British day

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[English assassin]

is midsummer's day not a significant pagan (actually, make that religious) day?

Now we are getting somewhere ! Lets bring back druids. The day would start with a televised dawn ceremony at Stonehenge, followed by enormous feasts with plenty of beer and magic mushrooms, and a few eccentric events like the cheese rolling they do in Gloucestershire or the finals of an all Britain Cumbrian wrestling contest (caber tossing in Scotland). We would end with dancing round bonfires looking for fairies.

Thanks for the offer of the video Idaho but unless its got the royal arms tattoed on it or you have been boffing Sophie Marceau I don't think there is anything unusually patriotic about your todger, so I'll pass.

[matteus the inbred]

We would end with dancing round bonfires looking for fairies.

can't see John Prescott enjoying that...!
i'm game. just need to grow a big beard and practice building giant wicker men to roast victims in...

[BDC]

Now we are getting somewhere ! Lets bring back druids. The day would start with a televised dawn ceremony at Stonehenge, followed by enormous feasts with plenty of beer and magic mushrooms, and a few eccentric events like the cheese rolling they do in Gloucestershire or the finals of an all Britain Cumbrian wrestling contest (caber tossing in Scotland). We would end with dancing round bonfires looking for fairies.

Thanks for the offer of the video Idaho but unless its got the royal arms tattoed on it or you have been boffing Sophie Marceau I don't think there is anything unusually patriotic about your todger, so I'll pass.

We could just make it a-level results day. Would need minimal changes then.

[Papewaio]

Thanks for the offer of the video Idaho but unless its got the royal arms tattoed on it or you have been boffing Sophie Marceau I don't think there is anything unusually patriotic about your todger, so I'll pass.

So boffing french maids is being patriotic to Britain or just makes more sense?