Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Aug 16th 2009, 3:27 pm
#61
A lion in your lap
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sparta NJ
Posts: 7,605
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
so let's just take a couple of examples (don't have time or inclination to address them all) of your rant about Britain vs the country you've moved to to escape them.
people getting into their SUVs to drive short distances - people never do that here, do they?
vapid celebrity culture - so to escape this you're moving to a country no less in thrall to talent and reality TV shows and where people like Jon & Kate Gosselin are headline news? You've never noticed the huge array of celebrity gossip mags on sale at the supermarket checkout?
kids in the USA don't have cellphones?
Minor colleges calling themselves universities: bizarre. Do you ever step outside your front door?
"There never seems to be any money for anything worthwhile, but plenty of money is being squandered on immoral purposes" Iraq war versus infrastructure, education and healthcare, anyone?
violence in schools: fatal shootings in UK schools in living memory: 1 (and none by schoolchildren themselves). Let's not go there with the USA's score on this issue.
Jamie Bulger: yes, absolutely horrible but an isolated incident 16 years ago and whose circumstances have not been repeated (at least not in Britain)
We're not "citizens", but "subjects"? My passport says "British Citizen" in it. What does yours say?
and your comment about the BBC is simply deranged. Does make me wonder though if there are North Korean versions of "Only Fools and Horses" and "One Foot in the Grave".
And to all the Americans on here - I am NOT trying to slag off the USA here, just pointing out that most of the things poor old Anthony takes exception to in the UK are for the most part simply issues the UK has in common with other English-speaking societies.
people getting into their SUVs to drive short distances - people never do that here, do they?
vapid celebrity culture - so to escape this you're moving to a country no less in thrall to talent and reality TV shows and where people like Jon & Kate Gosselin are headline news? You've never noticed the huge array of celebrity gossip mags on sale at the supermarket checkout?
kids in the USA don't have cellphones?
Minor colleges calling themselves universities: bizarre. Do you ever step outside your front door?
"There never seems to be any money for anything worthwhile, but plenty of money is being squandered on immoral purposes" Iraq war versus infrastructure, education and healthcare, anyone?
violence in schools: fatal shootings in UK schools in living memory: 1 (and none by schoolchildren themselves). Let's not go there with the USA's score on this issue.
Jamie Bulger: yes, absolutely horrible but an isolated incident 16 years ago and whose circumstances have not been repeated (at least not in Britain)
We're not "citizens", but "subjects"? My passport says "British Citizen" in it. What does yours say?
and your comment about the BBC is simply deranged. Does make me wonder though if there are North Korean versions of "Only Fools and Horses" and "One Foot in the Grave".
And to all the Americans on here - I am NOT trying to slag off the USA here, just pointing out that most of the things poor old Anthony takes exception to in the UK are for the most part simply issues the UK has in common with other English-speaking societies.
Aug 16th 2009, 3:38 pm
#62
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 8,497
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
You haven't said anything that's not true. Seems like all first world countries to me ... not just the English speaking ones.
Aug 16th 2009, 3:44 pm
#63
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 214
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Why is it weird - it was requested and its factual.
They've done it to themselves and they can't or won't see how bad things are.
Your comment typifies why the UK won't move or update.
I think Joe Public, individually, is OK, but there is no "united" kingdom and the issues & observations I pointed out are real not imaginary.
Its not about utoipia luvvy. Other less rich countries don't leave rubbish to pile up for 2 weeks which builds up a stench, becomes an eyesore and rats are having a party in the streets...and nor do other governments and local councils (arrgghh!) blatantly give citizens the V sign or the finger.
Some alleged 3rd world countries have better civil behavior and standards of public conduct than decrepit and shambolic Britain.
No I am not. This is widely known to be true and if you care to do your own research instead of making flippant unfounded comments, you also would learn this shocking truth. How old are you missy?
I think the UK just made its last loan payment to the USA for the loan it gave to the UK after the war.
They've done it to themselves and they can't or won't see how bad things are.
Your comment typifies why the UK won't move or update.
I think Joe Public, individually, is OK, but there is no "united" kingdom and the issues & observations I pointed out are real not imaginary.
I think the UK just made its last loan payment to the USA for the loan it gave to the UK after the war.
Last edited by Anthony919; Aug 16th 2009 at 3:47 pm.
Aug 16th 2009, 3:47 pm
#64
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 8,497
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
.
Aug 16th 2009, 3:48 pm
#65
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 214
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Aug 16th 2009, 3:52 pm
#66
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 0
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Why is it weird - it was requested and its factual.
They've done it to themselves and they can't or won't see how bad things are.
Your comment typifies why the UK won't move or update.
I think Joe Public, individually, is OK, but there is no "united" kingdom and the issues & observations I pointed out are real not imaginary.
Its not about utoipia luvvy. Other less rich countries don't leave rubbish to pile up for 2 weeks which builds up a stench, becomes an eyesore and rats are having a party in the streets...and nor do other governments and local councils (arrgghh!) blatantly give citizens the V sign or the finger.
Some alleged 3rd world countries have better civil behavior and standards of public conduct than decrepit and shambolic Britain.
No I am not. This is widely known to be true and if you care to do your own research instead of making flippant unfounded comments, you also would learn this shocking truth. How old are you missy?
I think the UK just made its last loan payment to the USA for the loan it gave to the UK after the war.
They've done it to themselves and they can't or won't see how bad things are.
Your comment typifies why the UK won't move or update.
I think Joe Public, individually, is OK, but there is no "united" kingdom and the issues & observations I pointed out are real not imaginary.
Its not about utoipia luvvy. Other less rich countries don't leave rubbish to pile up for 2 weeks which builds up a stench, becomes an eyesore and rats are having a party in the streets...and nor do other governments and local councils (arrgghh!) blatantly give citizens the V sign or the finger.
Some alleged 3rd world countries have better civil behavior and standards of public conduct than decrepit and shambolic Britain.
No I am not. This is widely known to be true and if you care to do your own research instead of making flippant unfounded comments, you also would learn this shocking truth. How old are you missy?
I think the UK just made its last loan payment to the USA for the loan it gave to the UK after the war.
Well sonny....I don't make flippant remarks. I grew up watching the Uk grow after WW2.
Aug 16th 2009, 5:24 pm
#67
Time Lord
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Lansing, MI
Posts: 1,032
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
IN my experience, if there really is one thing that typifies a lot of British folk, it's the inabilty to realise just how good they've got it. And to complain about how things are so much better in other countries, and how the UK is going to the dogs. If you want a good example of this, see post 57 (36 & 44). 
Last edited by dgsyd1; Aug 16th 2009 at 5:26 pm.
Aug 16th 2009, 5:27 pm
#68
Wishful thinking...
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Cornwall,hoping Florida here I come
Posts: 257
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
What a weird thread.
Why so much hatred and dissing of the UK?
Don't you people realize there is no utopia, no perfect place to live.
Governments will always do wrong by some people, there will always be something to comlpain about where ever you live.
Maybe just be grateful you are not living in a third world country....
..and as for the poster complaining about Britain not moving foward from
WW2....you're having a laugh aren't you??? How old are you? Sheesh..
Why so much hatred and dissing of the UK?
Don't you people realize there is no utopia, no perfect place to live.
Governments will always do wrong by some people, there will always be something to comlpain about where ever you live.
Maybe just be grateful you are not living in a third world country....
..and as for the poster complaining about Britain not moving foward from
WW2....you're having a laugh aren't you??? How old are you? Sheesh..
Aug 16th 2009, 5:49 pm
#69
The Kwisatz Haderach
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: North Wales
Posts: 8,080
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
That would be me...I'm 48 and living in a town,one of many in Cornwall frozen in time, every single thing is built, or just after the WW2 era, your point being?? roads the same size as then, traffic not, people living in poorly insulated housing from many many housing estates built throughout the UK at around this time, you get one house built new down here and the locals talk as if it totally blows their minds... sorry but it is true
Aug 16th 2009, 6:14 pm
#70
Democracy advocate
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,460
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Britain is sad and pathetic because it lost its power & position in the world and didn't know what to do when that power started ebbing away.
People like to live in the past and hold onto the notion of what the country used to be like a long time ago, rather than what it is like now.
People like to live in the past and hold onto the notion of what the country used to be like a long time ago, rather than what it is like now.
What is Britain like now?
A country full of parochial/impersonal/indifferent shop keepers, benefits scroungers, chavs, mums who drive 4 wheel drive vehicles (who don't know how to drive them) & which effectively turn them into road blocks, driving a single 5 yr old child 500 yds to a school, along with millions of others and who cause most of the traffic congestion in many British cities.
A country full of parochial/impersonal/indifferent shop keepers, benefits scroungers, chavs, mums who drive 4 wheel drive vehicles (who don't know how to drive them) & which effectively turn them into road blocks, driving a single 5 yr old child 500 yds to a school, along with millions of others and who cause most of the traffic congestion in many British cities.
"Leaders" with no backbone or real ideas.
Schools are now more or less war zones, with teachers held in very low regard by parents and children (thanks to Labour) and who are sworn at, attacked and who no longer carry authority.
Neighbors who don't know/don't talk to each other, councils seeking to bleed every tiny bit of money from residents for things that should be provided through the ever rocketing and fraudulent system called "council tax", & also charging residents to park in front of their own homes.
Empty headed, vacuous and immoral minded people being held up as model men & women in every newspaper, magazine and on alleged television "programmes".
British society is obsessed with media, celebrity bollocks, denigrating, highly destructive and depressing soap operas, plus wall to wall football talk whatever station I tune into.
British society is obsessed with media, celebrity bollocks, denigrating, highly destructive and depressing soap operas, plus wall to wall football talk whatever station I tune into.
What makes you think that other developing or Pacific region countries don't have the same mindless drivel for the masses?
The BBC is a terrible and destructive organization, a type of parasitic organization that exists nowhere else in the free world - maybe North Korea has a similar organization?
Minor colleges now being called universities.
There never seems to be any money for anything worthwhile, but plenty of money is being squandered on immoral purposes, "expenses" and sheer wastage on a daily annual basis for decades.
Parks and recreation places falling apart.
Graffiti is everywhere, some drug culture references being accepted as OK.
People have sex in clubs, bars and in school and this is not challenged.
Graffiti is everywhere, some drug culture references being accepted as OK.
People have sex in clubs, bars and in school and this is not challenged.
I don't see the same level of graffiti in the UK as I don in other countries.
Children seen as OK to be given mobile phones.
The 1993 murder of little Jamie Bulger marked a turning point in my mind of how sick and immoral British society had become.
All sorts of people are allowed to enter the country for any bullshit reason and with nothing asked of them in return and who are then willingly given lots of money and a home/car/phone and these same people then give the country the finger, attend demonstrations to try to bring down the country and also insist on wearing full face scarfs and other "garments" to cover up their faces because "its part of their religion" and because it "makes them free".
Britain is a country that is merely "used" now by many millions, rather than like being loved or liked and treated with respect - but you can't get respect if you don't respect yourself first and Britain, through an acquiescent population, hasn't done that for decades.
Now I hear that they don't collect rubbish every week but every 2 weeks. You know, much poorer countries collect everyone's rubbish and the streets are washed, every day.
Car owners, certainly in London, being treated as cash cows and almost like criminals for owning a vehicle. There is a lot of money taken/stolen from people in one form or the other by the pathetic government, but there's nowt to show for it and the country is crap - so where's it all going then?
The biggest problem for me is that no-one really complains about all these things and so the population just grit they teeth while seething venom underneath.
And of course, the class system, which turns everyone against each other and erects walls & boundaries between one class and another and how we are all "subjects" and not citizens.
There's a lot wrong more with Britain but it that list enough for you?
Aug 16th 2009, 6:17 pm
#71
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 214
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Instead of getting defensive, missy, and issuing empty statements that mean nothing, perhaps you should try and address those things that I pointed out.
Then we might get somewhere.
Of course, this is not possible if you choose not to recognise them to start with.
Aug 16th 2009, 6:21 pm
#72
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 0
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
As I said, Brits have an inability to take and respond constructively to valid criticism and this is why they are languishing at the bottom of the league of desirable placed to live.
Instead of getting defensive, missy, and issuing empty statements that mean nothing, perhaps you should try and address those things that I pointed out.
Then we might get somewhere.
Of course, this is not possible if you choose not to recognise them to start with.
Instead of getting defensive, missy, and issuing empty statements that mean nothing, perhaps you should try and address those things that I pointed out.
Then we might get somewhere.
Of course, this is not possible if you choose not to recognise them to start with.
I needed a good laugh, thanks for that.How can I recognise something that is not happening in the way you describe. How is it any way different to what is happening here in the US?
You must read the DM or the Sun or something....
Aug 16th 2009, 6:27 pm
#73
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
Its not about utoipia luvvy. Other less rich countries don't leave rubbish to pile up for 2 weeks which builds up a stench, becomes an eyesore and rats are having a party in the streets...and nor do other governments and local councils (arrgghh!) blatantly give citizens the V sign or the finger.
(On the same page, notice other less rich countries like Canada, Greece, Italy)
To be fair, it happens.
Aug 16th 2009, 6:29 pm
#75
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 0
Re: Is the British Isles long past it's better days or not?
I'm sorry, you must've missed all the times New York City made the news..
http://s2.buzzfeed.com/static/enhanc...9169017-13.jpg
(On the same page, notice other less rich countries like Canada, Greece, Italy)
To be fair, it happens.
http://s2.buzzfeed.com/static/enhanc...9169017-13.jpg
(On the same page, notice other less rich countries like Canada, Greece, Italy)
To be fair, it happens.
Nooooo.....but I'm sure it lasted longer and the stench was worse in the UK
