What being British Means to me

Headers · Post by **Headers** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:05 am

Being born and bread British I am proud to say that ,

We have the best sense of humour
We cook the best rost beef
We have the best rugby team in the world "Tigers"
We have the best beers in the world
We have the most history in the world
We have you fill in the rest

Idea came from this morings Sun newspaper

BenWL · Post by **BenWL** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:22 pm

The best football thugs
The most tax burdened middle class
The most polictically correct society
The most cynical posters on a forum.....

burly bill mclaren · Post by **burly bill mclaren** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:34 pm

most taxed working class
most untaxed elite
best castles
beatiful countryside
best coastlines always at hand
best singers
best choirs
most varied wonderful accents
best writers
best sports fans (rugby and cricket at least)
best coal
some truly appalling councillors
highest teen pregnancy
highest binge drinkers
major political global influence
great museums
awful roads/awful roadworks
many spineless mp's
most hypocrisy in many areas
most powerful but mostly awful mainstream media
strange mix

Dave Angel · Post by **Dave Angel** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:00 pm

burly bill mclaren wrote:most taxed working class Not true. For a start some countries don't have progressive tax bands and then there are others have higher basic rates than the UK!
most untaxed elite Again not true. Think of all of those countries viewed as tax havens for a start!
best castles
beatiful countryside
best coastlines always at hand
best singers
best choirs
most varied wonderful accents
best writers
best sports fans (rugby and cricket at least) Pretty much agree with all of these
best coal Depends on how you define "best".
some truly appalling councillors I'm intrigued now this makes you "proud"?!?
highest teen pregnancy ditto
highest binge drinkers ditto
major political global influence
great museums ...and many are free as well
awful roads/awful roadworks Pride?
many spineless mp's ditto
most hypocrisy in many areas please clarify which areas you are referring to. It's far too general a statement to throw in!
most powerful but mostly awful mainstream media Not even close to being the best/worst. You've clearly never seen the US or Australian media let alone the state-controlled media in some countries (not just dictatorships) around the globe.

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:12 pm

The weather - what else would we have to open a conversation without it?
Seasons that change
Last night of the Proms
An ability to laugh at ourselves
Some of the most beautiful architecture
Land of Hope and Glory
Afternoon tea
The "Blitz spirit" in the face of crisis or disaster
The ability to be grumpy and enjoy it
Not having to wish everyone a nice day

Gate · Post by **Gate** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:57 pm

Best beer and whisky.

Best language - English really is a wonder of the linguistic world.

Linked to which - best swearing. Americans aren't bad, Australians are imaginative in a crude way; but no-one does swearies quite like us Brits.

Best popular music (at least, all my real favourites are British).

I'm getting all misty-eyed and lip-wobbly. Shouldn't have had piccalilli with the ham.

kornboy130 · Post by **kornboy130** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:07 am

burly bill mclaren wrote: highest teen pregnancy

atleast we're having fun

BenWL · Post by **BenWL** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:52 am

kornboy130 wrote: atleast we're having fun

So they are all down to you then...?

Kinoulton · Post by **Kinoulton** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:53 am

The Who
The Small Faces
The Kinks
The Rolling Stones
Black Sabbath
The Jam
The Smiths
The Manic Street Preachers

Can you imagine any of those brilliant bands coming from anywhere but Britain?

burly bill mclaren · Post by **burly bill mclaren** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

most billionaires in 1 city in the world- London approx 50 billionaires paying approx less than 1% tax according to the BBC documentaries

the working classes (note the word working not shirking i.e. the ones fit to work who do work) pay a phenomenal amount stealth taxes and overpayment to gigantic companies run by billionaires, cards, petrol, council taxes, endlessly rising rates/overpriced enery/water etc as a proportion of small incomes these rises hammer the working class more in terms of percentage.

I mean how do lorry drivers or private drivers or taxi drivers actually survive? insurance alone is thousands, council fees £100's, meters, signs, lights, electrics, road fees due to rise, petrol through the roof oil up, rip off garages, massive road tax rises on bigger vehicles etc and what they do take home is chipped away by the state and the monolits like BT, banks, electrics etc etc

but on the upside

red phone boxes
bagpipes
oldest record shop in the world-spillers in cerdiff (even dylon and springsteen helped save it)
black taxis
steve coogan/rob brydon/sacha baron
tartan
the beatles/stones/kinks/jam/tom jones/the clash
world class composers
red buses
poets
shirley bassey (probably the best female mainstream voice ever heard on record)
best stage actors
tea in a china cup
michael caine/tony hopkins/connery
great libraries

Kinoulton · Post by **Kinoulton** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:54 am

My God! Bagpipes and Shirley Bassey.

Through in the accordion and we have a Eurovision Song Contest entry. Nil Points!

Rizzo · Post by **Rizzo** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:17 am

Best language - English really is a wonder of the linguistic world.

You're right, Gate. It may be a mish mash of many other language roots and influences, but the English language can be beautiful in so many ways. What a pity that so many people these days either mangle it or simply don't appreciate or understand.

burly bill mclaren · Post by **burly bill mclaren** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:05 pm

yes but is should be called the british language

Kinoulton · Post by **Kinoulton** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:07 pm

Well it isn't!

burly bill mclaren · Post by **burly bill mclaren** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:47 pm

It is in my house