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England in general

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A SMIDGE OF A RANT HERE......... (England in general)

Name: MAURY

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Product:	England in general
Date:	23/04/01 (124 review reads)
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Comments for this review about England in general (63)

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MAURY	Cheers!!!	14/01/02
chrispitts	Fantastic opinion!!! As it happens, in Tamworth we're currently organising a huge St George's festival (happily coinciding with my daughter's first birthday) - and we'll be going all out to be proud of our patron saint! Well done for choosing this issue!	16/10/01
MAURY	TallTone....I know many that celebrate St.Patricks day who are not Irish, you are so right. dibuzz....I second that !!	29/07/01
dibuzz	If we visit another country we are required to repect their values and traditions but when other races/religions come over here we bend over backwards to accomodate them. My kids' school celebrate all sorts of muslim and jewish days but there was nothing on St. Georges day. There are no children in the school from these cultures anyway! It is time we English stopped being bullied by other countries and stood up for our own rights.	23/07/01
TallTone	Why does everyone assume that being English means that you can trace your ancestry back to the Anglo-Saxons? And how many of us English actually could? The real point is, does it matter whether you're first, second, ninety-ninth generation English or just got off the ferry/plane? If you live in England and intend to stay, contributing to the English economy (whether that is selling jellied eels, running an ethnic restaurant of your choice or anything else that is other people living here find useful), that makes you English in my book. St. George is, sorry, should be, just a focus for the English (and anyone else that enjoys a warm beer) to celebrate our nationality. Do you really think that everyone celebrating St. Patrick's day is Irish?	10/07/01
MAURY	Good for you mate :) Have one for me, as it is only 3 days before my own birthday :)	17/06/01
Waikie	Too much ignorance and PC in the land to get St Georges day recognised. It's a friends birthday though, so I always have a reason to celebrate the day and not forget it!	16/06/01
gibbon	I agree with Leviathan. Though Elivira, the McDonalds ad is terrible and insulting to everyone and another good reason to boycott McDonalds. However, I think you will find the Asian people in are are British!! So I don't totally agree with your point.	24/05/01
MAURY	So ner ner !!! :)	08/05/01
MAURY	Oh, and we don't need an excuse to celebrate.We have theme nights, so far we have had 'Beach Boys' theme nights, 'Elvis', 'Dino' (of course !!)And games nights ;)	07/05/01
MAURY	Well hush ma silly mayuth !! Leek,sorry not BADGE :)I know about the lack of demand, someone pointed it out at the start of this comments section.	07/05/01
sidneygee	In fact, I'll correct that. I celebrate MOST days - any excuse for a wee dram.	07/05/01
sidneygee	To get one thing straight, maury. Us Welsh wear our LEEKS with pride (not badges) Personally I celebrate the 3 celtic saints days, but not yet the oppressor's (no demand for it up here !).	07/05/01
MAURY	I am all for a string of holidays....	07/05/01
MALU	You seem to be liberal minded and grant everyone their day to celebrate. In a multicultural society like the British this would certainly add up to quite a string of holidays. Cheers, Malu	06/05/01
dave27	Good op	02/05/01
MAURY	I agree, as I said further down, it would be lovely to have a day to celebrate the many great literati that this country has produced, as well as heroes in other areas.	30/04/01
Redhead23	Yeah, Shakespeare Day would be great - might even give the kids a reason to show interest in literature :-)	30/04/01
leviathan	Oops don't know how that happened.. Sorry.	30/04/01
leviathan	I'll be honest here..Whilst I have no objection to anyone flying the flag, or feeling proud to be English.. I do have a major problem with St George..Firstly he wasn't English/British. Never set foot on British soil. But he was a mercenary with a very bloody record.. Made General in the Army of Rome because of his body count. The old emperor loved him, and paid him well, until late in life he had an attack of conscience and refused to persecute the poor old Christians. Emperor (mad as an hatter anyway) turned on him and had him executed. About 50 years later, a not very nice Pontif decided to canonize him, and foist him off on us as Patron saint..Now as Shakespeares birthday falls on St Georges Day, we could have a real wing-ding in honour of a True English man, who brought decent literature to the whole world..A man we can really be proud of..	30/04/01
leviathan	I'll be honest here..Whilst I have no objection to anyone flying the flag, or feeling proud to be English.. I do have a major problem with St George..Firstly he wasn't English/British. Never set foot on British soil. But he was a mercenary with a very bloody record.. Made General in the Army of Rome because of his body count. The old emperor loved him, and paid him well, until late in life he had an attack of conscience and refused to persecute the poor old Christians. Emperor (mad as an hatter anyway) turned on him and had him executed. About 50 years later, a not very nice Pontif decided to canonize him, and foist him off on us as Patron saint..Now as Shakespeares birthday falls on St Georges Day, we could have a real wing-ding in honour of a True English man, who brought decent literature to the whole world..A man we can really be proud of..	30/04/01
Redhead23	If I was Asian, I think I'd be well p****d off with McDonald's for that bloody campaign...	30/04/01
MAURY	Heehee.....	29/04/01
Redhead23	Ewww, stop talking about that ad MAURY, and you deanne, stop talking about that other one, too ;-)	29/04/01
MAURY	LOL.....no olives in helmets are there ??	28/04/01
deanne	The fog on the Tyne is all miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.	28/04/01
Redhead23	Good Rant, I really don't see the fuss about celebrating a national holiday being seen as racist - Supermarkets had special offers for Chinese New Year (Yum!), Brits love curries and kebabs, which is all great - we EMBRACE foreign culture. But does that mean we have to abandon our own? I don't think so, I actually believe that SUPPRESSING Brits in feeling like they have roots makes the whole racism problem worse...	27/04/01
MAURY	Thanks moomin :)	27/04/01
themoomin	You are so right - I've noticed it too and I'm a wee Scot! I used to work in a pub in Wales - they made such a deal out of St Patrick and St David's day - but nothing for poor old George. And the Scots have St Andrews day in November. It seems to be that if you're of celtic (not the footie team)persuasion you can have a special day, but the English can't for fear of offending everyone else. Its not fair! Even Marks and Specer endorsed Divali. Huh!	26/04/01
MAURY	I think it would be nice to put more emphasis on the positive.This country, over the years, has had much to be proud of.Some great poets,literati,heros in many fields.It would be nice to acknowledge and celebrate these as a whole.I understand where you are coming from with the 'flag' thing, sadly many 'thugs' have the flag tattooed on them, but then, so do many normal people.It's a bit like saying all those with close cropped hair are skinheads....I know, I have stereotyped myself !! I could go on and make more points, but sadly, even though they would not be meant as racist, they will be interpreted that way.I just think it is a very sad sign of the times.Thanks all :)	26/04/01
Gretta	Oh yes, forgot to say, not so sure about celebrating our history either, there are many bits we would be better off repenting for. Maybe St Georges day could be used to create a better future, so our grandchildren will have some better history to look back on. Perhaps initiatives on promoting human rights, moving towards a better democracy etc could be announced every St Georges day. Sorry, I'm ranting now aren't I?	26/04/01
Gretta	Agree with the idea, and bangers and mash is a good way to celebrate it! I can understand the headmaster though, like it or not the flag has been used by people with a racist agenda as a symbol. Obviously that doesn't mean everyone who wears one is following suit, but that is one interpretation of it nevertheless. Maybe this is one situation when some re-branding/PR stuff would actually be a good idea, remind everyone what it's really about. BTW, did you know the scouts used to use a symbol like the swastika on some of their badges, until the Nazi's hijacked it, and it was dropped. St George's flag isn't the first symbol to suffer from this problem. Good op.	26/04/01
Peter2670	Message received and understood Maury!! Peter	26/04/01
Moatymoo	I agree with you great op	25/04/01
MAURY	I just think it would be nice, just for a change, for the country (most of it) to just have one day/ night where all can have a drink and a laugh, without any fighting or arguing, not too much to ask I don't think, but then again maybe it is.Ah well, such is life eh.....	25/04/01
MAURY	:)	25/04/01
jillmurphy	Donna makes me laugh. Sneaked that one in didn't you missy?!	25/04/01
Peakly	That dam stutter of mine...	24/04/01
Peakly	Maybe every celebration based upon patroitism is wrong, be it in England or anywhere else. As for being proud of being English... I don't consider it of any importance, I'm afraid - nor would I consider being American a link to greatness, or Spanish, or coming from the Moon. As for 'celebrating' our history... well, 'what is there to celebrate exactly' is an obvious cynical retort, but avoiding that for a momment - does St. George really play that huge a part in our history? Or indeed one at all? Is the dragon story true? And, if it did happen, what is there to celebrate about it and what exactly does it say about England that is so great? I understand, of course, that that's a slighty farcical argument, but then the whole notion of feeling patroitic has always seemed farcical to me. Like I said before, I'm glad this 'speacil day' is slowly being forgotten - it's about time we got rid of some real dinosaurs (ok so it was a dragon, but you get the picture)... - P - P	24/04/01
Parsley	You made some very good points there. I don't understand why, but English people are made to feel ashamed for being English and for some reason to celebrate being English is seen as racist. It's totally ridiculous, other cultures are allowed to celebrate their traditions and festivals, but the English are not for fear of being politically incorrect and offending others. I think it's high time that we celebrated our history and can feel proud our of culture. If others are proud of their cultures, then why shouldn't we be proud of ours? It doesn't mean we all want to join the BNP!!!!!!!!!!	24/04/01
deanne	Wished I could remember if I enjoyed it or not! Ah well, atleast a week of no cooking or ironing!	24/04/01
gorlagon	It is a shame that because of a few brain dead, extreme right wing morons that use not only the Cross of St George, but also the Union Jack as their ensign, that anybody displaying the smallest bit of patriotic pride is likewise labelled, great opinion.	24/04/01
MAURY	Better still jt....hear me.....thanks deanne, hope you had a good evening.	24/04/01
deanne	Excellent opinion! True to every word.	24/04/01
MAURY	P.S julietal...next time you are bored with trying to wind fellow dooyooers up, you feel free to come back around here to see how to write ops, check out those below too, ya here me ;)	24/04/01
MAURY	Julietal,bless....St.George, so legend has it, rode a horse and slayed dragons (in oppose to foxes).	24/04/01
MAURY	To be truthful, I do not need an excuse for a celebration, but at the same time, it does not hurt to celebrate days like these.Same as when the world cup is on and people support their country's team,it's just nice to see the country unite in celebration for something (without punch-ups).As far as anything racial/xenophobic....anyone here could join in.I get soooo fed up with the word 'racism' being linked to such ideas.I did not mention any other info on St.George, as that was partly the point of the op.As for the flag thing,it would be the England one for this one day, not the Union Jack.But then with that type of thing...beit the England flag or Union Jack....you get labelled.What a sad sign of the times.As I pointed out in my op, Britain is 'multi cultural', many of us join in other cultures festivals/carnivals.I really do not see the problem with us recognising this day and other cultures joining in the fun, too much to expect in this day and age though.Thanks for all your comments though :)	24/04/01
Peakly	To be honest MAURY, I have no time for celebrations like this. The parties you describe sound like great fun... but why need this 'speacil day' as an excuse? I've always found there to be something a tad pathetic (no offense!) in patroitism, from people in Britain or anywhere else in the world. The basic suggestion is that depending on where you come from, you are a better/worse person for it - need the obvious connections with xenophobia be pointed out? Personally, I take it as a good sign that celebrations like this are being forgotten, and slowly erased from society. Sorry to be a spoil-sport, but walking around with Union Jacks on, like it's a sign of greatness or something... well, I can think of better reasons to get drunk. I haven't rated, because to be honest I can't - it doesn't seem to fit into 'England in General', though it was well written. Some facts about who the hell St. George was, and what he did, may also have helped your cause. For example - why are we celebrating the bloke? Cheers, - P	24/04/01
cpf1993	I think too often being proud to be English is wrongly associated with racism, thus it is not celebrated much. Just my 2c.	24/04/01
MAURY	Thankyou.My boys used to be in the 'Cubs', took part in the parade every year.	24/04/01
samanthaneww2d	Happy St Georges Day.My boys are in the cubs and paraded yesterday and attended school in their cub uniforms today(as they do every saints day).Nathan's(my eldest)class spent the morning learning about the history of St George.Simon (next one down) had to remind his teacher what saints day it was!!	24/04/01
Peter2670	Cheers Donna - The Grouse bottle is out already - Peter	24/04/01
Peter2670	Hear! Hear! - A loud fanfare for that Maury - spoken like a tru Brit. I bet you can be a little outspoken sometimes Donna - there is definitely a very interesting streak inside you. Happy St George's Day to you love - Peter	24/04/01
opinionated	In NZ we celebrate St Patricks day but none of the other British Saint's days - I think the reason is mostly the efforts of the Irish to take over the world by building a pub in every town (and if you doubt it's success I have been to Irish pubs in places as diverse as Cambodia and Peru). Our own national day (Waitangi Day) is usually marked by protest and militants reducing our PM to tears (well that only happened once). I suppose English patriotism has a fairly checkered history - probably as much to do with the fact England has been one of history's winners. Still, any excuse for a party I say!	24/04/01
MAURY	Ya got the guts to celebrate it though, haven't you!!	24/04/01
The Duke	Here in Ireland (North) it's just seen as a day to get drunk, and have a huge nationwide party, rather than any pride we have in being Irish, which most of us celebrate every day anyway (well, I do).	24/04/01
machar	Up here in Scotland we just use St Andrews night as another excuse for a drink and a ceilidh!	24/04/01
SqueakyG	Good rant!	23/04/01
JammyB	Yeah I totally agree, it's ridiculous how it's become politically incorrect to acknowledge that we are English people etc. The so-called "multicultural Britain" is a good thing, but when people accuse us of being racists for taking pride in our country then they deserve to go eat a bag of hell. Good op sonny.	23/04/01
northerner	unfortunately national pride often comes hand in hand with racism and xenophobia which is why people stear clear of it. being english is what you want to make of it. if you think being born in an area defined on maps as england makes you different or special than so be it. if you think there is no difference between being born here or anywhere else in the wrold then you have a right to that opnion and others should respect that	23/04/01
cindy1	I couldn't believe it when the GMTV crew, told viewers they weren't allowed to wear flowers to celebrate Georges Day. This is the attitude that people in this country take. When its St Patricks Day, they contantly plug it on the radio, tv etc, and British people celebrate it, even though there are not Irish. I suppose thats the British for you.	23/04/01
Noggsy	Right on...	23/04/01
Belgian999	Don't even get me on to this subject! I spent 4 years in Scotland, where it would have been most unwise to have any sort of celebration on St George's Day, as people seemed to confuse national pride with imperialism and nationalism... Yet the other nations within Great Britain are allowed free reign to celebrate their patron saints' days. Something is not quite right...	23/04/01

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England in general

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