To be so ashamed of my country and being British?

[KenDodd]

For so many reasons recently. I feel so, so sad about what has happened to our country.

YANBU to feel that way
YABU to feel that way

Not ashamed of my country or ashamed to have been born here, not that I had any choice in the matter !

What intrigues me though is how the country has been shuffled into sides, 10 years ago someone might vote Conservative and be centre right and someone might vote Labour and be centre left and there were lots of people in the middle who didn't agree on everything but had a lot of common ground. Now its all the Right this and the Left that, as though there is no longer any common ground in the middle. I think there is still a lot more middle out there than some would like people to think.

I’m proud that we didn’t vote in Corbyn.

Which country?

Now its all the Right this and the Left that, as though there is no longer any common ground in the middle. I think there is still a lot more middle out there than some would like people to think.

Yes indeed - the media have a lot to answer for!

And Ireland too - have done an excellent job, vs the U.K. where well, it has been somewhat less than excellent.

Honestly, the rest of the world is not spending its time thinking about Britain. Ive had a couple of colleagues asking about Brexit but thats it. No interest in how Britain is managing CV in the slightest. It's not an international competition. No country is looking down on others for doing "worse" than them. Each country is just focusing on doing the best it can.

Britain does not figure in the French news very much at all at the moment. Except when Boris was hospitalized. But it was an information amongst others.

Where I work there are dozens of nationalities. Their home countries politics do not get discussed ever!

YABU

10 years ago someone might vote Conservative and be centre right and someone might vote Labour and be centre left and there were lots of people in the middle who didn't agree on everything but had a lot of common ground.

10 years ago Twitter etc wasn't around with as much strength for the ranters to rant on.
Recent elections and referendums have shown that the majority of the population are not following along with the 'I know best' views of the voluble SEast based media etc.

No. I love this country and its people. People are inherently good - you will always get shit show examples of how not to be a decent human being. But on the whole we (non white) have loved being here.

@Sosadandempty that’s downright laughable when you compare it to what goes on in other countries. Even in Australia. Honestly, the tories want to give poor people free stuff because they want to maintain the class system. Taxing the middle classes so much that they’re reliant on the state and can be bought off with a promise of a slight tax reduction or more funding for schools is very much in their interest (obviously ignoring that brief period when liberals took over the Tory party back in the day). This idea that they’re somehow being paid off by big companies to do god only knows what is a bit tin foil hat.

If you are going to make comparisons with Australia it would be in the attitude to China. Australia shut down travel with China immediately because they knew better than to trust the Chinese and because they couldn’t afford a prolonged severe lockdown (teetering on the edge of recession for years with little leeway for policy making their way out of it). In contrast boris is too keen to deal with China in the wake of brexit and clearly didn’t want to risk offending them. That was their big mistake. Australia locked down specifically to avoid a full on lockdown and is now lifting restrictions. Yes it’s saved lives, but it was just as much about saving livelihoods. Work and has a much commerce have a much higher value in Australian politics than they do in British ones which seem to be dominated by state owned institutions like the NHS and vague notions of national pride and class obsession.

@CroissantsAtDawn in all fairness I do think that most of Thea irks is watching Trump with amusement

I'm Scottish. This shower of nasty lying hypocrites must certainly aren't "us".

Also Scottish. Am assuming @KenDodd is English though.

Im ashamed to be British. Started with the Brexit debacle. The lies, the cover ups, the shambolic handling of the situation that dragged on for years. I think Boris is equatable to Trump in his uselessness and buffoonery and his moral code. And now this...the pandemic has been handled extremely badly with no sound, coherent leadership. Boris wandering round for ages shaking hands with covid victims and pretending all okay and not showing up to important cobra meetings. Not shutting down hard or fast enough but worse, no testing targets being met at all despite this being one of the most important ways to get a clear picture of what’s going on and to help contain the outbreaks. It’s a mess. If you look at the world press about us, they just think we are a mess too or a huge laughing stock.

I think all the national papers are largely written and produced in the SE @EdwinaMay, but there are a wide range of views potrayed in them and to be fair always have been I think ? We all know the Telegraph leans to the right of politics and the Guardian leans to the left and both have run screaming to the extremes on occasion

Several of the most popular and voluable SE based newspapers were telling people that they were right to vote the way they did in the elections and referendum. Or did you specifically mean broadcast media ?

Got to go to work now , not ignoring any answers

Think yourself lucky your not an American. This is no ones fault
YABU

To answer your question op nope I don't feel ashamed of the U.K. at all or to be British. We are doing as well as can be expected and better than some other countries in the world. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What countries are ‘doing better than?’ Just out of interest...

But this is what we voted for, this is us, even if some of us don't like it, they represent us

Can you please clarify that your country is England, and it's the English that you should be ashamed of.

Neither Great Britain or the UK are countries. Scotland didn't vote for brexit and we certainly didn't vote for the current Westminster cabinet to represent.

I'm proud to be Scottish. I wouldn't be proud to be English right now.

I wouldn't be ashamed or proud to be British. It's an accident of birth.

Never ashamed of where I come from.

Also, Captain Tom!

I wouldn't be ashamed or proud to be British. It's an accident of birth.

And it's not a nationality. It's just an island which houses 3 countries who all have different governments but are part of a larger union which only works well for one of them.

If it's because of the government and how it's handled things then YABU. We are all the country so are you ashamed of me? Your family etc? Over dramatic and not explained yourself at all so pretty pointless actually

I follow political groups on Facebook like Leave EU, the racism really depresses me as well. Some of these pages have millions of followers as well before someone dismisses it as 'tiny minority' it's not

Well, they love to keep telling us that they are in the majority, even if it is only 52%!

There is a huge amount of racism and very right-wing thinking in this country. It's frightening.

@PrincessConsueIaBananaHammock firstly congrats on the name, I dig it! Secondly- I need that pizza

Chocolate what a ridiculous comment.

People were perhaps a bit naive in the Brexit vote. But it is the manipulation of the press and the Brexiteer politicians who lied and cheared their way to victory.

I don't see why anyone could be ashamed of their nationality.

I despair at the comments of some Scots on here. They are embarrassing. But why would it make me ashamed?