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Whenever I hear English gentlemen or ladies discussing their country, I almost always hear criticism. While no nation is perfect, there are many other countries with far more natural advantages that have amounted to fuck-all. Yet many Brits seem, to me, to be unaware of just how much in its history and recent past it has to be proud of.

Look at the Wikipedia entry for the UK. Why do the British criticise themselves so much? Is it really a form of modest boasting?

Deano,
I think that you are from down under and as such descended from convicts. As Australia is a great country this disproves the heriditary theory of criminal genes!
Mike Freeman

I think is partially to do with the fact we are not really allowed to feel proud of ourselves. We have a large contingent of foreigners within Britain who don't just dislike the place they absolutely loathe it (while voluntarily living here) and we have to suck up to them or we are in trouble. Things like this make us feel less proud of ourselves and our country deep down as we have to understand and more or less empathise with those who hate us.

By the way did you know that the Aussies are actually the Poms? This is true. I lived in Australia for one year and was told this several times. It goes back to the days of the old convicts and it stands for Prisoner Of Mother England. Somehow though it has become to mean the English in the eyes of the Aussies.

" We have a large contingent of foreigners within Britain who don't just dislike the place they absolutely loathe it (while voluntarily living here) and we have to suck up to them or we are in trouble. "

Is this a testable proposition Max ? If it isn't it's arguably meaningless.

Britain is a a great country. I am proud to have been born in this country which has given me so much.

Cheers
D

And I do enjoy living in a multicultural society.

Cheers
D

This about sums it up. This bloke has spent the last twenty years calling Britain a shithole.

When they try to take his passport away he goes to court to fight to keep it.

Yes, we do have a few arseholes. This is true.

But hey, we have countryside which is as beautiful as anywhere in the world. And our history in terms of the art, culture and legacy buildings is second to none apart maybe from Italy.

Cheers
D

But isn't that one of the things that's great in an absurd way ? That he's down on the UK, we try and rescind his passport, and we fund him via legal aid to contest the decision and then find in his favour ! Talk about 'fair play' .. doesn't it exemplify those values, or is it not something to be proud of ?

In self-deprecation at times, modesty at others, coolness in crisis,
irony in wit - these all are marks of the British.
Though we knock ourselves a lot we don`t take kindly to other countries
(eg the yanks) having a swipe at us !
Its all rather endearing and foreigners will never understand it !
Travel Europe, spend as much time on the Continent as I do, and you
will see many reasons to be proud of Britain and the British....
God knows there are faults with the country but the British as a people
have much in their national character to be proud of eg try asking for
help in a supermarket in Hungary, get stuck in a traffic jam in Rome or
have your car broken into in Berlin....trust me on this one !!!