UK members- how do you feel about the 'British' term? Other members please post as well :)

[count tiszula]

Scottish citizen, or British citizen in denial? Ah well, it will all be the same when you're a colonial subject of Iraq.

It is not surprising that more Britons speak with a London accent than a Scotch one; after all, the population of London is hugely greater than that of Scotland. As to speaking proper, although talking in a manner which is incomprehensible to all , or perhaps to all except a few thousand , is now universally encouraged, this is quite a new development. As late as the 70s mistresses were allowed to correct their children's pronunciation, or even grammar, so that they would be comprehensible to a maximum number. So Scotchmen of that vintage, like Cameron, Blair. Alistair Campbell, Portilllo, David Mitchell, and the Royal family, all speak proper.

We evil ones still don't know how to avoid offensiveness. We mustn't say people are English; nor that they are British. Looks like it's evil ones from Horribleland.

[Vetinari]

So Scotchmen of that vintage, like Cameron, Blair. Alistair Campbell, Portilllo, David Mitchell, and the Royal family, all speak proper.

Nope, they speak posh. Gordon Brown speaks proper.

[Smokey]

To be fair Count, i have met many left wing voters who are very patriotic of their country

I think patriotism is a tricky one, me personally i am very patriotic and do love my country and it's odd little quirks, but there is an awful lot i don't like about it as well, and i think there is a danger of thinking that your country is the best and all other country's are beneath it, and it really annoys me when people get like that and yet can't really give a reason why.

i think the Jubilee and the Olympics did bring all four country's together, and generally people from all backgrounds within them which i thought was brilliant, i do think that it reminded people that the union isn't just a political one

I wrote to my MP recently asking if there where any plans for England to have devolved parliamentary powers as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have, she informed me that there is there program of government set out a commitment to "establish a commission to consider the 'west lothian question, the commission on the consequences of devolution for the house of commons consists of a panel of independent, non-partisan experts, the commission will focus on parliamentary business and procedure and it will consider how the house of commons might deal with legislation which affects only of the united kingdom, following the devolution of certain legislative powers to the scottish parliament, the northern ireland assembly and the national assembly for wales".

There is further information online at http://tmc.independent.gov.uk where you can see the work of the commission including the evidence they have received, i haven't had a proper chance to look yet, but thought that some here may be interested as well

[Nebula]

I'm from Northern Ireland, but I identify myself as being Irish.

Both my mother and father's families have nationalist backgrounds, but they never forced their political views on me. They let me form them on my own as I grew up and got wiser. Now that I'm legally an adult, I still believe that I am a nationalist - just not an incredibly strong one?

I'm no politics major, so this may sound rather unintelligent, but I'll sure give a try at getting my point across.

At the moment, I currently hold an Irish passport. Whenever I was little though, my parents had me travel on a British one, as Troubles were still rife and Catholics were still being targeted at that time. I made the choice myself whenever I was 16 to change over to an Irish passport like them, down to my own reasoning.

It's not like I'm a raging Republican that's yelling "Burn all the Union Flegs!" *cough*GerryAdams*cough* I just never feel like I connected properly with British heritage. I never really felt truly apart of that. To me, 'Ireland' was my home and my heritage was 'Irish'. Growing up in a county with a large Unionist majority, I always kind of felt like the outsider looking in? I saw all these people celebrating for what I saw as unnecessary reasons and setting tricolours on fire on top of bonfires and I just couldn't bring myself agree with that.

Back to the actual question though, I think 'British' is a fair term to use wherever you are in the UK - it's all down to personal preference and what each individual wants to be classified as. If someone asked me if I was British, then I'd say 'no' and politely correct them. I wouldn't get massively insulted about it.

It doesn't happen much though. Whenever I'm abroad, people hear the accent and just automatically hear my accent and classify it as 'Irish' - as most foreigners would identify a 'British' accent as being the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Stephen Fry.

As for the flag protests, I fully understand why people feel the need to riot, and I respect their right to protest - but it's been months now and so much damage has been caused. So far, the riots have cost us £15million. Just think of all the better uses for that money than what it's actually going towards.

Sorry if this reply went slightly off topic in some places... I must be in a 'ranting' mood.