What is British identity in Ireland?

[purpledon]

Partitionist

Indeed.

[Cantona]

And they would have accepted him.

Well, erm, yeah. Did you have a point there?

[purpledon]

I hesitate to give my own personal answer, because it is not typical, but here it is - feel free to ignore it if you think it irrelevant.

I was born in England and, as a little child, happily told everyone what my parents had told me - that I was half-English, half-Irish.

As a teenager, I lost the belief that my identity was partly Irish, because of the combination of the following (I guess - our decisions are largely made by our sub-conscious mind, which is largely hidden to our conscious mind)
- There were a few 100% Irish boys at my school, but I was always an outsider to their group
- Just as I was starting to read newspaper, I read about Kingsmills
- We went on a family holiday to County Mayo, where my family originally came from. My father, who spoke with an English accent, was very disappointed to be treated in much less welcoming manner than my mother was.
There was one incident, in my twenties, that pulled the other way - an Irish friend saying, in the context of choosing which pub to go to "Your family comes from Ireland - you can count as Irish."

These are all very small things, but that is the material that our minds work on - I don't spend my time trying to think myself into one identity or the other.

What about the positive things that pulled me towards a British identity? Here, I would be speculating even more. My guess
- My wider family living an ordinary, peaceful life in England
- University - beautiful old buildings, good friends, the history - Newton, Darwin, Wittgenstein
- four years in an Army whose help in their liberation Kuwaiti and older Belgian and Dutch friends are grateful for
- 101 Dalmations etc
- the British Museum
- the Guardian and the BBC (when I am not spluttering too much about their opinions)

But all that is the past. The future is not about us who are now middle-aged, but about the next generation. For my immediate family, Belfast is home. For them, my situation is that of Ruth "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people." Belfast is now my home. It is a place that I share with all the other people for whom it is home. If those people chose to become part of a United Ireland, I will be happy with that. If those people chose to remain part of a United Kingdom, I will be happy with that.

When I lived in the UK, I was told several times that the British should have fu..ing wiped the Irish off the face of the earth. How's that for inclusiveness. But my favourite insult was "if you weren't Irish, I'd ask you out". I bet none of you can top that for being on the receiving end.

Unlike you David, I don't dislike British people for it. Did you ever ask yourself why you didn't fit in with the other kids didn't like you. I'll tell you, it's because they didn't like the Irish. Get it.

I suppose four years in the British army would ingrain your Britishisness. Yep that would do it.

[between the bridges]

[QUOTE=antiestablishmentarian;4884863]What does it mean to be British in Ireland (especially in the North, which is why I posted this here) today? Many Unionist posters proclaim themselves to be both British and Irish/Northern Irish. That said, there does not seem to be any common thread linking them to Britain beyond political identity, which has become conflated with religion. Linguistically, they are much closer to their Catholic and/or Nationalist neighbours (they all speak a form of Ulster English), culturally there is little difference too beyond the Orange Order and the GAA, so what exactly is it that gives Unionists their identity with Britain over Ireland? I suspect it is purely political but I would be intrigued to hear why exactly Unionists/Loyalists/PUL identify with the UK.[/QUOTE]

well seeing as i was born and live here in the uk, i am intrigued as to why anyone should think that i shouldn't...

[between the bridges]

When I lived in the UK, I was told several times that the British should have fu..ing wiped the Irish off the face of the earth. How's that for inclusiveness. But my favourite insult was "if you weren't Irish, I'd ask you out". I bet none of you can top that for being on the receiving end.

Unlike you David, I don't dislike British people for it. Did you ever ask yourself why you didn't fit in with the other kids didn't like you. I'll tell you, it's because they didn't like the Irish. Get it.

I suppose four years in the British army would ingrain your Britishisness. Yep that would do it.

wow well that proves it then, thanks for sharing.

[Cruimh]

Well, erm, yeah. Did you have a point there?

Same one as yours ......

[Cruimh]

When I lived in the UK, I was told several times that the British should have fu..ing wiped the Irish off the face of the earth. How's that for inclusiveness. But my favourite insult was "if you weren't Irish, I'd ask you out". I bet none of you can top that for being on the receiving end.

Ever stop and think that the insults might have been because of you rather than because of Irishness ?

As for topping that - do we really want to go down that road ?

[between the bridges]

The common identity of "our" archipelago is Irish.:

well seeing as irish is an english word which comes from Eire which comes from the latin Iouernia which comes from the greek Ierne you may have a point...but i doubt it is the one you think you meant...

[Cantona]

Same one as yours ......

Now I remember why I stopped reading your inane posts.

[DavidCaldwell]

When I lived in the UK, I was told several times that the British should have fu..ing wiped the Irish off the face of the earth. How's that for inclusiveness. But my favourite insult was "if you weren't Irish, I'd ask you out". I bet none of you can top that for being on the receiving end.

Unlike you David, I don't dislike British people for it. Did you ever ask yourself why you didn't fit in with the other kids didn't like you. I'll tell you, it's because they didn't like the Irish. Get it.

I suppose four years in the British army would ingrain your Britishisness. Yep that would do it.

I am sorry that you had a bad experience of living in the UK.

To address one of your points. I don't dislike Irish people. Many of my ancestors were Irish (Catholic, suffered in the famine). My wife and children are Irish. One of the people I most admire - Gordon Wilson - was brought up in Dublin and would have considered himself Irish.

As a teenage, I lost my childhood belief that I had a significant C/N/R Irish identity. I hope to regain that belief. Whether I do or not depends largely on how welcoming the C/N/R side of the community is to me.