We are not British??!!

[Fifi]

If people ask me which part of Scotland I am from I always reply, I'm not Scottish, I'm from Shetland. Most people know that these days and accept it.

They're probably going along with your delusions..

No independence for any part of GB as far as I am concerned, collectively we are a better nation as a whole.

Better together, as long as Shetland is separate..

[Talpa]

If British people are to embrace their identity we should look at what being British really means and know our history. It means accepting responsibility as well as glory.

 

We have been part of, and at the heart of, some of the most disastrous decisions and actions in history and the consequences of these decisions are real and ongoing conflicts.

 

How many British people face up to Britain’s historic roles in conflicts? For example, post-war generations are taught ‘we won the war’ and little more. It was a little bit more complicated than that. History has shown that some decisions made at the end of the war were wrong. We have hindsight and can do something about that now as the consequences are ongoing. But many of us don't even know we played a part.

 

I feel shame at some of the things that we have done as a nation. But that is an honest relationship with my national identity. From shame can come ‘getting off one’s arse’. If people do not seek and accept the truth and in turn the accompanying responsibility then pride in being ‘British’ is a sham.

 

Britain has done good but also a terrible amount of harm. To accept both and act with integrity in the future would be a ‘Britishness’ that may find more takers.

 

Maggie T cleverly broke down the notion of a ‘society’ and promoted the idea of an ‘individual’ - divide and conquer methinks. But despite of her Union Jack waving premiership national identity was in fact eroded.

 

Now we are a nation of mostly self-centred, powerless ‘individuals’ who are utterly apathetic, beaten and often view the power of a people to change things as some kind of 70’s dinosaur politics. Our history is spun and obscured and we are utterly divided and utterly conquered.

 

Do we sit cosy, act only with gusto when we vote on reality TV and feel proud to be British? That cosiness won’t last for much longer unless we understand why a lot of the world is really, really mad with us and try and reconcile that in some way.

[david]

Shetland - British - European. I tend not to even class myself as Scottish, there's just something about it that annoys me.

 

My girlfriend is trying to get me to wear a kilt on New Years Eve and I'm dead against it. It doesn't seem appropriate for me to be wearing one.

 

But she wears the trousers in the relationship so I will end up wearing a kilt and pretend to be a Scotsman for the night, but I won't be a real Scotsman.

[Marmalade]

But she wears the trousers in the relationship so I will end up wearing a kilt and pretend to be a Scotsman for the night, but I won't be a real Scotsman.

 

If she wears the breeks in the relationship I would assume she thus takes on the 'males role' and therefore it should be her wearing a kilt this Hogmany.

[brunalf]

The ground keeps my feet dry, the place where I'm standing is called mine. I however would affiliate with any large group of people if the gettings good or perhaps out of boredom.

 

except Rangers supports,hee hee.

 

here here,an eenoo a'm a shetlander.

i did hear once dit you can only say you're genuinely fae a place if one o you're family's burried in dat area,mak your ain up minds aboot dat een tho.