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Ive even said several times some of the issues here are part of the cost of freedom....Those folks over on the Isle of violence gave up their freedom to be wrapped up in cotton wool by their Government and still didn't get to be safe, far from it....I just happen to agree with Ben, even 200 years ago he had it nailed.

 

 

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”...... Ben Franklin

 

Ha! sweet! You don't even understand the quote. Its all about the rights of the community over the individual, collective security and clamping down on tax evasion.

 

Franklin wanted to raise taxes for security on the Pennsylvania border but the corrupt Governor, the Penn family's placeman kept on vetoing them. The Penn family was trying to give a lump sum of money in exchange for the General Assembly's acknowledging that it did not have the authority to tax it. The liberty is the right of the state assembly to tax. The temporary safety is the limited short term security the Penns money would have bought. It's a pro-taxation and pro-defence spending quotation - a cotton wool nanny state .

Edited by buctootim
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I love that St George, a "Limey" himself with the name of the patron saint of "Limeys" uses "Limey" as a term of abuse. I am pretty certain that none of us "Limeys" are the least bit bothered about being called a "Limey." I also love the fact that he apparently left the UK because of the multiple stabbings, punch ups etc that go on in the town centres all of the time for the safety of the USA where you can get shot dead just for going to school or causing a minor traffic violation.

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No doubt SG will find a way to rationalise this, or at least tell us "Limeys" to keep our noses out as it is none of our business! Just for once though it would be really nice if he could admit that it was out of order.

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No doubt SG will find a way to rationalise this, or at least tell us "Limeys" to keep our noses out as it is none of our business! Just for once though it would be really nice if he could admit that it was out of order.

 

I'm not with you, what's to justify? Isn't leaving a 5 year old kid alone in the desert with a cocked loaded gun just 'the norm' over here on the 'island of violence'? Happens every Saturday night where I come from.... surely....

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I'm not with you, what's to justify? Isn't leaving a 5 year old kid alone in the desert with a cocked loaded gun just 'the norm' over here on the 'island of violence'? Happens every Saturday night where I come from.... surely....

 

Now you come to mention it........I can think of a few places around Ashford where that would be seen as the norm!

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You're quite correct and no one has ever said they were....Like I've said in previous post's it comes as part of the price of freedom.....Some countries like the UK prefer to legislate down to the lowest common denominator. One or two citizens do something dumb or one bad incident and your whole Country gets hit's with blanket legislation and surveillance and there's barely a thing you can do about it, even if you had the will to do so, and you clearly don't. That's how limey's became the most State surveilled citizens in the World. 1 State cctv camera per 10 citizens, the world of Orwell, yup not even North Korea comes anywhere close.

 

And that's why you folks have so much trouble understanding the US, a country that has personal freedom built into it's very DNA and like most of the world, have absolutely no desire to be like you...They didn't back in 1776 and we still don't now.

 

In the mean time this thread has now hit 2.6k obsessive post's about a foreign Country and more recently about me....It's comical watching you folks from the Isle of surveillance and violence (more riots today i see) sit there lecturing people around the world about how we should live our lives just like you.

 

Think ya'll will get it over 3k before the holidays?...how about getting it bigger than the skate thread? then you can really show the world how obsessed y'all are....So carry on folks.

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You're quite correct and no one has ever said they were....Like I've said in previous post's it comes as part of the price of freedom.....Some countries like the UK prefer to legislate down to the lowest common denominator. One or two citizens do something dumb or one bad incident and your whole Country gets hit's with blanket legislation and surveillance and there's barely a thing you can do about it, even if you had the will to do so, and you clearly don't. That's how limey's became the most State surveilled citizens in the World. 1 State cctv camera per 10 citizens, the world of Orwell, yup not even North Korea comes anywhere close.

 

And that's why you folks have so much trouble understanding the US, a country that has personal freedom built into it's very DNA and like most of the world, have absolutely no desire to be like you...They didn't back in 1776 and we still don't now.

 

In the mean time this thread has now hit 2.6k obsessive post's about a foreign Country and more recently about me....It's comical watching you folks from the Isle of surveillance and violence (more riots today i see) sit there lecturing people around the world about how we should live our lives just like you.

 

Think ya'll will get it over 3k before the holidays?...how about getting it bigger than the skate thread? then you can really show the world how obsessed y'all are....So carry on folks.

A man from Southampton and currently living in Sholing pretending to an American living in America is accusing other people of being obsessed. 10/10.

 

I think it's well worth you trying out a new character, George.

 

My suggestion would be a white South African pensioner pining for the good old days when "they knew their place".

 

You'll get some cracking bites with this one.

 

Your one-note by-numbers American act, clanging all the pitifully obvious troll bells you can muster up? Not so much. You'll notice you get nothing but pointing and laughing these days.

 

Come on, give us a new character!

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In the mean time this thread has now hit 2.6k obsessive post's about a foreign Country and more recently about me....It's comical watching you folks from the Isle of surveillance and violence (more riots today i see) sit there lecturing people around the world about how we should live our lives just like you.

 

Seems the US is becoming a bit more like us - 5 stabbed at a California University campus...

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/04/us/university-california-merced-stabbings/

As for surveillance cameras, this is an article from 2009, http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a2398/4236865/ - "There are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras now deployed in the United States"; by my maths that's about 1 for every 10 people - exactly the same as the UK. ( The same statistic is reported here, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44163852/ns/business-us_business/t/post-surveillance-cameras-everywhere/#.VjpmUisVUWY. )

 

Be careful SG, Big Brother is watching you.

Edited by badgerx16
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I love that St George, a "Limey" himself with the name of the patron saint of "Limeys" uses "Limey" as a term of abuse. I am pretty certain that none of us "Limeys" are the least bit bothered about being called a "Limey." I also love the fact that he apparently left the UK because of the multiple stabbings, punch ups etc that go on in the town centres all of the time for the safety of the USA where you can get shot dead just for going to school or causing a minor traffic violation.

 

Heh, lemme tell you something.... back in the day when i lived over there I put a flag pole in my front yard and and permanently flew a Saint Georges cross, not because i was particularly patriotic, more to make a stand on principle against the liberal mantra of it being seen as offensive to some people. Sure enough, I had one anonymous note put though my letterbox from some gutless liberal asking me to remove it as they found it "offensive" and some time later a letter from the Council also asking me to remove it as it had been reported as causing offense...I responded by taking a trip down to the Council offices and told her she could go to hell, i never heard any more from her..

Along with some regular dialog with my MP, In those couple of years i probably did more for freedom of expression on your oppressive little Island than most of you have done in your lifetime.

 

Now i proudly fly the Louisiana State flag and Old Glory either side of my front porch and no one's said a damned thing, imagine that :)

 

Talking of freedom of expression, why on earth are you and the other liberal types on here taking so much offense to the word "limey"...is there nothing that doesnt offend you guys to the core?

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You're quite correct and no one has ever said they were....Like I've said in previous post's it comes as part of the price of freedom.....Some countries like the UK prefer to legislate down to the lowest common denominator. One or two citizens do something dumb or one bad incident and your whole Country gets hit's with blanket legislation and surveillance and there's barely a thing you can do about it, even if you had the will to do so, and you clearly don't. That's how limey's became the most State surveilled citizens in the World. 1 State cctv camera per 10 citizens, the world of Orwell, yup not even North Korea comes anywhere close.

 

And that's why you folks have so much trouble understanding the US, a country that has personal freedom built into it's very DNA and like most of the world, have absolutely no desire to be like you...They didn't back in 1776 and we still don't now.

 

In the mean time this thread has now hit 2.6k obsessive post's about a foreign Country and more recently about me....It's comical watching you folks from the Isle of surveillance and violence (more riots today i see) sit there lecturing people around the world about how we should live our lives just like you.

 

Think ya'll will get it over 3k before the holidays?...how about getting it bigger than the skate thread? then you can really show the world how obsessed y'all are....So carry on folks.

 

Yep, there was a "riot." A few people arrested but no one shot dead. Clearly a failure in policing on our part. You see we can protest here and not worry about being shot at.

 

Y'all.

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Heh, lemme tell you something.... back in the day when i lived over there I put a flag pole in my front yard and and permanently flew a Saint Georges cross, not because i was particularly patriotic, more to make a stand on principle against the liberal mantra of it being seen as offensive to some people. Sure enough, I had one anonymous note put though my letterbox from some gutless liberal asking me to remove it as they found it "offensive" and some time later a letter from the Council also asking me to remove it as it had been reported as causing offense...I responded by taking a trip down to the Council offices and told her she could go to hell, i never heard any more from her..

Along with some regular dialog with my MP, In those couple of years i probably did more for freedom of expression on your oppressive little Island than most of you have done in your lifetime.

 

Now i proudly fly the Louisiana State flag and Old Glory either side of my front porch and no one's said a damned thing, imagine that :)

 

Talking of freedom of expression, why on earth are you and the other liberal types on here taking so much offense to the word "limey"...is there nothing that doesnt offend you guys to the core?

 

We aren't taking offence at the word "Limey" that is why I wonder why you keep using it so much. We just find it quaint. As for the flag. Of course no one bothers you about it if you really are flying it in America because loads of people fly it outside their houses. Probably those without passports but hey, knock yourselves out. I don't need to fly a flag to know which country I was born in and which I am living in. I also don't need help understanding the song Born In The USA which y'all seem to think is a pro American anthem.

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Heh, lemme tell you something.... back in the day when i lived over there I put a flag pole in my front yard and and permanently flew a Saint Georges cross, not because i was particularly patriotic, more to make a stand on principle against the liberal mantra of it being seen as offensive to some people. Sure enough, I had one anonymous note put though my letterbox from some gutless liberal asking me to remove it as they found it "offensive" and some time later a letter from the Council also asking me to remove it as it had been reported as causing offense...I responded by taking a trip down to the Council offices and told her she could go to hell, i never heard any more from her..

Along with some regular dialog with my MP, In those couple of years i probably did more for freedom of expression on your oppressive little Island than most of you have done in your lifetime.

 

Now i proudly fly the Louisiana State flag and Old Glory either side of my front porch and no one's said a damned thing, imagine that :)

 

Talking of freedom of expression, why on earth are you and the other liberal types on here taking so much offense to the word "limey"...is there nothing that doesnt offend you guys to the core?

Pretend you're living in Durban. Express lots of admiration for the way Ian Smith did things in Rhodesia.

 

That kind of thing.

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Heh, lemme tell you something.... back in the day when i lived over there I put a flag pole in my front yard and and permanently flew a Saint Georges cross, not because i was particularly patriotic, more to make a stand on principle against the liberal mantra of it being seen as offensive to some people. Sure enough, I had one anonymous note put though my letterbox from some gutless liberal asking me to remove it as they found it "offensive" and some time later a letter from the Council also asking me to remove it as it had been reported as causing offense...I responded by taking a trip down to the Council offices and told her she could go to hell, i never heard any more from her..

Along with some regular dialog with my MP, In those couple of years i probably did more for freedom of expression on your oppressive little Island than most of you have done in your lifetime.

 

Now i proudly fly the Louisiana State flag and Old Glory either side of my front porch and no one's said a damned thing, imagine that :)

 

Talking of freedom of expression, why on earth are you and the other liberal types on here taking so much offense to the word "limey"...is there nothing that doesnt offend you guys to the core?

 

That's clearly just BS as since you said you f**ked off in the early 80s. merchant navy IIRC, originally from Bitterne, probably a waiter, there was no way you were flying the COSG. It was almost impossible to get one. Even at England games you only saw the UJ. Watch any coverage of Spain 82 or Italia 90 and you'll only see the Union flag, not a COSG in sight.

 

You've simply made that up but you are full of sh_it and always have been.

 

PS. Would you like another photo of my bottom to wa_nk over, if you can still get it up at your age. I've got one of it battered after coming off my bike, I'm sure it'll be perfect for your gay sex fantasies.

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That's clearly just BS as since you said you f**ked off in the early 80s. merchant navy IIRC, originally from Bitterne, probably a waiter, there was no way you were flying the COSG. It was almost impossible to get one. Even at England games you only saw the UJ. Watch any coverage of Spain 82 or Italia 90 and you'll only see the Union flag, not a COSG in sight.

 

You've simply made that up but you are full of sh_it and always have been.

 

PS. Would you like another photo of my bottom to wa_nk over, if you can still get it up at your age. I've got one of it battered after coming off my bike, I'm sure it'll be perfect for your gay sex fantasies.

 

can I just say...................errrrr...............................WTF :eek:

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can I just say...................errrrr...............................WTF :eek:

 

He mentioned how he fantasied about me being buggered in the showers when in prison. Everyone needs something to crack one off over I guess and since he's an old man I consider it an act of kindness if he wants to crack one off over my peachy posterior.

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You're quite correct and no one has ever said they were....Like I've said in previous post's it comes as part of the price of freedom.....Some countries like the UK prefer to legislate down to the lowest common denominator. One or two citizens do something dumb or one bad incident and your whole Country gets hit's with blanket legislation and surveillance and there's barely a thing you can do about it, even if you had the will to do so, and you clearly don't. That's how limey's became the most State surveilled citizens in the World. 1 State cctv camera per 10 citizens, the world of Orwell, yup not even North Korea comes anywhere close.

 

And that's why you folks have so much trouble understanding the US, a country that has personal freedom built into it's very DNA and like most of the world, have absolutely no desire to be like you...They didn't back in 1776 and we still don't now.

 

In the mean time this thread has now hit 2.6k obsessive post's about a foreign Country and more recently about me....It's comical watching you folks from the Isle of surveillance and violence (more riots today i see) sit there lecturing people around the world about how we should live our lives just like you.

 

Think ya'll will get it over 3k before the holidays?...how about getting it bigger than the skate thread? then you can really show the world how obsessed y'all are....So carry on folks.

 

If surveillance is such a big problem for you, then you may wish to reconsider your choice of adopted home. Start here and follow the links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance_in_the_United_States

 

Except of course I guess even reading that link might get you a visit from the men in black helicopters...

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He mentioned how he fantasied about me being buggered in the showers when in prison. Everyone needs something to crack one off over I guess and since he's an old man I consider it an act of kindness if he wants to crack one off over my peachy posterior.

 

Fair play at least charge him pay to view or something on a webcam.

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You're quite correct and no one has ever said they were....Like I've said in previous post's it comes as part of the price of freedom.....Some countries like the UK prefer to legislate down to the lowest common denominator. One or two citizens do something dumb or one bad incident and your whole Country gets hit's with blanket legislation and surveillance and there's barely a thing you can do about it ...

 

Among all the usual trolling and flag waving absurdity, surprisingly there might actually be a interesting point hidden in here.

 

Although they are obviously becoming an alarming common event in the USA now, school massacres are in fact not an exclusively US phenomenon. As most people reading this will no doubt remember, back in 1996 one obsessed madman entered Dunblane Primary School in Scotland and shot to death 16 innocent little children and their teacher before killing himself. Some 15 other children and adults were injured to some extent. With the possible exception of a handful a major terrorist incidents, I view this event as quite the worst single crime to occur in our nation's modern history.

 

594000-110603-aus-news-pic-dunblane-primary-massacre.jpg

 

In the immediate aftermath of this genuinely appalling tragedy John Major's Conservative government reacted by introducing even tougher restrictions on gun ownership in the UK. A so-called 'gun amnesty' was also implemented where people could hand over any firearms they had in their possession to the police on a 'no questions asked' basis. In 1997 Tony Blair's newly elected Labour administration further tighten UK gun ownership regulation, to the point where the UK now has some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the entire world.

 

As a result gun ownership rates in the UK were reduced to the point where very few British people now have access to any type of gun. Many thousands of (both legal and illegal) firearms were taken off the streets and safely destroyed - including one rusty old rifle from my loft by the way. I believe all these measures had and have the overwhelming support of the British people. Although the possibility of another terrible incident of this type in the UK cannot be entirely ruled out of course, thankfully we have suffered no comparable mass-murder event in our school system post Dunblane.

 

So the question here is what does 'freedom' even mean when your children are not 'free' to go to school in the morning without their parents experiencing a very real fear that they might get caught up in yet another incident of this type. Is what we might call the British reaction to gun crime so very 'over the top' and undemocratic when the current US policy of effectively doing next to nothing in the face of all this tragedy seems only to make a bad situation even worse? It seems to me that any nation that becomes so immersed in bloodshed that even the mass-murder of its children is now seen by some as just being 'one of those things' is in serious trouble.

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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He mentioned how he fantasied about me being buggered in the showers when in prison. Everyone needs something to crack one off over I guess and since he's an old man I consider it an act of kindness if he wants to crack one off over my peachy posterior.

 

Wow you're really hurt aren't you...that's some claim you made there, so how about backing it up with a quote of me actually saying that?...Of course you can't because i never did...just one of of your many fantasies along with your old 'Escoli' internet tough guy you lived off for so long......The one you used before we all found out you were actually a coward who was too scared to get involved with the real fighting, preferring to cower in your bedroom while your buddies you set up were out there getting a good hiding.

 

So I'm going to add the word liar next to State certified coward after your name.....and as for me being full of ****...I've been totally clear that I've left the UK twice. The first time was never permanent, the second time was....... Surely with all those old post's of mine you've been so obsessively rummaging through you would have seen it, no accounting for being blinded by rage though

 

Just because half your life has been a lie and a fantasy doesn't mean everyone else is as ****ed up as you

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Wow you're really hurt aren't you...that's some claim you made there, so how about backing it up with a quote of me actually saying that?...Of course you can't because i never did...just one of of your many fantasies along with your old 'Escoli' internet tough guy you lived off for so long......The one you used before we all found out you were actually a coward who was too scared to get involved with the real fighting, preferring to cower in your bedroom while your buddies you set up were out there getting a good hiding.

 

So I'm going to add the word liar next to State certified coward after your name.....and as for me being full of ****...I've been totally clear that I've left the UK twice. The first time was never permanent, the second time was....... Surely with all those old post's of mine you've been so obsessively rummaging through you would have seen it, no accounting for being blinded by rage though

 

Just because half your life has been a lie and a fantasy doesn't mean everyone else is as ****ed up as you

 

Says Saint George in his best coonass drawl.

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[h=1]The 26 happiest, richest, healthiest, and most crime-free countries in the world[/h]

http://uk.businessinsider.com/legatum-institute-prosperity-index-top-countries-2015-10

 

This is interesting. The UK at number 15, falling two places, outside the top 20 for education and safety. USA at number 11, thanks to being top for health, but one of the very worst for being safe and secure.

 

Of course there are better places to live than either...;)

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Chapel End Charlie is right to underline 'overwhelming support', I am mystified at the way the USA can turn a blind eye to their atrocities.

 

Perhaps this number from Jim Carrey explains everything...

 

Like i said...from your prospective of being bought up in a nanny state you don't understand the freedom that citizens elsewhere get to enjoy even with some consequences and by the looks of it never will. but that's OK no one's asking you too, or even expecting you too....You guys shaped things the way you like it over there, it sure involves a lot of things that wouldn't fly elsewhere, but the same can be said of some other places. The difference is, people from other Countries don't keep insisting that everyone should be like them. Limeys are notorious for being obsessively judgmental and poking your noses in where it doesnt belong and this thread just highlights that.

 

You folks seem to be desperately trying to find some kind of justification for the way things are over there with this constant need to produce all these foreign straw-men. It's really quite bizarre that you allow events that take place half way around the world effect you so much.....I'm not sure if it's some kind of inferiority complex or just jealousy, or both. Why aren't you just happy that you live somewhere that you clearly believe is so perfect? why the worrying and hand wringing about what others are up to, especially if they're of zero risk to you or the life choices you love so much.

 

As for the other obsession of me being some kind of fantasist who lives in Scholing or somewhere?...Not that i could really care less what anyone on here thinks, but just for the record. I don't tell lies, not even on the Internet, I have no reason too, I am who i say i am and have achieved just about everything I've wanted and subsequently have also been able to live pretty much wherever I've wanted, and that happens to be the US and more specifically New Orleans, Louisiana. All as a result of working hard, independent thinking and making good choices over the years, despite being born on a Council Estate in a socialistic **** hole and was forced to leave home and school at 16...So no, Scholing, Southampton etc never lived there, never will.

I can't say I'm sorry some of your lives are so mundane you can't even conceive the notion of anyone rejecting an oppressive nanny state along with being bought down to the lowest common denominator, who then gets off their ass and does something about it....That's clearly outside the scope of many people here and your apathy will as always, get you what you deserve....Just because your happy with your lot, doesn't mean everyone else is.

 

Anyway you folks will be pleased to know I'm out of this thread...I only ever posted on here to highlight the platform of ignorance you're lecturing from and to hold a mirror up so you can get a good look at your selves......and judging by the reaction, I guess that hit a very raw nerve......Well at least y'all got a peek at your selves, fraid i couldn't do much about the ignorance, that's down to you, but now its just repeats and name calling, so time for me to bow out with far better things to do...so y'all can carry on obsessing about the United States in peace and without interruption from me.

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I think I'd better confess that I am Saint George and have been for some time.

 

Fair to say I've run out of steam with him, and it was all getting a bit samey and really rather obvious, although the Scholing "accidental" mis-spelling was a nice final flourish.

 

Anyway, I am working on a new character who I hope you will love/hate just as much. She's going to be a right feisty one.

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I think I'd better confess that I am Saint George and have been for some time.

 

Fair to say I've run out of steam with him, and it was all getting a bit samey and really rather obvious, although the Scholing "accidental" mis-spelling was a nice final flourish.

 

Anyway, I am working on a new character who I hope you will love/hate just as much. She's going to be a right feisty one.

 

Can you give her big bewbs and have her post selfies?

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I think I'd better confess that I am Saint George and have been for some time.

 

Fair to say I've run out of steam with him, and it was all getting a bit samey and really rather obvious, although the Scholing "accidental" mis-spelling was a nice final flourish.

 

Anyway, I am working on a new character who I hope you will love/hate just as much. She's going to be a right feisty one.

I think you'll find he meant no schooling

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I think I'd better confess that I am Saint George and have been for some time.

 

Fair to say I've run out of steam with him, and it was all getting a bit samey and really rather obvious, although the Scholing "accidental" mis-spelling was a nice final flourish.

 

Anyway, I am working on a new character who I hope you will love/hate just as much. She's going to be a right feisty one.

 

Nonsense.

 

i'm Saint George, and so's my wife....

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i am and have achieved just about everything I've wanted and subsequently have also been able to live pretty much wherever I've wanted, and that happens to be the US and more specifically New Orleans, Louisiana. All as a result of working hard, independent thinking and making good choices over the years, despite being born on a Council Estate in a socialistic **** hole and was forced to leave home and school at 16...So no, Scholing, Southampton etc .

 

So you started life on a council estate with nothing much. Whoopy do. So did many of us, largely the legacy of a long WW2 which bankrupted the country. You opted to move to one of the most crime ridden and poorest states in the US. I wouldnt say that was particularly smart choice. Since you left relative positions have changed quite a bit.

 

The topic of conversation which grips my American friends most often is the US' decline, both relative and absolute. Both manual and professional classes wages in the US have largely stagnated for 30 years. Healthcare accounts for over 20% of GDP yet average life expectancy lags behind Cuba and Costa Rica at 39th place as assessed by the WHO. Infant mortality is 30% higher than in the UK. US Educational attainment is below the OECD average. The murder rate for New Orleans is 40 times that for London. Real median wages have risen 38% in the UK since 1988, in the US 2%. You have freedom in the same way the kids in Lord of the Flies had freedom.

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So you started life on a council estate with nothing much. Whoopy do. So did many of us, largely the legacy of a long WW2 which bankrupted the country. You opted to move to one of the most crime ridden and poorest states in the US. I wouldnt say that was particularly smart choice. Since you left relative positions have changed quite a bit.

 

The topic of conversation which grips my American friends most often is the US' decline, both relative and absolute. Both manual and professional classes wages in the US have largely stagnated for 30 years. Healthcare accounts for over 20% of GDP yet average life expectancy lags behind Cuba and Costa Rica at 39th place as assessed by the WHO. Infant mortality is 30% higher than in the UK. US Educational attainment is below the OECD average. The murder rate for New Orleans is 40 times that for London. Real median wages have risen 38% in the UK since 1988, in the US 2%. You have freedom in the same way the kids in Lord of the Flies had freedom.

Yes, yes, we know all that, but just think of all the guns that you get to own..! Liberty, man, liberty.

 

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

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Hmm. New Orleans vs Southampton... Pretty sure I know where I'd rather be. Problems, yes, but what a city of culture and music!

 

Its fantastic for a visit, maybe even to live as a single person or couple for a while, but not to raise a family. Much of the states is still great but its on a downward slope from being top dog and most educated people there know it. Taxes seem lower, but once you realise that you need to pay to educate your children, have healthcare and pay additional pension because there is no state provision you end up worse off.

 

The biggest thing I notice is lack of peace of mind. Kinnock could have been talking about the US instead of Maggie "I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old" .People are constantly worried about school fees, job insecurity, long working hours, medical care, crime, care of elderly relatives (you cant imagine looking after someone with dementia with no state support). These are middle class, middle aged, good jobs people. A friend of mine got fired last week because she has cancer and has been off work a bit (not even that much). They thought they were being generous by paying her healthcare for a month when they had no liability to pay anything (its a fire at will state), so now she will have to find $1,800pm for her health premiums or her treatment will stop, not easy when you're ill and your husband is retired.

Edited by buctootim
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Hmm. New Orleans vs Southampton... Pretty sure I know where I'd rather be. Problems, yes, but what a city of culture and music!

Listen to some great music, breathe in that wholesome Southern air, put on your dancing shoes and

get shot in the face by some crack head.

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Do you feel in the US that you genuinely have 'freedom' of both action and 'speech' ?

 

Well ? I am genuinely interested in your perception of your own liberties, not the liberties afforded in other countries and by other regimes. Could you for example write or speak about any topic without fear of retribution, could you burn an effigy of your leader or flag and simply be seen as exercising your freedom of expression?

 

I fully acknowledge that we have lost a great deal of our freedom of speech in the UK, and it is a cause of great pain to some of us. However I would still suggest that we have far more latitide than the US, and at least we had it to lose in the first place.

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Like i said...from your prospective of being bought up in a nanny state you don't understand the freedom that citizens elsewhere get to enjoy even with some consequences and by the looks of it never will. but that's OK no one's asking you too, or even expecting you too....You guys shaped things the way you like it over there, it sure involves a lot of things that wouldn't fly elsewhere, but the same can be said of some other places. The difference is, people from other Countries don't keep insisting that everyone should be like them. Limeys are notorious for being obsessively judgmental and poking your noses in where it doesnt belong and this thread just highlights that.

 

You folks seem to be desperately trying to find some kind of justification for the way things are over there with this constant need to produce all these foreign straw-men. It's really quite bizarre that you allow events that take place half way around the world effect you so much.....I'm not sure if it's some kind of inferiority complex or just jealousy, or both. Why aren't you just happy that you live somewhere that you clearly believe is so perfect? why the worrying and hand wringing about what others are up to, especially if they're of zero risk to you or the life choices you love so much.

 

As for the other obsession of me being some kind of fantasist who lives in Scholing or somewhere?...Not that i could really care less what anyone on here thinks, but just for the record. I don't tell lies, not even on the Internet, I have no reason too, I am who i say i am and have achieved just about everything I've wanted and subsequently have also been able to live pretty much wherever I've wanted, and that happens to be the US and more specifically New Orleans, Louisiana. All as a result of working hard, independent thinking and making good choices over the years, despite being born on a Council Estate in a socialistic **** hole and was forced to leave home and school at 16...So no, Scholing, Southampton etc never lived there, never will.

I can't say I'm sorry some of your lives are so mundane you can't even conceive the notion of anyone rejecting an oppressive nanny state along with being bought down to the lowest common denominator, who then gets off their ass and does something about it....That's clearly outside the scope of many people here and your apathy will as always, get you what you deserve....Just because your happy with your lot, doesn't mean everyone else is.

 

Anyway you folks will be pleased to know I'm out of this thread...I only ever posted on here to highlight the platform of ignorance you're lecturing from and to hold a mirror up so you can get a good look at your selves......and judging by the reaction, I guess that hit a very raw nerve......Well at least y'all got a peek at your selves, fraid i couldn't do much about the ignorance, that's down to you, but now its just repeats and name calling, so time for me to bow out with far better things to do...so y'all can carry on obsessing about the United States in peace and without interruption from me.

 

So to sum up:

- the US's high death rate through gun violence is none of your business, and you're not even allowed to discuss it

- and anyway, you're a socialist nanny state something something straw man, so there

 

Thanks for the reasoned debate SG!

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As a mark of respect for this young lad and others, can this pathetic thread now be closed down.

 

You can avoid pathetic threads rather than post in them you know.

 

That story highlights exactly 'what is wrong with America?' Does not happen in any other developed country.

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As criticisms go, I've never really understood why the so-called 'nanny state' concept is considered such a bad thing. You have to balance this objective against the need to maintain a competitive, low tax base, economy of course. But surely having the state provide some basic safeguard against the horrors of utter destitution is a rather good thing for the welfare of society overall. That is what most people in Europe seem to think anyway.

 

As for those on here who choose to avoid entering into any real discussion of what 'freedom' really means in this day and age, while apparently determined to endlessly question the liberty of people posting on a .co.uk registered website to discus any international issue they see fit to ... well it seems that horrible old cliche about Americans not really understanding 'irony' may not be such a cliche afterall.

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