Great Britain vs England, Ireland, Scottland, Wales

So I am interested to hear your points of view on this.

A very annoying student of mine is of the opinion that I cant be English but I must be British. I tried to explain that I was born in England and although the 4 nations are reffered to as United Kingdom, people in these countries take pride in calling themselves English,Scottish etc. Howevere she says she has spoke to many people on the internet and they always refer to themselves as British.
I believe that every nation does many things to ensure that they remain their own country. Wales for example is trying to encourage more people to learn the Welsh languae so that it doesnt die out and so that they can feel like more than just a piece of land next to England. Scotland has its own currency(although very similar to the pound i know) and it wasnt very long ago they were planning to break away from the UK, also recently they have been given an important drug to prevent blindness for free but English people will have to pay for it. Also Ireland has had a well disputed battle in itsa country to remain its own nation.

Im not anti British but I do believe we have the right to be from our own country not a group, also I fail to see what the United Kingdom does to show that we are United. I mean look at our sports teams, we only have atheletes for a joint team and i think that might be because we dont have many good ones. So im just interested to know anyone elses views on this.

Ps I know it doesnt have much to do with Poland...

only northern irish unionists i know call themselves british and even then, thats not alot of them.

i agree ukinpl, the majority of GB citizens refer to themselves from the 'land' they came from Eng, Sco, Ire & Wales

And another thing I had my passport renewal sent back to me last year because I wrote English not British. Pffff

I'm Scottish, and when abroad I refer to myself as Scottish. No reasons for other territorials not to do the same.

However, we are only strong when we combine as a United Kingdom, and to split into 4 separate nations would make us weak. The recent waffle about Scotland breaking away was raised by the SNP during the recent Scottish Parliament elections, who now have power in the Scottish Parliament.

However, the SNP lost the plot when asked how they would defend the country. They had no answer for that. It is one thing to have ideology, another to put into practise. As a Scot, I would vote against independance.

I'd agree with that, i can't see what would be gained from breaking up. although i must admit it annoys me that you get free prescriptions in Wales and students in Scotland don't end up with teh huge debts that english students do, we should all enjoy teh same benefits

Student loads are a disgrace and should never have been introduced. Its true that the English pay for Scotland, even with the Oil, Scotland benefits from the Union. But Britain is better as one nation, Scotlands contribution to engineering and politics (for instance) are part of what made Britain what it is - a very successful nation.

Just as person who starts a sentence with "We British..." only means "I managed to get a passport".
The internet is a great disguise and descriptions only of notional value.

I share your grief over passport nationalities as pedantically, Britain is not a nation and British is therefore not a nationality. "United Kingdomish" would be more valid as a statement of soveriegnty and citizenship.

my point as well, we should rectify these wrongs, but some people regard these inequalities as a reason to break up. We should stay as a united nation, but give all residents the same benefits

Thats why they got power.

By retaining and enhancing the armed forces by not squandering resources fighting and dying in illegal wars.

No its not, Scotland have been bailing out the U.K for the last 30 years.


I suppose the same arguments were around when Poland wanted to leave the Soviet Bloc.

Ireland, Scottland, Wales preserved some (!) elements of native European culture, no matter that original native European language was abondened because of Roman pressure/because of chaos initiated by Romans (Arcturian legends would give you picture). England greatly failed and Britain- that tool of English domination.

Resistance is imperative

You've just upset the Cornish by not mentioning them:) :)

the Cornish liberation Army have been getting a lot of press lately

Speak more

thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command= displayContent&sourceNode=144125&contentPK=17609040&folderPk=83292

there is only 20 of them

Yeah i read about their plans to blow up Jamie Oliver's restaraunts. There are some fruitcakes in the world. I heard that they have financial backing from America. Who the hell would want to fund a small Nationalist party who are intent on destroying restaruants. Gordon Ramsay???

poor man...
and i thougt it was a false alarm,that some kid tried to scare a **** of jamie because he makes them eat healthy...he's great,because of him i learned to cook.
but i just can't understand how you british can eat so much mustard and mint and chips...ick

But definately not mixed together. English mustard and steak mmmm. I was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Warsaw today and had ta great steak mmm

wow man...ok...
nothing beats mediterranean cuisine...i like middle european cuisine too,sausages and beer,yeah baby i feel sexy after couple of them

but i admit brittania's islands have a best beer in a world,i give you that

no we dont. Our only real beer sold in pubs(that is English) is carling and it is like drinking water. Stella (the strongest in most pubs) is 5 %. Uk are drink and make bitters.

Poland has the best beer for sure.

i don't agree,guiness is great,kilkenny too...i never heard for polish beer.i prefer thick and dark beers.
best beer on mainland europe is budweiser from czech republic,then maybe heineken....

Thats not beer

what do you mean

From what I was told Guinness is a stout not a beer. I thought beer must have gas in it to be called a beer.

My goodness my Guinness :)

Love Guinness.
Poland makes a few good strong beers, but you probably can't get the ones in the UK that I can here in Americer.
I don't like any of the English beer except for Boddington Ale on tap. Casked beer is disgusting.

From what I was told Guinness is a stout not a beer. I thought beer must have gas in it to be called a beer.

oh,well now i learned something.so i love stout more than beer then.

I believe beer is a broad term, then broken down into sub categories. Stout-Ale-Brown Ale-IPA-Bitter-Lager-Wheat........

you can get them all pretty much but only a few in pubs.

Try to find black Boss (witnica) :) 9.4% Its a Porter...and a fine one. Only one place to find it in PL and theres a distributer by my house that happens to import it...lucky me :) Kicks Zywiec Porter ass

Unfortunately not many Pubs around me carry Pl beer. maybe a few that have Tyskie or Zywiec, but those are both ok. I wish I could find Bosman here