Is anyone proud to be british

Not only am I proud to be British, but I feel that we are one of the greatest nations in existence. Look at the size of the isles, our population, and compare that to our level of accomplishment. We have conquered most of the world, in spite of our meagre population; we have several of the finest educational institutions in the world; we have produced many of the greatest writers, thinkers, scientists, inventors, chefs, comics etc.

Apart from the ancient Greeks and Romans, few places can claim to have accomplished quite as much.

Proud to be English not so much British.

I'm not proud of anything I haven't acheived. Being British isn't an accomplishment, is genetical roullette. Being dropped out of your mums vagina on a certain island isn't an accomplishment, you're just lucky she didn't do it somewhere worse. Getting good exam results, getting a promotion and winning a gold at the olympics are accomplishments and things you should be proud of.

Proud, no. Happy, yes.

I don't really see how thats relevant though. As I said, I love Britain but "we" didn't produce any of those. Either a handful of teachers did, or they just taught themselves. The average British person had nothing to do with it.

As to conquering the world, I don't see that as necessarily a thing to be proud about. I'm sure hundreds of thousands (or maybe millions) of people were killed because of it - is that on the list as well?

I just see Britain as a modern country who looks after it's people and helps others in times of emergency, is welcoming and tolerant of others and works to promote freedom across the world. This is something a lot of countries do so there is nothing inparticular to make Britain special.

That sounds absurd. There are lots of reasons to be proud of Britain - the NHS, a society that values and seeks to protect equality and human rights, a legal system that is not based on Biblical notions of vengeance, among many other things. England is, well, a non-entity. It hasn't existed or done anything for over 300 years. What is it about England that makes you proud of it?

There seems to be no one on here whos proud to be British,apart from me. People are saying that the U.K is boring and our economy is bad,but ive lived in both Italy and the U.S.A,and they are,in my opinion are worse. No dont get me wrong,i love travelling,i love different cultures,but just because someone a place is sunny,doesnt mean its a good place to live. Im content here and as a hopeful Archaeology student,i couldnt be in a better country!! what are your thoughts?

I dont consider myself British though because I have no connection to other British nations so just class myself as English. However England is a depressing place to live in modern times so hopefully im getting out in 2011.

I have always said that it is a spurious thing to be "proud" of one's nationality. I enjoy living in Britain, I enjoy the water, which is far better than what we drink in Lagos, Nigeria, and all of my best experiences have been in this country. I could think of no other place I would rather live, and, to quote Andrew Marr, "despite all its setbacks, it still remains, in the 21st century, a fantastic stroke of luck to be British." But I think that 'pride' is a dangerous word to use.

Chinua Achebe implied in his poem 'Vultures' that it was the deepest love of one's country and family which drove the Nazi commandant at Belsen to order the atrocities that he did. I wholly agree with him, and would like to use that as an example of the broader issue raised by jingoism- that claiming one's own country is the best, a form of arrogance first of all, can lead to the development of hierarchy between nations. Was it not this same attitude which led to the formation of our empire? (I believe Cecil Rhodes used this as the justification for taking the former Rhodesia) The extreme right in this country believe they have hijacked true conservatism by saying that they protect British values. That seems like a justification for oppression of minority groups to me, to those who can't be said to espouse "British" values. That phrase can be bent to mean anything.

I'd like to ask a question of people on TSR. How can anyone in 2010, where no country's culture is its own but is instead an amalgam of everywhere else's, where lines of race and ethnicity are blurred, where it is difficult in some cases to trace the precise location of a practice or saying to a nation, call themselves British? We are, arguably, as American (our music, our films), or Chinese (every good in your household) or African/Carribean (where 30% of the premiership is Black) as we are British. Speaking of society as "British" would require us to look at certain aspects of it and decide where current social norms concerning that aspect come from. As I've just suggested, many of those origins will be outside of these isles.

Gordon Brown, an incredibly intelligent man, tried to tackle the difficulty of defining precisely what the term meant by speaking of values long connected by connotation to the word, but did, imo, a poor job. Not because he didn't think it through but because the topic is far more nebulous, far more clouded, than people give it credit for.

In short (sorry for the rant) I can be proud of the things that my country has produced, I can be proud of the things that my country has done, but I cannot be proud of my country just because it is my country.

I don't know where about in England you are from, but you could equally say that you have no connection to other English counties apart from your own (assuming you have not lived in others), so instead just class yourself as [insert county name here].

Is a someone from Madrid not a Spaniard because he has no connection to Andalusia or Catalonia? Is a man from Hamburg not a German because he has no connection to Bavaria? Is a man born and Bred in California not an American because he has no connection to other US states?