not sure place of birth really counts for much.. friend at school was fully HK chinese, spoke english and cantonese, but was born in Bangladesh.. then lived in Hong Kong for most of his life.

I myself was born in England. I do not look or sound English and I have never considered myself English (neither of my parents are English). I say I am British, partly because nowhere in particular feels like home – so obviously I must claim the entire British Isles as my land to roam 🙂

Place of birth, Nationality of parents determine if your British.

I was born in the Peoples Republic of West Yorkshire in the capital (Leeds)I support Leeds Utd, Leeds Rhinos (Shite name i know, it should be Loiners and i support the Leeds Carneigie RU team) Ditto cricket as well. I now reside in the principality of Wales, doing my bit to support a third World Nation :wink:I support Wales, Scotland, Ireland if they play the French because i am British.

I may return to Yorkshire when independance is granted and Sir Geoff becomes President 😉 I work overseas and when i am there i accept their culture and do not wish to change it. I also have a holiday home in France, i accept their culture, traditions and do not wish to compromise them. To be British i think you should be born there, accept the culture, accept the traditions and above all be proud of it.

I don't think you're "legally obliged" to have a passport unless you feel the need/desire to visit another country (outside your land of domicile).

I was going to say that I'm English – even though if you go back a bit (to about 450ADCE) the ancestors were Danish, but –

If you go back far enough, we're actually all African.

Stick that up your patriotism and smoke it…

And if you go back further, we're Apes. Your point being…

Place of birth does NOT affect your nationality, neither legally or conceptually. For those English people on this thread, if your parents had suddenly taken a surprise trip to France when your mum was pregnant, and you'd been accidentally born prematurely in France, would you call yourself French? Would you bolx.

if you call it soccer, you're not British

The word soccer comes from the Edwardian (British) idiom of abbreviating words and putting 'er' on the end ie rugger, badders (badminton horse thingy) etc. Soc is a well known abbreviation for Society or Association, and we are talking about Association Football as opposed to Rugby football or any other variety of that FAMILY of sports. So it's a very English abbreviation and not at all foreign.

Oh, and if you are English, you are by definition British, whether you like it or not. And European. Because England is part of Britain which is in turn part of Europe. The fact that you are British reflects English military and imperial might of the 13th Century ish so you ought to be proud of your ancestors' conquering skillz.. if you like that sort of thing that is.

Funny he reunites one Island (Ireland)

I was sure that hadn't happened yet…

backhander – Member

And if you go back further, we're Apes. Your point being…

Strictly speaking, not so… Apes and us go back to the same creature which was not an ape or human but anyway, I take your point.

I think what I had in mind is that any "National Identity" is an artificial construct that shifts over time (at varying speeds) and has no useful meaningful purpose other than to give apparent justification for opposing other, equally meaningless, groupings. Usually over disputes about territory or resources.

john_drummer – Member
I don't think you're "legally obliged" to have a passport unless you feel the need/desire to visit another country (outside your land of domicile).

I live in Spain… and if you come here, you'll find you're all English, regardless of whether you were born in London, Swansea, Aberdeen…

Place of birth does NOT affect your nationality, neither legally or conceptually

I think you'll find that in some countries it does

In the US – for example – anyone born there is a US citizen or entitled to be one

I can't remember the exact details as I was very young [ 😉 ] but there was a legal issue with me being born in Singapore – where my dad was stationed in the army – mam had to come home to give birth [6 weeks on a boat in those days]

i agree with wopit

I think what I had in mind is that any "National Identity" is an artificial construct

Also a nice source of revenue:
£720 for an adult
£460 for a kid (Had to pay this for one of mine)

Ok, so 'soccer' is a British word, but is mostly used by North Americans to describe Association Football; I don't know any Britons that use the word.

And I'll rephrase my other point: AFAIK anyone that lives in the UK and is entitled to a UK passport is not 'legally obliged' to have one unless they want to visit another country outside the UK. It's not a Police State yet

Does he hold Irish nationality or is he a UK national and therefore British ?

The UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Island.
So you're only British if you're from Great Britain (England Scotland & Wales plus some other offcuts).

I used to wonder why the Great Britain Olympic team didn't call themselves the UK team, but the list of countries and sports that are eligible to be GBR rather than UK (and vice versa) is huge.

Being British is about driving in a German Car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then on the way to your home grabbing an Indian or a Chinese takeaway to sit on a Swedish sofa and watch USA shows on a Japanese TV. And moaning about the weather while doing it.

😉

..and pointing out how superior we are to the rest of the world

I think what I had in mind is that any "National Identity" is an artificial construct that shifts over time (at varying speeds) and has no useful meaningful purpose other than to give apparent justification for opposing other, equally meaningless, groupings. Usually over disputes about territory or resources.

+1

Hmmm place of birth doesn't necessarily define whether you are British – particularly with the number of ex-pats knocking around.
If it's place of birth then I would claim my land in the UAE and have to start praying 5 times a day BUT when I was born Bahrain was a British Procterorate = I have a special stamp to say I've got a British Birth Certificate. Parents and Grand-Parents define whether you can hold a UK passport. I was British until I lived in Gloucs where the Welsh educated me that I was English 😉

So the question is whether being British is a legal state or a state-of-mind.
Genetically I'm probably mostly european.

On the whole I agree with Mr Woppit and Molgrips.

country of birth is irrelevant imo.

my grandad was born in india – when it was still in the empire. (british/ indian?)

my british 'indian' friend had indian grandparents/ parentswho where kicked out of uganda by amin.

does that make me indian and him african?

Starseven, you seem to blame Tony Blair for singlehandedly breaking up Britain, do you?
Nothing to do with the overwhelming desire of Scots and Welsh people to have a more representative government, then?

++Paleontology stop press++, Mr woppit, Homo Sapiens is descended from apes, just not any modern extant form of ape. (apes are also descended from earlier apes)
The question is were they British apes? 😉

++Paleontology stop press++, Mr woppit, Homo Sapiens is descended from apes, just not any modern extant form of ape. (apes are also descended from earlier apes

Ah, yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hominoid_taxonomy_7.svg

Thanks for the correction.

The fact that you are British reflects English military and imperial might of the 13th Century ish

Is that the same 13th Century ish English military might that couldn't stop your nearest neighbours becoming independent at that time then? 🙂

next question – why would anyone want to become British?

Good question.

I don't know if people want to become 'British', but it's certainly very popular to have a British Passport.

If you've travelled a lot, you'll find that the British Passport is like a golden ticket. Also, if you live and work abroad in places like the middle east, a British Passport entitles a child to a British education from the British Embassy . It also entitles them to reside in the UK if they wish to in the future (and enjoy all the benefits while their at it).

I live and work abroad (in Qatar) and it really angered me to find out that there are lots of kids living here born to foreign parents (whether it be Australian, Swedish, Iranian – whatever) who have British Passports because their parents once lived in the UK for long enough to become a British citizen. Currently, if one of the child's parents has a British passport, the child can apply for one as well.

Believe me, as much as the majority moan about the UK, the UK is where everyone in else in world wants to be. It's a bit rough back there at the moment , but there is so much that is still Great about Britain and it will recover, so be proud to be British and don't put it down.

And by the way, I know I'm not living there or paying UK tax at the moment, but I WILL BE BACK to spend all the money I've earned in Qatar in my own country.

Once you've started entering veg into the village fete competition, you're probably totally assimilated 😆