It pains me to admit it, but I was actually agreeing with Garry Bushell then, right up to the point where he mentioned Charlton Athletic - all of a sudden the rest of his rant became irrelevant and I realised he was actually a complete prat!

I think one of the best things about being English is the general tolerance and acceptance of other cultures into ours. We have always been a nation of immigrants (Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans to name just a few), and each different group adds a different flavour to the big melting pot that is England. In time, the current generation of immigrants will be regarded as an essential part of England and everyone will forget the trouble that has occasionally flared up.

You only have to look at Britains favourite food (curry) to see how these different cultures get accepted. After all, Chicken Tikka Masala was actually created in Birmingham! What we shouldn't do is forget our heritage or be ashamed of it, just because we oppressed various people around the world 100 years ago (or more). We should be proud of what England (and Britain) has brought to the world, and proud of the fact that a small country like ours is still regarded as one of the pre-eminent countries of the world.

And do me a favour - don't assume that left-wingers aren't proud to be English. I have distinctly socialist leanings (and I don't mean New Labour here either), but as you can probably tell I am very proud to be English.

That's just the ramblings of a madman

Mr Statto, yours was a very weird post. You dismiss Garry Bushell out of hand as a prat because he supports Charlton and nothing he says after that fact is relevant! The fact that he's a patriot - like yourself - and leads the campaign to reinstate St George's Day to a national holiday cuts no ice, the fact that he's a devout old-school socialist - like yourself - cuts no ice either. Weird!

Also, past cultures that have integrated into Britain came with sword aloft and courage in their hearts, their right to live on this isle won on the battlefield, their history written in the blood of their kin and of their foe, please don't make the mistake of thinking the current invasion of worthless spongers are cut from the same cloth as Viking, Saxons, or Norman.

Civil unrest on a scale never before seen is coming to Britain. When a people are wronged, their charity abused, stolen from, laughed at, hated and despised, their kin murdered, they will eventually fight back... even the English!

My Rocksteady band...
[Link]
[Link]
IT'S NOT SKA, IT'S ROCKSTEADY!

Dead proud to be English me, but I can see Matt's point. Yes Croydon at 11pm may well be a hole, and Brits (not exclusively English!) abroad can cause trouble. But every nation and every culture around the world seems to have an element like this (maybe a small group of monk's in Tibet don't, but they're an exception and there aren't 50 million of them!!).

And reborn, I'm a liberal lefty (well, if I were to be labelled that'd be it) too, being proud of your nation should not have anything to do with
this!

It's just a matter of crossing the i's and dotting the t's

Pete, my comments about Garry Bushell being a prat and his views irrelevant was made distinctly tongue-in-cheek - after all, substitute Crystal Palace for Charlton and I would agree with pretty much everything he said.

Also, you can't really say that all earlier immigrants have come here by conquest. How about the Huguenots in the 17th century? Driven out of France by religious intolerance they came here as refugees (creating the word) and gradually integrated themselves as useful members of our society. It helps of course that they were protestants, as we were, and we had a distinct dislike of the French at the time (and still do)

Edited by Mr Statto (20 Mar 2004 10:39pm)

That's just the ramblings of a madman

Mmmm...Badger Golden Champion...

Once a Glazier, now an Eagle, Palace Forever.

It could be due to the fact that Patrick was infact english not irish.

(also that everyone loves the irish)

bye