Who wants to live in america?

[Newt]

Gents - I cannot begin to tell you how great it is to see UK posters saying good things about the UK. Refreshing change from the usual comments.

 

I'm very much in favor of folks being proud of their homeland.

 

Fartin-Martin, welcome to the forum. Hope to hear more from you as time goes on. Sorry you had to give up your fishing while you lived on this side of the pond but nice to hear you plan to start again now that you are home.

[Tony U]

Is there anyone on these forums we actually do like.

We are having a pop at the Yanks, the French, the Africans, Geordies where is it all going to end

Are we going to to start posting threads on to say how we don't like the bloke down the street.

"Vive le difference" I say and thank the gods for such a diverse and wonderful world.

 

[ 01. June 2005, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: Tony U ]

[Fin-S]

"We are having a pop at the ...., the Africans,"

Hey, what did we do to the UK or US.

:confused:

At least most of you guys have healthcare, are employable and have an education, or you have the option to. Maybe time to consider how lucky you are to be born British or American and to be granted the priveledges that come with that. Your alternatives could be a lot worse - Au revoir

[Elton]

Tony U:

Is there anyone on these forums we actually do like.

The Swedish women are quite nice.

 

So I've been told

[Newt]

THE MERRY MINUET

Sheldon Harnick

Sung by the Kingston Trio in 1958

 

They're rioting in Africa. They're starving in Spain. There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain.

 

The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles.

 

Italians hate Yugoslavs. South Africans hate the Dutch and I don't like anybody very much!

 

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud

for man's been endowed with a mushroom shaped cloud.

And we know for certain that some lovely day

someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away.

 

They're rioting in Africa. There's strife in Iran.

What nature doesn't do to us

will be done by our fellow man.

 

[ 02. June 2005, 08:13 AM: Message edited by: Newt ]

[Westie]

And what have the Romans ever done for us?

 

Never been to America, but will do one day. My best man at my wedding moved to the States for a 6 month work placement in NY. That was over 2 years ago - he loves the place. I will visit and I will enjoy the experience, I have no doubt.

 

I'm with you Tony U. I guess the answer is simple - if you don't want to visit different cultures or be willing to accept different ways of life, even if just for a 2 week holiday, you just have to be content with your own back yard

 

As for the Swedish women, I couldn't possibly comment. But I understand from friends that they are always slim, blonde, blue eyed with lumps in all the right places. That's the stereotype for them. What's our stereotype? Either someone who is overweight, wearing a string vest, sitting in a deckchair, feet in the sea, with a knotted white hankie on the head or a pi$$ed-up, drug taking holiday maker who likes nothing more than picking a fight with any foreigner in sight!

 

Nobody's perfect and not every stereotype is accurate. There's always a few bad apples to spoil the reputation of any country.

[Blindhog]

I will attempt to not get too far off topic and by the end of the post will attempt to return the focus to fins and scales.

 

I you don’t read any further then at least scroll down to the Guardian link and read that.

 

I think that we all seem to agree that stereotypes don’t do anyone a favor. I certainly did not mean to be patronizing or inflammatory in any way or contribute to stereotyping with my own comments.

Vacation time is part of one’s compensation package. The way to increase one’s vacation is quite simple, get a promotion.

BTW I wonder how little vacation Richard Branson takes for himself. Probably a couple of days not a couple of weeks.

I must admit that if I were a Briton leaving your fair shores for ours would it give me some concern if I were not familiar with the system. However, when I explain it to potential immigrants from Britain (who have pre-existing medical problems) they willingly accept the trade offs.

 

Here are some good examples of the misconceptions that are spread as truth. As your Benjamin Disraeli said, “there are lies, damn lies and statistics.”

 

OK now where do we start?

 

Flybynight:

Reality is 40% of Americans have no health care provision. For a rich country that seems pretty sick to me.

---

This one is great, and really makes my point more articulately and succinctly than I ever could.

40% of Americans have no health care? C’mon that’s 120 million people, that's about twice the population of Britain.

 

1) There is a big difference between having NO HEALTH CARE PROVISIONS and not having health insurance.

2) Everyone in this country who needs emergency health care gets it by law!

3) The actual number of uninsured is closer to ten million not the bogus 40 million that the socialized medicine advocates over here use to advance their position.

 

 

Looking at the UK model, it is becoming apparent that universal health care may not compatible with porous borders and lax immigration control.

Why do you think that the craven French at Sangatte are snickering? Britain and the US both face the real possibility of becoming the Social Security service of the whole third world.

 

Flybynight:

Reality is 40% of Americans have no I hated the lack of freedom. from a fairly intrusive, controlling state to mega intrusive, controlling state appeals to me not at all.

And what might be those white flashes that I see be as I speed around the M-25 at 5:00 AM headed to Gatwick?

 

40 pound Black Grouper west of the Marquesas.

 

 

[ 03. June 2005, 11:30 PM: Message edited by: Blindhog ]

[Ian FG]

Blindhog,

 

A good post, but I would just like to point out that not everyone reads the Guardian *spit* or approves of the BBC (and certainly not the Question Time episode you refer to). But we do enjoy the fact that they are available.

 

People are strange, ask an Englishman about Americans and for some reason they tend to say something negative about their foreign policy, yet they vote for Tony Blair (3 times now) and he supports your foreign policy.

 

In the same weird way ask a Scotsman living in England and he will tell you he is all for an independent Scotland but at every election the Scots turn down the opportunity for independence and vote Labour.

 

I remember once watching this thing on TV where a company asked thousands of housewives if they would buy a new brand of butter they were planning to introduce. Most said they would, the company went ahead and filled the supermarket shelves with the stuff.....no one bought it.

 

I have given up trying to figure out people and I agree that we should talk about fishing.

 

Douglas Adams’ dolphins had the best attitude to life on this planet.

[Guest stevie cop]

The USA may be recruiting smart, hardworking people from all over the world, but not from Great Britain for some reason. They won't even accept applications from British citizens at present because they have over the allowed quota, apparently. When I was looking at possibly emigrating there I found several fire departments that were crying out for people with my qualifications, but getting the precious greencard turned out to be impossible. Yet they dish them out to immigrants from other countries so that they can sweep the floors at Disneyworld!

 

It seems that we are only closest allies to the USA when our soldiers are needed.

 

Having said all that, I still like the states and I'll be going back there again next year to spend some more money!

[Salar]

Blindhog,

The US is a wonderful country, great fishing and I have some good friends there. (Pity about my family ) But unfortunatly, you have one huge problem: you can't afford the world you have created for yourselves. Have a look at your National Debt.

As of 03 Jun 2005 it is: $7,790,611,434,658.98

The estimated population of the United States is 296,239,109 so each citizen's share of this debt is $26,298.37. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.67 billion per day since September 30, 2004. Worried? I would be. If that went pop it would make 1928 look like a party.