St George's Day

[The Camel]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

[kukushkin88]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

[Karabiner]

I celebrated eating the first English asparagus of the year today, delicious.

Happy English Asparagus Day to one and all.

[Woodsey]

I celebrated eating the first English asparagus of the year today, delicious.

Happy English Asparagus Day to one and all.

The strawberries still aren't much cop yet, not sweet enough. Another few weeks and we will be there.

[The Camel]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

That was one of the many great things about the London Olympics.

Decent ordinary British people reclaimed the flag from the extreme right like BNP, UKIP and the EDL.

It might have been the first time in my adult life I wasn't ashamed to be British. (or maybe that should be "I wasn't ashamed to be proud to be British")

[arbboy]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

That was one of the many great things about the London Olympics.

Decent ordinary British people reclaimed the flag from the extreme right like BNP, UKIP and the EDL.

It might have been the first time in my adult life I wasn't ashamed to be British. (or maybe that should be "I wasn't ashamed to be proud to be British")

I can't remmeber ever in my adult life feeling ashamed to be proud to be British, I have lived and worked aboard in several different countries and travelled around a bit on holiday and never have I once been anything other than proud and happy to be British, the vast majority of people I have met abroad are always happy to chat about different parts of British culture and humour.   I find your comments quite odd Keith tbh as I never once think about the extreme right views on these matters.  They are extreme and don't represent our country at home or abroad.  Have you had an experience personally where you have been caught up in a ruck regarding this subject.?

[BigAdz]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

That was one of the many great things about the London Olympics.

Decent ordinary British people reclaimed the flag from the extreme right like BNP, UKIP and the EDL.

It might have been the first time in my adult life I wasn't ashamed to be British. (or maybe that should be "I wasn't ashamed to be proud to be British")

I can't remmeber ever in my adult life feeling ashamed to be proud to be British, I have lived and worked aboard in several different countries and travelled around a bit on holiday and never have I once been anything other than proud and happy to be British, the vast majority of people I have met abroad are always happy to chat about different parts of British culture and humour.   I find your comments quite odd Keith tbh as I never once think about the extreme right views on these matters.  They are extreme and don't represent our country at home or abroad.  Have you had an experience personally where you have been caught up in a ruck regarding this subject.?

Agree with Argue here.

Not sure why you thought my comment on feeling marginalised was so amusing. It was nothing to do with class/colour/creed, just about how I am made to be British by way of numerous thing, like passport etc, and yet Irish/Welsh/Scots seem able to retain a national identity a lot better than English seem to.

I also get sick of some people linking my pride in being English, not Welsh/Scottish or Irish with being some form of racist. Does that mean because they are proud to be Irish/Scottish/Welsh, they are racist too?!

[arbboy]

feck me if adz agrees with me Keef is under the cosh!!!!  Love you adz!

Just to clarify my own position i am 87.5% scottish by family genes but born and raised 100% in England (3rd generation steel worker in Corby Northants - both grand fathers came to Corby after the 2nd world war to work in the nationalized steel works which Maggie closed down in the early 80s).  I never ever consider myself English or Scottish.  I always consider myself British and i am very proud to wherever i am in the world.  If people ask i say i am Scottish by family but born and raised in England.  My entire Scottish family hate the idea of the snp killing the union and are all big tory voters even though Maggie destroyed their adopted town, Corby, in the early 1980s with her closure of the steel works.    My whole family and Corby as a town was on it's knees in 1982 with 25% unemployment but we all worked hard and came out of it in front through the bad times.  We have always had the attitude of 'you get out of life what you put into it'.  Plenty of people in Corby are still potless following the 1980s closure but most of them pissed their redundancy up the wall and made excuses rather than getting their head down and taking the huge opportunities that were on offer in the tough times to make a livelihood for themselves.

I was slightly more Scottish in 2012 when Muz won the US open and the gold at the games but only slightly more!!!!!!!

[bunnydas8888]

I think I may have some odd views when it comes to St George's day.  I'm born and bred in England (luton to be precise) from "foreign" parents, (mother is Danish & father is Indian).  I have always been proud of being English & Lutonion and as a result will defend town & country when appropriate!  But, having worked in a pub for the last 9 years of my life, i can honestly say that St George's day is probably one of the worst days to work in the year (within the industry in my experience). Granted this is coming from 7 years in various Luton pubs, birth place of the EDL etc etc and with my skin colour and beard length, never a good mixture!  Never understood why St Pats day can be such good fun & light hearted but when it comes to George its completely different.  The stupid thing with it is that the majority of people who are out today on the piss are also out on St Pats claiming that their mother's, father's, brother's, nephew's, uncle's, wife's, son's, cousin's are Irish and they are therefor entitled to celebrating.

I think that the English have gotten a load of bad press and that if people are seen to be flying the St George's cross they will be cast in a certain light, but, this is only because the rest of the nation are not following suit.  It is unfortunately the minority that are getting portrayed in the press and so giving everyone a bad name.  Like someone said earlier in the thread, if a proper brewery made it "their" day and threw lots of money at it then i can't see any reason why St George's could get the same sort of press as St Pats!

[The Camel]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

That was one of the many great things about the London Olympics.

Decent ordinary British people reclaimed the flag from the extreme right like BNP, UKIP and the EDL.

It might have been the first time in my adult life I wasn't ashamed to be British. (or maybe that should be "I wasn't ashamed to be proud to be British")

I can't remmeber ever in my adult life feeling ashamed to be proud to be British, I have lived and worked aboard in several different countries and travelled around a bit on holiday and never have I once been anything other than proud and happy to be British, the vast majority of people I have met abroad are always happy to chat about different parts of British culture and humour.   I find your comments quite odd Keith tbh as I never once think about the extreme right views on these matters.  They are extreme and don't represent our country at home or abroad.  Have you had an experience personally where you have been caught up in a ruck regarding this subject.?

Where do we see the flag of St George?

England football fans on tour. Hooligans. Yobs on holiday in Ibiza. People who you'd cross the road to avoid if they were walking towards you.

EDL marches. They drape themselves with the thing. Do a google image search of "EDL March" if you don't believe me.

It's got to the point when I see the Flag of St George flown outside someone's house, I assume they are a far right bigot.

The Union Jack hasn't quite got the same stigma for me. But it's headed that way.

[arbboy]

There are plenty of houses across the entire social spectrum where i live who fly the flag of St George all year round in the garden/house/window from working class types to upper class farmer types.  Not huge numbers but you do see it.  I would say Staffordshire is a pretty neutral area politically across the whole country.  I agree it has the image you are talking about but i just don't see myself as English but British.  I think it is a very British thing to be reserved about stuff like this.  Yanks are the total opposite and you can't go in a gas station in vegas without being greeted with a 25 foot USA flag on arrival.  I don't think it is the bad thing the vast majority of people make out in this country.  I couldn't imagine filling my car up and driving in and seeing a huge st george flag in every petrol station as a matter of course.  

[The Camel]

There are plenty of houses across the entire social spectrum where i live who fly the flag of St George all year round in the garden/house/window from working class types to upper class farmer types.  Not huge numbers but you do see it.  I would say Staffordshire is a pretty neutral area politically across the whole country.  I agree it has the image you are talking about but i just don't see myself as English but British.  I think it is a very British thing to be reserved about stuff like this.  Yanks are the total opposite and you can't go in a gas station in vegas without being greeted with a 25 foot USA flag on arrival.  I don't think it is the bad thing the vast majority of people make out in this country.  I couldn't imagine filling my car up and driving in and seeing a huge st george flag in every petrol station as a matter of course.  

Americans are just plain weird.



Land of the free and you can't play poker in your own living room or place a bet on the Superbowl unless you happen to be in Nevada.

[arbboy]

There are plenty of houses across the entire social spectrum where i live who fly the flag of St George all year round in the garden/house/window from working class types to upper class farmer types.  Not huge numbers but you do see it.  I would say Staffordshire is a pretty neutral area politically across the whole country.  I agree it has the image you are talking about but i just don't see myself as English but British.  I think it is a very British thing to be reserved about stuff like this.  Yanks are the total opposite and you can't go in a gas station in vegas without being greeted with a 25 foot USA flag on arrival.  I don't think it is the bad thing the vast majority of people make out in this country.  I couldn't imagine filling my car up and driving in and seeing a huge st george flag in every petrol station as a matter of course.  

Americans are just plain weird.



Land of the free and you can't play poker in your own living room or place a bet on the Superbowl unless you happen to be in Nevada.

I totally agree the vast majority of yanks are fucked up.  The above two things you say just prove it.  Both of these things make me very proud to be British (amongst numerous other positives about living and being British) that we have a society that will let you do these things legally in a controlled safe regulated manner without risk of arrest or jail.

[The Camel]

I love our country.

Proud to be English , one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons.

Why can't we celebrate our diverse culture , our heritage , the respect we have around the world.

Most of all , I love our sense of humour , not all countries get it.

"I love our country." "one of the best places in the world to live for so many different reasons." does not necessarily equal "Proud to be English"

Proud of the slave trade? Proud of colonialism? Proud of our role in the Iraq war?

Etc etc and etc

I presume this is a wind up Camel. I won't even put a question mark after it.

I used to think the other home nations celebrating their national day was a bit OTT, but the more we get marginalised the more I feel a need to say I am proud to be English.

I am, and I am sure every other country in the world has issues that don't sit well in history, but it is those sorts of comments as posted, that make me wonder why those people, English or otherwise, live here, if they think so little of England.

LOL @ the English being marginalised.

Next you'll be saying rich, white middle aged men are discriminated against because Clarkson lost his job for punching a colleague at work.

Great poster, sums it up nicely. The nationalism in Wales always offended me growing up. In spite of this, I think England/Wales/Britain has a lot to be proud of. It´s just a shame that the people who make the most noise about it are mostly the same people who identify with UKIP and think we should leave Europe. Taking pride in England/Britain has been commandeered by the numpties, it´s kind of hard to lose that association.

That was one of the many great things about the London Olympics.

Decent ordinary British people reclaimed the flag from the extreme right like BNP, UKIP and the EDL.

It might have been the first time in my adult life I wasn't ashamed to be British. (or maybe that should be "I wasn't ashamed to be proud to be British")

I can't remmeber ever in my adult life feeling ashamed to be proud to be British, I have lived and worked aboard in several different countries and travelled around a bit on holiday and never have I once been anything other than proud and happy to be British, the vast majority of people I have met abroad are always happy to chat about different parts of British culture and humour.   I find your comments quite odd Keith tbh as I never once think about the extreme right views on these matters.  They are extreme and don't represent our country at home or abroad.  Have you had an experience personally where you have been caught up in a ruck regarding this subject.?

Agree with Argue here.

Not sure why you thought my comment on feeling marginalised was so amusing. It was nothing to do with class/colour/creed, just about how I am made to be British by way of numerous thing, like passport etc, and yet Irish/Welsh/Scots seem able to retain a national identity a lot better than English seem to.

I also get sick of some people linking my pride in being English, not Welsh/Scottish or Irish with being some form of racist. Does that mean because they are proud to be Irish/Scottish/Welsh, they are racist too?!

<deep breath>

The English don't retain a "national identity" because we haven't got one.

And people who pretend we have, tend to be UKIP supporters.

There's a lot to love about England, but none of those things make me "proud to be English"

[MintTrav]

The English flag might be recovered from those groups if it was used more, especially by organizations.

I'm working at the local Council at the moment and they sometimes fly a line of flags outside. Happened twice last week on St George's Day and the Queen's Birthday and again today for some reason.

There are twelve flags - the Union Jack plus the flags of Germany, France, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria and Malta. I have no idea how they have settled on those, but there seems to be one missing. Even on St George's Day, we had all the others but no English flag.