What Makes Great Britain Great?

[subucni]

What makes Britain great? Pub gardens on a lazy Sunday afternoon in July.

that's so weird, without even reading this thread i was going to say, sitting around a pub bench on your sunny day off conversing pleasantly with friends. and having the freedom to do this.

i think it was knox who said that people only really seem to get patriotic nowadays when it's an important football game on, and i'd have to totally agree, it is a damn shame that this seems to be the only time people get like this, but at the end of the day, i'd rather they did about this then nothing at all, it always seems like the 1 time that the country allows itself to let it's metaphorical hair down and brings communities together.

there are so many topics to discuss on the subject of britain though.

one thing to be proud of is the bbc that doesn't censor itself to comform with government wishes in return for a little financial gain, unlike other companies *cough* murdoch *cough* through out the world that seem to have coincidences with the way they report the news and their political persuasion. coincidence or hidden motive maybe, i don't know.

[TeePee]

What makes Britain great is our history. We are a declining nation looking back at a fallen empire. Current British society and popular culture are an insult to those who have gone before us.

[0iD]

I personally think Britain as a whole has a lot going for it. I mean, it's not that bad, is it, really. At least we have a reasonable standard of living, most of us scrape by. Poverty isn't what it used to be, say 100 years ago.
My belief is that it's our attitude to life that sets us apart. Whether it's the 'Dunkirk Spirit', or the fact that we jan make a joke from almost anything & laugh at ourselves. We lead the world in the sense of humour stakes, but when the going gets tough, we get on with the job in hand & do it to the best of our abilities.
I am proud to be British, I've travelled well & there's no place I'd rather be. Basically, it's up to us to make Britain great, because no one else can.

[Blub2k]

What makes Britain great is the French translation of Big which is Grand which is a reference to "Grand Bretagne" which means, "big Brittany", it comes from when the French ruled Britain, just before the Germans took over.

[Skii]

I really hate this "Britain is going downhill" attitude. It really gets on my nerves. Most people on these forum, myself included, are not even 30 (well, I just scrape in there ) yet we are quick to slag off the country that we live in.

I'm no nationalist, and some would say I'm no patriot either, but in certain ways I am proud of what Britain has achieved. Think of what Britain has provided to the world:

- Representative Democracy
- Western based legal framework of justice and the presumption of innocence before guilt
- Social welfare
- Universal healthcare
- The steam engine
- The jet engine

Britain is the most racially tolerant and ethnically diverse country I have ever been to. People who say that our healthcare, trains, schools and whatnot are **** have obviously not travelled a great deal. When you have witnessed people physically living in a gutter, with NOTHING at all, and with no way out, then you might not have the same opinions.

Britain is not perfect. Domestic violence, crap weather, alcoholism, the Daily Mail and a certain modern streak of selfishness do not help, but on the whole I think it is a country we can be proud of. People are willing to risk their lives to get here ffs!

What makes Britain great? Pub gardens on a lazy Sunday afternoon in July.

Well said that man.

God I swear I heard 'Englands green and pleasant fields' in the background there..

[Skii]

And I'm damn pround of our queues, we are the worlds experts at queuing

[[GSV]Trig]

Britain is great because of the people, I agree with that, the thing is that theres a lot of people in this country that arent British and the more we interact with them the more we loose what makes us British, they are for want of a better way of putting it diluting what makes us British....

[aeonf242]

Great Britain is the amalgamtion of England, Wales and Scotland.

The United Kingdom is England (Wales) with Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What makes Britain Great:
1. The weather
2. Most of the people

[Paul Adams]

I personally think Britain as a whole has a lot going for it. I mean, it's not that bad, is it, really.

LOL, sorry I read that and instantly thought "maybe we should be renamed from 'Great Britain' to 'Not That Bad Britain'?"

[ramble]
The greatness of a country, to me, is not defined by its history to a great degree and certainly not by inventions that individuals have come up with - it has to be by the people that make that society and the image presented to the rest of the world.

Alas, I think the quality of our society has degraded over the years and our image is not as whiter-than-white as we would like (biting my tongue at the possible rant about being a "mini America" which could be a large factor in this).


What makes Britain "great"? Search me.
I'm off to Sweden shortly, the main 2 reasons (aside from my girlfriend) are the population density and the attitude of the people.
Little things like that fact that it is not their nature to drop litter, they speak their minds, they despise commercialism (things like TV adverts for kids toys are banned as they are aimed at creating pressure on parents), they have had (proper) sexual equality for years.

Conversely I remember growing up in Hull and the distinctly uncomfortable feeling I got when I moved to the south of Manchester at 16 - I started to see increased homelessness, heard stories of friends being mugged, gang-related activities, mindless acts of vandalism - I began to feel very nervous.

It could be I have led a sheltered life (Hull is a dead-end place anyway, and I spent 16 years there), and maybe it was a culture shock - but this was 13 years ago now and I have witnessed it get gradually more depressing.

I am proud to be British and proud of what it used to be, but I don't want to be here any more.
It could be in the genes I guess - my parents moved to California and my uncle & his family moved to France LOL.


Before my time, but I get the impression Britain was at its "greatest" when it used to have national pride and things like street parties to celebrate royal weddings took place (though rather ironically I'm not a royal fan).
That's the best single image I can put in my mind which exemplifies a friendly society where people look out for each other.

The other extreme of fierce national pride I find distasteful, though, which is why I could never live in the US.
[/ramble]

[Zak33]

England......for me.....ready

In May and June, its the warm sun and the wet grass....the blue sky and the sound of an old plane motoring across the sky. Its (as Hat said) lying on your back, in the grass, with a blade of gras in your teeth, looking up a the sky and sucking the sap out of the grass, with nothing to worry about except whether to have a cold lager or a glass of wine.

Its BBQ's with your friends...its fast motorbikes in the distance giving it large, its TVR's rumbling past on the way to their favourite road...is hot tarmac smells.

Its sitting in the garden with a glass of wine and thinking of nowt but the smell of the mown lawn.

And in winter England really shines...its KNOWING its gonna rain.....its KNOWING its gonna be cold....and its retiring for a week to a Yorkshire country cottage, lighting a fire, making soup from whatever vegetables you have and planning tomorrows walk in the hills....drying the coats, getting the boots clean and working out which small town butcher to go to, to get the breakfast sausages and bacon.

Its being able to drive for less than an hour in ANY DIRECTION with nowt but a map and finding a CASTLE to explore

England is being sl close to other beautifull countries like Scotland and Wales and Ireland that you can visit them in your car and see a different way of life.....less stressfull, more peacefull.

England is having an airport nearby so when you talk to a load of people on a web site they can fly to within half an hour of your house and be LANNING within a few hours (eh Tumble mate?)

Its having a country so small, that disliking your job but having a friend pop in for 15 minutes can make all the difference (cheers Moby, Jiff, Skii and David )

I like my country....and I like it alot

[Tumble]

England is having an airport nearby so when you talk to a load of people on a web site they can fly to within half an hour of your house and be LANNING within a few hours (eh Tumble mate?)

Damn straight Also I think Skii was right in his first post there - HM armed forces do us proud... they did us prouder in WWII mind..... bearing in mind that Britain was just about the only country in Europe (aside from Switzerland. I think) not broken by Herr Hitler when he tried it on in the 30s and 40s...

[Stewart]

What makes Britain great is the French translation of Big which is Grand which is a reference to "Grand Bretagne" which means, "big Brittany", it comes from when the French ruled Britain, just before the Germans took over.

Little green-eyed monster.

[Blub2k]

lmao, not jealous man.
Is the truth sore or what?
ah right you dont speak french "anymore" now you speak angel-sachsen you know the angels and the sachsens, North Germans? Please put me straight on any of my historical fact thanks.

[directhex]

silly Blub2k, silly!

next you'll suggest that the german royal family renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to House of Windsor in the 1910's as a publicity exercise

[Blub2k]

Now why would I do that?

So hands up who dislikes the Germans?

Alle nun, haendchen hoch jungs und maedels, kommt, lasst uns sehen.

[Stewart]

lmao, not jealous man.
Is the truth sore or what?
ah right you dont speak french "anymore" now you speak angel-sachsen you know the angels and the sachsens, North Germans? Please put me straight on any of my historical fact thanks.

If you can point out where I questioned the valiidity of the facts in your statement, please do, me old mucker, and all shall be well.

You just seem a little bitter and angry about something, that comes to the surface whenever England, Britain, or America is mentioned. Wondered if jealously was the cause of this, or something else?

To use a phrase in your own style: Is that jealously still sore, or what?

I might be wrong of course, but you do seem to have issue's on this subject, and I notice you were unable to contribute to the thread topic, and give reasons why Britain is great, without changing things around, so that they suited the way you like to behave on these issues.

To be honest, I was waiting for you to post, as I was interested to see if you could just contribute, or would have to try and have a dig. I knew it would be the latter, but the wait was interesting none the less.

Anyway, you are now free to return to posting 'hilarious' poems about how the American forces in Iraq have no balls, in the Question Time forum, and lets say no more about it.