There has been much debate about Britishness and who is British. Some say only someone born in the UK to British parents is truly British. This would rule out may good Brits who have UK passports and are legally settled here. In practice anyone is British who was born here or who successfully applies for British citizenship. So why is there an issue?
Wish for change, or worries about how to define Britishness is a product of rapid high volume migration into the UK in recent years. It led Parliament to put in a test for applicants to become citizens to show some knowledge of UK history and customs. It has led the public to demand much lower rates of citizenship grants and inward migration.
Many of us have an idea of what being British is, but not all our ideas agree with one another. We do not say to someone born of UK parents in the UK they are not British because they want to abolish the monarchy or give the country away to the EU or spend their time condemning our history. We disagree with them revelling in the democratic freedoms of our country to disagree about such fundamental issues. A criminal does not lose his citizenship though he may lose rights to liberty and to vote.
We can say to people seeking to come here and applying to be UK citizens that if their intent is to come to be criminals or terrorists we do not want them. If they despise or hate our country they would be best advised to go elsewhere. We can say to people on low and no incomes thinking they might be more prosperous in the UK they can only come and settle if they get a job and pay their own bills and show they will make a contribution. We can have benefit and housing rules that favour settled UK citizens over new arrivals, taking the view many take that charity begins at home.
If someone gains the privilege of becoming a UK citizen they have won one of life’s bigger lotteries. Free health care, heavily subsidised social housing, a wide range of benefits for any of life’s hazards, good free education for children are all available for UK citizens meeting the criteria. The UK has been too free with its grants of citizenship, adding to strains on the NHS. housing and the benefits bill.
Being British is also about the shared history, the culture, the English language, the traditions we enjoy together. These will be different for individuals free to make their own choices from a rich palette of choices. If too many people are admitted who have not been brought up in these surroundings with that common culture it gets more difficult to define what being British is, and unsettles more who have been born and brought up here.
January 2, 2026
The problem is john, the cohort which the uniparty is happy to import have no intention of integration. Drawing benefits without contributing, accessing health and education whilst calling us racist is deemed acceptable.
We are being displaced by an alien culture which has no place in a liberal democracy.
January 2, 2026
Indeed many have no wish to integrate or even learn English. Often marrying and bringing more people in from their home countries with little wish it integrate.
Free healthcare you say – well the right to join a long waiting list perhaps or see a GP in 10 days time for 5 mins. The UK is a good place to live off the state, to work black market or cash in-hand, to have lots of children paid for by others.
No so good for those who work hard and have to pay for all these others! We are in a doom loop virtually zero growth in living standards per cap for many for 20 years! You also win the right to pay the highest energy bill in the World!
Labour the party of Welfare, the state sector, two tier justice and of those who want to damage the UK and or live off the backs of others. Doom loop lunacy will not end well.
January 2, 2026
If you invest in the UK, then even if your investments do well and return say 10% average PA before tax then, after all the very many taxes, you will do well if your investments even keep pace with inflation.
For hard workers and investors the lottery you have won in living in the UK is the right to be a modern slave and to work jist to subsidise a huge and wasteful state sector and a vast arm of the feckless living of your hard work or investment!
January 2, 2026
UK taxes – Income up to 45% plus NI employer 15% plus employee 8%, VAT 20%, stamp duty up to 15%, CGT 24% or even 32%, council tax, landfill taxes, energy market and net zero taxes, planning taxes, corp. tax 25% then IHT on death at 40% over just £325K.
Then all the compliance costs on top – do have fun with you tax advisors, accountant, tax lawyers!
Come to the UK and fund the piss down the drain state sector and load for feckless people, low skilled immigrants, criminals and other people’s children!
January 2, 2026
To quote from my middle aged Daughters after taking them with me to see my financial advisors to talk about IHT, general taxation, etc, etc, and how best to mitigate its affects.
“You must wonder why you really bothered Dad” after having it explained to them what would be left on my passing, and how much tax would be taken.
This Government is now actively discouraging the self help, work, savings and investment ethic that used to be the norm, and which we used to encourage.
January 2, 2026
Alan to mitigate the effects the advice used be buy farm land, trading companies, AIM listed ones, regular gift out of surplus income or give it all away but make sure you live 7 years (or insure in case you do not do so). But of course they keep moving the goal posts. Now perhaps best to leave and take everything with you.
Or spend it! Buy a cruise or similar and get 40% paid by reductions in IHT!
January 2, 2026
Lifelogic
Yes the daughters have said spend it, and enjoy it. !
Been doing that for the last few years, Foreign Holidays and Cruises, purchased a 4 month old pre-registered Mercedes couple of years ago
All the cruise lines (well most of them) Registered abroad and in the USA.
Cars built abroad, so none of the money doing the UK economy any good at all.
Will be replacing the windows in the house, but German company again manufacturing.
How sad that a lifetimes planning having to be changed because of stupid Government polices.
I now have to guess when I am going to die, so I do not leave any of my SIPP Pension fund intact to be taxed at 40% IHT, then another 20% – 40% when drawn down by my survivors.
So 40 years of Qualified financial advice to spend the pension last, now been turned over by retrospective legislation (legalised theft) because you now need to spend the Pension first !
Yes aware of the gifting rules.
Just out of interest a Balcony Stateroom on the Queen Mary2 works out at £135 per night each for 35 Nights in the Caribbean, which is £10 less than what the Government pays to house immigrants in Hotels, no wonder the Country is in such a diabolical financial state.
Still it’s not their money is it, as the taxpayer that funds all this spending waste.
January 2, 2026
Alan glad you are enjoying it anyway. A good friend of mine is off on the QM2 for four months to New Zealand in a few days time!
If you still have some type of business, consultancy to you children perhaps you can charge the cruise internet fees to it!
January 2, 2026
Inheritance tax has lots of unintended consequences. One friend of mine has spent 2 weeks of every month for the last year on cruises, he is determined to spend spend spend and try to make sure there is as little as possible left for the taxman to grab. Is this kind of stuff really for the best for the country?
Other people I know are just moving to Australia, where there is no inheritance tax. How does this help the UK?
The other stupid tax rule is the ability which has been given to councils to be allowed to charge punitive council tax on empty properties. Problem of course being that the probate office is so crap, it has taken 2 years since her death to get probate granted for a relative, during which the family cannot sell the house, and of course the house is empty. But now the poor performance of the probate office results in the council raking in extraordinary amounts of council tax. Failure by the public sector results in the public sector getting more money not less from the taxpayers. It really is another scandal.
January 3, 2026
@Iain Indeed I have had he same issues with thecprobate office! Surely it is everyone’s. moral duty to pay as little tax as possible legally so as people and businesses spend and invest it so much better?
January 2, 2026
Yes it’s a weird kind of lottery where the real prizes are really only won by the feckless. For an ambitious hard worker there’s probably not much to be gained unless you’re either handed a route up the public sector by luck and positive discrimination, or are in a very niche sector in the private sector and presently in a country with a low standard of living. Why on earth would you come here from the USA, Ireland etc. to earn less and pay more for everything? I wonder whether there are any studies around this?
January 2, 2026
We are in the Reeves doom loop plus an Anarcho-tyranny, a system of government that is simultaneously oppressive and tax and fine grabbing against law-abiding citizens and hard workers, but very unwilling to enforce laws against genuine criminals (as no money in this).
January 2, 2026
LL
Re the long list for a GP…. I know someone who works as a GP receptionist, and she says that asylum seekers and other migrants just say an appointment is about mental health and they are instantly given a same day appointment! Some even have a letter of entitlements they refer to if she hesitates!
So they don’t join a long waiting list at all!
January 2, 2026
Sharon
In our area some Doctors actually go out to the Hotels to see them, no waiting list for them, no gate keeper receptionists to overcome, that information gained from an NHS employee who is involved in organising such.
January 2, 2026
Doubtless the doctors get extra payments for this as they did for jabbing people with the net harm covid “vaccines”. Follow the money, it is very easy to see a GP the same day it just costs you £70 or so )in London anyway). Cheaper than many tradesmen!
January 2, 2026
Indeed they also had the system! Sorry we have nothing today can you ring back and queue again for an hour tomorrow then the day after and so on! Can I not just book your first available appointment please. No mate – after all all we the NHS/Gov. have your money already, your time is obviously worth nothing and to us you are just a cost liability, an inconvenience to be deterred from coming if at all possible!
Such is the NHS.
January 2, 2026
Lifelogic
I believe they get paid for the number of people registered, not on how many they actually see and treat, so not a lot of encouragement to change, and probably why appointments are difficult to get.
January 2, 2026
Being British – well that is rather complex genetically my wife is 100% Italian but was born in Scotland brought up in England is bilingual and has both passports. Is Catholic but not really.
So all sorts of factors genetic, parents/grandparents upbringing, parental religions, early religious indoctrination, primary and secondary schooling (in which country).
I often wonder had someone like Jacob Rees Mogg be adopted or born to Protestants, Quakers, Methodists, Muslims, Seeks, Buddhists, atheists… what religion might he be now. If you can fall in love with one would you fall for all the others with parental pushing?
If you speak three languages you are trilingual, two bilingual and if one you are English – as they say!
January 2, 2026
One of my friends is an Italian lady, married to a Brit, both living in Portugal, both lived in Belgium previous to that. I was walking along the promenade with her and a Portuguese bloke said “wow you look just like an Italian” (commenting on her fashion) to her, in Portuguese, and she replied in perfect Portuguese “but I AM Italian”… Multinational couples like this are one of the best examples of British “soft power” because they push FOR Britain all the time, and if there was a world war they definitely would be on our side. and she doesn’t even have ILR or a British passport, but she is more on “our side” than many of the hundreds of thousands the British state has dished passports out to.
January 2, 2026
Yes, and does that alien culture work for the good of Britain?
One test Sir John doesn’t list: Would you willingly fight to defend your country?
January 2, 2026
If a country has open to all borders what are you defending! A large percentage of our defence force is not British and perhaps many do not really care much about Britain – will they fight? Will many of the women get pregnant to avoid having to fight should a war look likely or will the staff get mental health anxiety issue perhaps.
January 2, 2026
I’m probably a No on that one then, despite living here 69 years.
January 2, 2026
I don’t think this applies nowadays. Why send our white young men to be slaughtered so the illegals can replace them? Our women and children would be left to the mercy of many unsavoury men. The Raise the Colours lads have the right idea. Travel to France and stop the invasion there.
January 2, 2026
So Gove now admits he made a mistake in knifing Boris in the back (making the country suffer the truly appalling Theresa May and a botched Brexit). Will he also now admit he was wrong on Net Zero, wrong on wanting VAT on school fees like Labour, wrong to worship Greta Thunberg! A sky interview with Beth Rigby, the dire Ruth Davidson, dire Harriet Harperson and dire Gove. Deluded green crap socialists the lot of them.
Needless to say Ruth Davidson, Gove and the appalling May all ended up in the Lords!
January 2, 2026
Wes Streeting “We cannot wait for a public inquiry to fix the maternity care crisis in the NHS” of course not Wes but you are the Health Secretary? Maternity care in the UK is abysmal, like so much of our dire NHS. It does almost as much damage as the mRNA “vaccines” did. You are still hiding the stats on this I note Streeting so the figure are doubtless similarly bad the the Japan ones that are available and very damning indeed.
So what are you doing to get the obviously unsafe 15 convictions of Lucy Letby overturned? I am sure she can tell a lot about why the NHS is so dire! Then perhaps you could get someone to find out how our “wonderful” Justice system manages to get 15 convictions of one poor Nurse so wrong! Then 6 daft appeal court judges twice deny her even any appeal!
January 2, 2026
For as long as I can remember the failed, deluded, politicians following where the wind blew, are eventually rewarded with a sinecure at the second house. Then others by virtue of financial support, party embarrassment etc get a gong or seat.
January 2, 2026
@Lifelogic – warped and demented view of democracy. If we allowed democracy no part of our legislation system should exist without proper democratic over-site. As always we get to refer to what outwardly presents itself as a democracy the USA, its Upper House the revising chamber is 100 members the population 450 million – they all get to stand for election/re-election. The main house all have to be elected/re-elected every 2 years. It keeps them in focus on who the work for.
Your list of World failures missed Mandelson. Only in the UK is being inept, a failure, those that abuse society rewarded. No wonder the World laughs at us and sees us irrelevant
January 2, 2026
Indeed Mandelson – three resignations ( over conduct ed) so far, two was it for the dire Blunket? Both in the Lords!
January 2, 2026
Baroness Harriet Harman “I brought forward the Equality Bill, now the Equality Act 2010, to ensure everyone has a fair chance in life. This is important to individuals, for a strong society and a competitive economy. The Equality Act was intended to promote equality, fight discrimination in all its forms, including age discrimination, and introduce transparency in the workplace which is key to tackling the gender pay gap.”
If actually and predictable has huge negative effects with diversity appointments, the bankruptcy of Birmingham incompetent people in the wrong jobs who cannot easily be removed. Baroness Harman not the sharpest tool in the box never held a proper job. Posh family, posh School (St Pauls) then politics at York!
Poor JR with all this dopes in the Lords for him to put up with!
January 2, 2026
Arriving to settle in England over 60 years ago, it was only after many decades here that I obtained a British passport and with that British naturalization, alongside my native Australian nationality. Would that I could have obtained English, not British, citizenship for it is England where I have resided for so long. I feel English.
Nope, not allowed, just British.
January 2, 2026
+1
January 2, 2026
Interesting isn’t it that so many claim Britishness when it suits, but protest that Scottish, Welsh, Irish is more important. Those that feel, know and were or are English must not be proud, nor fly the flag….even waving the Union flag suggests racist behaviour.
January 2, 2026
If someone gains the privilege of becoming a UK citizen they have won one of life’s bigger lotteries. Free health care, heavily subsidised social housing, a wide range of benefits for any of life’s hazards, good free education for children
Or they could just arrive on one of those taxi assisted pleasure rubber dinghies from main land Europe ie France , I just cannot get my head around why the tories and liebour want thousands of undocumented fighting migrants to roam free around OUR green and pleasant land and think that us plebs wouldn’t notice it
Reply Conservatives do not want that and have set out how to stop it.
January 2, 2026
Don’t be surprised by failure – that’s what our state is designed to do
Politicians are deluded if they believe they could do a better job leading without committing to a total reorganisation of government.
Lord Frost today.
I would say has “evolved” to do rather than been actively “designed” to do. We are governed by the blob, for the interests of blob!
January 2, 2026
reply to reply ….fine but 15 years too late, the bird has flown and is not migratory.
January 2, 2026
@Reply – I respect your loyalty and support, but as others keep reminding ‘talk is cheap’ we can now only assess those in our legislator by their actions – not what they say to gain power. The team you refer to as part of the collective responsibility of Cabinet of the Government in power did nothing then, frankly the refused and the still haven’t apologised, and now want us to believe in what they say – they individually have a massive credibility gap to bridge
Reply The Shadow Cabinet team is very different in composition, attitudes and policies to the Sunak team that went down to a big defeat partly because of excessive migration. The new team has learned the lesson.
January 2, 2026
Reply to reply. Please look at the figures of arrivals under Conservatives which outweighed even Labour. They’d still be waving them in had they won the last election. Leopards and their spots come to mind.
January 2, 2026
as much as I love john, you only have to look at which comments he publishes, and which he rejects, and which he edits out key parts of the message to know… that normal everyday views of well informed brits who understand the situation far better than politicians are not permitted in their world view. when even john refuses to engage with the harsh reality which I know to be true then it shows that our political system simply does not work. and that at heart is why we have imported populations that hate us, try to destroy us in many different ways, and we have a fractured society spinning towards civil war.
Reply I have allowed my regular contributors to express their views here and to often repeat them. When people write in regularly I sometimes bin the most repetitious or the most immoderate versions of their views.
January 3, 2026
when an asteroid is speeding towards earth and will destroy us all I think being repetitive about it is good
January 3, 2026
As I have said before these issues are properly debated in US politics, their absence from UK political debate just makes the UK look like a banana state where free speech is there in theory but not in practise.
January 2, 2026
My Lord,
I don’t often disagree with you but today I do. Nothing is free, we pay for so called free education, free healthcare etc through the nose with extortionate taxes. I would also argue that council or social housing is not very heavily subsidised and is no longer that cheap, unless you are on full benefits. As I understand it, few council tenants pay full rent and many rely on housing benefit. Rents are increased each year but, in my opinion, if few are actually paying it, what’s the point?
Britain has changed rapidly and so has it’s population. If you look at old newspapers, old magazines, old TV shows and films, you will notice the difference. It’s not just the look of the people, it’s also attitudes and what’s considered to be acceptable socially these days. Crime has rocketed dispite what the government tells us. People’s attitude to crime has changed. Shoplifting and street robbery are prime examples. Many people see the former as just one of those things and the latter, as a normal hazard of life.
A murder was very rare indeed when I was growing up and made the front pages of the national newspapers, now often they don’t even make the inside pages unless there’s a terrorist, sexual or immigration aspect to it.
We are seeing our culture eroded to such an extent that, trigger warnings are given, warning people that opinions or language expressed in the programme, which were normal at the time of production, would cause offence or worse.
It’s a different country with different culture today and I for one think our country is a far worse place for it.
It’s interesting that so many people want to come here on the one hand and yet, so many indigionous Brits are leaving or would want to if they could. I have advised my grandchildren to consider moving abroad rather than staying here because the decline and change is so rapid and not for the better.
January 2, 2026
Agree++
January 2, 2026
+1
January 2, 2026
I have witnessed so much change being born English to parents of unbroken English heritage, traceable over 300 years. In the 50s I was growing up and taught that England was the most just, fair, honest society that would be held up worldwide. Then moving into the 60s I left education and found the future was mining, shipping, tedious factory work, banking, military, office work. Little appealed and we got to the rebellious swinging years, not all sex, drugs and rock n roll, but protest, anything goes culture shocked parents. The 70s settled into marriages, family and responsibilities around me – life was building something in spite of political views turmoil. From the 80s on disillusion took over and it got steadily worse. Gradually it seemed the country ‘had gone to the dogs’ previous culture was disappearing, morals lost, work ethic becoming pointless, truth being portrayed in the media, regard going down the drain. The 21st century not recognisable for anyone coming out of a 30 year coma, or time travelling forward. Englishness is a pipe-dream, it doesn’t exist beyond our small circle of friends and relatives. Integration a failed project, globalisation a threat not a gift, Britishness? where is the value.?
January 2, 2026
“A criminal does not lose his citizenship though he may lose rights to liberty and to vote”. Well Begum lost her citizenship and was rendered stateless by Javid/Boris and all the levels of UK courts upheld this?
The right to vote every few years under FPTP voting for the least bad of perhaps 2 candidate with any chance and for politicians who do not even try to deliver as they promised. As we saw with Cameron, May, Boris, Sunak, Two Tier! I do not think that will bother many prisoners!
January 2, 2026
LL
She was not rendered stateless as Bangladesh recognise all people who have ancestry there as having a right to automatic citizenship. So all she has to do is apply for citizenship to Bangladesh and she will be granted it. The fact that she does not want to do so and live in Bangladesh and not the country from which she left speaks volumes.
January 2, 2026
Well they might have accepted her but Bangaladesh said they would not (she has never been there I think) and she had no citizenship at the time. I can get an Italian passport as my wife has one so could they remove my British Passport on this basis or for all the brits with Irish ancesters? Though in my case there is rather an obstacle as I would have to pass an Italian Language Test – languages not really my forté.
January 2, 2026
Opinion: A hen laying a fertile egg in a stable does not give birth to a horse, but a chick. People are formed and identified by their inherited characteristics and not solely the place where they happened to pop out of a womb on their first day of life.
Being British is fundamentally being born in the British Isles from parents who were also born and lived here for most of their lives. Folk from distant lands can also be or become British by having one or more British parents and living the British way of life. Environment, food eaten and language condition how people develop and integrate.
A so-called ‘British Citizen’ may be someone who merely lives in Britain. Many of those may maintain higher quality standards than the average Briton and contribute to the well-being of the nation. Those who do are appreciated and welcome.
January 2, 2026
British citizenship should be hard won and based upon birth or contribution. Being born in the UK to foreign parents does not qualify one for British citizenship and nor should it.
We should adopt the Swiss approach to some extent in that we welcome workers in on a visa but in tough times or if we have too many it is time for them to go.
Being part of the EU we had to welcome anyone and then bent over backwards to feed and house them when they were here.
The core British values that we need are self reliance and tolerance but we need to demand that all those arriving on our shores ascribe to Christian values above all else.
January 3, 2026
well babies born in uk where both parents are foreign are supposedly not automatically British. i know many such babies with parents who were both here on work visas. in practice those families are never sent home. once they have a baby here the system conspires to ignore the law and make sure they all get ILR and British passports.
January 2, 2026
Good morning.
Or if you are an Egyptian troublemaker and know the right people you can get it without the above.
We need to define British. To me, British is an artificial construct created by the various Acts, one to do with the Monarchy and the union between the crowns of England and Scotland, and the other the union of their respective parliaments. None of which abolished the nations and thereby the nationalities of England and Scotland.
However, since the end of WWII there has been a move to either define the English as British or, not define / mention them at all. We see it even in today’s article by our kind host. He mentions Britain and Britishness but, fails to mention the two primary nations that led to its creation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
I see myself as English, not British. I am an English patriate (not nationalist). I do not care if other people from other countries and continents are given British passports as they cannot identify as English. Being English is part of a unique tribe similar to that of say a tribe in Africa (eg Asante) or on the Indian Sub-Continent (eg Punjabi) or in Asia (eg Japan). The English are Northwest Europeans’. The British passport, does not recognise that but, it is all that is offered.
Perhaps it is time that the native peoples of these islands were offered specific passports. One if you are ethically English / Scottish / Welsh, and one (British) for anyone that has no ancestry here.
January 2, 2026
During the last 30 years, the Establishment has imported and granted citizenship to millions of people who had no real connection to the UK for decades, against the wishes of the native/settled population. The country is now completely dysfunctional, virtually ungovernable, and according to Prof Betz, is heading for civil conflict.
I think the criteria for awarding citizenship need to be severely restricted to those who can demonstrate that they have significant British ancestry ie English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish. (Being related to immigrants who do not have this ancestry but have been granted British citizenship themselves, would not qualify).
The “cousin marriage” route must be stopped and marriage between close family members (cousins, second cousins and with uncles) must be specifically banned.
I would require all those invited, or brought here, from Nov 2019 (when Johnson was elected “promising” to reduce immigration) to leave …. including “students;” those with visas; the 30,000+ Afghans secretly imported and all the dinghy criminals.
January 2, 2026
Donna:
Agreed.
January 2, 2026
I rejected the label British in 1998 when Blair gave devolution to Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland. But of course not to England. Leaving us as the only country in the so called UK with British governence.
Since then I have looked deeper into my feelings about ‘Britishness’ If a family from NIgeria/India/ the Phillipines/Pakistan etc. can come to live on this island, be given a British passport and call themselves British. The whole notion becomes a (watered down? ed) idea.
I’m English and only English. I’ve researched my history back to the end of the eighteenth century. English throughout.
You can keep your Britishness, thanks.
P.s. I’ve just renewed my passport. Sadly that offers no option of English. So I have to use it despite it not showing my nationality !!
Reply I am English and British. We only belong to one nation, which is the UK. Nations are legal entities recognised by other nations.
January 2, 2026
I vehemently disagree with that Sir JR. English and English only.
January 2, 2026
My example shows the complications of the “being British and Britishness” debate.
I’m not British though I’ve lived here 63 years. My parents (Australian, South African) came here at the start of WW2. My father became a much-decorated RAF squadron leader, and Chindit. My mother, who spoke fluent French, served in the SOE. He remained Australian and always supported Ozzie sports teams when they played Brits. My mother became British.
I was born while they lived overseas for a period, so was registered Australian at birth. The family returned to the UK when I was 3, and I was brought up like a Brit. My father and I had ILR status. In the late 80s we both acquired Irish Nationality (ancient family connection) to make work & travel to Europe easier. No need for us to get British nationality (and my father didn’t want it) as we had ILR.
I am thoroughly British. I’ve lived and worked here most of my life. I have never been to Ireland and have no connections with anyone alive there, and just some cousins in Australia. I love what this country was and despair of what it is becoming. Changing my nationality again wouldn’t alter that.
If a broad brush approach is used in a knee-jerk reaction against recent illegal invaders (“all non-Brits out!”), I could find myself under threat of being booted out. I understand and share the frustration with illegal immigration, but dealing with it needs a nuanced approach or many people like me – who are part of what makes Britain varied yet good – will end up as castaways.
What’s to be done? We have to be more direct about who will destroy our culture and who will not. Anglophone ex-colonials will not. AC Grayling referred to “the liberal principle that no minority must be singled out.” His point was that a liberal society prefers to punish everyone rather than acknowledge that certain groups of people need special treatment.
In terms of immigration, there is clear evidence that people from certain countries (almost exclusively non-anglophone, non Christian heritage) do not integrate here and have no intention to do so. They want to use us, if possible dominate us and change our culture to theirs. We need a default position that no person from these places will be allowed in unless we desperately need that individual for some extraordinary purpose, and even then on a temporary visa. We should also look at people from these places that have been allowed in, and deport them if they’ve been abusing our hospitality. Country lists would be a start, but it really needs tribal/ethnicity lists (on cultural/language/religious traits, which is quite different from race). To do that we need to throw away our progressive liberal ideals and get realistic.
January 2, 2026
Succinctly put sir.
Nuance is important in these discussions
January 2, 2026
A related issue is what does being English mean ? Any attempt to define it or even suggest it exists or to celebrate it is branded far right. No such issues in Scotland and Wales and the massive displays of nationalism on St Patrick’s Day here and in USA are met with approval rather than condemnation.
January 2, 2026
YES, and it’s also being able to share a positive attitude to life, an attitude of knowing how much you can respect others in the same street, or not. It’s not just having a common language or slang that we all helped to form and use, the concept of what is common to us goes deep.
While we can as youngsters lie in our bed and dream of being on the same ship as Drake when he defeated the Spaniards. There are so many inspiring incidents in history created by innovative British people, most of which changed the world for the good of all. Being British is being part of all of this. As a nation we have much to be proud of.
We’ve had multiple conflicts that tapered our belief in ourselves and strengthened our resolve against injustice.
What other country has experienced so much, and contributed so much to others.
We are not however stuck 700 years, or so, in the past with no memorable incidents to remind us that time passes, our past is alive, but our future is wide open.…..(With a little luck and perseverance against evil)
January 3, 2026
“Being British is also about the shared history, the culture, the English language, the traditions we enjoy together.”
It’s why the MSM Broadcasters and film-makers are desperate to convince us that Britain has always been a multi-culti country; people ( from overseas ed) were a significant presence throughout our history and made a wonderful contribution to the building of the Nation …. in fact, they were responsible for it!
They are creating a (fictional) shared history and are trying to convince us it is true . It’s why I refuse to watch, and switch off, any programme which is promoting the LIE. I have nothing against people ( from overseas ed)or them being included in programmes about modern Britain but I will not participate in supporting the LIE which is being pushed.
January 2, 2026
You say: ‘ In practice anyone is British who was born here or who successfully applies for British citizenship. So why is there an issue?’
Because the practice is wrong. I see no automatic reason to grant British citizenship to anyone born in Britain regardless of who their parents, language and culture are. Residence permit, certainly, but no automatic right to citizenship.
January 2, 2026
Off topic, but I encourage everyone to read the following article in The Daily Sceptic:
“If Those Who Pushed the Covid Vaccines Go to Trial, This Book Should be Exhibit A for the Prosecution”
January 2, 2026
To be British is simply to hold a British passport and unlike most countries dual nationality is allowed. Our ruling elites in Parliament, the civil service, academia and the judiciary have determined that Britishness and homogeneity is to end and to be replaced by diversity and multiculturalism. Hence the HR and ECHR were legislated to give preference to minorities plus of course the plan for mass immigration from countries with completely different languages, cultures, mores, values, standards and laws. Even undocumented young men of fighting age who arrive illegally are welcomed with free accommodation etc., which I understand is now to extend to newly built housing. The plan is clearly for the country to become a land of tribes each with their own communities/areas, language (how long before English is no longer the national language as it is seen as the language of colonialism?), customs and laws. With the creeping culture of FGM, female infanticide, the non-education of females, chaparones, sex attacks, arranged and forced marriages, honour killings, acid attacks and sati I wouldn’t want to be a female in this new land. Lord Gus O’Donnell who, when Cabinet Secretary, said in 2011: “When I was at the Treasury I argued for the most open door possible to immigration … I think it’s my job to maximise global welfare not national.” It is the punishment for colonialism just as the Net Zero Strategy is the punishment for the Industrial Revolution.
January 3, 2026
+ 1
January 2, 2026
The phrase being ‘Being British’ misses the point. Britain has always been a sort of 57 variety Country, it has always taken everyone at face value and respected different values that people have. What is wrong, and why the question has even arose is that we have some, just some, wishing to lets say ‘flex their muscles’ and wish to ‘impose’ their personal, in some cases very personal idiosyncrasies on others. Whether that is, is religion, political religion, culture or how to perform in bed.
Being British is about the understanding that as the human-race is a multitude of different personalities and facades – some things are just ‘are’. As a collection of unique individuals that work at times as that collective we are all the stronger for it. It all goes wrong when a faction gathers around the concept that their difference requires special treatment, and they should be treated different from others, in their mind better. Even worse is those that play along with having ‘special’ people because of difference. We are only all equal when we are given equal treatment.
The erosion in and of Society is simply down to playing to what some warped individuals usually UK politicians think should be seen as different and more deserving.
January 2, 2026
A similar case in point would be the way our legal numpties and Judges such up to the ECHR. Just the basics, a court for ‘everyone’s’ human right. Then the difference begins, the special cases rolled out and the thing that gets left is the ‘human-rights’ of the majority. The miss-treatment of the majority, by laws that were not created by the democratic process of ‘English Law’. The ECHR is a corrupt and corrupting process that destroys society, and something more than 90% of the World will have nothing to do with
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, has agreed to pay Fuad Awale £240,000 of ‘Taxpayer’ money, as being locked up for murdering 2 human-beings and then threatening others meant he had to be segregated and that infringed on his ‘human-right’. Or to paraphrase the judgement ‘sod the rest of you, society and common scense’ The rights of those he murdered, the ones whose life he took, then the rights off those he threatens. What the UK Judges and the Justice Secretary has said, this man is special above our laws and must be in an environment were he can peruse his human right to murder more humans.
The fact is today, a Britain working with ‘English Law’ has lost itself as structures are deployed to deny equality and create a society of those that are ‘special’. Welcome to the PM Kier Starmers world of two-tier-justice in a two-tier-society.
January 2, 2026
Agree with your first paragraph John, but I would certainly toughen up on the criteria for applying for British Citizenship.
We seem to be giving far too many new people to our Country a FREE TICKET to the lottery of State Benefits, etc etc, when many of our own have been paying in for years for the privilege.
How many other Countries offer even similar benefits on arrival, for nothing in return ?
January 2, 2026
I grew up in the 80’s / 90’s and it was very clear to me then what being British was. My list would be too long to mention but I think it can be summarised as a requirement for high standards in every aspect of daily life and doing our best. The majority lived by them and that transcended all ethnicities too.
Those standards slipped in Parliament from 1997 and as ‘the house leaks from the roof down’ so did the rest of Britain’s standards. I believe we need those standards restored so we have an homogenous, happy Britain again.
Talking of standards, here is the list of the average IQs per country in 2025. Maybe when we consider immigration our pool should be predominantly from the top 20 (so Britain’s does not dilute any further):
https://ceoworld.biz/2025/09/16/the-smartest-countries-in-the-world-2025-global-iq-rankings/
January 3, 2026
offering fair play to all, tolerance, and access to hard won perks which our ancestors died for, does not work with tight nit newcomers who actively hate us, and are organising to destroy us.
January 2, 2026
Being British means ….’
Belonging to one tribe, proud of our history and proud of our flag
January 2, 2026
Sorry, Glen but there are TWO tribes. The Celts and the Saxons. And they are distinct.
January 2, 2026
Correct. And very few come here any more when compared to the world’s dozens of tribes that see this place as heaven where everything is given.
January 2, 2026
Based on our history, there’s a great deal more than 3 tribes. What we call the Scots are made up of Picts, Scots (originally from Ireland), Britons/Celts and Vikings.
England is similarly mixed, but you could get away with narrowing it down to Celts, Saxons and Norsemen (Danes)/Normans.
January 2, 2026
‘tribe’ is a metaphor
January 2, 2026
@Glen Cullen – and when the countries flag is banned by the authorities becasue some ‘might’ find it offensive.. it says how low those we empower have themselves become
January 2, 2026
From the MsM – Sir Chris Powell, who advised Labour ahead of Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide – was today sounding the alarm in the Left-leaning Guardian. The inference is that Labour is under threat from opposing views. What they label the ‘right’ is a threat to Labour and is potentially suicidal for our freedom and democracy.”
I like the phrase ‘for our’ ? whose freedom?, whose democracy?
“They simply can’t get their head around the fact that calling everyone they disagree with a racist or a fascist doesn’t work. MP Lee Anderson responded to the call to arms, saying the “Lefties are petrified”.
According to Politico, Reform is in first place in the polls (29%), ahead of the Conservatives on 18%, with Labour and the Greens tied on 16% and the Liberal Democrats on 13%.
Just amusing, if we had a democracy these outpourings and conclusions would be null and void.
The question of ‘Being British’ could also refer to a Parliament defending democracy not fighting it. Could also mean a Parliament defending freedoms not fighting to have them removed. It could also mean a Parliament ensuring a fair and equal system for everyone under the Law, not fighting to remove these structures.
January 2, 2026
The Integration needed to underpin British-ness, needs to start by acknowledging the need to repeal Devolution, because it will always be used, by Regional Nationalists, to break us apart!
RDM.
January 2, 2026
what we need is what was missing in devolution, that is to say England getting created with our own set of MPs, laws, economy, borders etc.
January 2, 2026
There was a time when the british people would support and buy british products …but our elite politcians love imports ahead of british jobs
Today, its being reported that the chinese EV manufacturer Build You Dreams (BYD) has overtaken Tesla as the biggest EV producer …..there was a time when we had a UK car manufacturing sector
January 2, 2026
Well first of all we may as well get rid of the distinction between Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and British citizenship and passport. They both entitle the person to stay here forever, to benefits, to “free” NHS care, to work here without restrictions. A lot of people I would regard as genuinely British now have not bothered to convert their ILR to British passports for a whole bunch of understandable reasons, like their country of origin makes dual nationality or taking another nationality illegal, which would make them subject to arrest when travelling internationally, etc, a lot simply have prioritised spending money on their kids school books etc rather than buying a passport, and a lot of other equally sensible reasons. Getting a British passport after having ILR for years on end is a formality. The only admin hiccup is the necessity to produce your certificate you have passed the “life in UK” test again, and many people have lost them, you already had to produce it to get ILR so having to produce it again to get a passport (and the state having no records of who passed the test if the certificate is lost or stolen) seems ridiculous.
January 2, 2026
People who are British, but the system denies NHS care to (because they have been out of the country a number of years)
– Brits who have been abroad working, sending lots of business to UK companies, or working for UK companies. The UK needs these people. The fact that we treat them as second class citizens when they return after many years abroad is outrageous.
– Brits who have lived in, for example, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and been there so long and so integrated that they have US, Australian or NZ passports, and normally travel on those passports when they travel internationally. The abuse such people get at Heathrow is outrageous, if coming in as a tourist or business visit, especially given that they would be entitled to a British passport if they applied. If such people decide to move back to the UK long term they are not entitled to NHS care, this is a travesty, they are Brits they should be welcomed back with full access to everything any Brit gets.
All this needs fixing. We need to treat our ex pat community around the world far better, and better when they return here.
January 2, 2026
Further examples of people who are not British:
People who have supported organisations which have sought to kill British servicemen, or carry out terror attacks against Brits. Strip them of their British passport or ILR and deport. Do the same to their family.
January 2, 2026
I would start being a lot more reciprocal. So, for instance:
– Only allow people to vote here when Brits in their home country would be allowed to vote in similar circumstances.
– Only allow people here on work or student visas to get free schooling for their children if Brit families would get equivalent good schooling free if they were in their home country.
– Only give work visas when it would be equally easy for a Brit to get a work visa to their home country.
– And so much more which is blindingly obvious to everyone except our ruling class.
–
January 2, 2026
the only terrorist to survive the SAS rescuing the hostages in the Iranian embassy siege is still living in the UK, he left prison a long time ago, he almost certainly has indefinite leave to remain or a British passport by now. he is living a very nice life, he is probably getting benefits. yet another easy example of somebody who should be deported, stripped of any rights to be here. get rid of him.