Being British...

[Tom]

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.

That's a particularly rose-tinted view of the way things were. In reality your average man had a very few rights (go back even further and hardly anyone could vote), and the working class toiled for the benefit of a ruling class (not an upper class as it is today). Theres a mine not far from me (closed a long time ago) that was famous for the owner not wanting to spend the money installing safety lamps, it was the last mine in the country to still use candles.

Socialism has a lot to answer for but giving equal rights for all isn't something it should feel embarrassed about.

 

[rynnor]

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

Blame the Popes - it was their idea!

 

[old.Tohtori]

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

Well yes, not solely, but you cheeky buggers were part of it

 

[DaGaffer]

Well yes, not solely, but you cheeky buggers were part of it

Not that much really, its just that Richard The Lionheart had very good PR! The very first European king to go on crusade was actually the king of Norway! Most of the real work in the crusades was done by the French and Germans. Anyway, why do you care about the crusades? Shouldn't you be saving your historical bile for the Swedes and the Russians?

 

[old.Tohtori]

Not that much really, its just that Richard The Lionheart had very good PR! The very first European king to go on crusade was actually the king of Norway! Most of the real work in the crusades was done by the French and Germans. Anyway, why do you care about the crusades? Shouldn't you be saving your historical bile for the Swedes and the Russians?

Oh but they came way after our Finnish civilization was bum-raped.

Mainly one would blame christianity for ruining a fine religion and culture, England is just the usual "go to" guy when talking about that invasion.

 

[Cyradix]

So the British empire did not expand itself for obvious reasons like more land, more money/wealth and more slaves like all the other countries back then eh?

 

[DaGaffer]

So the British empire did not expand itself for obvious reasons like more land, more money/wealth and more slaves like all the other countries back then eh?

It expanded initially for reasons of trade, secondly to block the French, and eventually (after 1857) simply because it could, and because the British suddenly got delusions of "civilising" the world. Oh and the biggest growth in the British Empire came long after slavery was illegal. By the end of WWI we were taking on territory we couldn't possibly afford to administer (like the middle east), and that hurt us economically.

To be honest, one of the most impressive things about the British Empire was how relatively painlessly we got rid of it. India and Ireland weren't handled well (although we'll never know how much worse it could have been), and Palestine was a bit of an abdication of responsibility, but compared to most other empires we came away from Empire in fairly good shape, and so did most of the countries we left behind.

 

[Scouse]

So the British empire did not expand itself for obvious reasons like more land, more money/wealth and more slaves like all the other countries back then eh?

I'd just have said "yes" to you on that one.

To be honest, one of the most impressive things about the British Empire was how relatively painlessly we got rid of it. India and Ireland weren't handled well (although we'll never know how much worse it could have been), and Palestine was a bit of an abdication of responsibility, but compared to most other empires we came away from Empire in fairly good shape, and so did most of the countries we left behind.

:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

 

[Tilda]

add medicine to the dominant international language bit.

 

[DaGaffer]

I'd just have said "yes" to you on that one.


:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

What? Seriously Scouse, compare the end of the British Empire to most other empires and there's no comparison; The Romans, The Mongols, the Ottomans, the Spanish, the French, the Soviets, almost all empires go down in flames, and in many cases even the core country is gone by the end of it; we avoided all that and we didn't even go down the economic league table much (we dropped by one place, mainly because empire was costing more than it earned by the end, so dumping it was in our interests).

 

[old.Tohtori]

I think this should be posted right about now.

 

[kirennia]

I think this should be posted right about now.

YouTube - Izzard on World War 2
[youtubevid]6omQ5JjjLsE[/youtubevid]

The longer one

 

[old.user4556]

Didn't Jeremy Guscott say/quote that if you're born British you've come first in the lottery of life?

 

[mr.Blacky]

add medicine to the dominant international language bit.

isn't that latin? all the bones of the human body and such?

the Spanish, the French,

for DaGaffer

how did their empire burn down?
yes the Spanish had civil wars but Spain still exists and not really that much down in comparison with pre world war 1 or 2.
the French also didnt suffer that much in fact their control over their former colonies is higher then the UK, especially in Africa.

 

[DaGaffer]

isn't that latin? all the bones of the human body and such?

the Spanish, the French,

for DaGaffer

how did their empire burn down?
yes the Spanish had civil wars but Spain still exists and not really that much down in comparison with pre world war 1 or 2.
the French also didnt suffer that much in fact their control over their former colonies is higher then the UK, especially in Africa.

The Spanish loss of empire was basically a rolling series of wars of independence, broken up by loss of their entire country to Napoleon, followed by yet more wars of independence, followed by loss of their last important territories to the Americans, followed by civil war, followed by a fascist government for 30 years; not exactly a smooth decline. Don't confuse the Spain of the last 30 years with the Spain of the previous 200, which was a catalogue of disasters and bitter decline.

The French fought two massively bloody wars in their two main colonies (Algeria and Indochina), they lost both in the field, and Dien Bien Phu was one of their worst defeats.

In comparison, the British fought plenty of small wars, didn't lose too many men, won a few (Malaya, Kenya), lost a few (Cyprus), fudged a shitload (Palestine, India, Aden) and walked away from the rest with hardly a scratch (everywhere else), and actually ended up with the Commonwealth and a residue of affection from many of their former colonies. Probably the biggest fuck-up in the whole de-colonisation period was Suez, and we actually won all the fighting on the ground before the Americans made it painfully clear who was boss.

 

[Louster]

things

I <3 u DaGaffer.

Also: hi.

 

[Jonty]

Hi guys

I'm proud to be British, even though I now live abroad. It seems that Asian people still have a fairly rose-tinted view of Britain (the English gentleman, afternoon tea, and especially our education system which they still greatly admire). Thankfully they're insultated from the ASBO, WAG etc. culture of late. If they knew about that stuff then I would cringe

That said, no country is perfect, but the UK is still better than most. It all depends on people's personal outlook. We all have different benchmarks depending on our lives and interests (young or old, rich or poor, single or family, multicultural or monocultural, ******d-looking or inward etc.). The UK has long had a radically diverse makeup, and this both helps and hurts the country's direction (I naively still believes it helps more than it hurts, but who knows?).

Kind regards

 

[Raven]

What we need to do is reintroduce deportation, get rid of the undesirables. Make every school C of E where they are taught moral values. I don't beleive in god but am so glad i had a semi-religious upbringing

 

[DaGaffer]

Personally I think we Brits have a unique problem; there's Britain, and then there's all these other versions of Britain out there with better weather, or better scenery, or less overcrowding, so easy to get seduced by the idea of leaving for pastures new without really giving up too much of what you do like about Britain. Of course the reality is Canada, Australia, NZ etc. are actually very different, but no-one thinks about the negative ways they're different. Its not really a problem other nationalities have.

 

[Sharma]

I'm wanting to move to Aus, not because it's necessarily better there, it's just fucking shite here.

Plus I like the Aussie accent..

 

[Raven]

Would love to up sticks and move to NZ, only thing keeping me here is friends and family.

 

[Yaka]

this thread woulda been so much better if there was spiffy and better recent film about the battle of britain, poor choice of film.















come to think of it why hasnt there been a recent film based on the battle of britian? or is the odd shitty rom com/cockney gawkster flick all there is left in the british film industry?

 

[DaGaffer]

come to think of it why hasnt there been a recent film based on the battle of britian? or is the odd shitty rom com/cockney gawkster flick all there is left in the british film industry?

In answer to your first question, no, but the sixties film was very good.

In answer to your second question, yes, that's all that's left. On a positive note there's the Peter Jackson Dambusters film coming up, and as is the way with these things, if its successful then it might open the door to some Brit wwII films.

 

[Jupitus]

In answer to your first question, no, but the sixties film was very good.

In answer to your second question, yes, that's all that's left. On a positive note there's the Peter Jackson Dambusters film coming up, and as is the way with these things, if its successful then it might open the door to some Brit wwII films.

Oooo... a Dambusters remake? Coooool

[random fact]

My dad work at British Aerospace developing early CAD systems while Barnes Wallace still worked there... my Dad was better paid

[/random fact]

 

[Dark Orb Choir]

What we need to do is reintroduce deportation, get rid of the undesirables. Make every school C of E where they are taught moral values. I don't beleive in god but am so glad i had a semi-religious upbringing

Year 2 class in Bradford comes in from playtime. Teacher asks Sarah: "What did you do at playtime?"

Sarah says, "I played in the sand box."

The teacher says, "That's good. Go to the blackboard, and if you can write 'sand' correctly, I'll give you a chocolate Hobnob."

She does and gets a chocolate Hobnob.

The teacher asks Michael what he did at playtime.

Michael says, "I played with Sarah in the sand box."

The teacher says, "Good. If you write 'box' correctly on the blackboard, I'll give you a chocolate Hobnob."

Michael does, and gets a chocolate Hobnob. Teacher then asks Mustaffa Abdul Machmoud what he did at playtime.

He says, "I tried to play with Sarah and Michael, but they threw rocks at me."

The teacher says, "Threw rocks at you? That sounds like blatant racial discrimination. If you can go to the blackboard and write 'blatant racial discrimination' I'll give you a chocolate Hobnob."

 

[Sharma]

Well I can say there's fuck all we can do about the kids doing that (and it does happen).

I personally put it down to sensationalist journalism, kids can read from a young age nowadays and all over the papers and news is "ISLAM IS BAD THEY ARE EVIL PEOPLE! THEY BLOW STUFF UP! DEATH! MURDER! JIHAD!" etc.

We may as well just chop their fingers off and force non-biased and objective views on everyone - while that sounds idealistic, it's incredibly unrealistic.

Tabloids are such two faced fuckers - while at the same time complaining about racism (The Sun and news of the world tried a crusade similar to this iirc), they print big frontpage news on how evil islam is.