GarethRDR Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 6 hours ago, Chindie said: I don't like a lot of 'English' identity stuff. This is pretty much me. Born in Basingstoke so English, but - and I believe this can be a common thing with military brats - I've never felt any affinity with or identify as being "English". To be honest I've come to actively dislike the notion (especially given the rising tide of jingoism over the last few years). I moved to Scotland when I was 4, Germany when I was 10 and the back to the UK at 14 and the I always feel most at home in Germany / Holland (we lived right by the border), to the point where I'll take almost every possible opportunity to go back there when I can and have always hoped to move there when I retire. Funnily enough, moving back to Basingstoke was mostly circumstantial at the time and again, I don't really feel any connection here despite the fact I've now lived in Basingstoke longer than anywhere else. If I hadn't met my wife here when I did, I'd probably be somewhere else by now. She on the other hand has never lived anywhere else and so moving elsewhere has never really been on her radar (not that she's strictly against it, after a particularly lovely holiday there a few years back she'd now move to Eindhoven in a heartbeat). We did also discover when my wife started at a new company this year that they have an office in Mönchengladbach, so I've told her I will drop absolutely everything if the opportunity to transfer there ever arises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 (edited) Scottish/citizen of the world type living in fairly rural middle england but happy to cheer on "Team GB" in olympics etc Edited April 3, 2020 by LakotaDakota 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted April 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Xela said: If i'm asked what nationality i am, then i'm British. If i'm asked where I am from, then its England. I do like the sound of being quintessentially English though. Thatched cottages in a small Cotswold or Chiltern village. Cricket on the village green, lazy afternoons in the pub garden, cream tea and everything being jolly spiffing! Sign me up for that! Oh this, fo sho. Trouble is, if you say that, you tend to get lumped in with the Tory Brexity lot who want to go back to the 1950s. I like that stuff, because it's home, it's familiar - not because I think it's intrinsically superior to other countries' cultural icons. That's why I always refuse to say I'm 'proud' to be English - it would be absurd, it's an accident of birth - I didn't win the Battle of Britain, some other blokes did, before I was born. By the same logic, I'm not ashamed of being English either. English folks have done some seriously bad shit, but I can't do anything about that, and I don't see any sense in apologising on behalf of some possible forebears. The bottom line is that I'm happy to be English - just as I'd probably be happy to be Mongolian if I'd been born there. But I'd be happy to do away with flags, anthems and borders completely, it wouldn't threaten my 'cultural identity' one bit. Edited April 3, 2020 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 does every thread have to become politicised ? Can’t people just have standard Brexit stereotype text in their status or something that we can assume applies to every post ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 9 minutes ago, tonyh29 said: does every thread have to become politicised ? Can’t people just have standard Brexit stereotype text in their status or something that we can assume applies to every post ? It’s an inherently political question though. The main reason I wouldn’t say English is essentially political, i.e. I don’t want to be tarred with the xenophobic, racist, Brexity brush that comes with saying “I’m English and proud”. Although it’s massively stereotypical, if I see someone with an English flag I immediately think the worst of them. But I don’t think that of Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. I’m not sure how it came to be that way but that’s certainly the way I feel. So I’d rather stick with being British and being “British” to me sounds more akin to the cotswolds, cream tea, cricket etc. than being “English” (if that makes any sense). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted April 3, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 3, 2020 Welsh if pushed. Mainly because people don't believe me. It's a question I detest being asked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted April 3, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 3, 2020 it's all much the same from up there. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 My passport says British Citizen and I love the Olympics so will follow the GB team. But whenever I’ve been abroad, people have never asked are you from Britain. I have however, been asked am I from England. To which I answer Yes. So for me I clarify myself as English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 On the subject of flags, there are some banging good flags out there. Personal favourites include Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zimbabwe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 14 minutes ago, Spoony said: It’s an inherently political question though. The main reason I wouldn’t say English is essentially political, i.e. I don’t want to be tarred with the xenophobic, racist, Brexity brush that comes with saying “I’m English and proud”. Although it’s massively stereotypical, if I see someone with an English flag I immediately think the worst of them. But I don’t think that of Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. I’m not sure how it came to be that way but that’s certainly the way I feel. So I’d rather stick with being British and being “British” to me sounds more akin to the cotswolds, cream tea, cricket etc. than being “English” (if that makes any sense). It can be political but I don’t think that is what the OP intended when he started the thread .... This is the thing though isn’t it .... go out celebrate St Patrick’s day and have the craic and that’s fine heck we even celebrate ungrateful bastards day on 4th July , but celebrate St George’s day and out comes the gammon Brexit 1950’s stereotype stuff .. and then as you say people don’t want to be classed as xenophobic etc so people want to distance themselves from it . where you are born is indeed a lottery , but I see nothing inherently wrong with being proud of the country you happened to be born in , sure we’ve done some stuff we shouldn’t be proud of , but heck we've done a lot of stuff we should celebrate as well ... it doesn’t have to lead to swastikas and marching on Poland 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, tonyh29 said: It can be political but I don’t think that is what the OP intended when he started the thread .... Was it where he said "maybe (I) should have asked around the time of Brexit" that gave away his completely apolitical intentions? Edited April 3, 2020 by ml1dch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 1 minute ago, ml1dch said: Was it where he said "maybe (I) should have asked around the time of Brexit" that gave away its completely apolitical intentions? I mentioned brexit more because that's when I started to think more about it and assumed it was a more relevant question that I should have asked at the time, added to moving abroad and then being asked (for those wanting context) Not a political thing for me, of anything I'd say maybe closer to a tribalistic football thing and having a Scottish side of my family And I don't tend to add "... And proud" to declaring myself as english Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 So, is one test of how you feel deep down, what your reaction would be to a GB football team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 8 minutes ago, ml1dch said: Was it where he said "maybe (I) should have asked around the time of Brexit" that gave away his completely apolitical intentions? Post below you says Hi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Generally I’d say British or UK but definitely English when it comes to football. In football terms I see the England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland relationship exactly as the Villa, SHA, Wolves, West Brom dynamic. With Villa represented by England of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted April 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2020 13 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: So, is one test of how you feel deep down, what your reaction would be to a GB football team? I'd have as much interest as I do in the England (and Scotland, Wales, N.I., RoI) team, i.e. a little bit, but no real emotional involvement. The only football team that matters is Aston Villa. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 English when in UK, British when outside it. Proud of either/both because this is a mostly good country, with mostly good people, doing mostly good things, most of the time. Imagine that’s how most normal people feel about their country, wherever it is. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 1 hour ago, chrisp65 said: So, is one test of how you feel deep down, what your reaction would be to a GB football team? I'd quite happily have one and I'm usually annoyed by the FAs when they throw out the nonsense reasons as to why it can't happen (we're worth a lot of money as a 4 to fifa, they wouldn't force us to merge) I'm not anti Britain by any means, very much team GB at the olympics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Hmmm, I’m very very very anti team GB in the footballs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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