Are you British or English, Scotish, Welsh or Nothern Irish

Ahleckz said:
When abroad, and people ask, I say I’m from Scotland and people are certainly more welcoming and always have a negative thing to say about the English. I think the stereotype that they don’t travel well is certainly based in a bit of reality.
When someone asks about my strange accent I say I was born in England, grew up overseas but have been in Scotland for most of my life.

Overall, I guess I’m British but don’t feel much pride for the British isles.

However according to @Orangeade , birth doesn’t matter. He’ll be shipping me off back to Odessa because that’s where my mothers parents parents were from…
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Yes because you are comparable to a prob 1st/2nd terrorist.....

In Switzerland you so not gain citizenship merely via birth which i agree with, and strongly disagree with just granting anyone citizenship because their parent gave birth to them in a country...
 
You don't get citizenship in the UK just because you were born here. One of your parents have to be a British citizen or permanently settled here when you were born.

Why are people peddling this rubbish.

You can become a British citizen after you live in the UK for 10 years though. That applies to most people.

edit:

Just checked Switzerland, very similar rules.
 
I'm a right mongrel of nationalities. 1/2 Italian, 1/4 Latvian, 1/8 English and Scottish.
I've probably messed those fractions up. Anyway, I currently just have a British passport, I was born in England. Don't care what I'm classed as, I don't have any shred of pride based on any of it but I do support Italy in football.
 
muon said:
You don't get citizenship in the UK just because you were born here. Your parents have to be a British citizen or permanently settled here.

Why are people peddling this rubbish.
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God knows, if what they infer was the case the hundreds of African who just "happen" to be over in the UK when they are about to give a potentially difficult birth, would not only get free health care, (as most have a propensity to disappear afterwards) but also free British citizenship for their sprogs.
 
muon said:
You don't get citizenship in the UK just because you were born here. One of your parents have to be a British citizen or permanently settled here when you were born.

Why are people peddling this rubbish.

You can become a British citizen after you live in the UK for 10 years though. That applies to most people.

edit:

Just checked Switzerland, very similar rules.
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My missus friend is Lithuanian with a Latvian boyfriend. Their child has a British Passport.
 
Ahleckz said:
When abroad, and people ask, I say I’m from Scotland and people are certainly more welcoming and always have a negative thing to say about the English. I think the stereotype that they don’t travel well is certainly based in a bit of reality.
When someone asks about my strange accent I say I was born in England, grew up overseas but have been in Scotland for most of my life.

Overall, I guess I’m British but don’t feel much pride for the British isles.

However according to @Orangeade , birth doesn’t matter. He’ll be shipping me off back to Odessa because that’s where my mothers parents parents were from…
Click to expand...

I do this too.

I was born just outside of London, but my family history traces back to Scotland and the Franks, so I've always identified as Scottish rather than English.
 
Labels! We spend more time in this country trying to get names and terms right (so as not to offend) than we do tackling the issues at hand!

Key example - big debate last week should Misogyny be a hate crime? Why not debate the label after you’ve tackled the crime/societal issues that give rise to said crimes.
 
English father, Welsh mother, born in Cardiff - Identify as British when filling out forms but follow England for football and Wales for Rugby :D
 
Angilion said:
I'm a person, then English, then UK-ish. Which is part of the issue - 'UK-ish' is a clumsy term. I'll say I'm from the UK. But in my head, the first nationality that comes to mind is "English".

I'm aware that many people are irrationally prejudiced against "the English" and don't even bother trying to hide it because it's a fashionable irrational prejudice. Those people can shove it up their arse. I'm not a fan of irrational prejudice, fashionable or not.

Strictly speaking I'm also Eurasian, but that's far too large an area to be relevant as a nationality.



Because you are. Nationality is a state of mind thing. I'm one of the first generation of my family born in England. It's very likely that some of my ancestors fought against England. But I'm not them. I'm me. And I'm English. My heritage is that of Shakespeare and Chaucer and Dickens and William the ******* and all the rest of it. The fact that none of my ancestors (as far as I know) were in England in those days is irrelevant. They're not me.

Come to think of it, it's also very likely that some of the ancestors of most English people fought against England. Just a bit further back in time.
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Is nationality a state of mind?

I mean sure it helps to hold moral values akin to the nationality...

But I don't imagine myself as say Japanese and therefore have Japanese nationality.
 
I feel I relate to more Japanese mindset…Passport says British (dual Nationality), DNA test will say SE Asian. Born in Hong Kong when it was a British Colony, not a Welsh Colony or English Colony etc.

It’s just a label, and if I’m applying for any forms at the airport I’ll put down British.
 
The Running Man said:
Is nationality a state of mind?

I mean sure it helps to hold moral values akin to the nationality...

But I don't imagine myself as say Japanese and therefore have Japanese nationality.
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I think it's one of the requirements. Not for legal nationality, but for actual nationality. Say, for example, an English person moved to Spain, became permanently resident in Spain and acquired Spanish nationality in a legal sense but lived in a de facto English enclave. Only spoke English, only ate imported English food and, most importantly, thought of themself as English. They're not really Spanish, even if they do legally have Spanish nationality.

I think nationality is about where you perceive your home to be. Not necessarily where you live but where you perceive your home to be. Here's an example within the UK:

Person A migrated from Jamaica to England in the 1950s/60s and has lived here ever since. They have UK citizenship. They perceive England as their home. They talk about it that way, it's their state of mind. They see themself as English. So do I.
Person B migrated from Jamaica to England in the 1950s/60s and has lived here ever since. They have UK citizenship. They perceive Jamaica as their home. They talk about it that way, it's their state of mind. They see themself as Jamaican. So do I.
 
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