Happy St. Georges Day

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

See, right there. We don't know {censored} about furin languages over here.

 

 

Steve Martin used to have a brilliant sketch about speaking French, something along the lines of "...those darn French, they have a different word for everything"

 

[YOUTUBE]Wi8NW29xCso[/YOUTUBE]

[RogerF]

Which means: reversing the process begun by Margaret Thatcher under Tory colours and enthusiastically furthered by Tony Blair's New Labour, in which the values of business and commerce infected every aspect of our national life.

 

 

I've heard it said that Maggie Thatcher was the "only man in Parliament."

[Brian Krashpad]

If he keeps picking that it'll never heal.

[32-20-Blues]

I've heard it said that Maggie Thatcher was the "only man in Parliament."

She had balls bigger than a Jersey bull's.

:cop::cop: "The lady is not for turning."

[SurveyofSociety]

Daddies a Galwegian and I was brought up there, agus leabhair me na Gaelige.....well beagan these days;)

[Edward]

Was it Churchill who said that Britain and the US are 'divided by a common language'? (For once it wasn't Orwell, Shakespeare, Wilde or the King James Bible.)

 

 

George Bernard Shaw, I believe.

[csm]

^^^^^^

 

I gladly yield the floor to my honourable friend -- and, jez fo de record, I firmly believe that the UK has no legitimate right to any kind of control of any part of Ireland.

 

*dons flame suit, commissions extensive plastic surgery including fingertips and voicebox, changes name, moves to Thailand*

[metalheadUK]

GREAT to have you back boys!

[leopardstar]

good to see you to marc, i was wondering where you had gotten off to?

[32-20-Blues]

While otherwise agreeing with this post, I have to raise a point of information... It is a fact (and at that, one that is very unpopular among Ulster Unionists) that no part of Ireland has ever been a part of Britain. What constitutes Britain, or Great Britain, is the island which comprises the countries of Scotland, England, and Wales. The United Kingdom's full title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (between 1800 and 1920 this was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland). UK, British Isles include part or all (respectively) of Ireland, Britain does not. Domiciles of Northern Ireland are entitled to British citizenship on the same basis as domiciles of any colony in the Empire once were, as well as those in the Commonwealth today are, as I understand its operation.

 

 

Very good point. On a further point of information... the term British Isles has recently been replaced in Irish school textbooks with the phrase "West European Islands."

[csm]

Very good point. On a further point of information... the term British Isles has recently been replaced in Irish school textbooks with the phrase "West European Islands."

 

 

Hey, good move! That will bug the absolute FARK out of Ulster Unionists and English nationalists alike ...

[TheDove]

Still no real definition yet of what it means or could mean to be "English". I like Mr Braggs notion of place rather than identity which paradoxically means I could be Scottish (by birth) and English (by geography) at the same time without having to be British (I think !)

[Splashproof]

It's at times like this I wish I came from Iceland.

or Hull


perhaps Grimsby


although I hear Hastings is OK this time of the year.

[Edward]

Still no real definition yet of what it means or could mean to be "English". I like Mr Braggs notion of place rather than identity which paradoxically means I could be Scottish (by birth) and English (by geography) at the same time without having to be British (I think !)

Or a Scottish guy who lives in England?

I'm an Irish guy, living in England... I actually do have a British passport, but I reject "Britishness" as a national identity....

[TheDove]

: Or a Scottish guy who lives in England? I'm an Irish guy, living in England... I actually do have a British passport, but I reject "Britishness" as a national identity ....

Aha - didn't think of that ! - point taken -

I agree with you on the Britishness thing too.

[csm]

GREAT to have you back boys!

Marc, you are one of nature's True Sweethearts.

And I mean that in a thoroughly manly quick-hug-terminated-by-two-sharp-slaps-to-the-shoulderblade kind of way.

Kissy -- but NO TONGUES.

[RogerF]

Being 25% Irish, 25% Dutch & 50% English (including French Huguenot ancestry) I've a lot to be proud and not so proud of.

So this says it best for me:

Irish Blood, English Heart by Morrissey

Irish blood, English heart, this I'm made of
There is no-one on earth I'm afraid of
And no regime can buy or sell me

I've been dreaming of a time when
To be English is not to be baneful
To be standing by the flag not feeling
Shameful, racist or partial

Irish blood, English heart, this I'm made of
There is no-one on earth I'm afraid of
And I will die with both my hands untied

I've been dreaming of a time when
The English are sick to death of Labour
And Tories, and spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell
And denounce this royal line that still salute him
And will salute him forever

[Doctor49]

^^^^^^ I gladly yield the floor to my honourable friend -- and, jez fo de record, I firmly believe that the UK has no legitimate right to any kind of control of any part of Ireland. *dons flame suit, commissions extensive plastic surgery including fingertips and voicebox, changes name, moves to Thailand*

 

 

Curiously I did move to Thailand, excluding flame suit, extensive plastic surgery including fingertips and voicebox, changed name.

 

Despite having three legal genders, there is a degree of HPH here as well.

I'm just sayin'

[Willyguitar]

Ireland (and India) are the two big reasons why I have a problem with Britishness and (to some extent) Englishness. Never forget that while our Empire (an inextricable part of our identity) helped popularise English, it also helped to create the greatest {censored} ups around the world - Palestine-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Kashmir, northern Ireland...