Pride in Britain seems to have fallen sharply over the course of a generation.

The percentage of people declaring themselves "very proud" of Britain fell from 55% in 1981 to just 45% today.

The main reason is generational, with younger people less likely to have the "strong attachment" to Britain of older generations, say researchers.

Are you proud to be British? Or do you feel more English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish?

Yes, I am proud to be British and feel privileged to live here. Despite the moaners and groaners, this is a great place to be. The grass is always greener on the other side.

I'm certainly far more British than I am English or Welsh. Britain isn't perfect, there are many things that could be improved about our country but overall it's a very good place to live.

Well thats three of us I suppose :(

Well, four counting Gordon Brown!

I regard myself as English and British. Which is perfectly reasonable and compatable. Am I proud to be British? Yes I would say I am. The UK is a good country and is overall getting better. Just wish we sorted out problems related to anti-social behaviour and our ailing education system.

i am proud to be british but i would prefer to call myself english as the scots, welsh and irish are allowed to distinguish themselves i think we should too and not appologise for it. anyone born in england or living here should be allowed to call themselves english no matter of colour.
i am not so proud to be british however when i see brits aboard as we are called, binge drinking and causing trouble.
we have a terrible reputatuion for this and i hate to think other nationalities lump us all under this heading.
i like a drink but i know when to stop!
wasnt so proud to be british after the eurovision though!!! what a joke-even if we put take that or whoever in we would never win cos the ex ussr countries hate us and going into the war has made us even more unpopular with other countries

We'll never win again, still it's fun, at least they dislike all of western europe, not just us.

I'm a proud Brit
BUT
"to be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life"

Interesting to see what Islam and Muslim people think about britishness, here.

There seems to be one of these surveys out every week. One problem is that being British means different things to different people, so lists of 'British' things tend to be banal. Muslims going into raptures about fish and chips is just embarrassing.

Of course I'm proud to be British. It's also safer to say British rather than English when you live in a house that includes 3 Welsh people...

Im proud of my country but not of some of the British who seem hell bent on dragging the place into the mire,drive along castle foregate or where there is any fast food outlet at 7am on a Sunday morning before the coucil lads have done their job and witness the filth that all these proud Brits leave behind,also the fly tipping,graffiti,vandalism,anti social behaviour and our attitude abroad .I am off to Germany in a few days time,and while there i shall be making some notes that i shall add to this topic

Whereabouts in Germany? The places i've been to over there generally put us to shame in terms of cleanliness and respect for the local environment but i've seen a few horrible sights, the graffiti in the otherwise beautiful Cologne cathedral is shameful.

They do have weekend drunks around the towns, more so than say France or Italy but not as many as here or Scandinavia and they seem to be pretty well behaved and good natured on he whole

The Rhine Jonesy,Burgen to be exact.

Very nice, haven't been to Burgen but i've been for a drive from Cologne down the Rhine and Mosel rivers, there's some lovely scenery and villages/small towns around those parts. Have fun.

Have got back from Germany,and i have to ask myself is this the country that LOST

So are you proud to be british now Avron b? :rolleyes:

I cocked up with this and it got sent before i had time to finish,after 'Lost' i was going to add ww2,for it seems to me they enjoy a far higher standard of living than we do,i would not want to be a street sweeper there,for i would soon find myself out of work,it was also nice to go for a stroll in the evenings and have a drink without running the gauntlet of drunken yobs.They have national service in Germany,perhaps that explains why their young folk dont run riot about the place.

To be fair WWII was over 60 years ago, that's a long time for things to change for the better or for the worse, I'm not sure the standard of living is FAR higher, maybe a bit but there are many poor places in Eastern Germany and the industrial areas around the Ruhr valley are none too pretty.

we are still/just stopped paying for our war loans etc for ww2, despite it being over 60 years ago, but the germans were cunning and were supposed to pay war reporations for the other countries such as ourselves. however they declared themselves bankrupt after only 2 years of their repayments of £60k. funny how they now have a stronger economic country then us isnt it???
so in a way we were the country to lose as it cost us far more than it did for germany! :angry:

War reparations from WWI were a major cause of the build up to WWII so maybe that was for the best, victors justice is seldom just. We got far more aid under the Marshall Plan than Germany did though and their cities and infrastructure were much more damaged than ours.

You can't explain Germany's post-war success by blaming their 'cunning' regarding war debts, that is a tiny part of it. At the time they were under Allied occupation and control anyway so they couldn't have done anything without our agreement.

Amount of Marshall Plan Aid from the US to Western European countries

Germany did pay a great deal to the victorious powers in other ways

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_reparations#World_War_II

Hey Jonesey this thread is called Are you proud to be british not a germany history lesson :lol:

Good to see that that daft rule restricting the flying of the Union flag on public buildings to set days has been scrapped by the new government. Gordon Brown was derided by some when he spoke about "Britishness" but I think he is on the ball. I hope he continues to introduce changes to make more proud to be British.

Brown and 'Britishness? -What a joke! That sour-faced, E.U fanatic is about as pro- British as Fidel Castro
I still can't believe the amount of people who still fall for Nu Labour spin -even after all these years.

Huh? Blair wanted us to adopt the euro I seem to recall. Brown came up with five economic tests that needed to be met before joining so as to veto it. Brown is about as fanatical about the EU as Maggie was. I take it that you support "Britishness" though.

Britishness to me is not so much what went on years ago, or politics ,its about taking a pride in the country/county i live in,go anywhere today and all you see is fly tipping,litter,graffiti,railway embankments like refuse dumps,dog mess and beaches litterd with plastic debris.All this flag flying is cobblers if you dont care about the aforementioned,or worse still are part of it,one of the worst roads for litter is the new A5 between S.bury and Telford.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. I'm proud to be British, but it's not a complete case of 'my country right or wrong' and I hugely admire other countries in many different ways.

In terms of the quality of public spaces, the contrast between the strong civic pride of most Germans and the 'couldn't care less' attitude of many Britons is frankly embarrassing.

Why do we have to spread our filth every where we go?last year in Germany we pulled up at a autobahn service area,it was spotless,there were coaches from all over europe ,then three brit coaches pulled up,out spilled all these kids,and before long there was litter everywhere,i rest my case.

also,while i am on my soap box i think all fast food outlets should pay a tax on all food taken off premises,the Swiss impose a very small charge on on every thing and that is used for street cleaning tourism and the general well being of the place,and boy does it show.

Actually I have found myself picking up rubbish. If you shop at Tescos you can take it to the recycling area at the back of the store and get points on a storecard. I think the major players in contributing to the litter problems are the American outlet Mcdonalds I see loads of their packaging which doesnt seem to be biodegradable alsmost every day. What this has to do with britishness i dont know

It proves that you are a true British citizen to me because you actually picked the rubbish up.

Ive been thinking Avron there must be loads of people who think like we do there seem a few on this forum. Perhaps we need more action. I think a forum is a sort of community. I'm thinking of carrying a camera so you can covertly film these law breakers. You could set up a website 'shopping' them. I dont think british people are nosey enough.

Tut,tut. If you did so then you could be accused of violating their human rights.