Rhesus

The British society, historically known for its refinedness and 'strong' culture now is stuck with a working class too big to function, and is in a downward spiral in all aspects. It's not a place I'd like to live in.

Feel free to discuss.

Lee

Makes a change from See sig or would you hit it?

My 2 cents.

Manowar

I whole heartedly agree

Project-Shadow

I dont think you'll find anyone who disagrees.

Rhesus

Why are you guys still living there? Your society is depressed and morally empty...

$5 submissions

The fish and chips kicked ass when I was there 3 years ago.

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Rhesus

Filipinos have fun any place on earth

Manowar

I wonder how the working class got so big

ruth

Mmmm... They still kicks ass!

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hershie

Why, when Britain was at its imperialistic height, didn't they move their government and everything else of value out of London and set up shop somewhere in the Caribbean or South Pacific? Everybody complains how cold and grey London is...they could have packed up and just made a new London in the tropics.

Webby

Working class... call em whatever, basically it's the same in almost all western industrialized countries. And yes, there is a downwards spiral when education systems don't encourage thought but concentrate in training bodies to work - and pay taxes of course. Also trying like hell to have people working till age 100 because they all fucked up and stole their pension funds.

Bright prospect for "civilisation" as we know it, eh?


hershie:

Well... it's kinda like that already! Anyone with any sense has already escaped "civilised" countries and do live in exotic tropical locations - but left the crappy govts back home to dwell in misery

Seriously... there are a lot of "escapees" moving out of many "civilised" countries and heading to a superior lifestyles in tropical locations. Of course along with that they insist in bringing elements of retard world and screwing up these locations.

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jjjay

if you had said something vaguely intelligent I might have been tempted to. you didn't, so I won't

Mr. Marks

I went to London around 3 months ago. The mass migration from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribean has made it a very very diverse place. At least compared to my first visit in the early 80's. As an African American, I must admit I like the change.

DateDoc

Employment is always cyclical - not enough jobs and too many ppl right now - but what does the future hold? When ppl seeking an eductaion face a bleek employment prospectus they often stay in school and obtain more degrees. This can only bode well for the future of England or perhaps only it's subjects that obtain a first rate advanced degree in many fields and move abroad. My brother has worked in England for years and was finally lured away by the Swiss and now that I have only twice removed relatives in England I'm not sure I'll ever be back.

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v4 media

I'm sure that the rest of Europe would love to unemploymnet levels as low as the UK.

jjjay

what places would you recommend?

Manowar

the goverment plays those figures so much though

Sarah_Jayne

Well, we are still the 4th largest economy in the world despite not having nearly the size of the empire we once had.

I love the UK. That is why I made the choice to be British. I don't even dislike the weather. It doesn't rain that much in London (though it does once you get north of the city) and it very rarely snows. That and London is one of the most vibrant, culturally mixed cities in the world.

In addition I now live in a country where gay civil partnerships are legal and it took place with very little fuss. I get to live close enough to mainland Europe to go to a large part of the world within a few hours. I can go to France or Belgium for lunch and be back for dinner. My kind of life.

That said, the UK has been shifting from an industrial economy to a service economy since Thatcher was in office and it was a bumpy transition.


Anyway..where do you live?

Ross

The only thing I hate about my country is the weather. If we had nicer weather we'd be one of the best places on earth to live.

Britain isn't in a downward spiral. Its a lot safer than living in the US in my opinion, where any fucking retard over 16 can buy a gun and shoot you no problem.

We have laws to protect our people and try to keep them safe by banning the sale of guns to everyone.

Gunni

Same thing happening on a larger scale in lots of other western countries

Rhesus

I live in the Netherlands but have been visiting the UK fairly often in the past months. I'll move away from NL as soon as I can.

DamageX

Not like they have anywhere else to go, you know.

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Sarah_Jayne

And where are you planning on going that is so pefect?

Sarah_Jayne

have to say the 'morally empty' bit kind of makes me laugh..what morals should we have that we don't?

Gunni

for example not laugh at Jimmy Carr when he makes fun of Stephen Hawking

EviLSuperstaR

Nothing Tony Blair, The Great Socialist, can't handle

Sarah_Jayne

I always feel so terrible when I laugh at stuff Jimmy Carr says but sometimes you can't help it.

jjjay

from your first post, it's clear you know very little first hand about the UK and are probably just repeating what some dutch tabloid told you

that's why you're an idiot. you probably couldn't even get into the UK, there's a strict immigration policy about letting in the mentally inferior

Ross

Jimmy Carr fucking rocks. Don't feel bad, its humour, if we didn't have that life would be boring.

Gunni

His T-shirts are the best

Front:
<--- I'm with stupid

Back:
The national association of special needs carers

Gunni

here he's on Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, hilarious http://www.topgear.com/content/timet...broadband.html

Rhesus

I don't read any dutch tabloids, and the experience I'm sharing is a first hand one. Think of it whatever you want. If the only argument you can bring into this discussion is that I'm mentally inferior, take a close look at yourself.

ssp

I moved from The Netherlands to the UK last year and I must say this country is so much better. You should come and visit the south coast once, it's really pretty.

Sarah_Jayne

again..what morals don't we have that we should?

jjjay

I know english is your second language and maybe that's why I'm having trouble making sense of your drivel but you haven't convinced me of anything except that you're jealous of the UK and wish you lived there instead of the pissant hellhole where you currently reside.

Rhesus

The scenery is definitely pretty in summer, but unfortunately it's not summer all year long... Older people are usually a pleasure to talk with, friendly and truly British as they are in their manners. I'm sorry to say, but the generation I belong to just seems have abandoned all that and seems just to suck in England.

Gunni

Pot and prostitution are illegal, and so is bestiality. Could be what he's talking about...

Sarah_Jayne

yes....such great morals

jjjay

he sounds like a seventy year old stuck in a twenty year old's body

"in my day..."

Rhesus

jjjay is obviously not able to read well

Sarah: I'll take back the word morals since it apparently doesn't really reflect what I meant.

ssp

It's different in different parts of the country. I used to live in Rotterdam. Sometimes I was the only guy speaking Dutch or ABN on the tram. People got shot dead in front of my eyes. I used to live in the shittiest grey harbour city of Holland.

Now I live 10 minutes away from the beach in a place with fucking palm trees believe it or not. The clubs and pubs are open 7 days a week and people are friendly. If I want to go shopping at 3am in the morning, I go to Tesco around the corner. It doesn't rain that much here because of a tropical sea wind or something.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere above London and my city isn't really a real representation of the UK but I must say, moving was the best thing I ever did. It just goes to show that the UK has many sides and it's not only the thing you see in movies with youngsters wearing trainers and tracksuits.

BTW You're more than welcome to visit.

jjjay

that does describe 95% of people under twenty though.

ssp

He made it sound like those people make up 95% of the population though. Which isn't the case.

Gunni

Most of them are probably just out playing footie

jjjay

chavs and ringtones. what more is there to the UK?

Gunni

football and humor

jjjay

humour even

Gunni

well, compared to the Dutch, they're almost German

jjjay

really? i don't know dutch humour. lots of jokes about the munchies?

hershie

This was from a New York Times series on the world's best beach areas:

These Days Surf's Up on Cornwall's Northern Coast
By JENNIFER CONLIN

WALK through Paddington Station in London on a Friday afternoon in July or August, and you might think you're in Laguna Beach. Students dressed in Rip Curl tank tops, Quicksilver shorts, Ray-Bans and flip-flops amble through the crowds of commuters rushing for their trains. While the suits are off to the suburbs, the kids are all headed for the coast. Specifically to north Cornwall on the 4:05 train, which will deposit them some six hours later in a region that's become known for offering some of the best surfing - and socializing - in all of Europe.

Cornwall, which was once celebrated for its more elderly pursuits - Cornish teas, watercolor galleries, coastal walks and seaside gardens - is now considered one of the hip places to visit in England, no matter what your age. With numerous beaches for all levels of surfing, an outpost of the modern Tate Gallery in St. Ives, and the environmentally avant-garde Eden Project in St. Austell, Cornwall is increasingly becoming a popular family destination, particularly for those families with painfully trendy teenagers.

"Just look at the Live 8 locations," says Helen Gilchrist, editor and publisher of The Stranger, a year-old lifestyle and arts magazine based in Falmouth. "You had London, Philadelphia, Paris, Berlin, Moscow - and Cornwall," she says, referring to the recent Live 8 Africa concert in the world's largest greenhouse, the Eden Project. "It was great publicity for this area," says Ms. Gilchrist.

Indeed, the most buzzing place in Cornwall, at least for backpacking college students, is Newquay, which offers truly challenging surf. With music festivals, impromptu beach parties and an array of extreme water sports like waveskiing (on a cross between a surfboard and kayak) and kite surfing, Newquay is all about youth culture and night life.

As a result, some families tend to avoid Newquay at all costs. Instead, they flock to the extremely upscale area of Rock, Polzeath and Padstow. Known as "Knightsbridge on the Sea" because so many well-heeled Londoners own second homes there, Rock is a favorite summer haunt of Princes William and Harry, who like to surf on the Polzeath beach - a mere 10 miles away - and dine at the popular Rick Stein Cafe in Padstow, a short ferry ride from Rock across the Camel Estuary.

If Cornwall is England's answer to California, the seafood chef Rick Stein, 58, is its Alice Waters. Mr. Stein has single-handedly made the fishing port of Padstow a dining destination for sophisticated travelers from all over the world. The Seafood Restaurant, opened in 1975, is now just one small part of the culinary empire he has built up over the last 30 years. Mr. Stein's numerous Padstow establishments now include the cafe, a bistro, a fish and chips shop, a deli and a patisserie, as well as 33 hotel rooms, which house both diners and the students who attend his seafood cooking school. All his restaurants are decorated in sea shades of blue, gray and white, complementing his imaginative menus, which always feature the freshest fish and seafood available.

"This area used to attract a sort of down-market tourism," says Mr. Stein, who spent many childhood summers at his family's home in Cornwall. "But I always saw it as a quality place, which is why I chose to open my first restaurant here. I had a desire to see the area flourish. It has a mystical quality to it like the west coast of Ireland or Scotland," says Mr. Stein, who is well known outside of Britian, specifically in Australia and New Zealand, for his cookbooks and numerous BBC cooking series.

But it is the explosive growth of the lucrative surfing industry that has truly transformed the region. Nearly every institution in the area pays tribute to the sport. This summer the Eden Project, known for its "global garden," is playing host to an exhibition charting the history of British surfing. The National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, whose mission is to "promote small boats," is celebrating the long board with an exhibition called "Surf's Up," which will run for the next six months. Even the Tate Gallery in St. Ives, which was built by the magnificent Porthmeor Beach, overlooks a busy surf school.

"Cornwall is now one of the surfing and water activity capitals of the world," says Rhona Gardiner, a co-founder of Big Friday, a weekend travel company that caters exclusively to urban surfers in need of a quick Cornwall getaway. "Ten years ago, before surfing took off, this was a backwater place with old men's pubs. Now a lot of young entrepreneurs are moving here from London to start new lifestyle businesses that will meet the demands of this growing market," says Ms. Gardiner, who recently moved to Newquay full time from London after learning to surf there five years ago.

Peter Craske, who runs the Surf's Up Surf School with his wife, Jane, on the family-friendly Polzeath Beach, agrees. "I started this school 11 years ago. In the last eight days I have had 300 clients per day. That is more than I had in my entire first year," says Mr. Craske, who has 17 instructors (all certified lifeguards) to help him keep up with demand. "It used to be that the parents would drop off the kids for lessons," he explains. "But now they sign up, too. It has become exactly like the ski holiday and, in fact, attracts the same families."

Frances Stokes, an American mother raising two teenagers (aged 15 and 17) in London, fits that profile perfectly. Every winter the family skis in Switzerland, and every summer (for the last three years) they surf in North Cornwall. "It is so much easier to learn here than in Hawaii," says Ms. Stokes, who has surfed in both places. "Polzeath is a beginner's beach where you don't feel embarrassed learning. It is also the perfect place to bring teenagers since they all get to know each other in surf classes."

Perhaps too well. This summer the police have had to patrol both Polzeath and the nearby Daymer Bay beach in an effort to deter the area's teenage visitors from making bonfires out of old fences and hedgerow branches and cocktails out of whatever alcoholic beverages they can find.

That crackdown may have put a certain damper on the partying, but it hasn't seemed to diminish Cornwall's appeal. "Surfing is a great family sport and Cornwall is beautiful," says Ms. Stokes, who says that she and the other families she travels with set a 10 p.m. curfew for their teenagers. "That is the real reason families like it here so much."