What is great about our country?

[benjii]

1. London - the greatest city on Earth.

I've just spent the weekend in London. I wasn't mugged or skinned alive and buggered, saw very few crackheads/homeless, felt safe, saw history and character at every turn, saw people from all over having a great time. I've spent time in loads of cities over the last couple of years (New York, LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Singapore, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Dubai, Bangkok...) and nowhere really comes close. New York is great, but it's dirtier, more run down and everyone is trying to shaft you. London rules. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. Congratulations to Sadiq Khan.

 

2 - the Royal Family. Imagine having to salute a cunt like Trump. Nuff said.

 

3 - our sense of humour. We are the best country at being funny by fucking miles. Only the Yanks come close and it's mostly because we taught them how to speak, read and write.

 

4 - the BBC / our TV. Again, the best by miles.

What else?

Edited Sunday at 20:32 by benjii

[Lighthouse]

Just generally being a free, secular and democratic society where everyone is allowed, within reason, to speak their mind.

 

That and Jaffa Cake Bars.

[whelk]

Lots of cities you miss out, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon Barcelona 

I am less inclined to rave about how great UK is these days

 

[benjii]

4 minutes ago, whelk said:

Lots of cities you miss out, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon Barcelona 

I am less inclined to rave about how great UK is these days

 

Way better than all those.

Rome - the best out of those ones. Amazing history but over crowded, lots of crappy joints, less transport, less dramatic scenery, less lively, less modern culture.

Paris - full of French.

Madrid - ok, nothing special.

Lisbon - very nice place but just not in the same league.

Barcelona - massively overrated. If it wasn't for the football team, no-one would care.

[whelk]

2 minutes ago, benjii said:

Way better than all those.

Rome - the best out of those ones. Amazing history but over crowded, lots of crappy joints, less transport, less dramatic scenery, less lively, less modern culture.

Paris - full of French.

Madrid - ok, nothing special.

Lisbon - very nice place but just not in the same league.

Barcelona - massively overrated. If it wasn't for the football team, no-one would care.

Where did you go in London where you saw so few homeless?

I like London and in glorious weather it’s great. So many great pubs.

I love the French btw

[badgerx16]

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, benjii said:

1. London - the greatest city on Earth.

I've just spent the weekend in London. I wasn't mugged or skinned alive and buggered, saw very few crackheads/homeless, felt safe, saw history and character at every turn, saw people from all over having a great time. I've spent time in loads of cities over the last couple of years (New York, LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Singapore, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Dubai, Bangkok...) and nowhere really comes close. New York is great, but it's dirtier, more run down and everyone is trying to shaft you. London rules. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. Congratulations to Sadiq Khan.

 

2 - the Royal Family. Imagine having to salute a cunt like Trump. Nuff said.

 

3 - our sense of humour. We are the best country at being funny by fucking miles. Only the Yanks come close and it's mostly because we taught them how to speak, read and write.

 

4 - the BBC / our TV. Again, the best by miles.

What else?

 

hooliganism- after giving football to the world we then gave them football violence and just like the sport most countries are better than us at it now 

[Hamilton Saint]

The cheese is superb. To name bur a few: Stilton, Wensleydale, Cheshire, Caerphilly, Dorset Drum, and Shropshire Blue. My current favourite is Red Leicester.

[benjii]

13 hours ago, Hamilton Saint said:

The cheese is superb. To name bur a few: Stilton, Wensleydale, Cheshire, Caerphilly, Dorset Drum, and Shropshire Blue. My current favourite is Red Leicester.

Yes. Up yours, Delors!

[benjii]

17 hours ago, Turkish said:

 

hooliganism- after giving football to the world we then gave them football violence and just like the sport most countries are better than us at it now 

Good shout.

[benjii]

Chalk streams.

Over 80% of the world's chalk streams are in England.

[Farmer Saint]

19 hours ago, benjii said:

1. London - the greatest city on Earth.

I've just spent the weekend in London. I wasn't mugged or skinned alive and buggered, saw very few crackheads/homeless, felt safe, saw history and character at every turn, saw people from all over having a great time. I've spent time in loads of cities over the last couple of years (New York, LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Singapore, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Dubai, Bangkok...) and nowhere really comes close. New York is great, but it's dirtier, more run down and everyone is trying to shaft you. London rules. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. Congratulations to Sadiq Khan.

 

2 - the Royal Family. Imagine having to salute a cunt like Trump. Nuff said.

 

3 - our sense of humour. We are the best country at being funny by fucking miles. Only the Yanks come close and it's mostly because we taught them how to speak, read and write.

 

4 - the BBC / our TV. Again, the best by miles.

What else?

Lived in London for nearly 10 years. It's fucking shit if you live there. Disparate and soulless. When I purchase the farm that all ended.

The countryside is what is good about this country, not the cunt-ridden personality void that is our fair capital.

[leesaint88]

5 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Lived in London for nearly 10 years. It's fucking shit if you live there. Disparate and soulless. When I purchase the farm that all ended.

The countryside is what is good about this country, not the cunt-ridden personality void that is our fair capital.

100%. I lived in North London or a number of years and hated it, despite it being one of the 'better' areas of the capital. Working now with farms all over the South & South West is fantastic, I never knew such beauty really did exist in this country until then. (That being said, I once worked outside of York and the place was flat and miserable. Only time I'd happily be back in London). 

On another note. Morgan cars - they get my vote for something great about this country.

[benjii]

A totally get the appeal of having the country house along with the city pad. I'm not advocating for one to spend all of one's time in the greatest city on Earth.

[Gloucester Saint]

Agree with Benji on tv/culture/music - BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, even ITV with the PO scandal doc, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Who, Punk, Britpop, our festivals. Also Lighthouse on freedoms of speech and our democracy, which is why Trumpism must be fought at all costs domestically.

I’ll add a couple of new ones: Cask ale. Other nations are trying variations of it but it’s uniquely British. The American craft beer revolution happened because the microbreweries of the late 1970s and beyond came to the UK and tried our cask ale, proving a road to Damascus moment. Some of many of the styles - Mild, Bitter, Pale, IPA, Porter - are intertwined with our history. First ever trademark was Bass Red Triangle.

Science and engineering - other nations have great scientists and engineers too but the sheer volume and ingenuity for islands our size - Brunel, Telford etc.

Edited Monday at 18:43 by Gloucester Saint

[aintforever]

2 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Lived in London for nearly 10 years. It's fucking shit if you live there. Disparate and soulless. When I purchase the farm that all ended.

The countryside is what is good about this country, not the cunt-ridden personality void that is our fair capital.

This. I lived there for for just over 5 years and whilst it was good for going out to gigs etc, day to day life it is pretty grim. Great city to visit but would never live there again.

[sadoldgit]

Our self deprecating and often bizarre sense of humour. Tommy Cooper, Morecombe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, The Goon Show, Monty Python, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Only Fools And Horses etc. The Brits have always excelled at find new ways at laughing at what it is to be human, especially what it is to be British. As the great Edna Everage once said to Jeffery Archer, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, you might be missing the joke of the century.”

Edited 13 hours ago by sadoldgit
Typo

[Weston Super Saint]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Our self depreciating and often bizarre sense of humour. 

It gets smaller every year?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

London is probably the best city in the west, takes a certain level of personality to live there though so not for everyone.

Much of the countryside is stunning and we're blessed with the mix of coastal areas and in land retreats.

We're sort of tolerant.

We have the best South Asian food outside of South Asia.

We have a broad range of high level sporting interest which makes things more fun.

We're incredibly lucky to be in such a stable part of the world.

[whelk]

[hypochondriac]

There's loads to love about England and the UK. The green spaces, the traditions and the humour are some of the things I love. I've always enjoyed visiting London but very glad to leave once I do so I can't say it's anywhere near the best for me - Rome and in fact many places in Italy are miles better along with parts of France - but I accept thats a personal thing. 

Smaller villages with that sense of community still intact are great too.