What makes you proud to be (english/welsh/scottish.....)?

[Robinw]

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Nothing, makes me proud to be English, just as nothing would be proud to be from any other country. We should just proud of the human race, if that is possible looking around the world!

We are individuals. It's like the North East of England, they have a reputation for being the friendliest people in the country but when I went there, as I expected, there was a mixture of friendly and not so friendly people just as there would be in any part of the country, or indeed the world.

I heard a man on the radio the other day say that Japanese people are ALL "naturally" cruel people. It was like hearing Alf Garnett!

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I'm Scottish, but since we got our own Parliament the attitudes on many Scots has changed, they no longer see themselves as British they are Scottish. Can't understand why, I am just happy to be here and enjoying life as it comes to me, as the weather is brilliant and I've managed to get brown without burning this year!

Agree with Jbr, nothing makes me proud to be English and I would up and move to another country at the drop of a hat. I spent my childhood in Saudi Arabia so maybe that has altered my views but I just think there are so many places and cultures to explore and visit, would not care if I never lived in England again, feel no loyalty to the country at all... I don't mean to sound so negative but national pride means very little to me or any of my friends in their 20's....

at least we have a sense of humour???

i play games on an internet site with a lad currently living in copenhagen and apparently all the continental media are furious about terry wogan's light-hearted attitude to eurovision - they all want him banned from ever doing it again - hey, guys, lighten up a little!

and in one of bill bryson's books he commented on sharing a railway carriage with 2 swiss (or something similar) businessmen who chatted aimiably for a couple of hours and neither of them ever even smiled, let alone laughed.

and most americans have absolutely no irony.

so we do have one or two things going for us!

There have been plenty of British people complaining to the BBC via teletext about Wogan's attitude to foreigners, some of them on the Teenage page. I didn't watch so I can't comment!

i only heard the end of it but i know what he's like - if they don't and think he means it then more fool them.

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Having just returned from my Australian homeland where I was subject to endless earnest lectures on how Australia "is the best country in the world to live in" blah blah blah, one of the many thing I love about Britain and the British is their healthy cynicism and ability to laugh at themselves. But then I am an Anglophile after all...

robinw, i don't believe that our attitude to foreigners in general is any worse than other nationalities' attitude to foreigners - including us! - and in some ways we are more liberal, eg the neo-nazis in germany and the national fronters in france are much more vocal and violent than our pathetic little national fronters, most of whom are merely badly educated and very ignorant; i don't believe the french or the germans have that excuse as their education systems are so much better than ours by all statistics. they just appear to believe that they are superior and have more rights than other nationalities.

i have not been to greece now for over 20 years but had several trips there in the 70s and always found that most greeks genuinely liked and enjoyed the company of most british, but went out of their way to subtly disoblige most germans, who can be unpleasant holiday neighbours; this was particularly obvious in crete and was a late hangover from the german occupation...at that time germany was incredibly affluent and they swarmed around in mercs with fat wallets and had a strong tendency to sneer at those of us who didn't. we spent time camping with a delightful german brother and sister who drove a 2CV as a point of principle and felt the same way as we did about most of their compatriots.

and my GCSE daughter was involved in an exchange trip with some german students last autumn and we found that most of them expected to do things their way in both countries...

i know our famous sense of fair play has diminished a bit over the years but it does still exist for many, as you mentioned, and it is something to be proud of!

so there!

I agree wholeheartedly Janh. Having lived in Singapore, the US and Germany. I don't really understand why the perception seems to be that Britain is intolerant of foreigners. In Europe, look at the treatment of Turks in Germany, Algerians in France, the list goes on and on. I certainly don't think we are any worse than the average country which has a significant migrant population.

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bloss, the french may "concede their rights" formally but not when it comes down to individual cases - especially farmers - there have been loads of instances of them carrying on regardless when things didn't go their way. eg burning lorries of english lamb? eg the EU said that the beef export restrictions on us could be lifted and the french refused to have it?

i didn't say that they insist on their rights....just that they think they have more of them and their way is the only way, foreigners beware.

i also didn't see the german students' attitude as "individualism" - more as, if we want it we'll have it, do it our way. which sounds a lot like the 1930s to me...they weren't all like that, and in fact ours was a sweetie, but the majority were.

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bloss, true about the environment, but with the nuclear waste, all they're concerned about is not having it themselves. so we get it. brilliant. just walk all over us, guys!

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you mean germany was going to process it free?
whose waste was it, anyway?

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bloss, there was a colossal demonstration - thousands of police involved - within the last month - to stop a trainload of nuclear waste which was to be reprocessed in germany. they stopped it and it was sent to sellafield instead. which is fine for germany but not for the rest of europe....maybe they could have started an EU dialogue about nuclear power in general instead of just turfing it out?

bloss - i definitely heard at the time that the stuff was being diverted to sellafield but can't now find it in any archives. all i can find is that it was intended to be dumped (not reprocessed) in germany...they normally let us and france do their reprocessing for them which leaves us (and france) with the remains...so they are still dodging the issue even though they pay.

Bron, my grandfather is Welsh and that is my only claim to being Welsh but I am English and lived just outside of Cardiff for five years. I envied the Welsh attitude to their nationality (although I'd keep my mouth shut on rugby international days when Wales were playing England as I found the hostility to the English on these occassions very scary and then there was the Fee Fi Fo Fum... t.v advertisement for the match... however, I understand that and realise if I'd been in London the roles would have been reversed.

I wish that I could feel proud to be English, but largely I do not, as a race we are often arrogant, bigotted and racist. Maybe it is because in the past wrongly England so often meant Britain that there is no English identity as such. I miss Wales but I do love England too, it is my home and I wish that what it means to be English was more positive. Personally I don't think the growth in the search for what it means to be English is a bad thing but sadly it all too often brings on images of the National Front!
Jeremy Paxmans book The English is very good at examining this issue.

winnie, i agree completely with you that there is no english identity in the same way as there is a scots, welsh and irish one; i used to really envy them when i was younger as all i felt was british and still do really. (do they feel british or just welsh in your experience???)
do you think putting st george's cross on the england shirt helps at all in taking some of the NF identity out of it?
i am a quarter irish but as my irish nan grew up in west london it doesn't help!

What I really don't understand is why certain welsh folk (myself not included) get so het up over comments such as those made by Anne Robinson, but feel that criticism of the English is perfectly legitimate. I think it would be if there was some taking as well as giving. There are some folk who would want to eject any English daring to live in our hallowed land if they were seen to not be making an effort to learn welsh, or to have bought New Zealand lamb, or to have ventured the opinion that England is quite pretty too. It seems that some people think that we are still an oppressed nation. The only time I feel oppressed is when S4C doesn't show Channel 4 stuff like 'Nigella Bites'. Now is that worth getting cable TV for I ask?

Is there a divide in Wales between the Welsh-speaking and non-Welsh speaking? The reason I'm asking is that hubby and me went to Swansea last w/e to visit my in-laws (who were born and bred in Swansea/Port Talbot) and went to a beach on the Gower. There were some couples there speaking only Welsh and the in-laws seemed really embarrassed by this and even commented on how awful the Welsh language sounded (!). (I'm 100% English BTW)