British day

magick

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5028496.stm

Well looks like Gordon Brown thinks British day is a good idea, but what is being "British" mean today?

Seeing as Scotland/Wales is supporting devolution and perhaps full independance, then perhaps it should be called English day?

Unpossible

Looks like they want a day for everyone to celebrate their achievments and unity. Can't blame anyone for doing that. Or maybe they want their own (successful) version of Paddies day

this article explains more about it;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4611682.stm

darkman2

magick wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5028496.stm

Well looks like Gordon Brown thinks British day is a good idea, but what is being "British" mean today?

Seeing as Scotland/Wales is supporting devolution and perhaps full independance, then perhaps it should be called English day?

I dont think the Britsh know what they are at the moment tbh.

Dr Galen

do we?

mike65

Yes Polish!

Mike.

Unpossible

do we?

Know who the Brits are?

darkman2

nurse_baz wrote:

do we?

Yes. We dont have two conflicting ideas of nationality, on this part of the island anyway. Whatever about the north.

Karl Hungus

What's British? Monty Python, Black Pudding, Fried Slice, warm ale and a pork pie.

lostexpectation

"It's fascinating, and surprising, that an event from medieval history has come out above VE Day, all the more so when you consider that it's a constitutional rather than a militaristic moment that's been chosen," he said.


and why should this be surprising? not that Ireland can say much???

Blisterman

Why don't they just make St George's Day a holiday instead?

GOAT_Ali

The Scots and Welsh don't fool me with their claims for independence and devolution. They are more loyal to the Crown than the English themselves

zuma

Blisterman wrote:

Why don't they just make St George's Day a holiday instead?

Well the other non-English British wont be happy in chooseing Englands patron saint's day as their National Holiday!

ScottishDanny

GOAT_Ali wrote:

The Scots and Welsh don't fool me with their claims for independence and devolution. They are more loyal to the Crown than the English themselves

Care to elaborate?

Raskolnikov

I imagine that the Welsh and Scottish have more to lose from independence than the English do.

ScottishDanny wrote:

Care to elaborate?

GOAT_Ali

ScottishDanny wrote:

Care to elaborate?

I presume you are Scottish then. Well it's just that I see Scottish people having a very strong allegiance to the whole Britain and Crown 'thing'....well at least that is what comes across in Northern Ireland. They love the crown and love the Union.....Not all of them, there are those who claim to despise the English. But the English are the dominant contry and they are the rulers of the Union

ScottishDanny

I'm too hungover to argue, have a good weekend

Unpossible

English are the dominant contry and they are the rulers of the Union

I think the whole "British day" thing is trying to shy away from comments like this. I can see it getting a few peoples backs up.



edit: it does seem kind of true though, westminister seems to call the shots for the union.

walshb

I agree Unpossible but it's most definitely the reality...I'll always remember Ian Botham at a British awards ceremony when he came out with the quote "it's a great day to be an Englishman".....

Terry

raaaacist. how dare they have a british day. it's appalling. and some others hippy crap that the liberals will come up with. don't want to upset the immigrants, now. do we?

i don't see why they shouldn't have a day to celebrate their britishness.
we have paddy's day. the french have bastille day. australia day. and so on.

Unpossible

Why do they not celebrate the forming of the UK ?

zuma

Unpossible wrote:

Why do they not celebrate the forming of the UK ?

Thats an interesting one actually.

I was listening to one of BBC Radios night time talk shows a couple of months back and they talked about the birth of their country and stateing it was [SIZE=-1]1707...well that just set off the unionists who started calling in and correcting them....the BBC...that their country was created in 1801...or should that be 1922.....

Well if they cant even pinpoint the date of their country's (UK) formation....how can they celebrate being British?
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Munya

Unpossible wrote:

Looks like they want a day for everyone to celebrate their achievments and unity. Can't blame anyone for doing that. Or maybe they want their own (successful) version of Paddies day

this article explains more about it;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4611682.stm

Ye there just jealous, we have it all! There jealous of all our achievments including,

The wind that shakes the barley

zuma

Munya wrote:

The wind that shakes the barley

A great achievement for British cinema....according to almost ALL the British newspapers:rolleyes:

lostexpectation

zuma wrote:

Thats an interesting one actually.

I was listening to one of BBC Radios night time talk shows a couple of months back and they talked about the birth of their country and stateing it was [SIZE=-1]1707...well that just set off the unionists who started calling in and correcting them....the BBC...that their country was created in 1801...or should that be 1922.....

Well if they cant even pinpoint the date of their country's (UK) formation....how can they celebrate being British?
[/SIZE]

oh yeah I keep forgetting about NI, hmm 1922, do you have to go to the very last date, should it not be the very first date?

hmm act of union signed into parliament on march 26th 1707, sounds like the right date, spring too so nice weather for celebrations?

er who exactly ruled Ireland in 1707? oh **** is seems like it was the english king so, that doens't quite todays defnition of britain either.


and maybe Brown picked the 1st of may not as some way of screwing over the unions, but because of this "The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament passed in 1707 (taking effect on 1 May)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707

Unpossible

I dont think the formation date of the union is the date Ireland left it. That would be like saying that the date the USA was formed is the date that Alaska (sp?) and Hawaii joined.

march 26th 1707 sounds like the right date

So was that when the union was first announced/formed ? When did they put the union jack together.



No offence to NI unionists but you are not the centre of the UK

A Dub in Glasgo

Unpossible wrote:

I dont think the formation date of the union is the date Ireland left it.

The majority of Ireland left it

So was that when the union was first announced/formed ? When did they put the union jack together.

1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain after England (with Wales) and Scotland joined monarchies.

1801 saw the joining together of the Kingdom of Great Britain & the Kingdom of Ireland (then under English rule with an English King). This is the date that the United Kingdom of GB & Ireland was created. This lasted until 1918 when Ireland decided to become a Republic but the election was not recognised by Britian. In 1922 the UK was officially split into what it is today after Ireland was partitioned into the Irish Free State (later RoI) and NI. Now the UK consists of the Kingdom of Great Britain and a small bit of the (old) Kingdom of Ireland. The current Union Jack was created in 1801 with the addition of the St. Patrick saltire to signify Ireland joining the union.

In other words, many British people have no idea what embodies UKness.

No offence to NI unionists but you are not the centre of the UK

Neither are the Welsh or Scots, the English are the centre of the UK.

r3nu4l

Yeah, I don't think that the British have any clue anymore as to who they are!

On the one-hand you have the Campaign for real ale, pork pie and hot-pot, the Royal Family, Eton, Cambridge, Oxford, Monty Python, Blackadder etc which are traditionally British.

On the other hand you have many British born Muslims, Seikhs and other non-Christians who do not want their national holiday to be in celebration of a Christian Saint.

They are really messed up when it comes to any sense of national identity. It really is a country of many different and distinct communities that have practically nothing in common or desire to mix with one another.

Unpossible

The majority of Ireland left it

sorry I meant when the free state was formed.