Forum Topic

The English Claim of Right

http://www.englishclaimofright.com/home/ will be of interest to some.

Graham Weeks ● 6399d17 Comments

How do you know if you're English? Hardly anyone is 'English'. Most are hybrids from all over the British Isles and Europe, if not further afield. How far back do you have to go to decide?

Penny Crocker ● 6399d

The issue of ethnicity doesn't come into this.Being English is the legal right to live in England, actually living in it, paying taxes to it, and following its laws and customs.At the local level I consider myself an Ealonian, but I was born in Hammersmith of parents who lived in Acton and of London and Hereford birth.Does that make me less of an Ealonian? Or not even one at all?I think we Ealonians, and most of London, would really object to the GLA precept being used in part to support cities like Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool and having their councils telling us whether to have trams or modern street lamps.

Alan Brainsby ● 6399d

AlanOne wonders why these two characters live here. At every opportunity they seem to take a delight in knocking everything English..........never you notice, Scots, Irish, Welsh, no inter breeding there I suppose. We  all know that we are made up of many different cultures, blended to make English, so if you are born in England you are ENGLISH. It also applies to Australians, Canadians, and Americans, all of whom take a patriotic pride in their country even though they are also a mixed bag.......A question for the luvvies to answer...don't all rush now!!How come if you are born in England you are British and if you are born in Scotland you are Scottish surely one is English if they are born in England? And I would add, don't  question a Scot, Welsh, or Irish as to his/her nationality, or if you dare.... stand back and get ready to run!

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6399d

Oh honestly. You read insults where there are none. My question had no edge to it and I'm quite sure, judging by Graham's postings, neither did he !  I would say the same to a Scotsman,Irishman and so on, especially as my grandparents were respectively, Scots, Irish and Belgian. I feel like a Londoner, specifically like a West Londoner and more specifically like a Ealonian although I was born in Shephards's Bush.  Don't be so utterly ridiculous and histrionic. You see no irony in your wild attitudes at all, do you?

Penny Crocker ● 6399d

Individuals  should have the old freedom of choosing their identity provided it des not cause strife in the country where they live. You choose to be English and choose to be proud of it. No argument if that’s what you want.. But you joined the British army and probably thought British.As so many have such mixed ancestry in the UK it is convenient to call yourself British.

George Knox ● 6399d

Of course if you are born in England you are English. And anyone born in any part of Britain is British (whether they like it or not).The problem has been that the English have had in the past a bit of trouble separating British from English. There has been a tendancy on occassion to see England as equalling Britain and the other countries being a sort of sub-set.So a Scots man or woman winning an olympic medal becomes British, but an English man or woman remains English. Or the England football team wins a match and it is called a great victory for Britain (when perhaps some Britains were supporting the other team).Personally I feel this has lessened over recent years. Apart from the non-English Brits supporting which ever team is playing England at football, of course.

Alan Clark ● 6399d

Oh honestly. You read insults where there are none. My question had no edge to it and I'm quite sure, judging by Graham's postings, neither did he !  There was me thinking that you would not respond to a thread with my name added to it! However I am not suggesting that it was an insult as such, but why not just for once have something positive to say about England and the English..remember suggesting that St.Georges Day was a celebration of rampant nationalism.....It would appear to me that it's OK to be a Welsh, Irish, or Scots Nationalist, but English?

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6399d

The problem has been that the English have had in the past a bit of trouble separating British from English. There has been a tendancy on occassion to see England as equalling Britain and the other countries being a sort of sub-set.I don't think that WE had the problem of separating British from English, I certainly don't, it was imposed on us IMO, by many who saw our colonisation of other countries, brought about only by the English.  Germany for example referred to the bombing of Dresden as an atrocity perpetrated by the English The RAF was always  referred to as English by them......And to avoid any confusion, I am English first, British next, and geographically ensconsed in Western Europe

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6399d

'How do you know if you're English? Hardly anyone is 'English'. Most are hybrids from all over the British Isles and Europe, if not further afield. 'I think it is a matter of cultural identity sigified by things like NT's much derided cricket test. If you do not support England you may live here and be British but you are not English. I was born in Newport, then Monmouthshire, England, now Gwent , Wales. Did old Harold W shifting the goal posts make me Welsh? Not a bit . I was raised in Yorkshire. 'Nuff said.

Graham Weeks ● 6399d

What a silly bloody question, If you are born in England then you are English. What should I put down when describing my nationality........Good day sir" I'm a bloody hybrid from the British Isles, but not Scotland or Wales!Are you seriously suggesting that there  are NO hybrids in the Scots, Welsh or Irish communities. We are also no different to Australians, Canadians or Americans, the only difference is that they take pride in their heritage and roots, unlike you lot who want to sacrifice everything considered to be English for some bizarre PC reason.Get over it.....born in England you are English..now get used to it!!!!!

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6399d

If a cat had kittens in an oven would it make them biscuits?G

G Lord ● 6399d

I suppose it could, if it has a recipe book.We had a cat for 17 plus years and it couldn't even open a can for itself!

Alan Brainsby ● 6399d

Perhaps they could be called KitKats?

J Smith ● 6399d

'What a silly bloody question, If you are born in England then you are English. 'Not so silly if Ifty et al were born here.

Graham Weeks ● 6399d

If a cat had kittens in an oven would it make them biscuits?Easy......It would be a CAT-astrophe, clever dick!

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6399d

'How do you know if you're English? Hardly anyone is 'English'Well, lets change our tourist posters and brochures to "If you come here to England as a tourist, don't expect to see any English people, as we have some difficulty in identifying them and apparently a strange disease has made them almost extinct.  We propose to test the whole of the UK for their DNA to establish what and who they are exactly, sorry but for now you will be seeing many hybrids around, they may look English, but they could equally be Roman, Norman (not Wisdom though!, some come from outer space. You may even hear locals refer to them as luvvies, they wear sandals, eat lots of muesli, and sit in dark rooms smelling of joss sticks and listen to wierd music. If you really search you may find a Huguenot on the top of a bus or even in a train......sorry for this identification crisis.

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6398d

Re  Individuals  should have the old freedom of choosing their identity provided it des not cause strife in the country where they live.               xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          Statements made without much thought, so it seems. No-one can choose their identity, they are what they are, which is primarily of where they were born and brought up into that culture. A Somali who flees for his life to this country could never be English anymore than an English person emigrating to Pakistan could even be Pakistani. A citizen of that country, yes but that's as far as it goes. I think there is a " law " that a person is not of this country until the 3rd or 4th generation here and those of less generations here can be deported legally.        And the comment re as long as does not cause strife. What sort of strife and with whom for goodness sake. Individuals around you, those of different religious beliefs, those in Local Govt, or those at national goverment level. Those in the local marketplace???. On that basis  a good few in this country , and Borough, would be on the return journey.

Tony Price ● 6398d