General Chat

Sylvia, Leek - full of flavour, whereas the thistle only Eeyore eats ( and you know how miserable he is!) and the shamrock are not????

Oh yes I forgot. The Flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Flag as is with the Red Dragon superimposed. Signed The Iron Dragon

Wendy, saw this, not that I fancy the menu, think I'll leave them to Eeyore THISTLE & COCONUT CURRY THISTLE & NETTLE SOUP THISTLE & SAUSAGE CASSEROLE THISTLE BIRYANI THISTLE COLESLAW THISTLE LEAF & MINT RAITA THISTLE ROOT & CARROT SALAD THISTLE ROOT RAITA THISTLE SOUP WITH PORK BELLY THISTLE STROGANOFF THISTLE WITH MUSTARD & HONEY GLAZE THISTLE, NETTLE & ALMONDS THISTLES IN HAZELNUT SAUCE TOMATO & COCONUT THISTLES VENISON WITH THISTLE WHOLE THISTLE & HAM SOUP

Marjorie, I thought Great Britain was England, Scotland and Wales and United Kingdom was Great Britain and northern Ireland. I'm always willing to learn, who is correct?

Ode to joy is being forced upon us by the EU. Do we realy want that? Bob

Bob, do you mean OtoJ or EU?

Besides out-of-date imperial connotations, the Union Flag has been a bit overdone as an image of Britain, much like the red buses and phone boxes, bowler hats, brollies and bobbies. Not to mention the fact that we are hardly a Christian country any more. Couldn't we modernise and have something more tasteful, say just have four stripes: white, green, red and blue as these feature in all the constituent countries' flags? As for the anthem, why not an all-Britain national competition? Besides all that, if we had a BRITISH footbacll team, we might have an even greater chance of winning.

Why change our national flag? There is nothing wrong with present one. What a stupid suggestion ! ! !

Well, Bob, what's wrong with words like "Alle Menschen werden Brüder"? (Literally: All humans will be brothers"). After God knows how many centuries of mutual butchery, some expression of reconciliation is surely a good thing.

lets keep the union jack flying, but change the national anthem to rule britania. penny

Jim on the Solent, If you are not European, then what are you? African, American. No, of course, you are a European.

sylvia im also english! not irish,welsh or scottish.or european susie

The Union Jack is perfect as it is and should not be changed. However, "Land of Hope and Glory" (which I believe was originally composed as the new national anthem) would inspire far more patriotism than God save the Queen/King. No offence to our Queen who has hardly put a foot wrong, but look at who is to follow..... Kathy

I think that there are two different roles here. For everything for the UK or Great Britain e.g. when we compete as a whole like in the Olympics The Union Jack and God Save the Queen is fine. When we compete as England as in the present Euro 2004, then it should be the Cross of St. George and a different tune. 1. Land of Hope and Glory 2. There'll always be an England 3. Jerusalem 3. Rule Britannia After all IF the Scots or Welsh ever qualified would they have the Union Flag and God Save the Queen - I don't think so. Therefore England as opposed to GB or UK should have their own identity as well. Janet

I was also born in England, but Great Britain happens to be part of Europe. It is not Africa, Asia or Ameria.

but we are seperated by water!! so we arent in the continent of europe. we are an individual island

If we were to use landmass as a definition of nationality, then presumably the Eurasian landmass from Calais to the Bering Straits and from Franz Josef Land to Singapore would form one country! Similarly, Jersey, Guernsey, each Scilly Island would be totally independent, GB would be one country, while the whole of Ireland would be another (apart from the old monastic rocks like Skellig Michael, that is, which would each have their own head of state, government etc! lol!). I think Sylvia meant that Britain is more part of Europe by virtue of location, shared history, cultural influences, religion, economic development down the centuries etc, than anywhere else. I certainly identify with Europe as my part of the world, rather than North America (USA plus hinterland!), Africa, Asia/ the Pacific Rim etc. Let's be ourselves (English etc, British), but recognise what we can share and celebrate with folks across the Channel (or The Sleeve, as our French cousins call it!). Philip

Sorry john, Just catching up. I would not like OtoJ because of the EU. As this has been hijacked by the EU then it reflects all the EU stands for. So no to both. Bob

Isn't the Union flag a comination of the English, Scottish AND Welsh ? (Haven't got one to hand so can't visually check)

Ann, Don't want to start an argument, but only quoted from what I learnt at school that England was part of Europe. I know Gt Britain is now surrounded by water, but doesn't stop them being Europeans. What about the football then, England playing in the European Championships. If they weren't European they wouldn't have been allowed to play! Only European teams playing. Sylvia