"If I were English, I would keep it quiet, not a lot to boast about."

On the contrary, I think we should be boasting about not just Englishness but our regionality, just as long as it isn't done in a jingoistic way that plays into the hands of the BNP racists.

Every country has its bad points but wht not take a positive stance and, whilst deploring abuses of all kinds, celebrate the great diversity of wonderful things that exists in England, and fight against the enforced uniformity and Americanisation that is destroying so much that is unique about England? Comrac, if you can't see a multiplicity of things that are good about England, you simply have not taken the trouble to find them - even though they are right in front of your eyes.