British day

[English assassin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4611682.stm

Chancellor Gordon Brown thinks we are not British enough, and that what the country really needs is a day to celebrate being British.

Leaving aside for now the fact that its him and all his little followers on the left who have been making huge political capital for decades out of trying to portray British as a dirty word, this is the most damned unBritish thing I have heard of in a long time. One of the most British things about being British is not making a big fuss about it. Or anyhting else for that matter. (Its just not polite to remind all the poor foreigners that they do not have the good luck to be British themselves.)

What's more he would bottle it anyway, and a British day organised by the labour party would be all chicken tikka filled cornish pasties and alcohol free real ale to avoid upsetting muslims. All the celebration that is required is a slightly misty eye and an almost imperceptable tremble of the upper lip whilst listening to Elgars Pomp and Circumstance.

I wouild also like to point out that this is the exact equivalent of John Major's speech about beer and village greens and old maids cycling to church, and a sure sign that Gordo is finished.

[Scurvy]

hmm i woudn't mind the day off though....

[Idaho]

I agree EA's last sentence, but the build up to that conclusion was entirely crack-addled.

[KukriKhan]

What would a British Day be tied to? Magna Carta Day? Most National Days seem to be tied to an historic assertion of self-determination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Magna Carta's really not that British (well, except for the involvement of Welsh royalty on the side of Norman -oh, wait there were Breton nobles probably involved too so more British there- nobility).

I'd guess it would have to be something like one of the acts of union.
I'm sure that would go down like a lead balloon in plenty of quarters though. Especially if it was the act from just over 200 years ago.

[English assassin]

I'm now enjoying the image of Idaho prancing around in Union Jack boxer shorts scarfing down a chicken tikka cornish pasty and grroving to some Bollywood beats. Though I reckon he knows my tongue was at least partly in cheek.

I can't for the life of me think of a day that could be "British day" as opposed to an English day or a Welsh day or whatever. The 1707 Act of Union would be the only one that made much sense consitutionally, though it would just be an excuse for a load of whinging IMHO. Otherwise, err, the anniversary of universal sufferage? The first album released by the Beatles? Gordo's birthday?

[Scurvy]

hmm yeah, its a difficult one....

[Duke Malcolm]

A Union Day would be perfect -- next year would be the best time to bring it in, being the 300th anniversary of the Union.

The Queen's Birthday could be expanded from little a parade on Horse Guard's... Or Victoria Day could have something...

If they do not go so far as to celebrate Britain and our culture, then at least try and stop British from being bad...

[BDC]

A British Day would be fun. We could all invade France or annex India, something nice and patriotic like that.

[matteus the inbred]

A British Day would be fun. We could all invade France

i think that's the best idea i've heard all day...!

seriously though, i agree with EA. Being British is about being quietly proud of who you are and where you're from, without making up rubbish like Major (who, to be fair, probably had the speech written for him...) or waving a flag about and singing and being a bit overenthusiastic. i like the fact that sporting achievements tend to bring out the pride more than anything else...

[Duke Malcolm]

Yes, but not pride across Britain. If a Scot wins something, there is a lot of moaning up here that it is called a British win, there is pressure to make a Scottish Olympic team, as well...

[matteus the inbred]

don't see why not, if you want one! pride in being Welsh, Irish or Scottish is important to people, probably more so than being 'British'. i prefer to call myself English, i guess. Britain is something of an artificial creation, just with a lot of history behind it.
British Day...it's probably a waste of time trying to create it without a good excuse, another Dome.

[Ianofsmeg16]

don't see why not, if you want one! pride in being Welsh, Irish or Scottish is important to people, probably more so than being 'British'. i prefer to call myself English, i guess. Britain is something of an artificial creation, just with a lot of history behind it.
British Day...it's probably a waste of time trying to create it without a good excuse, another Dome.

Britain is not the artificial creation, Wales, Scotland and England are the technical 'artificial creations'. The word britian was being used waaaaay before England (Angleland) Wales (meaning land of the Wealas) and scotland (Dal Raida/Alba) all of the countries in the british Isles today are Saxon inventions, except i think Scotland. Britain, however, was being used by the romans and earlier

[matteus the inbred]

Britain is not the artificial creation

i meant Britain as in the post-mediaeval political union of its various states including the oddity that is Northern Ireland, rather than the geographical (and, as you correctly point out, racial) entity that was pre-Roman/sub-Roman Britain.

my Norman ancestors were instrumental in bringing about the earliest unification processes of modern Britain, maybe British day should be on October 14th!*







*Battle of Hastings, don'cherknow

[Ianofsmeg16]

i meant Britain as in the post-mediaeval political union of its various states including the oddity that is Northern Ireland, rather than the geographical (and, as you correctly point out, racial) entity that was pre-Roman/sub-Roman Britain.

my Norman ancestors were instrumental in bringing about the earliest unification processes of modern Britain, maybe British day should be on October 14th!*







*Battle of Hastings, don'cherknow

Ah! I must have misunderstood you, yeah Britain as a country can only be traced back to the Act of Union, but as a geographical and racial entity to way before then... It depends on Which Britain Mr. Brown was talking about

[The_Doctor]

I agree with EA, et al.

I say we all watch Red Dwarf and Doctor Who. British Sci-Fi at its best.

[Marcellus]

pride in being Welsh, Irish or Scottish is important to people, probably more so than being 'British'.

I'd disagree. I've always thought of myself as British rather than English or Welsh, and a lot of the people I've met would also describe themselves as British rather than English.

[Duke Malcolm]

i meant Britain as in the post-mediaeval political union of its various states including the oddity that is Northern Ireland, rather than the geographical (and, as you correctly point out, racial) entity that was pre-Roman/sub-Roman Britain.

Scotland came about as a result of union between the Scots and Picts, the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada came about as a result of the Scots settling in what is now Argyll. USA came about as a result of the Declaration of Independence which united the 13 colonies. Canada came about as a result of the British North America Act. A country is not made up unless it is a mere figment of some people's imagination or unrecogised by other countries, such as Transdniestr, Sealand, and the country of the Citizens Required scheme thingy.

my Norman ancestors were instrumental in bringing about the earliest unification processes of modern Britain, maybe British day should be on October 14th!

The Battle of Hastings was an English battle, not particularly crucial to Scotland.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

I imagine if there were no battle of Hasting then the Scottish nobility wouldn't have had its ranks filled with Normans, Bretons and Flemings and I imagine that Gaelic culture would be in a more healthy state than it is.

[Duke Malcolm]

Yes, it may have had such effects on Scotland since it was a new major foreign power to the south, and King Malcolm III Canmore wouldn't want war, so married a Saxon princess and made the official language of the court Saxon, but it was not a British event: it was a quintessentially English event, with no relation to Scotland.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

yeah, but it definitely had a significant delayed impact on Scotland, like it did on Wales (I've got a feeling that the Welsh Chronicles barely even note that Hastings occurred) and Ireland.

[Papewaio]

Why not have a Britain Day? Celebrate what is good about Britain, the unifying features of a modern Britain.

Or have you become so EU'ed that you can't even if you wanted to?

So what does modern Britain have to offer?

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Pape:

tea and chavs

Edit: I mean proper tea with milk and sugar. And some biscuits for dunking.

[Devastatin Dave]

I think it would be splendid.
And here is your Master of Ceremonies!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...eorge+Galloway
Cheerio...

[Incongruous]

What's good about modern Britain?
Almost nothing, crap Music, Crappy foriegn fashion labels and cars. Crappy English spoken by the all powerfull working classes, Rupert Murdoch, anti-English sentiment from all areas of GB, a shame in our great history and worst of all... Ken Livingstone!

[thrashaholic]

Why not re-introduce Empire Day instead? That'd be nice....

EDIT:

or better still, encourage the celebration of Commonwealth day.

[Red Peasant]

What's good about modern Britain?
Almost nothing, crap Music, Crappy foriegn fashion labels and cars. Crappy English spoken by the all powerfull working classes, Rupert Murdoch, anti-English sentiment from all areas of GB, a shame in our great history and worst of all... Ken Livingstone!

What a load of puerile bile. I suggest you stay in New Zealand.

[matteus the inbred]

I'd disagree. I've always thought of myself as British rather than English or Welsh, and a lot of the people I've met would also describe themselves as British rather than English.

is this because it's easier to say 'British' than to say 'Welsh' or 'English' etc and then explain that that's also British? 'British' is a nice recognisable cover-all. i certainly don't wish to offend anyone however, so i'll leave this one here and not pretend to know what Celtic and Welsh people think about it. or other English people for that matter.

Hastings was more of a joke suggestion really, i know it would mean nothing to Scottish, Welsh and Irish people...i disagree with using a historically significant date as an excuse for this, as i think what Gordon Brown really means is, he'd like to see all the relatively recently immigrated British people from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean etc support the notion of being British and proud of it before anything else...a unifying effort to counteract the hostility caused by recent terrorism. so while Waterloo might mean something to me, i doubt it means a lot to AJ down at my local off-licence cos he only moved from Bangladesh fifteen years ago, eg.

on the subject, 'The English' by Jeremy Paxman is a very good book to read

[English assassin]

Well, lets say the day would be midsummer day for argument, since its nice to have a day off in the summer, but still what does Gordo actually mean if:

he'd like to see all the relatively recently immigrated British people from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean etc support the notion of being British and proud of it before anything else

Specifically, Gordon, what would happen on this British day to make this true? Just to be a bit controversial here we could have a big lecture on the need to not be racists who think a woman's place is chained to a sink, and that in Britain religion has no role to play in public life and if you want to live under bloody sharia bugger off to Saudi Arabia, which would be a lot more constructive than a load of flag waving. But somehow I doubt Gordon had that in mind.

(NB yes I do know not all, or even most, immigrants think they have the right to beat their wives.)

[matteus the inbred]

difficult, isn't it? what i think he'd like to prevent is a middle-class flag-waving session like the Proms, where people who already feel proud and nationalist about being British indulge themselves. it's a very New Labour thing to try and pull in everyone else and celebrate 'multi-culturalism' (whatever that is) whilst all being British and not condoning beating wives or whatever. i like being British and English and in general i'd rather live here than anywhere else, so i don't think this kind of thing is aimed at me...

is midsummer's day not a significant pagan (actually, make that religious) day? mind you, i think you could connect all 365 days to something religious!