Carol McGiffin
‘Ihave just read the results of the most baffling of surveys. Its purpose was to find out what other nations and their people think of us Brits, by commissioning research that looked at what is most commonly searched for on the internet about us.
The findings weren’t positive to say the least, with the main observation or criticism being that all Brits have “terrible teeth”. Strange. We are also “crazy”, our food is terrible, the French look for jokes about us, we’re “ugly”, it’s OK to call us “beefsteaks”, and in Italy people are asking “how the f*** am I British?”
And this was published by a British company! Frankly, I find Brit-bashing offensive – but somehow, it seems to be acceptable.
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t taken leave of my sense of humour, but imagine if you commissioned a survey to see what the British thought about people from the rest of the world? And then published it. No one would be laughing, it would just exacerbate the accusations that we are all racist, xenophobic, thick, uncultured p***heads.
Why is it all so one-sided? Why is it OK to bash Brits? And we get it from all directions. From politicians, from so-called “intellectuals”, from anyone who voted “Remain” in the Brexit referendum. But also, from all people who are not only ashamed to be British but look down their noses at British customs, British history, British culture, the British flag, and anyone who is proud of any of that. I’m not sure why they even live there.’