What does it mean to be British?

[scooterscot]

Some of those top comments on hys would be really funny if they did not have such a truthful stigma about them.

[Fishface]

Today, I got my sons British Citizenship - he wasn't born in the UK.

When you live in a country that did zilch to defeat the Third Reich you realise there is something very real to be proud of being British.

I couldn't care less about the queen/royalty/morris dancing/etc.

And I hope my son as an 'immigrant' will make a useful contribution.

[expat]

Some of those top comments on hys would be really funny if they did not have such a truthful stigma about them.

Here's a funny one:

The August Bank Holiday has been suggested as a possible "Britishness" day by the Home Office minister

That would be the one that is not a Bank Holiday in Scotland? Something the whole of Britain could rally round, then.

[PM-Junkie]

I think the theme of the opening ceremony in 2012 should be "we did all this...and we invented all this - so you can all can get stuffed".

I think it's a winner - shall I tell Lord Seb?

[Troll]

When you live in a country that did zilch to defeat the Third Reich you realise there is something very real to be proud of being British.

That would be Ireland then?

[Diver]

British!

Don't see a lot of them about do you

I thought they went the same way as the dinosaurs

[Fishface]

That would be Ireland then?

Not not Ireland.

And even so there were many Irish that fought with/as the British - like my great uncle who died in Battle of Arnhem and was decorated for his bravery.

[SizeZero]

We could commemorate being British with a new tax, £250 a year for being a working citizen, £150 if you are a pensioner?

TuRbO- DD, North West, United Kingdom

Own up, which one of you cynics made that comment?

[Troll]

Not not Ireland.

And even so there were many Irish that fought with/as the British - like my great uncle who died in Battle of Arnhem and was decorated for his bravery.

Ahhh but we were talking about 'countries' not individuals

So Swiss or South America? don't be coy - we celebrate diversity in this country

[NotAllThere]

How long would Switzerland have survived if they'd caused problems for the Axis powers? Given that they had German and Austria to the North and East, Italy in the South, and occupied France in the West? They'd have starved into submission pdq.

That's not to say that there weren't some disgraceful actions on the part of the Swiss, or that the myth of "pluckly little Switzerland retaining its independence" is anything other than a myth.