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.

Nothing to be proud of but we are the champion moaners!

I think you can feel sad for the people who suffered and acknowledge that it wasn't the right thing, but guilt implies that it's somehow your fault, which it isn't.
Britain gets flak because it had a large empire, but it was by no means unique in having one. I think we shouldn't blame our own country more or define our history only by the horrible things the govt of the time did. There is some good in there too.
Do other nations beat themselves up about their histories? I'd love to know.

Member- yes that's s good one.

I used to feel guilty. I don’t anymore.
Slavery is abhorrent. I am not proud to be white in that context.

Never admit to being British. It’s embarrassing. Particularly right now.

I think our ability to hate ourselves and not be proud. And recognise we're far from perfect.

Britain isn't a great power anymore. We're not great. But I think that we can proud that we're trying.

oooh, loving that my last post complaining about people with crappy geography thinking Britain is not in Europe is immediately followed by a post claiming that "we" aren't "like" Europe. Europe. Geographical entity.

Reading other comments, there is tons I like in Britain but it doesn't make me proud to be British. It makes me glad to be able to access a cream tea, but I'm proud of my kids when they do good stuff, I'm not proud of cream teas. Delicious though they are.

I think our ability to hate ourselves and not be proud. And recognise we're far from perfect.
Perhaps not hate ourselves, but certainly self deprecation is a pretty good trait, and I always feel desperately uncomfortable if I accidently see part of the last night of the proms, it seems so very unBritish.

Ooh so many things, humour and tv shows, cynicism, realism, understatement, style, honesty. Our democracy and laws. Our women’s rights, inc abortion, our Nhs, our free education system, our Harry Potter, Shakespeare, Churchill, brontes, Radiohead, Kate bush, so many scientific contributions, engineering, tech contributions our brilliant universities, our investigative journalists, our independent judiciary, our food- we can get anything! - our sports inc football, Northumberland, national trust, castles, cafes, coffee and tea, Wales, Cornwall and London. Gosh so many things!

I hate Brexit and the thick fucking brexiteers who are intent on running this country into the ground. Every time I hear one of them say ‘we won ww1 and Ww2 on our own, we’ll be fine.’ I die inside that this wonderful country could produce such ignoramuses.

Are we polite? I think we seem to be quite an angry, selfish little country these days. Notes left on ambulances, pregnant women not being given seats on public transport. A lot of low-level mean-spiritedness around.

After spending some time in California over the summer , I was astounded at the amount of homelessness over there but what's more shocking is there were a huge amount of homeless people with physical disabilities ( I mean missing limbs , in wheelchairs etc ) .
I'm not saying we have do not have this in the uk ( I haven't seen it ) but it made me thankful for the safety net we have in place for more vulnerable people .

I do agree that Britain has become an angrier place and a lot less tolerant of differences in opinion. People are regularly threatened with all sorts of violence on social media, for having a pov that someone else disagrees with and I think irl random acts of violence have increased. There was real bitterness between families and friends over the Indyref and Brexit, for example.

Scattered just realised you were talking about my post after yours. Nothing to do with your post at all nor is it a reply to yours.

lol at British empire hijinks being aaaaaages ago

Partition was in 1948
Many countries got their independence in the 60s e.g. Kenya
Windrush generation gave their working lives to build up the country and are getting deported

this stuff happened in the lives of people alive today- it is still having an effect. This is not ancient history and I wonder what is the motivation of posters who are making out that it is ancient history

And as for ‘well it did do some good’ I wonder if you’d think that if it were your family separated, your grandfather killed, your grandmother deported. Some consolation, I’m sure

Literally zilch now.

Embarrassed actually to admit I'm British,we look stupid,dumb,xenophobic and stuck in the past now thanks to Brexit. Really shot ourselves in the foot. I really felt it in Europe this summer,there was a real sense there of being on the up,strong,modern and optimistic. I felt quite jealous.

The way the Windrush generation have been, and continue to be treated is utterly shameful.

Add little and isolated to the adjectives.

Re moving if you don't like it. The irony is it's now so much harder after Brexit. Think a couple of for my dc will. They're pissed off that uni and jobs in Europe are now shut off to them but one is even more determined to leave now. Haven't given up hope that dp and I might do the same at some point.

I think the anger is more a sign of the times then anything else and it was brewing long before Brexit.

People are getting less tolerant and more angry because they are paying £££s in rent to greedy landlords. They can't get on the housing ladder, their wages are low and don't reflect the work they put in. Any sense of community is dying which could be a mix between online shopping/supermarkets which killed off any local shops in the community and pubs closing down in their thousands. Longer commutes to work, less down time, quality of life not what it should be, high university fees, the fact you need a degree or higher education to enter into basic junior jobs you could once get without and work your way up via experience. Social media making us more isolated than ever before..

It's a sign of the times and all these factors have built up making us anxious and unhappy.

I think you are right Cider. Add in the internet, which allows people to spew bile without consequence and we have an unhealthy society.

Not proud of all that much BUT am grateful that my immigrant grandparents found a country that in the main welcomed them and allowed them to make of their lives what they wanted. The upside to Britishness is a desire to, in general, leave people be to live their lives in the way they want to. Beleive it or not, that "hands off" approach is not always replicated in other countries.

@mylittlefony

I'm not saying we have do not have this in the uk ( I haven't seen it ) but it made me thankful for the safety net we have in place for more vulnerable people

4500 people sleep rough in the UK every night. 300,000 are living in substandard accommodation.

1.3 million people a year in need of emergency food parcels.

14 million people living in poverty, 4.5 million of them children.

How can you not know this is going on?

Penny they can still work in Europe, it's not "shut off" to them. They just have to apply for a works visa now like they would if they wanted to go and work outside of the EU. There isn't suddenly going to be a wall put up where you can't visit/work in Europe.

The good things

The NHS
Humour
Decent tea
Decent beer (though Belgium does run us close on that one)
Cricket
The Queen

No party remotely as bad as the Front Nationale, Geert Wilders party in the Netherlands or the AFD in Germany gets more than 1 or 2% vote in elections.

The bad things are too long to list but others have mentioned many.

Praaad to be british. I benefitted from free education. I still believe you can 'make it' by hard work and your personality. The nhs, social services and dwp has been a god send to my family. I never think of living elsewhere. Touch wood, so far its been great. Forgot to say, our sense of humour is fantastic too.