Being British is easy to define. If you are truly British there will have been a time in your life when you you would have done anything that was asked of you by your Soveriegn or country. Sadly that has now faded to present day British. This a state of mentality when you accept the fact that people from other countries, along with criminals, drug and alcohol abusers have more rights than you. It is allowing children and dysfunctional teens and adults to cause mahem and upset. It is all about believing that if you work in a normal job, are law abiding and decent then you must pay the salaries of Police who are not allowed to police. Teachers who can not teach and penal reform system that can not cope with the mistakes made by the last two governments Accepting all this and then voting for the same bunch of clowns agin is what makes a present day britisher.

Tiny, Birmingham , England

Define "British?
English?
Welsh?
Scottish?
Irish?
French?
Pakistani?
Etc.

First define colour for a blind man.

Morgan, Manchester, UK

It's really very simple:

-The Native population are English.

-Immigrants (illegal or otherwise) claim to be British.

-The rest are foreigners, and are thus unworthy of consideration!

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

The only reason for this report is to hide from the fact that we have a scottish prime minister with no mandate to govern over English only laws.

It continues to amaze me that we have people who take Browns utterences at face value and hence waste valuable time on pointless newspaper columns.

TrevorH, OXON,

Teachers should not be relied upon to teach how to be British. The parents are responsible for setting an example to the child and to teach respect to other people and to the country.

I agree with Alan, "Many of us today associate Britain with immigrants". Britain is never going to be solely British again, we should accept the fact and move on.

And what is this about swearing an oath of allegiance to Queen and Country at the end of school? We are following in the footsteps of America, despite the fact that we have centuries more history than they do. We are forgetting our traditions and accepting that of the Americans.

Ludicrous!!!

Jeremy Fox, Duffus, Moray

The Scots getting their own back? What fun!

We could play them at cricket? Would that be fair?

Jo, Olney, UK

Jon Livesey, Sunnyvale,CA/USA!!

You may like to believe that you are British , but you live in America and no longer have first hand knowledge of the situation.

Soceity is changing around us and therefore we will change with it.

Amy , Bourne , England, UK

The English are English, the Scottish are Scottish, the Welsh are Welsh and the 'British' are foreigners.

Steve Jacks, London,

EVERY MP and Lord has to swear and oath of alegience and bows the head in submission to the lawfull and constitutional head of this country.
it is that willing a free oath and submission to the crown that gives this goverment in particular and this parliament in general the lawful authority and power(derived from the crown)to govern the country.The elections give them the authority to represent the people and thus the country.We have a threefold constitutional monarchy.If then they 'serve' as yet an unseen head of another 'state' they have no legal right to do so and have abnegated thier oath and disqualified them as servants of the crown and representative of the country.
To sugest then that there should be a test of britshness while at the same time are activley seekign the destruction of our constitional system of goverement lays them all who do so open to the charge og high treason.
Perhaps they should be reminded then of thier own oath and called to book over it.
G Blezard

G Blezard, london, uk

David K., Alexandria
Giz a drag off that will you?

"Your country is losing it's pride and identity through willful ignorance, and misplaced confidence in multi-culturalism. "

Your wrong mate. The majority of people have had this concept of multi-culturalism forced upon them and when they have objected the liberals have played the race card.

Bad things lay ahead thats certain. How can you go against the grain of the people for decades and expect things to remain rosey is behond me but alas the people have awoke and stated they have had more than enough.

But then the government ignores them which leads us back to trouble ahead.

Many of us today asociate Britishness with immigrants.

I'm now 100% English screw Britain, Its definately been screwing me and mine.

Alan, Liverpool,

We could make a start on defining Britishness by having a national anthem that in country with a large number of atheists and republicans, doesn't call on God to save a (gracious and holy )monarch. I think Wiliam Blake's 'Jerusalem' would be the ideal national anthem. I know it mentions God, but it also encourages people to build 'Jerusalem' which you can interpret in enough ways to suit everyone. Personally I'd interpret 'Jerusalem' as a secular, democratic socialist republic where religion is a private matter, and you can actually vote for your head of state.

Brian Abbott., Cork , Ireland. (I'm English by the way)

Well, I am amused. I posted my comment because I *am* British, and I find the idea of defining Britishness to be truly inane.

Actually, I'll go further. Back in the fifties adn sixties, when we were - mostly - white, no-one ever suggested that we needed to define Britishness much less pledge allegiance.

But today, now that we British are not all white, the Government sees the need to define what being British is, and for good measure they want citizens to swear oaths of loyalty.

Now what is that? Something worse than inane, I would say. What this whole exercise is about is telling recent citizens "We won't put the time and work into integrating you into our society, but we'd like you to swear loyalty to us and our country just the same".

Now imagine how that comes across to a recent citizen.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA, this is a BRITISH newspaper. If you don't like it why not read one of your own semi-literate American rags!

J Roberts, Manchester, UK

The govt ranting about Britishness is cynical spin to mask the fact that England is ruled by Scots.

Quite apart from the senior members of the cabinet, it seems every time a junior minister is interviewed, a Scottish accent lilts across the airwaves, and I try to remember what their department used to be called before expensive rebranding (more smoke) and whether this is another of the departments which now only controls English affairs. Then I try to remember his name and vow to look up whether he sits for an English seat or whether he's another of these ministers whose decisions don't affect the people who elect him. But I never get that far.

So, Jon Livesay, it's not The Times that's re-runnig this story every 6 months, it's the govt, at considerable expense to the taxpayer, trying to convince us we live in a democracy.

Andrew Forbes, Thames Ditton, Surrey

Twenty-something years ago Ronald Reagan was proud to describe the US as a people with a government, and not the other way round. However, Brown and his extended family clearly view the UK as being the other way round, which is probably about as un-British as you can get.

Simon, Brussels,

How about doing some National Service instead. This isn't some backward dream of the right, but something that takes place in many other European nations, such as Germany. What better way to instill some sense of pride as well as duty to sit alongside the rights of which we all so very well aware. And it's patriotic enough for the Tories as well as organised by the state, which should keep Labour happy too.

James Berry, Leicester,

A hundred years ago, no-one would have had trouble "feeling" or "being" British. The question wouldn't have come up. The Union Jack was a symbol of pride, and the good works of the British citizens were on display around the globe. So what's changed? You've forgotten your national stories. You don't know your history. Your youngsters don't even know the participants involved in WWII, or WWI. Your country is losing it's pride and identity through willful ignorance, and misplaced confidence in multi-culturalism. (If all cultures are equally valuable, then none have any particular value at all, hence none are better than others, and to be British is to be nothing special.) Britain is choosing to go silently into the night. The lamps once again are going out all over Europe, and this time the U.S. of A. will not be coming to the rescue.....we're busy. I truly wish the UK the best, but I do believe the worst is on it's way and has already taken a foothold. Your fading.

David K., Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Do we really have to go through this "Can you define Britishness" nonsense every six months?

It resembles an endlessly repeated bit of performance art more than it does news.

If a blog re-ran this elderly story every six months, we'd say it was a pretty poor blog.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA