So I wrote this back when I had decided to vote No in the Scottish Independence referendum. My opinions have since changed, but this blog remains. I will continue to be culturally British whether my passport says that or not. My point when writing this blog was that I could not understand people who refute the word British, as though it makes you less Scottish. I am proud of so much about Great Britain, but the referendum is about political, powers only.
Like many people up and down the country, I jumped around screaming when Andy Murray beat Tsonga in the semi-finals of Wimbledon this year. I also cheered and cried from the outset of, and throughout, the Olympic Opening Ceremony in London. I revelled in the music section, announcing that I would never listen to American music again because British music is too awesome to need to.
Great Britain has so much to be proud of; The Beatles, Sir Tom Jones, Sean Connery, Harry Potter, the Premier League, Robert Burns, the Chemical Brothers, Shakespeare, Irn Bru (Scotland is the ONLY place in the world where Coca Cola is outsold by a native soft drink), Ridley Scott, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Chris Hoy, Adele, Muse, Richard Curtis.
I am an extremely proud Scot and if the Scottish national team played the English or Welsh national team in any sport, I'd be on my seat, wearing a Saltire, screaming on the Scots. When I was travelling a couple of years ago, I repeatedly found myself listing with pride all the wonderful things about being Scottish. I was also frequently outraged when it became apparent that people thought that the big island to the west of Europe was England and Scotland is one of those tiny islands above it where everyone wears kilts and eats only haggis. If I walk up the aisle and the man waiting for me isn't wearing a kilt, I'll be very disappointed. I am Scottish, not English, not Welsh. I am Scottish and I most certainly am also British.
England, Scotland and Wales each have so much to celebrate as individual nations and then have the added beauty of - as the Opening Ceremony showed - being able to come together for one hell of a party! Some people think we're bonkers, but I think we are a quirky, multi-cultural, slightly odd looking, imperfectly perfect, free country.
National pride is heightened when you take into consideration how small Britain is and yet how strongly we compete with much bigger nations. British film, British music, British comedy; these things are so well respected world wide, despite our population being less than one fifth of that of the United States. When the initials NHS were illuminated during the opening ceremony, I smiled smugly along with the rest of Britain and invited Mitt Romney to politely 'suck it'.
Yes, our history is fraught with colonisation and civil war, but when I see Brits coming together to celebrate an event like the Olympics, when I read all the objections to NBC not showing the 7/7 tribute, when I see a Scot, Englishman or Welshman accepting a medal on behalf of Great Britain, when I take part in a minute's silence on the 11th of November, I am overwhelmed by what Great Britain stands for and what we have achieved together.
What I'll add at the end here is that while the above all stands, the thing that breaks my heart is watching our government attempt to destroy all this in favour of being some soulless global power. Whatever happens in the referendum, I will fight to save the NHS, to improve education and to restore Britain - both north and south of the border - to its rightful glory.
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