What Is Britishness ?

Question

After watching the question being asked on TV I was no further informed to what it meant, what does it mean to you?

Answer 1

Who knows these days,by asking this question you could be called a racist for not including every other Tom, d**k & Harry who live's here......i guess this says a lot about how British, Britian is these days !! :)

Answer 2

there is no such things as britishness... it has been washed away by the tide of immigrants coming to this country

its little wonder British people are leaving in droves

i see it happening to my own country of Ireland its very sad  

Answer 3

You could ask yourself, what are the English Expressions that a foreign language does not bother to translate, as it is so individual to this country? Hence the German for Fair Play is... you guessed it, Fair Play.

Answer 4

h**l Henry Hedgehog are you saying that I am not British!!!!

Even if the male side of my family can be traced back to before their arrival in 1066!!!

Being British = the opposite of multiculturalism, Well there's an Irony for you!!! If there is no multiculturalism in being British then I am Monkey's Uncles (Very likely if you want to consider very distant relatives here ;-))

Being born in Britain. TICK

Having a British passport. TICK

Calling Britain your home. TICK though I live in Italy.

Being proud of the union flag. I can't TICK this one as it would make me SymbolMinded!

Speaking English inside and outside the home. Well that makes for problems if you don't want to be an arogant fool, who can't understand the rest of the world, so what Henry is saying is that you must be ignorant to be a true Brit!!!!!?????

Backing British sports teams. Is this really obligatory? What happen to fair play old chap, and sportsmanship, that sound a little more like Nationalism to me!!!

Believing that Britain is still Great. This shows lack of objectivity!

Not being ashamed to sing Rule Britannia, God Save The Queen, Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem, and I Vow To Thee My Country. Have you ever heard me sing!!!! and I think if you can't sing you should be ashamed to even sing Happy Birth!!!

And the Jerusalem thing is in fact not really so British, that is why we gave it away after stealing it in 1917!!!

Swearing allegiance to the Crown. Again being SymbolMinded, and lacking objectivity, in short being blind!

Ok so I am Not British, But if it means Ticking all of the above and lacking the ability of thinking!

Then I am Proud not to be British!

Thank you Mr Moseley and Prince Edward!!!!!!

Answer 5

Hating queue jumpers.

Talking about the weather.

Going to the beach in jumpers and macs.

Having a curry on a friday night.

Old pubs with burgundy carpets.

The richest language in the world.

Hating politicians.

Enjoying taking the mick out of foreigners.

Fry-ups and tea in a Greasy Spoon.

That special sense of British pride.

Answer 6

It's a mistake to be drawn in to trying to define it. That is precisely why the 'left' keep wanting to have it debated. But that's only because they want to red-define it to accord with their view of Britishness. This will include multiculturalism and other left of centre indeologies.

True Brits. know instinctively what being British is. Generally it comes from the heart and not the head, and comprises a million and one things from humour to where we have come from. Define it, and you undermine it. Of course, that's what the 'left', the unpatriotic EU lovers want.

In case folks didn't realise, we are to contest the next Olympics under the banner of the EU. By order of the EU.

Answer 7

It used to mean being proud of belonging to a free nation - with the power of free speech, open trial by jury and no detention without safeguards.  

However since the 'Anti-terrorism legislation it appoears to mean that we are a nation subjugated to a controlling and out of touch elite who are only too keen to silence us, have made free speech and protests increasingly difficult to mount - if not illegal and our politicians protect themselves behind a barrage of security men and barriers.

When a cadre of politicians appears to think it appropriate to hide behind security of the type we currently have it is surely time to question just how much freedom we actually exercise.

Answer 8

Being British = the opposite of multiculturalism.

Being born in Britain.

Having a British passport.

Calling Britain your home.

Being proud of the union flag.

Speaking English inside and outside the home.

Backing British sports teams.

Believing that Britain is still Great.

Not being ashamed to sing Rule Britannia, God Save The Queen, Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem, and I Vow To Thee My Country.

Swearing allegiance to the Crown.

If you can tick all these boxes, I'd call you British. Colour and race have nothing to do with it.

Answer 9

I know one thing .It's not or at least should not be about colour.Some white British people seem to forget that non-whites have been in Britain for several generations and have as much right as the next person to consider themselves British.Look at Boris Johnson the London Lord Mayor.His Britishness has taken a few detours through France and Germany and Turkey along the way yet he is a direct descendant of the British Monarchy.Would he be considered not really British?

Once upon a time Britishness would have meant, reserved,polite,hard working,stiff upper lip and family orientated self respecting people with a loyalty to the crown.That was in the days of 'make do and mend'.They live in a throw away society now and those old vaues have been diluted by divorce and greed and the fast pace of life where it has become increasingly difficult to adhere to any kind of 'ness let alone Britishness.

Answer 10

Ask Gordon Brown is he not writing a book on britishness

Answer 11

Britishness to me means white people, the union jack, freedom of speech, street parties to celebrate Britishness, being neighbourly - helping your neighbour. Helping other British people who are needier than you, and respect for yourself and for others.

Unfortunately this has all been lost. There is no freedom of speech (apart from here on Yahoo answers!), our jobs are being given to other nationalities and/or people with a different colour skin because 1) either they are prepared to work for less or 2.) some jobs are reserved for people from ethnic minorities. (if thats not racism or discrimination what is?) Also, people will walk past someone who has fainted in the street, people keep themselves to themselves and don't help their neighbour. A lot of people wouldn't even be able to draw the Union Jack, and everywhere I walk, there are muslims or black people. A lot of white people have lost their respect, respect for themselves, and respect for others in general. As a result, there is a drink and drugs culture that is here to stay.

Great Britain is now the opposite of 'great' in my books. It has completely lost its identity, and things will never get better, just much much worse. No wander more and more 'white British' people are leaving their homeland in droves, and are emigrating to countries with predominantly white communities. I'm really not surprised. We are being pushed out of our own country.

Answer 12

Not flag waving nationalism which is looked on as something bizarre, but a quiet belief in a set of rules which we will stand up for to the very last breath, then quietly get on with our lives. We don't like our heroes brash, we value understatement, and hate false people.

I think celebrity culture is destroying British tradition, but hopefully the hard work and dedication of the athletes who have succeeded in Beijing will make people think again about talentless big brother clowns or X factor wannabes.

Answer 13

Our culture should be one in which disagreement is not seen as disloyalty and where inclusivity is not confined to those who sympathise completely with our own views.

Whatever our forms of political organisation must be places where we bring the best out of people, must embody the values that we wish to see reasserted in broader society,  where the instincts that brought them into politics are raised to a higher political and moral plane.