a complete accident of history of birth.

I mean, I define myself as "British" but I'm not proud of it IYSWIM.

Not a lot. There's a lot of irony in this thread being posted on the anniversary of the Scottish Indyref.

Nothing.

There are things about Britain that I really value and British things that I am proud of, but being proud to be British would be weird. I didn't achieve it. I happened to be born in the UK to British parents. How can I be proud of that? I've always been glad of it...although I am less and less glad these days. Britain is not currently on a path I am happy about.

Hear, hear, DemocracyDies.

Well historically I'm definitely not proud of our colonial past. However, on balance today I am proud of the road we travelled, the Magna Carta, the Second World War and since then to produce a society which is fairly tolerant and multicultural. Not proud of brexit tho.

Btw you can get a decent cup of tea in Ireland too. It's the same.

Dont see what indyref has to do with tbis thread. Scotland chose to remain part of Britain, so majority must like/value being British.

I used to be proud of our tolerance, our sense of humour, the way we embraced multiculturalism, our apparent intelligence and wisdom.

Unfortunately, the Brexit debacle has rather shown that there is actually precious little of those things in the country as a whole...

I certainly love and am glad to be British, wouldn't want to be anything else nor live anywhere else. I don't know about 'proud' though; I mean, being British isn't an achievement for me, it's just the way things are.

Interesting thread, there are a lot of nice things on here.

In 2016, after 32 years I renounced my British citizenship following a move to the USA. I can’t really say I was proud of Britain. But it’s nice that people on here are.

Well a question was asked and I gave my response and my reason for it. What people who voted differently think isn't the answer to the question.

I’ve struggled with the ‘proud’ when someone asked me why I’m ‘proud to be welsh’
Best I can articulate it is my ancestors influenced my country, and in turn the country influenced them; in terms of language, culture, education, bardic tradition etc. which has the culmative effect of making me who I am today. Had we not had a bardic culture my great great grandad wouldn’t have been a poet, my grandad wouldn’t have impressed on me a love of words, I wouldn’t spend every evening costing on the sofa with a good book. It’s had a direct effect on even the smallest things in my life. So I guess it’s like saying I’m proud of my ancestors, and those like them who have created this beautiful country.
Still don’t think I’ve articulated that well, but I know what I mean in my head 😂

What should we be proud of?

People starving and needing food banks?
Disabled people being pressured into work?
The them and us attitude of the haves toward the have nots?
The benefit bashing poverty porn lovers?
Childcare that costs more than wages pay?
A government that forces cuts on the essential services that screw over the poorest of society?
A vote based on lies that has split the country?

Etc, Etc

I suppose we've got the odd nice castle tho and the country side is ok.

I'm only naturalised & don't really do the pride thing.
That said... I was delighted at the humour response to latest Scripal poisoning news. Maybe only the English (British) could have responded so. Including this image on social media & the decision of R4-Broadcasting House programme to get a cathedrals buff on air who talked about the wonderful font in Salisbury Cathedral, and then took a quiz on ancient English cathedrals. Naturally, the questions were asked by Russian accented 'Boris'. That was inspired.

[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brusselslockdown-belgians-respond-to-terror-alert-with-cat-pictures-to-confuse-suspects-a6744746.html]

Dunno, they managed it in Brussels too.

Our welfare state. It's something that hopefully I will never have to rely on but I am glad it's there.

I am a moderate user of the NHS. Again, I'm glad we have that safety net. I am proud that we don't have people having to sell their houses to pay for medical care.

I am proud of our employment laws, where we get maternity leave, paternity leave, sick leave, redundancy pay and (some) recourse if we are fired for no reason.

FFS.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brusselslockdown-belgians-respond-to-terror-alert-with-cat-pictures-to-confuse-suspects-a6744746.html

Oh great.I start a thread saying it's not intended to be political and guess what..

And yes I know people can post whatever they want and it's a public forum yada yada.

I had no idea it was the anniversary of the Scottish referendum so sorry if that offends anyone.

Also 'proud' is meant as in..well 'like' rather than the sense of boasting.

To any and all offended by this thread and any indeed future threads and any future posts I make which may inadvertently offend you, I heartily apologise.

HTH.

It's a nice thread Magnolia. There's nothing wrong with appreciating the good things about where we live. Some people are just moany arses.

I feel like the idea of being British has been foisted on me. I'm black British, family from Jamaica.

My grandparents had a very weird relationship with Britain seeing it as some kind of pinnacle of culture, education and civilisation and being proud to be associated with it. My granddad was incredibly proud that he'd served the British empire/commonwealth in the second world war, for example. They treated Britain like some kind of maiden aunt - big, stoic, proper and someone to be on your best behaviour around to not let the side down.

I don't recognise this version of Britishness - sort of Britishness by association.

Similarly, I don't recognise the sort of Britishness I'm encouraged to have, black British, where I define myself as British but also keep hold of the culture of my Caribbean heritage. My Caribbean heritage is, to me, tied up with empire, slavery and my grandparents' weird pride in Britain. I don't want any part of that.

I don't really define myself as British, it just happens to be where I live because of all sorts of twists and turns of history and, therefore, I can't be proud of it. If history had played out a different way, my ancestors might have been stolen from their African homeland and taken to South America and I'd now be, say, Brazilian! Or, even more mind-bending, they might not have been taken from their homeland at all

BTW, Britain isn't at all tolerant, multicultural or fair

Certainly not proud now. We have a government that is screwing its own people, and we're letting them get away with it. The racism isn't pretty either. Looking back a bit, we have a big responsibility for the disaster zone that is the Middle East. And would Trump even be in power if we hadn't invented the Apprentice (unlucky that one, true).
What I do like is that at street level people are non-judgmental (not my experience in Germany or France). And the dry humour that is common in the workplace and between friends. And the creativity - the Arts scene is amazing here (though unsupported by government).

Sometimes Mumsnet can show why not to be proud of Britain, we are quite moany and negative.

But on the proud front, we have a great sense of humour. IMO it cannot be beaten.

BTW, Britain isn't at all tolerant, multicultural or fair

I accept that but IMO i think the majority of people are aiming for that, and it's a lot better than many other places.