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Yay, woo england rocks.

cricket sunshine and harveys ale for me happy st georges day.

Yet, the flag isn't allowed to be flown because it might cause offence...

Screw the politics, all I want is a National Holiday and sun and a beer garden.

It's flying here. On the church tower and outside the pub.

Tonight my local are holding a St George's Day event, football & rugby memorable victories will be shown on all the tv's in the bar, including the whole of the 1969 World Cup Final, highlights of Italia 90, highlights of Euro 96 (Remember Pearce's penalty celebration?) and highlights of when we stuffed the germans in their backyard. Oh and some rugby games.

I think incidents like this are blown massively out of proportion, I'm sure you could put a flag up outside your house right now without issue

Anyway, I'm off work today to celebrate our country in the best possible way. Getting pissed and throwing up in a gutter.

Er where is the flag not allowed to be flown exactly? Or have you just made this up in a Daily Mail style "political correctness gone mad" story with no facts to back it up.

I must have missed the World cup in 1969, who won?

Swindon.

Obviously I meant '66! For some reason my subconcious decided '69 was a much better year.

According to a chap who sits near me, you can't say blackboard anymore or sing ba ba black sheep. He also went on to say that we're all going to hell in a handcart and went on to claim that something or other has gone mad.

My flag's flying on the flagpole in my garden perfectly legally

Says who? Where? Link me to something that says it's illegal to fly the cross of St George within the  Borough of Swindon (and I don't mean a letter to the Adver complaining that some old fart has been refused planning permission to erect a 50 ft flagpole in the front yard of his 2 up 2 down terraced house on Ponting Street or something, which these stories always seem to be based on).

errr. I think you've missed a post there lumps.

Read the post before axs's. He was referring to who won the World Cup.

Calm down, it was a reply to the post above my one. You may notice I've already disagreed with Sippo's original post.

Coffee and a naan. It's political correctness gone mad!

I can't remember when but was a few years ago. Places like pubs wanted to put flags up, which they should be able to do, but weren't allowed because it might cause offence.

If I recall, it was in Marlborough in the early 1990s.  I'm sure people will still be banging on about it in 2059.

so a vague, probably non story a few years ago has lead you to believe you cant fly a flag on St Georges day through fear of arrest?

 :D

You can do what you like,Im pretty sure there arent crack squads of council ops scanning the streets of Swindon for flags.

Got it in one

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5211952.stm

So it was actually a planning technicality rather than any kind of PC gone mad. Still bet the myth outlives the facts - I hear you can't even fly a banana on your own cucumber frame if it's not the right curviness thanks to the EU. Are we men or mice?

Apparently you cant call people nutters anymore.

Honestly its madness gone politically correct.

Ha, that made oi larf

Yay, Happy St George's Day peeps.

I will celebrate with some Stella or Guinness followed up by a nice Indian, in a typically English fashion.

I might even hang a black sheep eating a banana outside my house!

BNP rally down town today - Is this happening in most cities? I like observing politcial rallies/speeches regardless of what I believe and was going to go down and watch but don't know if I will now.


I like St. George's Day - it's sad that nobody seems to enjoy it like St. Guinness Day ;)

So go out and enjoy it, I know I am.

I'm assuming you mean SGD and not the rally!

I'm off in a bit to have a look around Newcastle's castle.

Haha yes, the day, not the march.

No, go and shave your head, paint "NF" on your forehead and join in with the march.

St Georges Day brings back memories of being a cub and marching through Cirencester Town centre wearing my kneckerchief and woggle.

I only wrote that so I could write 'woggle'.

What colour woggle did you have Batch? I used to have a red woggle.

I can't remember Sam. Was it based on which 6 you were in. In which case blue. But I seem to remember a brown leather one.

Yes, it was based on what 6 you were in. I seem to remember I made sixer quite quickly in cubs which meant you got to boss some people about, do the flag and also the old "Cubs, do your best!" routine.

I was a cub in Germany for a brief time... I joined because they had this wicked cool 5-a-side football pitch.

Anywho, we went on a camping trip to Hemelin - luckily I survived the ghastly pied piper.

I quit soon afterwards because of the lack of playing football on that wicked cool 5-a-side football pitch.

St Georges Day would be celebrated the world over if only some big corporate brand would sell us it.  I like the fact we celebrate something that never happened, in fact that's all we seem to celebrate - mythical events.

Why is the patron saint of England some Turkish bloke that fought a mythical creature in Palestine anyway?

It's not as if English history doesn't have a fairly long list of potential heros. Surely one of them could have got the old sainthood for something.

Blame those galavanting crusaders.

We want an ENGLISH saint for ENGLAND  ;D

i didn't realise it was st george's day. nobody in norway seems to be celebrating it.

i'll go fishing in my england cricket shirt to 'celebrate'

In fairness they have Olaf II.

it's all about the 17th of may here.

Olaf II is probably 56th in line to the English throne...if it hadn't been for Alfred the Great, he'd probably be king now.

We should have a day to celebrate Wessex culture and Alfred...

It wasn't the BNP - it was actually the National Front with a special guest appearance from anti-fascist protestors. Got quite heated apparently.

Let's reclaim Winchester as the old capital and forget about Londinium  ;D

Wasn't Edward the Confessor sainted?  In which case he could be the our saint if we want (even if he's German).  Mind you he was a tad indecisive about who sould rule after him and caused a little argument, so perhaps not.  I want it to be St Hubbins, but I may be in a minority.

I think it's the other king saint that was german, Someone the Martyr?

What does English actually mean?  Norman (French), Saxon (German), Jute (Danish)...?  Give it 300 years and the Bangladeshis that arrived in the second half of the last century will be mentioned in the same breath as all of these.

We're a mongrel race.  Always have been.  Our Turkish knight is perfectly cast as patron saint.

Nah. At least the Norman, Saxons, Jutes and Bangladeshis made a fucking effort to come and visit. Lazy Turkish Cunt.

English means from England...so you can be originally from Bangladesh, but still be English.

Wasn't it the sainted Morrisey, who said, Irish blood, English heart.

Some of Morrisey's music stuff is ok, but Men Behaving Badly was shit.

I didn't like him much when he turned out for Tranmere against us in 92/93.

MorriSSey,get it right you two  ;)

That Jasper Fforde book is in the library Reg.I couldn't face it so its back on the shelf  :D


And Happy St Georges Day everyone  :)

Cheers

Just a thought, but perhaps someone might know the answer.

Why do we have a patron saint, seeing as we're officially a protestant country? Aren't saints an exclusively catholic thing?

Wasn't England a Catholic country back then, until Henry 8th's time? My history knowledge is not great.

not true. the Normans, Saxons, Jutes, Angles and Friisians we're all Germanic people.

Aren't they sheep?

cows

Or Horses, according to wiki.

But not sheep.

To celebrate I had fish and chips for dinner, and washed it down with some Gin.

I am now having my annual cup of tea.

Anything less would be multi-cultural.

Please don't think me sad, but thanks to a Swindon Town calendar I had as a lad, I always think of the 23rd April as Fraser Digby's birthday.  So - happy birthday to the finest town keeper I've ever seen - I'm having a drink for you.

I've been out flag waving and drinking a-plenty.

Destroyed my phone somehow though.

It (was) my birthday on St Georges day! And I passed my driving test on Monday so it's been a good week! :D Got money for a car and insurance, tickets to Peterborough and 2 stand buy me tickets.  8)

As usual, evey St Georges day, someone starts a thread about it and the genral, ignorant, poorly informed and more poorly educated populace of the TEF talk horseshit, bullshit and a load of bollocks about it.

Well done, this years thread has proven that the vast majority of contributors here manage exceed expectations by actually talking 100% bollocks.

Be very proud of yourselves guy's and gal's. A fucking discrace to your nation.

So you didn't want to add anything constructive yourself then?

Is gin not English then?

Poorly educated?  Mistakes in your post.  Georges - George's.  genral - general.  manage exceed - manage to excede.  guy's and gal's - guys and gals.  Discrace - disgrace.

He who casts the first stone...

Yes door, a few typing errors or would you rather talk about the points I made.

I bet you have a piece of paper that says you're clever?

Do you mean, "Let he who is without sin..."?

(Until then it was a great post)

Yeah Doore you knob. Having a bit of paper saying you're clever, shame on you. You won't be welcome into the world of far right politics unless you're proud of your ignorance.

You didn't make any points, feel free to now:

I did mean let he who is without sin - thanks for the correction.  I actually have lots of pieces of paper saying I'm clever - my Mum used to make them for me until I was old enough to do it myself.  I'm proud of my ignorance of certain things - I know fuck all about interior design and am rather proud of the fact.

As to the points you so eloquently made, how has anyone disgraced the nation in this rather amusing and light hearted thread?

Oh, and it's Doore, not door.

St George is basically the growth of pre Norman conquest cult.

St George is "not English"

St G is the patron St of nearly a dozen European nations from England to Ukraine.

St G is also the patron St of at least three times as many european cities as he is nations.

The fact that he's "not English" is entirely irrelivent to the pont of a patron St.

Start looking at the myth of St G and what he represents and then you might start getting to the bottom of why he was selected (rather belatedly I might add) as the patron St. What he represents is the important part of this.

And with regards to previous postings, Edmund the marty,a former King of England, is the original patron St of the English nation.

And Ardiles, your assertion that the English are a "mongrel race" could do with you actually doing a bit of research.

All of which is discussed in the other St George thread.

The other thread? 

Too far down for me to have seen that.

Far too many of us have been having a bit of light hearted fun on St. Georges day, maybe having a few english beers and having a good time. When really it's clear we should have been moaning that we couldn't have a bit of light hearted fun celebrating St. Georges day with a few beers because of the those Politically Correct Gay Immigrant Brigade.

fuck a duck, if that one about him being a "roman" is the one your talking about, I'm glad I missed it. If you're talking about another one, I never go to page two so in my realuty, it doesn't exsist.

EDIT: Get a fucking job ben and stop being a timewasting cunt.

When I read this, beer came out of my nose.  

You still haven't actually made a point, if you have information relating to this topic I would be very interested and happy to read it.

Isn't that last comment a bit over the top to a tongue in cheek, and may I ad rather amusing, post?  Why get personal?

Don't be too harsh on him Doore. The playground debating tactic of throwing insults when things start going over your head is pretty advanced for ironside. It's like his special move.

I want ironside to be our new patron saint

There was King Edmund Ironside who I think left England to Super Viking King Canute the Great when he died. I think Canute controlled most of England by that point anyway.

Cunt

Subtle.

Not like my supple man boobs.

My man boobs are curiously rock like. I've been doing some weights this week and my pecs hurt like fuck.

As a point of historical fact, Canute was a Cnut. I like to think that neatly ties in the historical pedantry with TEF random swearing/bollockry.

And Ironside's right, the English aren't a mongrel race, because we're not a race. But mongrel we most definitely are and all the better for it and long may it continue. Speaking as the proud owner of several mongrels who've all been far better dogs than your highly strung nancy-fancy pedigrees. (In national terms, think English>French)

Paul, you are wasted on here. You would be better off reading Classics at Moscow University.

Fuck off soon.

Oh dear!

Another happy customer of the Ironside School of Anger Management and Interpersonal Relations, I see.

Things you may have missed while you had your head up your arse:
The Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, meaning telling people you think are left-wing (and who isn't from your end of the spectrum) to "fuck off to Russia" is right up there with Tears for Fears, Snoods and Howard Jones
The TEF is a place for serious-ish football debate and talking bollocks. If you find that stokes your denim rage to such an extent, you may find other websites which cater more to the angry middle-aged more to your liking. I understand the Daily Mail site has an excellent and lively comments section

meow :)

I found the denim bit amusing

Yeah, so did I  :)

I can see why this thread has reduced Ironside to spluttering incoherence, but why the fuck is Talk Talk so angry all the time.

As for the "mongrel race" debate, depends on your definition of race is suppose. The OED's main definition describes a race as one of the "major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics" which would make the English hard pressed to define themselves as a race at all, but it also includes a broader definition as "a group of persons connected by common descent" which gives a bit more scope.

Whether it's mongrel or not? Well the idea of any kind of "racial purity" in England, or the rest of Britain for that matter is a bit of a non-starter. Start with the Picts and some Celts, add the Scots who came over from Ireland, they're your basic Britons I suppose. Add a little genetic material from the Romans, and then, once they fuck off, a lot more from the waves of invasions from the Jutes the Angles and the Saxons in the South of England. That's adding your Germanic elements to the gene pool, language and culture. Then there's the Vikings adding some Nordic blood down the east coast, particularly in Northumberland and East Anglia. Then the Normans, giving us a good chunk of our aristocracy and reintroducing / strengthening the influence of Latin and the other romance laguages on the development of our language and culture. After that I guess it slows down a bit. 50-100,000 Huguenots flee across the channel from France shortly after 1685, but not any major invasions or waves of immigration until the 19th century when we get a fair few jewish and irish migrants. Then the 20th century with all the migrant waves from Asia, Uganda, the West Indies, Eastern Europe etc. etc. that get the likes of Ironside so worked up.

You got to say it looks a bit mongrel doesn't it. Even the BNP's own definitions for what's an acceptable racial background for membership, which covers a lot of the earlier (i.e. white) bits of the above, has to run to about a page of text.

What I've always found so amusing is that the likes of the BNP are quite happy to accept that the first half a dozen of those waves of immigration, from the Romans to the Normans, are component parts of British culture, despite the fact that each of them fundamentally transformed British society. But at the same time they're terrified of current immigration, which in relative terms is nowhere near as substantial and hasn't changed things nearly as much. Without the Romans, Angles, Saxons and Norse we'd all be speaking a some kind of development of a proto celtic language like pritennic or pictish, something sounding a bit like welsh or cornish. Instead we've got a language that reflects a very mixed heritage, based on both germanic and romance language roots, but with dialects in different parts of the country that reflect historical ethnic roots. So Northumberland and Norfolk and Suffolk have got words and place names with a distinctly Nordic feel, and Wales, Scotland and bits of Cornwall retain some bits of the Celtic tradition and language.

I like that fact we're a bit of a mixed bag myself. I'd hate to live somewhere like Japan where the race and culture have been quite insular and self contained over the centuries and is now having to respond to an increasingly global economy and culture.

I'm not angry at the moment  :bye:

But I haven't read your post yet though...

Wasn't Genghis Khan leader of the mongrels ?

Oh good smiley Talk Talk. That's what we like to see.

I don't think the post will annoy you it's all a bit historical facty type stuff.

Has anyone suggested the English 'race' isn't a mongrel breed? Aren't we all agreeing on everything?

Maybe I'm just hungover.

Well no-one except Ironside, who just made some snide "you're all ignorant and need to learn about your culture if you think we're a mongrl race" comment.

I like mongrels myself

I have to confess I was being a little mischievous with the 'mongrel race' comment (which I still stand by, by the way).  I'd seen Ironside lurking and thought I'd dangle some bait.  It worked.

I blame the nerves...pressure of tomorrow's game is getting to me, I think.  If we get that win, I'm going to search out Ironside and give him a big, wet, sloppy kiss.

No, it is very informative.

I just like baiting Davis because he is the self-appointed high horse left wing evangelist who rises up and slays the right wing dragons as soon as they show their ugly heads. A bit like St George but with a USSR flag instead of a red and white cross.

I agree, those fucking japs all look the same to me.

Lumps I found your post interesting.

There's a lot of baiting going on right now.  I think we should stop.  United we stand, divided we fall etc.  We're all Swindon fans and we really, really need to challenge our energy for tomorrow's game.  Seriously.

These nerves really are getting to me.  Anyone else feeling like this?

I think he's right though. You need to stop using the "get back to Russia" type lines. It was ignorant even before the break up of the SU. Now it just sounds like really stupid.

Yeah lets all be friends.

Fucking hippy

I can't really say that I can feel them from where I am sat. Perhaps if you bought me a lunch time beer you could show me the tremors.

Stop baiting me..!

To be honest I'm doing everything I can not to think about it. That's why I'm in general discussion, but for some reason you keep bringing the subject back up!

Yesterday was pretty grim.

Sorry.

It's too late now I've started worrying about it again!

Would this now be a good idea to mention the Ghurkas story and how it relates to an EU Directive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8014265.stm

Probably not!  :D

Erm OK. Actually you and Nazi boy seem to have appointed me to that status. I don't even class myself as left wing or any wing come to that. I do think you have HRT issues though.

Don't you two get on then?

TT seems to have taken against him for some reason.

It's odd but he's much nicer to me and I'm easily as much as a smart arse as PD, and much more of a pinko commie leftie type.

Leave my arse out of this

Yeah, of course we do. I have an enormous amount of time and respect for Paul. Someone needs to have a dig at him occasionally though otherwise he will get too cocky.

Dat true :nod: I think Alan's lovely fwiw

To drag the thread back a bit, I didn't get the denim reference. :-[

Talktalk wears denim lots. Thats the reference. (did I get it right?)

Oh, fair enough.  Never met TT.  At least I don't think so...

 He wears lots of aftershave and smells like a poof.

Well jeans (which everybody wears, no?) and occasionally a denim jacket. Hardly a 'lot'.

Now if I had a denim shirt...

That might end the universe as we know it.

Do it.