To be ashamed of being British?

I’m quite ashamed of being British at the moment. Brexit, binge drinking, gutter press, poor education, acceptance of the mediocre, little opportunity for the ‘have-nots’ to improve their lot.

What I found interesting in the programme was that racism isnt just something that the white, English population are guilty of. The man from Yorkshire, born in the UK but of Asian heritage, was very vocal about how Britain is "full up, we've had enough, no wonder people get fed up of the Eastern Europeans", without thinking back to how his own family must have felt when they first came here. But it was the young Polish boys that I felt most sorry for, and their parents.

I'm not ashamed of being British but I am ashamed of what is often deemed to be acceptable or not automatically challenged in this country. British people need to stand up and be counted. We need to challenge racism, sexism, homophobia and all the other 'isms' when we see them not just complain about them later. If we can't challenge personally we need to be willing to call the police and let them deal with it. We need to stop trading arms to countries that have no respect for human life and use them against their own or other people.

We just have to do what we can to counteract the dreadful image that SOME British people seem to think it is OK to show the world. If we let them make us ashamed to BE British ourselves, then that is the equivalent of being ashamed to be called Smith because someone else called Smith has been convicted of a crime.

I saw something on FB that illustrates this - a woman was asked by someone she met what language she was speaking. "It is Tagalog, the language of the Philippines," she replied. The other woman raised her eyebrows."So you are Philippino - just like the Las Vegas shooter's girl-friend!" "Yes, and you are white just like the shooter."

If we don't show a better side, and defend ourselves - and the majority of our fellow-countrymen - from stereotypes, then the bad image goes unchallenged, and like the Philippino woman we are all tarred with the same brush as the worst examples.

What was the programme about?

The British are essentially a good nation (as are most nations). The problem is that we are rightly ashamed of a small percentage (<5% I estimate) of the population who make life less pleasant for everyone. I mean those who drop litter, take drugs, frequently get drunk, and generally act anti-socially. Extreme right and left wing politics excluding the silent majority is another example.

Brexit has sadly allowed the nastier side to become more evident. I genuinely do not know how to get a national return to common sense. Most Germans are ashamed of the AFD, most French ashamed of the Fronte Nationale and ISIS not a true reflection of Islam.

Daren't watch it. My television is in danger of having something thrown at it these days ....