Proud or ashamed to be British

[RATTER15]

What makes you proud to be British?

What makes you ashamed to be British?

[daisy48]

The Government for starter's Ratter!!!!

[daisy48]

Makes me ashamed I meant..Duh

[unruliejulie]

football yobs abroad or at home for that matter always make me feel ashamed as did some of the brits i came across on holiday, the ones with no manners, big gobs and unruly kids!

[snagged]

I'm sad to say nothing 'immediately' springs to mind that makes me 'proud' to be British...

What makes me 'ashamed'?... That I can think of many more bad things than good off the top of my head... The govt, the state of the NHS, hooligans, hoodies, the 'binge drinking' culture....

I'm seriously considering emigrating to NZ if I can sort out some work...

[ummmm]

I think the problem with this country is that her people are not patriotic.

[whiffey]

I'm proud to be British, very rarely ashamed (if ever).

Shame that I suspect most of the answers will be another chance to be publicly politically correct, and run ourselves down.

I cycled to central London recently, and it stirred me to drift around the Houses of Parliament, St.Paul's, etc. That's my heritage, and I enjoyed it !

(p.s. does ANYONE on here *know* the 'state of the NHS' ?)

[RATTER15]

Well ummmmmm, you are not being patriotic either, no comment??

[B00]

I'm proud to be British- always have been...for reasons too numerous to mention.

I can honestly say that whilst I love travelling and have been abroad many times I wouldn't live anywhere else other than the UK.

[ummmm]

I am very patriotic. But I'm not British I'm Irish. I love my country and I love and respect England. This country and it's people are probably the most tolerant of all countries. I think that everyone who lives and works here should sometimes look at the positive things that this country offers.

[daisy48]

Your view's on this please. A housing estate in Cardiff was built about 5 years ago,nice,neat and quiet until some of the houses were given to 1 parents family's with kids up till all hours and slowly the estate started to decline with burnt out cars,yobs etc ,nothing new there.. Then the council or h/a gave homes to immigrants who would'nt use the toilets as they faced away from Mecca as its deemed offencensive to Allah to show their bums and are using their gardens (some in tents) to do their business which as you can imagine stinks! The council have now actually agreed to change all their toilets around at the cost of the ratepayer.!. Surely this is taking things too far with the immigrants? Has this happened anywhere else yet? The Uk has gone right down the pan,excuse the pun.

[haywood]

well said "boo" i agree we have the best nhs service some countries dnt have any at all.and yeah we are the best off !yea we have yobs and cheeky teens but foriegners are rude arrogant and they want our jobs and money and to be honest we arnt that bad cos they all seem to come to live over here...which dont make britain much better!!

[sleepyj]

wish i even had a toilet in my house lol

[whiffey]

daisy - do you have a link for that toilet thing ?

Where and how is it correct to drop a log ?

[RATTER15]

I'm very proud to be British!!

But this country is being let down by our government big time.
I think the Government is corrupt at all levels!!

The NHS is going down the pan big time!! far from being the best, it is actually one of the worst according to the World Health Organisation and I cant disagree!!

Our education system is going to the dogs!

Our Justice system is deeply flawed and often corrupt but is still one of the best in the world.

The British people are the best in the world (generally speaking) unfortunately we have a reputation for housing some of the most stupid drunks in the world as well.



The land we live on is fantastic, some of the best scenes in the world, some of the worst as well I expect lol

But I was born here and love my Country and proud of it, yes there are many problems here but what country doesnt have problems.

[Tha-Flash]

Neither proud nor ashamed.

Proud because you were born here by chance? Well, I guess it does kinda make sense... In the way that I'm proud that I have brown eyes. It is by pure chance but still..

What does "being proud of your country" mean, really?

I do have a lot of bad associations with people who say things like this. Like old dads and grandads who preach to their kids "you should be proud to be british... We fought in the war." and all the common phrases that they've had sub-consciously installed into their heads.

Patriotism... Willingness to sacrifice for your country. So you'd die for your country? Sounds stupid to me.

It implies that you believe your country is superior to everyone elses. I honestly don't think it is something to be arrogant about.

So no I'm not proud or ashamed because of something that happened to me by chance.

[RATTER15]

Oh! and the weather, cant complain there, we have a very good balance of weather, plenty of rain to give us our green and pleasant land!! and some sun to be able to enjoy it!!

[whiffey]

Oh Ratter come on please !!!

Government corrupt at all levels ? - let's have some hard evidence above and beyond popular and politically correct government-bashing.

NHS going down the pan ? - how ? Come on, stick up the facts (actually hospital bed closures only reflect the desirable move to keep patients OUT of hospital if possible)

Education system, justice system 'deeply flawed' , is everything crap ?

As yet, we don't hang young homosexuals in public from a crane.

[raysparx1]

I am proud to be British, I am not proud of some of the things the British Government has done in the past and the present, but on the whole we are a very lucky group of people to have been born and to live here.

[noxlumos]

I don't consider myself to be British as I come from Belfast ( which before everyone reminds me is part of the UK, I am well aware of that for the present) however as far as I am concerned I am Irish. That being said and all political things aside I live in England at the moment and like ummmmm find the Brits to be by and large sensible and fair minded and great upholders of common sense. What I hate at the moment is the way that some Brits have allowed themselves to be blindly suckered in by the right wing press and are now acting in ways that I think history will judge them very harshly for.

[ganesh]

Tha-Flash puts it perfectly,except that it is a shame that the yob culture is taking over here causing an awful reputation abroad,and a country where we are not safe to walk in many towns after dark.This country might have pretty countryside and is quite cosmopolitan but it certainly isn't the best country in the world and I don't see why we should be proud to be british just because we happen to have been born here.