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We lost our empire because your country was too lazy to help fight world wars when they start. They reason we are no longer referred to as Great Britain is due to the propaganda that fills your american media.
Seems our yank friends are trying to vex the Brits, I'm actually surprised to see so many Brits agreeing with this shit. I'm Irish and I've no problem with the UK, I actually prefer how the British carry themselves over the Americans.
I especially feel the comment about Will and Kate to be particularly odious, given the amount of human trash that America has given the world, Paris Hilton? Lady Ga Ga? Stephen Baldwin?...
Seems our yank friends are trying to vex the Brits,
They are quite accomplished in that regard at least.
I'm actually surprised to see so many Brits agreeing with this shit.
There is a certain kind of person in the United Kingdom who is wont to view it quite poorly. They are usually undereducated and perceive themselves as victims of unfair persecution by the establishment. I suspect that they're idiots who didn't apply themselves in school and too late realised that without education one is essentially nothing in this world.
Therefore, they blame their problems on the state.
I actually prefer how the British carry themselves over the Americans.
I have found that the United States is too large to categorize so broadly, but the denizens of the major cities definitely seem to be lacking in cognitive ability.
I especially feel the comment about Will and Kate to be particularly odious
It is jealousy and nothing more. Very few people seem to understand what the function of the royals is today.
Paris Hilton? Lady Ga Ga? Stephen Baldwin?
... Jessica Simpson, the entire Kardashian family, Perez Hilton ...
"There is a certain kind of person in the United Kingdom who is wont to view it quite poorly. They are usually undereducated and perceive themselves as victims of unfair persecution by the establishment."
How do you know they haven't been persecuted by the establishment?, how do you know they wouldn't fair better in an establishment that doesn't require them to conform to narcissistic ideals of an egotistical culture.
"We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world." "
- Terrance McKenna
"I suspect that they're idiots who didn't apply themselves in school and too late realised that without education one is essentially nothing in this world."
In my experience academic education cannot compare to the kind's of insights obtained from the felt presence of direct experience.
How do you know they haven't been persecuted by the establishment?
Why do you immediately presume that they have? Why do you side with the disgruntled as a matter of principle? Why do you consistently argue against everything done by the powerful, and ally yourself so consistently with the weak?
Is it because of observation or idealism? While you will assuredly say the latter, I cannot help but suspect the other.
I personally think your country is rather backward and underdeveloped, but my reasons do not include the prices of your property, your taxes or your weather. Rather, I despise the pathetic insistence of the use of Gaelic on road signs even though only 40,000 people speak the language. I despise the constant petty nationalism of the media. The ineptitude of the cameramen and editors on RTE. The ridiculously poor internet connections in the west. The residual Anglophobia. The corruption of local governments. The fact that people elect undereducated rustics like Healy-Ray as TDs, who are responsible for most of the corruption. I cannot abide Ryan Tubridy and his tippity-tap feet. I am particularly annoyed by the affected American accents that women garble in over the radio. I don't like entering a shop and not finding twiglets or crumpets. The roads are dreadful and the motorway is shorter than a mayfly's lifespan. The inability to speak a single sentence in the English language without stuttering, a deficiency displayed by presenters, politicians, citizens, police and nigh everybody else, is also markedly odious.
But most of all, I despise the situation wherein everything that is good and noble and pure about your people, the richness of your history, the charity of your citizens, the stoic hardiness in times of austerity, has been sapped and erased in the dissolution of the rickety modern culture, so artificial and repugnant, that has been built up around it. It is pretentious and self-reverent. It assumes a superiority that is by no means justified. It is an institution that takes "crack" and makes it "craic". An institution that makes Mr. Obama an Irishman. It is a blight that prevents every other problem with the nation from being solved and unless it is cured soon, there will be little or no hope for your future.
And where is the opposition's equivalent, sir? "The taxes are high! The property costs a lot of money! There is a royal family that makes ten times as much money in tourism as it costs to sustain!". Drivel, all of it!
In my experience academic education cannot compare to the kind's of insights obtained from the felt presence of direct experience.
You have entirely missed the point, sir. The people who are posting the vitriole against my country are aged between 16 and 22, so I do not feel obliged to defer to their "experience". Prayerfails is an idiotic ultra-capitalist, and an American who has probably never even been to England.
I didn't presume, you presume that they "perceive themselves as victims of unfair persecution by the establishment" it is my contention that although this is not always the case their perception of the situation certainly has merit in many cases.
"Why do you side with the disgruntled as a matter of principle?"
Simple, i beleive grave inequality is a natural consequence of the current capitalist system which is dominating the world.
"Why do you consistently argue against everything done by the powerful"
This again is simple, i am a proponent of the Julien Benda world view, namely that in our world power comes only at the expense of truth.
"and ally yourself so consistently with the weak?"
They are nearly always the majority, and while i don't beleive true democracy is ever attainable, i do beleive in the ideal.
"Is it because of observation or idealism"
Actually it isn't directly attributable to either but i will say that both have heavily influenced my position, plus other facors not easily communicable.
"I personally think your country is rather backward and underdeveloped"
I agree.
"Rather, I despise the pathetic insistence of the use of Gaelic on road signs even though only 40,000 people speak the language."
It is one of the few ways of preserving our national identity (which was largely stolen from us) but i will admit it is simple not practicable in the slightest, and thus from your perspective i understand the frustration.
"I despise the constant petty nationalism of the media"
As do i.
"The ineptitude of the cameramen and editors on RTE. "
Ya i know where you're coming from.
"The ridiculously poor internet connections in the west."
You don't need to talk to me about internet connections when im not in University i have to use a 3G dongle that at its best is just about tolerable and at ots worst cannot even load a web page.
"The residual Anglophobia"
I think this is exaggerated, this may have been present to some degree in ceertain parts of the country long ago but not anymore, definitely not in the urban areas.
"The corruption of local governments"
Again i agree completely.
"The fact that people elect undereducated rustics like Healy-Ray as TDs"
I don't even have an opinion on this, but i can understand yours.
"who are responsible for most of the corruption"
This apperas to be rather unsubstantiated, ait was my understanding that the corruption was caused by the shrewdest in our government with Bertie Ahern and Haughey the most notable.
" I cannot abide Ryan Tubridy and his tippity-tap feet"
I don't know about his feet but i can't watch his show either.
" I am particularly annoyed by the affected American accents that women garble in over the radio."
This i understand completely and would go even futher in denouncing.
"I don't like entering a shop and not finding twiglets or crumpets. "
Fair enough, i find ways to survive without them although it is an ongoing struggle.
" The roads are dreadful "
Again, couldn't agree more.
". The inability to speak a single sentence in the English language without stuttering, a deficiency displayed by presenters, politicians, citizens, police and nigh everybody else, is also markedly odious."
i have noticed this but i don't think its nearly an indemic as you're trying to suggest, i happen to be able speak very qucikly and very eloquently without stuttering, and i don't think thats my ego talking as it has been independtly verified by many people.
"But most of all, I despise the situation wherein everything that is good and noble and pure about your people, the richness of your history, the charity of your citizens, the stoic hardiness in times of austerity, has been sapped and erased in the dissolution of the rickety modern culture, so artificial and repugnant, that has been built up around it. It is pretentious and self-reverent. It assumes a superiority that is by no means justified. It is an institution that takes "crack" and makes it "craic". An institution that makes Mr. Obama an Irishman. It is a blight that prevents every other problem with the nation from being solved and unless it is cured soon, there will be little or no hope for your future."
Again i would go a whole lot further than this, but i do not beleive that this is simply a problem for Ireland, i beleive that the american culture has laregly taken hold of Europe, it is slowly diffusing its way through the western world (and muich of the reat of the world) in the same way a gas placed in a sealed vessel (in a much higher concentration than the other present in the vessel) tneds to dominate the concentration of the resultant homogeneous mixture. I can assure you that Britain is no more immune than ireland and the reason it is not as discernible may be that your society is much more multicultural, although we are rapidly catching up.
"And where is the opposition's equivalent, sir? "The taxes are high! The property costs a lot of money! There is a royal family that makes ten times as much money in tourism as it costs to sustain!". Drivel, all of it!"
Fair enough.
"Prayerfails is an idiotic ultra-capitalist, and an American who has probably never even been to England"
There is a certain kind of person in the United Kingdom who is wont to view it quite poorly.
I suppose there is this type in every country.
I have found that the United States is too large to categorize so broadly, but the denizens of the major cities definitely seem to be lacking in cognitive ability.
True, probably a broad generalization on my part, but then this is a debate swimming in ignorance. I also wouldn't limit it to major cities as I'm sure there are some decent people there as well as there being those in smaller areas that are the opposite.
It is jealousy and nothing more. Very few people seem to understand what the function of the royals is today.
Far from being a royalist, I'm just not one to care about such matters, but I do think that the Royal family still being in existence is a good thing and provides England with a link to it's history and culture two things that America is in short supply of.
.. Jessica Simpson, the entire Kardashian family, Perez Hilton ...
I also wouldn't limit it to major cities as I'm sure there are some decent people there as well as there being those in smaller areas that are the opposite.
Oh undoubtedly, but the United States has always suffered from an elite minority being dragged down by the vast tides of ignorance.
All of your points couldn't make anymore sense to me. I find it appalling that people advocate such things without even taking into account what has been done on their part.
Do you actually have something to bring to the table other than your self esteem?
Do you really think you know about other people on this planet as well as you say you do?
Do you honestly believe that the only people in the UK that view it as anything other than a beacon of respectability are,
"a certain kind of person in the United Kingdom who is wont to view it quite poorly. They are usually undereducated and perceive themselves as victims of unfair persecution by the establishment. I suspect that they're idiots who didn't apply themselves in school and too late realised that without education one is essentially nothing in this world."?
Do you actually have something to bring to the table other than your self esteem?
My self esteem? I do not quite take your meaning, sir. Are you implying that my arguments are so sound, so confident in purport that they suggest a great deal of self esteem? Or has your vocabulary simply failed you?
Do you really think you know about other people on this planet as well as you say you do?
"The oracle has called me the wisest of the Greeks because I alone of all the Greeks know that I know nothing". - Socrates.
Do you honestly believe that the only people in the UK that view it as anything other than a beacon of respectability are...
I know that educated, intelligent people do not simply dismiss places as hopelessly shit because of the misery of their own lives there. Why do you so seditiously slander you own country? I would love to know, but you have yet to provide any real coherent reason.
In actual fact you're quite right: my vocabulary did fail me!
I spent some time formulating one tirade after another, burning off the anger your comments had inspired within me, before realising none of it was constructive in the least. Consequently I settled with your self esteem, which shouldn't have been directly insulting, and hopefully would give pause for thought.
I couldn't agree more with your quote from Socrates, by the way.
I know that educated, intelligent people do not simply dismiss places as hopelessly shit because of the misery of their own lives there.
How do you know that exactly? In order to know that you would have to know 'educated, intelligent' people living in misery here who, after considered thought on the issue, have given you their opinion. What were their opinions exactly? What misery were they living in?
My personal take on that statement would be that you choose to believe, without any first hand experience, that any dissenters are simply uneducated idiots.
[Bear with me, real life calls. I'll try and formulate something 'coherent' for you later].
I spent some time formulating one tirade after another, burning off the anger your comments had inspired within me, before realising none of it was constructive in the least. Consequently I settled with your self esteem, which shouldn't have been directly insulting, and hopefully would give pause for thought.
A distraction then?
I couldn't agree more with your quote from Socrates, by the way.
And that is why they forced him to commit suicide. Unprepared for his Socratic method, various religious authorities were entirely unable to respond to his questions. He asked first if he should obey all gods, to which the reply was affirmative. He asked then whether, if the belligerent, capricious Hellenic gods were feuding, it was necessary still to follow them. The answer again was an affirmative. Finally he asked, "Which god do I therefore follow when they contend against one another?". To this, there was no reply.
How do you know that exactly?
Because it is logical. My life is miserable. His life is not miserable. We live in the same country. Therefore the case cannot simply be that the country alone is to blame.
"...the case cannot simply be that the country alone is to blame", now that has potentially saved me a pile of work trawling over the internet for a variety of things that have pissed me off over the years!
(You'll note this comment is actually in support of your last one...)
You wouldn't care to elaborate a little on your last line there, would you?
You wouldn't care to elaborate a little on your last line there, would you?
Certainly, though it would be expedient to know what it is exactly what it is that you find so objectionable.
But let us begin. What makes a nation terrible more than a deficiency in what makes a nation great? And what is that? Infrastructure, opportunity, education, liberty and culture, I think, are the five most important factors.
As infrastructure goes, the United Kingdom is extremely well developed, with extensive motorway and rail communications, many major international airports; excellent, inexpensive public transport; and a connection to the greater European rail network via the channel tunnel. The National Health Service, while not perfect, is certainly superior to the American system, and I do not believe that this issue can possibly be contended.
Though at present the prosperity of the nation is stricken, it is still a worldwide commercial, technological and financial leader. The opportunities for employment at all levels are quite good, with the nation enjoying one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the European Union. The only possible objection is the abysmal public welfare service, but then I do not suppose that you would be quick to take up their banner, as they are exactly the people I suggested were the greatest critics of the nation. I defy you, sir, to find a body of paupers who are not mutinous and discontented!
Education in the United Kingdom is also quite excellent. Though no school system is ever perfect, and very few are properly funded, I think we can both agree that the major problem is urban secondary schools being overcrowded. Colleges in Britain are plentiful and well funded. Indeed, Britain boasts some of the finest colleges in all the world. Though they are quite expensive, the truly bright (that is, those who have business being in college) should have little difficulty in securing employment upon graduation.
Now, liberty is a contentious issue. While nobody can deny (except, perhaps, the Labour party, whom I despise with every fibre of my being) that the freedom of the people has suffered over the last two decades, that is a fault with the policies of the last government, and that is shaky ground upon which to build an argument against the nation as a whole. When compared to most other nations, however, the united Kingdom is very liberal. In fact, I should go so far as to say that it is the excess of liberalism that has led to the decay of liberty. It is, to use a musty phrase, a growing pain.
It is grown too late and my phalanges are now too weary to expand on culture, but that is an arbitrary matter and is not really so significant as the others. I do not believe that this is an area in which you would have much success in argument, regardless.
I trust the passage above is expanded enough for you to write me a wholesome answer, unless your wit's diseased.
Yet the result is inefficient government bureaucracy.
Have you ever encountered another form of government?
No, but I am positive that your busybodies in the UK are more busybody like than ours considering your conservative idiots are the same as our liberal idiots here. I can't imagine your liberals idiots, what kind of busybodies they are.
This is why I advocate limited government.
That is quite simply nonsense. We have lovely summers in England.
Subjective Interpretation. Not what I heard.
Boulderdash
What? Are we playing the game?
God save the Queen!
Can't wait until that bitch is dead. God strike the Queen down!
One suggests that the United States has its fair share of undesirables, Prayerfails.
Say what you want about me, I stand for human freedom, but you can continue to smell the assholes of your elite royal family. Go ahead, do it now. Get into position.
The Iron Law of Oligarchy: every field of human endeavor, every kind of organization, will always be led by a relatively small elite. ---Murray Rothbard
"I submit that some find liberalism quite appealing, myself among them."
Well if you truly do suscribe to classic liberalism then you must be in favour of limited government.
"then you are simply reiterating a second-hand subjective interpretation."
well im Irish and our summers are very similar (ive also been to england three time during the summer), and so i can say they are at best unpredictable, and at worst they are damp, dreary, dull, wet, wold and gernerally shit, so i think "Weather is dreadful with little sun and low temperatures" isn't very inaccurate.
"You fail to understand the role of the modern family in modern Britain."
What is the role of the royal family in modern Britain?I really can't think of any aside from giving a boost to the tourism industry and serving as ambassador's.
"Go ahead, do it now. Get into position.Have you been drinking,"*
I found it quite funny actually, you have to understand advocating the need for a royal family in the world today jsut seems ridiculous (to me at least), especially considering those views are based more on nationalism than anything else.
Well if you truly do suscribe to classic liberalism then you must be in favour of limited government.
No, sir. I am not a liberal, nor am I a conservative. Any form of political fundamentalism, or even idealism, is in my experience quite retrograde to the betterment of mankind. And limited government is a term that is misused, especially by prayerfails, to mean limited taxes.
well im Irish and our summers are very similar
I know exactly what an Irish summer is like. Having lived in both countries for eight years, I can tell you that summers in England tend to be warmer. I do not believe that three holidays can compete.
What is the role of the royal family in modern Britain?I really can't think of any aside from giving a boost to the tourism industry and serving as ambassador's.
Correct on the first two counts, but you failed to mention that they are integral to the history of England, and that they serve as a check on the power of parliament.
I found it quite funny actually
I see.
you have to understand advocating the need for a royal family in the world today jsut seems ridiculous (to me at least)
Why? Why is your opinion so manifestly superior to any other? Why should I question the loyalties upon which I have spent so much time deliberating simply because it seems ridiculous to you? Does it occur to you that much of what you say seems ridiculous to me?
Would you care to argue your position rather than just state it?
And while I am loath to resort to quotation, I shall strike you now with the most potent weapon in the arsenal of any critical thinker; prepare yourself, sir, for the ruminations of Macaulay!
"I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty, or civilization, or both. In Europe, where the population is dense, the effect of such institutions would be almost instantaneous. What happened lately in France is an example. In 1848 a pure democracy was established there. During a short time there was reason to expect a general spoliation, a national bankruptcy, a new partition of the soil, a maximum of prices, a ruinous load of taxation laid on the rich for the purpose of supporting the poor in idleness. Such a system would, in twenty years, have made France as poor and barbarous as the France of the Carlovingians. Happily, the danger was averted; and now there is a despotism, a silent tribune, an enslaved press. Liberty is gone, but civilization has been saved. I have not the smallest doubt that if we had a purely democratic government here the effect would be the same. Either the poor would plunder the rich, and civilization would perish; or order and prosperity would be saved by a strong military government, and liberty would perish. You may think that your country enjoys an exemption from these evils. I will frankly own to you that I am of a very different opinion. Your fate I believe to be certain, though it is deferred by a physical cause. As long as you have a boundless extent of fertile and unoccupied land, your laboring population will be far more at ease than the laboring population of the Old World, and, while that is the case, the Jefferson politics may continue to exist without causing any fatal calamity. But the time will come when New England will be as thickly peopled as old England. Wages will be as low, and will fluctuate as much with you as with us. You will have your Manchesters and Birminghams, and in those Manchesters and Birminghams hundreds of thousands of artisans will assuredly be sometimes out of work. Then your institutions will be fairly brought to the test. Distress everywhere makes the laborer mutinous and discontented, and inclines him to listen with eagerness to agitators who tell him that is a monstrous iniquity that one man should have a million, while another can not get a full meal. In bad years there is plenty of grumbling here, and sometimes a little rioting. But it matters little. For here the sufferers are not the rulers. The supreme power is in the hands of a class, numerous indeed, but select; of an educated class; of a class which is, and knows itself to be, deeply interested in the security of property and the maintenance of order. Accordingly, the malcontents are firmly yet gently restrained. The bad time is got over without robbing the wealthy to relieve the indigent. The springs of national prosperity soon begin to flow again: work is plentiful, wages rise, and all is tranquillity and cheerfulness. I have seen England pass three or four times through such critical seasons as I have described."
especially considering those views are based more on nationalism than anything else.
That's a little hypocritical coming from an Irishman.
And limited government is a term that is misused, especially by prayerfails, to mean limited taxes.
Limited Government is a term that is not misused, apparently, your inability to think in these terms is limited, it is not limited to taxes. Limited government is economic freedom including business, trade, fiscal(taxes), investment, labor, less corruption and some others. Economic freedom is more important than personal freedom. There is a direct relation to quality of life and economic freedom. Freedom
For example, India is the world's largest democracy, but it is plagued with some of the worst poverty.
"For example, India is the world's largest democracy, but it is plagued with some of the worst poverty."
Ironically, India's great democracy was born from them being a colony of Great Britain, the poverty on the other hand, got worse when they were liberated.
A general populace with their heads stuck up their arses, (or 'sniffing God's arse', as the other half used to say), whose favourite sayings include, (but are not limited to),
"Ooo, no, you shouldn't do that", and
"You can't do that", and
"You don't seriously think you can do that".
Their idea of freedom is just doing what they're told and definitely not standing out in a crowd.
Of course politically speaking we have the House of Commons that seems populated by people that positively despise the public.
Every couple of years there's a census for what it is that makes us 'British', but either no one replies, or the organizers don't like the replies they get, because we never get to hear any results.
Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, (er, I see a pattern developing here...)
"No Ball Games".
"No public right of way".
Gated luxury apartments springing up all over the place each time some knob in parliament talks about the need for affordable housing.
Increase in house prices: my parents sold their semi, (best looker in the road), in '84 for £78k, in 2006 next door sold for £600,000!
A tad stereotypical. Just because everyone thinks America is a festering pool of idiocy, STIs and fast food, does not make.. Sorry, wrong comparison. But yeah, consensus does not automatically equal truth.
It's surprising that no one has mentioned the recent news scandal with the phone hacking. I thought it would have been a child just waiting to be brought up.
2A general populace with their heads stuck up their arses, (or 'sniffing God's arse', as the other half used to say), whose favourite sayings include, (but are not limited to),
"Ooo, no, you shouldn't do that", and
"You can't do that", and
"You don't seriously think you can do that"."
You "England" appears to have derived from american media.If you do live in England I suggest you get of this website, go outside and talk to someone, and discover how wrong you are.
"Their idea of freedom is just doing what they're told and definitely not standing out in a crowd."
Mmore stereotypes
"Of course politically speaking we have the House of Commons that seems populated by people that positively despise the public."
It appears that you aren't old enough to vote, or if you are your source of political information is either the Daily Mail or the Sun.
Every couple of years there's a census for what it is that makes us 'British', but either no one replies, or the organizers don't like the replies they get, because we never get to hear any results.
Oh! You're not English! And that was such an insightful opener!
Does that mean I'm safe to rip into the ridiculous obsession everyone and his sister has for football over here? The 'beautiful game'.
It's wank! A bag of air in a field. If the English football team had pockets sewn into their shorts you'd see what they were good for! Other countries appear to make an effort, why can't we?!?
Are you implying the England doesn't care for the game we invented? even though it's a multibillion pound industry that seems to be one of the few major things we export.
And what about the prices? What are you guys paying for petrol (gas) these days? We're on about £1.40/litre, (£1.38 petrol, £1.39 diesel last time I looked). One litre is about a quarter of a US gallon, n'est pas? And a dollar's about £0.62 sterling.
Tobacco? You young bucks are probably wise to the stuff by now. 50g here, £14
Try the house prices here in Cornwall. We have one of the countries lowest wages and our house prices are some of the national highest. It averages out that house prices are ten times the average income.
House prices in the South West have risen 164% since 1997, the fastest increase of any region in the country. Incomes have grown just 20% in the same period, one of the lowest rises of any region
The average house price at the end of 2005 in Cornwall was £205,000
The gross annual income needed for a mortgage in the district is £55,645
I mean even if I passed my midwifery degree I'd only be half way to getting a mortgage.
This is why the United Kingdom sucks. Because unless I won the lottery I could never afford a house in my hometown where I've grown up my entire life and intend to bring my children up.
With a supposed average income of £24k that would have to mean you're all above average, renting, or squatting. I think that's the way our govs want it now though, no personal property, everything rented. Agenda 21. Go UK!
haha well my fiance and I's joint salary currently is less then £10,000 a year. And we work a combined 34 hours a week (I can only do 8 hours because I can't afford childcare for my baby). Hence I'm doing a midwifery degree. Thank God for child tax credits is all I can say because otherwise I would barely be able to cover the years rent with that!
"And what about the prices? What are you guys paying for petrol (gas) these days? We're on about £1.40/litre, (£1.38 petrol, £1.39 diesel last time I looked). One litre is about a quarter of a US gallon, n'est pas? And a dollar's about £0.62 sterling.
Tobacco? You young bucks are probably wise to the stuff by now. 50g here, £14
Black market £9
EU, €5.25 (£4.62)
Yeah, I love the UK. "
So your saying tobacco should be cheap enough so that youths can pay for it with their pocket money?
Or that petrol should bought until we drain the oil fields dry, and cause huge amounts of CO2 emmisions?
Let me tell you something, the UN sets target CO2 emmisions that each country should aim for, in Britain we increase petrol prices to ensure the less burning of fossil fuels. In the U.S they don't bother, they buy statistics from poorer countries and then claim to be a greener country.
So your saying tobacco should be cheap enough so that youths can pay for it with their pocket money?
All products should be fairly taxed without arbitrary restraints and impediments to sale from governments that have no right to impose morality upon those they govern.
Or that petrol should bought until we drain the oil fields dry
Petroleum consumption is driven (excuse the pun) primarily by demand, not cost.
and cause huge amounts of CO2 emmisions?
The combined emissions of every car on the planet cannot exceed the volume of gas released by the respiring animals that live in every corner and on every continent.
in Britain we increase petrol prices to ensure the less burning of fossil fuels
Nominally, but the reality is that the government wishes to avail of the increase in tax revenue.
In the U.S they don't bother, they buy statistics from poorer countries and then claim to be a greener country.
I see it as no fault on their part that the United States refuses to cede its sovereignty to an organisation that has no democratic mandate whatever.
The opening post is just a bunch of stereotypical nonsense posted by someone who has probably not been beyond his own borders. Our current taxes are the direct result of the economic climate that George W Bush's Repbulicans created, thus ensuring a great many locations around the world suffered. If you want to look for problems, you can look closer to home quite easily.
I wouldn't use that for a reason why the UK sucks. I'm sure you're a lovely person.
I won't ever get into these debates simply because every country has problems of some sort. No argument will ever change that fact. Also, finger pointing and flag waving never does any good.
I could get into deeper things like history and social structure, but their food is just really weird tasting and deserves more dislike then the UK itself.
haha I think the same about U.S food. I was talking to some Americans on XBOX live last night and they thought the idea of eating a savory pie was ludicrous. But cheese out of squirting can isn't?
Who does? If we lived off pure UK or pure U.S food our food would be dull. Thank good for other countries having meals that actually taste nice. I'm about to tuck into a jambalaya I cooked!
You worship the president, what's the difference. (oh yeah, americans are gullible enough to beleive that since they elect the president, the president must care about them.)
