Are you proud to be British?

No.

I feel we are rushing off trying to emulate the American dog eat dog system, all about self and not caring for others. Seeing our country morph into this, this is not the person I am and not something I associate myself with.

I have a lot of friends on the continent (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden with a few other places) and we are generally viewed with an amused tolerance. Eye rolls for the morons over the channel who live 200 years in the past.

I love elements of the culture, my friends, my family and some of the geographical beauty but if it wasn't for family commitments I would be off tomorrow. I would love to a Scandic country or Germany preferentially or even NZ or Canada though I fear that are destined to emulate the American model themselves one day.
 
As a non British person that has lived in Britain for many years and also in other European countries I can give you my experiences even if they sound harsh and they do not represent me at all. First of all there is really no such thing as a British person outside of Britain. There are English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh and are considered different. Its like asking someone if they are proud to be European. The Irish and the Scottish are very well liked, the English not at all. The image British people portray on holiday places is just horrendous but for some reason only the English are blamed for it. In my home country during the summer British tourists are shown even on the news and made fun of, most locals consider them as animals with 0 class but with cash to spend. Secondly, Britain (well England to be honest) is considered as Americas pet and nothing more with unbearably dislikable politicians. The brexit vote only enforced foreign belief that English people think they are better than everyone yet they have not much to show for it and as an island they generally have had it easy compared to the hurdles that mainland Europe has gone throughout the centuries. People also think England sucks at football even though they invented it :p

As a person that has been living in Britain for a long time I can't help but feel part of me as British and I'm proud of that. I just need to get off my ass and get that British citizenship at some point... I believe that British people are quite misunderstood. I could not think of a more tolerant and welcoming country and I've gotten into many arguments defending British people when I'm abroad. Most of my close friends are British and when I came here the first thing I did was to integrate into the culture, respect the British ways and not moan that things are different. Otherwise, I would have just stayed somewhere else. Don't get me wrong there are wrong things with Britain like any country specially the horrible state of the British youth (so bad that me and my gf who is British don't think its a good idea to start a family here) and the fearmongering that the government likes to use in order to get things done.

Now what could British people do to improve their image? Behave when on holidays of course, respect the country you are visiting, observe and maybe integrate a bit with the locals... trust me its tons of fun! Please try to dress and groom better as well. Also, stop supporting America in every decision no matter how wrong it is. And god scrap that house of lords and bring some fresh faces into politics but maybe that's asking too much (btw the Queen is well liked for some reason). Finally, don't talk too much about the British empire and maybe win the Euro cup once :p

P.S.1 The British weather is also mighty fine 0 reason to complain, try living and working in a European country with bitter winters or scorched summers. A bit of cloud and rain never hurt anybody.

P.S.2 For the love of god avoid direct sunlight when on holidays. In sunny countries we get taught while growing up how harmful the sun can be and how to avoid it.
 
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NZXT30 said:
As a non British person that has lived in Britain for many years and also in other European countries I can give you my experiences even if they sound harsh and they do not represent me at all. First of all there is really no such thing as a British person outside of Britain. There are English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh and are considered different. Its like asking someone if they are proud to be European. The Irish and the Scottish are very well liked, the English not at all. The image British people portray on holiday places is just horrendous but for some reason only the English are blamed for it. In my home country during the summer British tourists are shown even on the news and made fun of, most locals consider them as animals with 0 class but with cash to spend. Secondly, Britain (well England to be honest) is considered as Americas pet and nothing more with unbearably dislikable politicians. The brexit vote only enforced foreign belief that English people think they are better than everyone yet they have not much to show for it and as an island they generally have had it easy compared to the hurdles that mainland Europe has gone throughout the centuries. People also think England sucks at football even though they invented it :p
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Accurate... Also explains eurovision results
 
NZXT30 said:
As a non British person that has lived in Britain for many years and also in other European countries I can give you my experiences even if they sound harsh and they do not represent me at all. First of all there is really no such thing as a British person outside of Britain. There are English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh and are considered different. Its like asking someone if they are proud to be European. The Irish and the Scottish are very well liked, the English not at all. The image British people portray on holiday places is just horrendous but for some reason only the English are blamed for it. In my home country during the summer British tourists are shown even on the news and made fun of, most locals consider them as animals with 0 class but with cash to spend. Secondly, Britain (well England to be honest) is considered as Americas pet and nothing more with unbearably dislikable politicians. The brexit vote only enforced foreign belief that English people think they are better than everyone yet they have not much to show for it and as an island they generally have had it easy compared to the hurdles that mainland Europe has gone throughout the centuries. People also think England sucks at football even though they invented it :p
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Well that's thoroughly depressing! Thanks for sharing though!
 
Marmot said:
Well that's thoroughly depressing! Thanks for sharing though!
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As someone who goes abroad almost every week to work in all manner of country, I advise taking opinion and anecdotal experience with a pinch of salt.

His is vastly different to mine for example.
 
Some Brits are scummy abroad, 100% that's true, especially at the common holiday destinations, but most people aren't. A lot of people on here just like to think they're better than everyone else though seemingly.
 
arctine said:
As someone who goes abroad almost every week to work in all manner of country, I advise taking opinion and anecdotal experience with a pinch of salt.

His is vastly different to mine for example.
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Especially your anecdotal opinion, or is yours excluded?
 
How to be super-duper intellectual and do research like D.P.:
  1. Wants to find something/anything that backs up pre-conconceived, self-loathing leftist ideas, so chooses the search term “british worst tourists”.
  2. Clicks the 1st result and sees big headline saying "World’s Worst Tourists? British Take the Crown Hands Down". Woohoo Jackpot!
  3. Posts the results to prove to everyone how knowledgeable & informed he is.
  4. Ignores the fact that it's a blog from 2011, and the source is a flight booking website. But none of that matters because it tells him what he wants to hear.
The actual poll can be found here.
 
Skunkworks said:
How to be super-duper intellectual and do research like D.P.:
  1. Wants to find something/anything that backs up pre-conconceived, self-loathing leftist ideas, so chooses the search term “british worst tourists”.
  2. Clicks the 1st result and sees big headline saying "World’s Worst Tourists? British Take the Crown Hands Down". Woohoo Jackpot!
  3. Posts the results to prove to everyone how knowledgeable & informed he is.
  4. Ignores the fact that it's a blog from 2011, and the source is a flight booking website. But none of that matters because it tells him what he wants to hear.
The actual poll can be found here.
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What's leftist about thinking Brits aren't the best tourists?
 
to be fair he does have a point (not re: this being a leftist thing)in that some open poll like that perhaps doesn't really give you much... in fact as it points out, we're quite good at self loathing, plenty of Brits think Brits are the worst tourists - on one hand lots of Brits like to go on holiday to areas where you don't find many other Brits (I've managed to avoid fellow Brits despite trips to both Greece and Spain over the previous couple of years) on the other hand this also means that such a poll could easily be skewed by lots of brits and their subjective, self loathing image of fellow brits... we don't know that they've necessarily weighted the responses by country etc..etc..
 
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