General Happy St George's day!

[tonyw]

I think I always reply that was Greek not Turkish?

My understanding was that historians' best guess is that he was of Greek heritage.....but from what is now modern Turkey?

 

[Paul Cannell]

My understanding was that historians' best guess is that he was of Greek heritage.....but from what is now modern Turkey?

Ah well now. He was Georgian, Bettany Hughes told me in a most interesting program on TV on Sunday about Georgia. "He won't live in my world, and I can't live without him in mine." She sang,

 

[holdsteady]

My understanding was that historians' best guess is that he was of Greek heritage.....but from what is now modern Turkey?

The Turks were not in what is now Turkey back then though, no such place then.

 

[uptheus]

Should we be proud of the English flag?

 

[ljs]

Yes, whatever, but being of any nationality is an accident of birth for the vast majority. It's like being left-handed, white or heterosexual, you haven't achieved anything, helped anybody or shown valour by being English so why are you proud of it?

Are you proud of being ginger as well?

Would you have asked the same question of an Irish person saying they are proud to be Irish on St. Patrick's day?
Maybe you would, but I somehow doubt it.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Not sure I ever heard an Irish person say they were proud to be Irish. If they did, and were securely contained, of course I would.

 

[Ox4Eva]

Would you have asked the same question of an Irish person saying they are proud to be Irish on St. Patrick's day?
Maybe you would, but I somehow doubt it.

Course he wouldn't

 

[brokeandobscure]

Loads!, our sense of humour, our sense of fairplay, our kindness, our friendliness, our culture, the amazing differences we have around the country, our countryside, our spirit when we make a stand against what we don't think is right, our music, our literature, our food, the fact the majority are still proud of this country.

The silent majority, God bless em!

But of course the lefty luvvies don't like anything about this country.

I’m English. I had no say about that, but having said that I’m glad I had the good fortune to be born here. Other people do not.

Proud? I I used to be, mainly due to some of the qualities you mention, and things like Cable Street and the rejection of Moseley and facism when it would have been so easy for this country to go in the same direction as Germany, Italy and Spain. But the qualities you mention and the spirit of Cable Street are now replaced by this:

St George's Day: Arrests after disorder breaks out at Whitehall event

Six people are arrested following the event in central London.

www.bbc.co.uk

I always mark St George’s Day, but (as has been said), he wasn’t English, was adopted as such by Normans (who were NOT English or French but Scandinavian btw), and was preceded by an Anglo-Saxon King (also NOT native to what is now England) as a Saint.

Be proud of our country and its heritage by all means (as I often am), but embrace the inclusiveness and desire to stand against what we don’t think is right (Putin?) that you refer to in your post.

Sorry, went on a bit there, and may have had a drink or three (on a school night!!)

 

[Ox4Eva]

I’m English. I had no say about that, but having said that I’m glad I had the good fortune to be born here. Other people do not.

Proud? I I used to be, mainly due to some of the qualities you mention, and things like Cable Street and the rejection of Moseley and facism when it would have been so easy for this country to go in the same direction as Germany, Italy and Spain. But the qualities you mention and the spirit of Cable Street are now replaced by this:

St George's Day: Arrests after disorder breaks out at Whitehall event

Six people are arrested following the event in central London.

www.bbc.co.uk

I always mark St George’s Day, but (as has been said), he wasn’t English, was adopted as such by Normans (who were NOT English or French but Scandinavian btw), and was preceded by an Anglo-Saxon King (also NOT native to what is now England) as a Saint.

Be proud of our country and its heritage by all means (as I often am), but embrace the inclusiveness and desire to stand against what we don’t think is right (Putin?) that you refer to in your post.

Sorry, went on a bit there, and may have had a drink or three (on a school night!!)

St Patrick was not Irish, St Andrew was not Scottish.

I think we have shown how welcoming this country has always been, you mention Cable St, well the Hugeonots were given shelter on those streets.

Thankfully the extreme far left who infest most town halls around the country and have a free reign to promote their ideology of hatred and intolerance are not representative of the majority of this country.

 

[brokeandobscure]

St Patrick was not Irish, St Andrew was not Scottish.

I think we have shown how welcoming this country has always been, you mention Cable St, well the Hugeonots were given shelter on those streets.

Thankfully the extreme far left who infest most town halls around the country and have a free rein to promote their ideology of hatred are not representative of the majority of this country.

I think we’re largely in agreement. The vast majority are tolerant and accepting.
Extreme far left AND right are making it difficult to be who we should?
Out of interest (and without googling!) Patrick was a Welsh slave wasn’t he? Not sure about Andrew’s origins…..

 

[Ox4Eva]

I think we’re largely in agreement. The vast majority are tolerant and accepting.
Extreme far left AND right are making it difficult to be who we should?
Out of interest (and without googling!) Patrick was a Welsh slave wasn’t he? Not sure about Andrew’s origins…..

Patrick was largely thought to be Scottish.

I am fed up with those finding fault, why not celebrate a positive England and indeed a positive UK.

 

[holdsteady]

St George would of found being English very hard, as there wasn’t an England when he was out slaying whatever he actually did, I am going with a big dog, but I don’t think that really matters. He is our patron saint so I doubt he needs to qualify for the upcoming Euros team. Most modern countries didn’t exist all that time ago, the people in them have changed as well.

Don’t know why Englands get so much grief yet the paddy’s which involves a non Irish snake botherer (the snakes would of actually been native so should of chased the foreigner out) is such a craic (cringe)?

It’s just a bit of pageantry, a chance for a bit of a knees up and to feel good about ourselves fifteen minutes if we would let that happen, we can go back to hating, bitching and moaning for the rest of the year.

 

[brokeandobscure]

Patrick was largely thought to be Scottish.

I am fed up with those finding fault, why not celebrate a positive England and indeed a positive UK.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to find fault at all. Just trying to see your point of view and engage. Thanks for the info re: Patrick, I’ll have a look with regards his heritage
Anyway, I’ll leave it there as I really don’t want to get into an argument.

 

[Mojofilter]

In an increasingly secular Britain, I wonder if more people would do some kind of day of celebration of English heritage etc. if it wasn't tied to saints. I'd certainly rather we shifted a bit further from catholic dogma

 

[chuckbert]

Speak for yourself, I'm utterly convinced the only reason we won 3-2 at Filbert Street in the 1990s thanks to a late Alex Dyer goal was because of the vocal effort made by myself and about 800 other Oxford fans that day which helped us over the line after conceding an 86th minute equaliser. That's an achievement all of us there that day can be proud of.

I was one of them too Ste. Solidarity.

 

[chuckbert]

In an increasingly secular Britain, I wonder if more people would do some kind of day of celebration of English heritage etc. if it wasn't tied to saints. I'd certainly rather we shifted a bit further from catholic dogma

There’s a similar shift in Oz, splitting between the flagshaggers and those who’d rather not identify with indigenous massacres and a racist national history. (If you think that’s hype, look up the massacre map and read about the white Australian policy).