100 per cent English

There's a lot of talking going on at McGaribaldi at the moment regarding the definition of Englishness, following the Channel 4 program 100 per cent English.

McGaribaldi, born in England (sorry, Nottingham) to Irish parents, now lives in Wales and sees himself as much Irish & Welsh as English. Fair enough.

Personally, I can't trace my family tree past one of my parents, an adopted child of a London Nurse and (so we think) a US / Canadian member of the armed forces, while the other side of my family haven't ventured outside the Radford / Aspley areas of Nottingham for at least four generations. Does that make me English ? I'd like to think so, even though I know it's not genetically correct.

And there is McGaribaldi's point. Being English isn't about place of birth or parentage, it's a state of mind.

What is more English than going out in the evening drinking German beer, Danish lager or French wine, having a kebab, curry or chinese on the way home before falling asleep on Swedish furniture. The multiculturalism of this country is immense and as Channel 4 have proved, far broader than most are prepared to accept.

There was no better sight in the summer than watching 2nd and 3rd generation Pakistanis wearing Pakistan cricket shirts one day and England football shirts the next. Norman Tebbitt once claimed that the 'cricket test' was a sign of proper integration, but then he was always barking mad.

There's a very good reason why people hang off the bottom of lorries for thousands of miles, risking life and limb to make it this far. There's a reason why, when these people are stopped in France, they don't give up.

Yes, there are issues with immigration. Yes, there are people who come to this country solely for the benefits, but the again, there are people 'born and bred' in this country who do nothing but leech off the system.

I would rather be living in a country where people were that desperate to come and live, rather than settle for close neighbours across the channel. It's clear that we must be doing something right.

Being English is a state of mind and anyone with a similar mindset is more than welcome to join the party.