How emotionally "British" do you feel? More....
Poll: How emotionally "British" do you feel? More....
Total Members Polled: 272
Discussion
I thought it might be interesting to see the extent to which people identify as British vs citizens of the Home Nations.
Obviously we've all got British Passports, but what do you identify with most at an emotional level? I'll also make the point up front that I don't think you have to be a rabid Nationalist in pursuit of independence just to feel British less than whichever other.
Obviously we've all got British Passports, but what do you identify with most at an emotional level? I'll also make the point up front that I don't think you have to be a rabid Nationalist in pursuit of independence just to feel British less than whichever other.
I don't feel in the slightest bit emotional about my nationality, I feel lucky to have been born in the UK, there's plenty of s
tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. I've lived and worked in other parts of the world, some better some worse.
"Nationalism is the last hiding place of the scoundrel" someone once said.
However the more the other home nations wish to proclaim independence from the UK the more inclined I am to consider myself English.
tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. I've lived and worked in other parts of the world, some better some worse. "Nationalism is the last hiding place of the scoundrel" someone once said.
However the more the other home nations wish to proclaim independence from the UK the more inclined I am to consider myself English.
BobsPigeon said:
I don't feel in the slightest bit emotional about my nationality, I feel lucky to have been born in the UK, there's plenty of stter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue.
Pretty much this. I don’t and wouldn’t celebrate or take pride in being English or British in any way. tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. bristolbaron said:
BobsPigeon said:
I don't feel in the slightest bit emotional about my nationality, I feel lucky to have been born in the UK, there's plenty of stter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue.
Pretty much this. I don’t and wouldn’t celebrate or take pride in being English or British in any way. tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. 
Kermit power said:
bristolbaron said:
BobsPigeon said:
I don't feel in the slightest bit emotional about my nationality, I feel lucky to have been born in the UK, there's plenty of stter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue.
Pretty much this. I don’t and wouldn’t celebrate or take pride in being English or British in any way. tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. Weirdly when I lived in a city there was always a modicum of Englishness but there was definitely a British overtone or in some ways European.
Now I live in a village it is definitely English for reasons I'm not quite sure of, perhaps it's the tractors going down the lane or people sat in the pub with a sheepdog but I am sure it happens in other countries so perhaps my identity is entirely made up in my head
Now I live in a village it is definitely English for reasons I'm not quite sure of, perhaps it's the tractors going down the lane or people sat in the pub with a sheepdog but I am sure it happens in other countries so perhaps my identity is entirely made up in my head
Monkeylegend said:
Kermit power said:
bristolbaron said:
BobsPigeon said:
I don't feel in the slightest bit emotional about my nationality, I feel lucky to have been born in the UK, there's plenty of stter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue.
Pretty much this. I don’t and wouldn’t celebrate or take pride in being English or British in any way. tter places and it inevitably forms part of my identity and chrachter but nothing I feel is unique or particularly worth celebration or proclaiming as a virtue. I have almost no interest in being classed as British or English. It's just a piece of information on my documents.
Used to feel more British than anything, but in the last say 10 years, I've been reminded almost constantly that I'm an English bd, Tory scum (never voted for them in my life), oppressor, Empire-justifier etc etc just because I live in the South East - where I was born and where my family are. So yeah, I'm English.
d, Tory scum (never voted for them in my life), oppressor, Empire-justifier etc etc just because I live in the South East - where I was born and where my family are. So yeah, I'm English. Couldn’t care less.
Feel lucky to have been born in a developed western country with all the privileges and opportunities that most take for granted but I’m not nationalistic at all and would feel the same if I was born in France, Germany, Canada, etc.
Lines on a map do nothing for me.
Feel lucky to have been born in a developed western country with all the privileges and opportunities that most take for granted but I’m not nationalistic at all and would feel the same if I was born in France, Germany, Canada, etc.
Lines on a map do nothing for me.
Proud to have come from Scotland due to the history and inventiveness. Live in Kent, England and Normandy, France, lived in Italy for a while.
Good and bad in all but cannot feel any affection for English or British - lots of negative connotations relating to the nationalistic hubris. Entirely comfortable that this may just be me. I recognise that Scotland is not exactly lacking in this trait and I don’t much like it. However, the essential difference is that the Scots are the underdog in that posturing!
Good and bad in all but cannot feel any affection for English or British - lots of negative connotations relating to the nationalistic hubris. Entirely comfortable that this may just be me. I recognise that Scotland is not exactly lacking in this trait and I don’t much like it. However, the essential difference is that the Scots are the underdog in that posturing!
Like others, I was born in England and have lived in England the whole of my life, but I still think of myself as British more than English.
Partly this is heritage - my name is Jones and my grandfather was born in Wales and lived there until he was about 10, I believe. I'm pretty sure that at least two of my great-grandparents were Irish, so there's a mixture of the various parts of Britain, which has possibly happened to more of us than people realise.
I think my parents thought of themselves as primarily British too - both were born pre-WW2, so experienced the last days of Empire, as it were, and were proud to be British, though personally, I've always thought that the days of Britain's greatness were behind us. (For the moment, at least.)
Emotionally, I think I mostly feel like I'm from Lancashire and "northern" more than anything. I've never really got this "Englishness" that seems to be more prevalent in the south, although I do now live in the south-east. I wonder if that goes back as far as being a Saxon thing, whereas there is more of a Danish (Viking) influence in the north?
Partly this is heritage - my name is Jones and my grandfather was born in Wales and lived there until he was about 10, I believe. I'm pretty sure that at least two of my great-grandparents were Irish, so there's a mixture of the various parts of Britain, which has possibly happened to more of us than people realise.
I think my parents thought of themselves as primarily British too - both were born pre-WW2, so experienced the last days of Empire, as it were, and were proud to be British, though personally, I've always thought that the days of Britain's greatness were behind us. (For the moment, at least.)
Emotionally, I think I mostly feel like I'm from Lancashire and "northern" more than anything. I've never really got this "Englishness" that seems to be more prevalent in the south, although I do now live in the south-east. I wonder if that goes back as far as being a Saxon thing, whereas there is more of a Danish (Viking) influence in the north?
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff