British National Pride

It's difficult to imagine that this tiny, scruffy country once ruled most of the known world, including vast parts of America.

Since then, the colonies have gone their own way and Britain can barely rule its own back yard. But the Brits are still fiercely proud of their country -- well, when it's under threat.

The rest of the time, during periods of relative peace, Brits love to take the mick out of (mock) their politicians, the Royal Family, the police military leaders, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is incomprehensible to Americans, who fly into a blind rage if you laugh at their national anthem or burn their flag. Americans are unceasingly patriotic and that patriotism extends to all the symbols and rituals associated with the country.

British patriotism is more diffuse and abstract. It's about standing up for values such as tolerance, openness, eccentricity, the right to go one's own, non-American, non-Eurocentric way.

If Brits had to choose between Continental Europe and America, they'd choose America every time, but they reserve the right to quietly criticize their bigger, richer, and more powerful cousin.