'British'? Not I.

English on my dads side, Welsh on me Mums. This is an interesting discussion because now it appears to have trancended the argument 'Are we anti-irish' and become 'who are we'?

The United Kingdom (often referred to as Great Britain) is an artifice constructed to:

a) Try to keep different nationalities from recognising their own cultures by homogenizing them into a single artificial 'nationality'.

b) A way of letting the Royal Family lay claim over us all (sod that).

c) Creating a tourist industry for Americans to drool over whilst missing the best bits (which are not beefeaters, Buck Palace, the Houses of Parliment etc).

d) Ignore the real continuities the ordinary people of these Isle have with each other and are one of our greatest strengths.

BUT, as Tir Eoghain has already mentioned the subject, does being born in a country automatically endow you with all the traits of that particular national character? Do we lose all the influence for our ancestors becuase we were born in a different country?

Personally, I don't think so. That would make Shane McGowan English for a start, so that must be wrong. I know people born in Germany who are not Germans etc.

And in my eyes, we don't have to deal with so may confused identities as you may think (though many ignorant people intermix Britian/England). We have scousers, brummies and mancs the same way the Irish have Kerrymen, Ulstermen etc.