With Her Majesty the Queen celebrating 60-years on the throne today, The Guardian newspaper asks… What does being British mean to you?

This question gave me ‘food for thought’.

Personally, even though I was born in England (sunny Liverpool to be exact) I see myself as British and not English because it encompasses most of my make-up as a person.

Being mixed-race of Irish and Barbadian descent, Britain has played a significant part in my heritage (rightly or wrongly) putting to one-side my actually being born here!

It wasn’t so long ago that the United Kingdom was of Great Britain and ‘Ireland‘ (my maternal descent), until the breakup of Eire – the island of Island – with Northern Ireland only staying part of the Union.

The Queen too, like Monarchs before her is the Queen of Barbados (my paternal descent) and I know there is a lot of history (beyond my knowledge) about how this came about – but, in the 21st Century even though they don’t have to Bajan’s continue to want to keep her as their Head of State.

So, my mix of English, Irish & Barbadian descent makes me VERY British and 100% although I might not always be treated that way like many others. Being British, is not just about the colour of your skin despite that now infamous racist YouTube video ‘My Tram Experience’ arguing otherwise.

Like The Guardian’s interactive article shows, no one thing makes us British.

I recently argued that…

Immigration: good for multicultural Britain

This has been a… how British are you, ‘View from the Bottom’.

Take care, Max x.

Live Healthy, Laugh Often & Love Yourself!

Published by My Mum. Copyright © Kevin Maxwell Film, Media & Performance 2012.