Being British...

[Deebs]

Having watched Pearl Harbour on Blu-ray I decided to look up some stuff on Wikipedia and eventually led to things that the UK/Great Britain have done for the world...

• Industrial Revolution
• Had the largest Empire in history
• Has the oldest metro system, the underground
• English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy

I know our country sucks at the moment due to the shitty government but remember our past, we HAVE changed the world and continue to do so.

Somewhere I have read that 70% of the world's inventions are from people who came from the UK/Great Britain but cannot find it now. Anyone know what I am talking about?

I am proud to be British just think the country needs a little love from someone other than Brown.

 

[nath]

I know our country sucks at the moment due to the shitty government but remember our past, we HAVE changed the world and continue to do so.

There's no where I'd like to live more than England to be honest, and I even live in London and there's LOADS of brown people here!

 

[Trem]

You make some good points Deebles but all I can focus on is why the hell buy Pearl Harbour on blu-ray?

 

[Deebs]

I like it!! That is why.

 

[mycenae]

I'm with Trem on the choice of film Deebs....its not the greatest! However, I think you're right too....Its often been suggested to me that with mine and Vae's qualifications, we should go emigrate to Jersey/the USA/Australia.....better life, better pay, more affordable housing, blah, blah, blah.....but I don't want to. I like the UK....and its here we shall be staying!

 

[Trem]

If only the people who run the UK liked us as much.

 

[TdC]

I'd move to Oz in a flash. Sorry :/

 

[Deebs]

The UK has a prominent role in the future of the world! We are unique!

/ps Pearl Harbour has its good moments!

 

[Lazarus]

feck teedles - im sure most of us would contribute to your one way ticket

 

[Frizz]

• Had the largest non-contiguous Empire in history

/Pedant.

 

[Deebs]

/Pedant.

No, we had the largest Empire ever. Go research.

 

[Jimmy]

peral harbour happend on the 7th of december am i sad for knowing that with out looking it up?

 

[nath]

peral harbour happend on the 7th of december am i sad for knowing that with out looking it up?

Assuming you mean the attack, and not the release date of the film - then no, not sad, just knowledgeable.

 

[throdgrain]

An indian friend of mine at work says - quite proudly - that the British Empire was the Empire on which the sun never set. Because it was so bloody big it covered the world, and if it was dark in one place it would be daylight somewhere else.

Im fiercely patriotic and proud of my country, and always will be.

 

[ECA]

/ps Pearl Harbour has its good moments!

When it ends?

 

[TdC]

feck teedles - im sure most of us would contribute to your one way ticket

they won't have me

besides, I took to calling an Aussie lady friend "Export" and she said she'd fix me good for that o0

 

[Trem]

A lot of Indians are also pretty patriotic as far as Britain is concerned.

I also like Indians, they also have their own Gurkha regiment.

 

[Frizz]

No, we had the largest Empire ever. Go research.

"Largest" is quite an open definition, but yeah.

British Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of largest empires - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And about Gurkha's:

Hundreds of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who fought for Britain protested March 19, 2008 outside the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London, demanding higher pensions and the right to stay in the country they served.

How sad.

 

[sayward]

I've lived in Europe and it's not all it's cracked up to be. But the grass is always greener, or seems to be.

 

[rynnor]

I wouldnt live in Oz unless you paid me large amounts - I still cant think of a place I'd rather live than the UK for a ton of reasons.

Sure its not perfect but its got the greatest combination of things I want from a country - crap weather ofc. but then skin cancer and premature ageing are greatly overrated IMO.

 

[mr.Blacky]

Lo Deebs but why is having the largest empire something good?

also lets not forget the bad things the British empire has done.

I would personally say that the best thing the British empire ever did was ban slave trade and enforcing it over other slave trading nations.

 

[Fweddy]

I thought the sun never set on the British Empire because no one trusted us in the dark?

I often think I'd like to live somewhere else, but when it comes down to it I can't think of anywhere I'd prefer. Everywhere has faults and here it feels like home.

 

[Olgaline]

When it ends?

He likes Ben Affleck kay!?
leave him alone!
you dont know what he's been through okay !?
leave him alone!

 

[ECA]

Deebs is Jimmy Kimmel?

 

[ford prefect]

/ps Pearl Harbour has its good moments!

Yes it does! It teaches us how the Ben Afflek almost single handedly won the war

On topic though, the Britain was possibly one of the greatest nations until we were turned into a nation of service providers in the 70's and 80's. Most of us now sit in an office of some kind or other, and a huge percentage of people are now civil servants. His Tonyness did nothing to help the situation, in fact I would say that in many ways "New Labour" is more right wing than Maggies government was.

We are slowly but surely having our civil freedoms taken away, spending too much time trying to pander to America's foreign policies and not paying attention to what is going on at home.

I see very little in Britain to be proud of today, and I honestly think our predocessors would be ashamed of what this country has become.

 

[Furr]

The difference now is that back in the past the British in their hearts knew that their British way of life was the right way for a human to live.
The impression of Britain to much of world was of this glorious British lifestyle with its hard work, interest in the world, manners, education, sense of duty, respect for all men and that peculiar sense of humour. From the working class to the aristocrat Britain had a special type of character. Socialists hated this and have systematically destroyed it. And won, we now live inflicted with a sanitised, PR type culture drawn up by nuLaour think tanks based on multiculturalism and misguided services equality where if not everyone can have it, no one can.
Now we have the Chav, WAG, Nouveau riche, celebrity, thug culture as the dominant cultural mode. The old ways still exist though but hidden in the countryside, the public schools, London gentlemen clubs etc.

 

[Trem]

I can't remember what it was I was watching, maybe Cooking in the Danger Zone (a fucking fantastic program if you haven't seen it), and I can't remember where it was but everyone in that country was complaining about their lives now compared to when Britain ruled, they said they have never had it so good as when good old blighty ruled.

 

[DaGaffer]

I see very little in Britain to be proud of today, and I honestly think our predocessors would be ashamed of what this country has become.

I think that would depend on which "predecessors" you were talking about. A 19th century landowner or industrialist might agree with you. A mill worker with lung disease and kids with TB would look at your life and tell you to quit bitching and count your blessings.

There's an awful lot of shit spoken about our "great past". Sure we painted a quarter of the world pink, but so what? The Empire was a boon for a small minority in the UK, and improved the lives of many of its overseas subjects (particularly the people in the "white bits" of the Empire), but if you were a working class Brit in the nineteenth century life was pretty fucking grim.

About the only positive thing you can say about the British Empire was that it was the "least worst" option (compared to say, the Belgian Congo, the British Empire was fucking paradise), but it was still massively racist, massively elitist, and most of the "rights" we're now moaning about losing under (oh so ironically) Labour were prised kicking and screaming from "our betters" by working men and by millions who died in World War I & II who finally realised the people running things were fucking idiots.

 

[old.Tohtori]

I liked the British more when they were a bit "stuck up", snooty about their language and "tally ho", if you know what i mean.

These days, being british gives the idea of(from a foreigner point of view)...well...Stella drinking, pot smoking, "ra ra footie!" screaming pub goer with the English literary skills of an emu.

No offense meant, and i know it's a stereotype, but it's the image that is given these days.

British have done alot, good and bad, for the world, but maybe you need a revolution or something to bring the old days back.

Not that i particularly like you for the crusades but, that's another story

 

[DaGaffer]

Not that i particularly like you for the crusades but, that's another story

The Crusades? You can pin a lot on us, but not the Crusades. They were definitely a Pan-European effort.