Possible National Holiday to Promote "Britishness"

[Platty]

It's a very good idea and is needed right now in my opinion. It's far too easy to become British these days and i think people need reminding what being British is all about....Beer. hehe i kid but i agree with Jordan it would be nice to be patriotic for once without all the PC crap getting in the way.

 

Also why we are at it, why not make a big thing out of St Georges day and the other saints of the home countries? The Irish have an amazing day on st patricks day but in England all we have are a few pubs with some flags up. Sort it out, lets celebrate like it's 1999 all over again or something.

[Blackfox]

Theres no such thing as "Britishness". We are a mess of a country with poor health care,

 

False, the NHS is getting better. Billions extra are being put into it. Would you like to see a US style where we all have insurance, where people are forced to live in pain due to the fact they cant afford insurance or treatment. Next time you visit your doctor be grateful you arent paying

 

sky high illegal immigration,

 

This country would be nothing without immigration - immigrants do the unwanted work that other people wouldnt do. They are as vital to the econmy as our banks and companies.

 

Keep reading the Daily Mail.

 

knocked up teenage sluts

 

Shit yeah, all my female friends are pregnant!

 

and a weak government.

 

Fair enough if you think that.

 

Im not too happy about GB's involvment in the slave trade, but without that and our lovely Empire we wouldn't be where we are today. Fuck politcal correctness, let's celebrate who are.

[demonmike04]

does anyone else find the idea of celebrating some sort of national identity slightly...unpleasant? all these patriotic holidays feel so morbid...its like we'll be celebrating binge drinking, sky high teenage pregnancy rates and so on....

Thats very true, we dont have much to be proud about.

I wonder if Gordon brown can define Britishness, since I want to know what exactly im celebrating, because it seems what Dan Dare said would be what im celebrating.

 

But i guess its important for them to try and make the public happy and make them proud to live in this country...

[Ashley]

Another "holiday" in which i'm forced to work in busy conditions, brilliant.

 

And another holiday where you can't drive into kiddy. Oh the joy.

 

Tell Mr Kenevovich (how on earth do you spell his name) to sod off if you want the day off. You don't have to work bank holidays.

[Indigo]

False, the NHS is getting better. Billions extra are being put into it.

Throwing money at the public-sector does not equate to improvement. It's how such investment is co-ordinated that makes the difference.

 

For example, the government have invested billions into trying to combat truancy in schools and yet truancy rates have continued to rise.

[gaggle64]

The problem with Britishness is that it isn't real any one thing that any one individual can identify. The problem to seems to be that Britain as a whole is more of a weird amalgamation of a variety of different cultures. We've got everything from the ancient Celtic culture of the northen isles to the 21st-century hip-hop culture of the London urban estates. We live in an insane country where people are just as likely to visit a Punjab music festival as take a trip to hear the renidition of "The Planets" at the Proms. Fish and Chips are as popular as ever, but Chinese and Indian dishes regular sit on the same menu together. Hollywood epics are always goping to be popular, but Japanese pop culture continues to spread itself our youth, while Bollywood continues to take leaps and bounds in popularity. Religous tension may be rife in some areas following recent events, but with Muslims, Christians, Budhists, Seiks, Bahais, Hindus and dozens of other mainstream religons often exsisting around each other in small and densely populated spaces, it seems almost amazing that they all got here in the first place. With all these different cultures making their mark on our nation, it always going to be a struggle to identify ourselves as a single unified nation. I think it is important to celebrate our nation - we're not perfect, but we have plenty of things to proud of, in particular our great cultural diversity. It's not as if we're all fiercely patriotic war-mongering immoral imperialistic racists anymore, so why not celebrate that fact?

[Shino]

I'm gonna break in this british party and say that of all the countries, I'd never though Britain would be the one with out a national day, maybe there's already an english/scotish/welsh day? (really dont know)

[Aimless]

Surely the very idea of blowing one's trumpet is ostensibly a display of non-Britishness?

 

Personally I don't see what's to like about patriotism; self-deprecation is far less selfish.

[mario114]

We should just have st. georges day, it would be a lot less hassle.

[darkcloud]

Of course it would be blamed on muslims even if it was white people.

 

White people can be muslims as well. =P So yeah it's very possible that white people could do that and it also be muslims who did it.... But that's not the point....... The point is it shouldn't be done by anyone......... Ermm yeah, moving on......

 

 

 

 

 

A british day would be pointless..... Everyone would go out celebrating, but, not because of what the day is about, but, because it's an excuse to go out and get drunk.... English people use St Patricks day for the same reason.... I would prefere not having another day where everyone is drunk on the streats.... :-/

[gaggle64]

A british day would be pointless..... Everyone would go out celebrating, but, not because of what the day is about, but, because it's an excuse to go out and get drunk.... English people use St Patricks day for the same reason.... I would prefere not having another day where everyone is drunk on the streats.... :-/

A prime example of the British spirit if ever I saw it. Christ, we're a really depresed group of people as a nation.

[scubahood]

I think its a crazy idea. I don't really care about my nationality it makes no difference to me and i'd hate it if we went all patriotoc (i know i spelt that wrong) like the Americans are its just silly and is probably the reason there are so many little snotty American kids that think they are the best in the world.

 

On another note my dads mate got into a heated discussion with an American lady in a bar that said she doesn't speak English she speaks American

[soag]

If someone were to blow up the houses of parliment it would be great.

 

Best idea ever

 

Guy Fawkes what a guy

[Arragaun]

On another note my dads mate got into a heated discussion with an American lady in a bar that said she doesn't speak English she speaks American

Well there are a great many words, phrases, clauses etc that Americans use and we don't. They spell stuff differently as well, like colour is color. And 'yeah' is an American word in the first place. Same with jail. How many times have you written jail and thought it was English?

American is different to English.

[Platty]

We should just have st. georges day, it would be a lot less hassle.

 

But that wouldnt be for the whole of Britian would it, St george is England. A scot could easily say "we should just have st andrews day instead."

 

And anyway we do have st georges day every year, just nothing big goes on and many places and people dont seem to care except a few pubs and me and my friends

[Ashley]

On another note my dads mate got into a heated discussion with an American lady in a bar that said she doesn't speak English she speaks American

 

Well its true. Similarly you would say Londoners (well some of them) speak Cockney. Its almost a language unto itself. Obviously a large part is English but theres a lot of variations between English and Cockney.

 

Plus, none of us speak "proper" English, we all use colloqualisms and such that aren't in the dictionary (which brings up the debate is "proper English" on whats in the dictionary?). I'm sure we've all said "To boldly go" at some point which is incorrect English.

[seamus_aran]

I love Britain. British father, Trinidadian mother. They were enslaved by the English for hundreds of years.

 

If your really on about "slavery" and the "empire", shouldn't you be ashamed to be human? Because all human's have done that at some time.

 

So really if you don't like it, you should stop being human.

 

Say hi to God if he exists and tell him "only joking about being athiest". What? I gotta cover all bases.

[darkcloud]

A prime example of the British spirit if ever I saw it. Christ, we're a really depresed group of people as a nation.

 

ROFL... I'm not really depressed, just think that when the whole of britain comes together to celebrate something, the vast majority turn into a group of idiots...... It's kinda like being one of the few remaining uninfected humans in 28 days later. =P

 

I much prefere to go out with a smaller group of people when not everyone and there dogs are celebrating... Nights are a lot more fun like that. XD

 

As for American and English, well technically it's all English...... Americans just speak American English.... :-/ Oh and ermmm Cockney is still English...... Just a different dialect....... ^^;;

[Ashley]

As for American and English, well technically it's all English...... Americans just speak American English.... :-/ Oh and ermmm Cockney is still English...... Just a different dialect....... ^^;;

 

Well techincally English has large Anglo Saxon, French and Norse roots. So we're not even speaking English. Could say there is no such true English because its a smorgusboard of different languages.

[darkcloud]

Well then technically there is no individual languange as everything has influence from somewhere........ Maybe we should just speak through random grunts... And use drums instead of phoning people..... ^^;

[scubahood]

The language is english theres no need for people trying to get clever with the technical crap

[Ramar]

All for British Day, it annoys me when people complain about St George's day, and how it offends them. So I would love to offend them so more by celebrating this great day, in favour of our little empire. Go team!

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

What a great idea! Here is hoping it will spread to other countries.

 

How is it going to be celebrated? Another day to get drunk? Or meaningful/boring activities, that may result in people getting to know each other. Scary thought indeed. Though a lot of people dressed in UK flag clothes, dancing down the streets could be funny.

[Adrian DX]

.... a lot of people dressed in UK flag clothes, dancing down the streets could be funny.

 

Even more funny if they were drunk too

 

*Jokes aside*

 

If the U.K. decides to get a national holiday, lets just hope it doesn't turn out like when Sweden tried to copy Norway with our national day.. We hang up flags and the citiess are full, and I mean full.. Huge bands and every school from that city marches through the streets. And everyone marks the day by hanging up the Norwegian flags on cars, houses, flagpoles (of course =) ) etc. But Sweden's "Flaggans dag" is just hilarious.. On norwegian televeision the day after the swedish national day, you can see footage of the streets.. theres like 20 people gathered in each city standing shouting "hooray" to the camera.. pathethic :P ...

 

But thats just what might happen. Creating a new holiday in the 21st century is not an easy task, people are too lazy to go celebrate like they should.

[Lammie]

Another "holiday" in which i'm forced to work in busy conditions, brilliant.

 

He's right. If you enjoy your public holidays, do not, I repeat DO NOT work in the hospitality industry. Where I used to eagerly look forward to Australia Day, Labor Day etc I now beg for it to come and go as quick as possible.

 

For those who actually get their public holidays off, a national holiday is a good thing. Australia Day over here is the shizzle - drink beer, watch cricket, go to the beach (weather permitting), cook up a barbie and hang with your mates.