Briggsy Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Following on from the olympic logo thread, I thought i'd see what everyone's opinions are on the current state of the UK.... Do you think the UK is the laughing stock of the world? Are you no longer proud to be British? If you had the opportunity to move to any country you liked in the world tomorrow, would you leave the UK, or are you too patriotic and would prefer to stay here? I've been thinking about a few things, and its made me realise just how stupid this country is, how wrong its priorities are, and how contradictive our government are. Be warned - this is a long, ranting thread, but it gives you the oportunity to speak out about your country. Are we racist, are we just a bunch of moaning old sods, or are we just far too patriotic? I'd like to think i'm the latter (patriotic) - although after my rants below, its quite obvious that my passion for this country is on the decline. 1. Using public transport to save the environment: The goverment want us to ditch our cars to save the environment yes? Great, nice idea, and if public transport was good - i'd use it BUT... A. If the government want us to use buses, then why have a lot of bus companies replaced double decker buses with single decker buses? Why have bus companies reduced the frequency of buses throughout the day? Why have bus prices increased quite drastically? In Coventry, many of our double decker buses have been replaced with single decker buses - why, because they're cheaper for the bus company to buy than double deckers. The frequency of buses has also been reduced - why? Because less drivers can be used, and less fuel is used - more cost cutting. Prices have gone up? Why? Nobody knows! Surely, if the government are encouraging us to use buses, then single deckers should be replaced with double deckers so that they can carry moe people, buses should be more frequent, and the prices should be lowered to make it more appealing - instead, the reverse has happened! B. If protecting the environment is an issue, then why is the vast majority of our rail network covered by diesel trains? Out of the whole UK rail network, only three main lines north of London are electrified (the East and West coast main - trains out of Euston to the midlands and north west, and from Kings Cross to the north east, and the great eastern main line from London Liverpool street to Norwich). There are a few electrified lines to the South East of London, but no overall coverage across the south. Scotland is only electrified as far as Glasgow and Edinburgh - beyond that, diesel trains operate. Wales is covered entirely by diesel trains too. Why haven't the government demanded that ALL major train router are electrified. That way, there would be less diesel emissions. ALSO - going back to encouraging us to use public transport - why are all of the old trains that are being replaced, that were 10 coaches long, being replaced with newer trains with fewer seats and coaches (7 coaches long) - surely, if they want people to use public transport, then those trains should have been made longer rather than shorter. C. bus lanes - they cause more pollution rather than reduce it! Again, in Coventry, on a major route out of the city centre, we had one road with three lanes leading out of town. Two of those lanes were straight-on lanes, and the turn left lane was turned into a bus lane. before the bus lane was created, the traffic flowed freely. Since the bus lane was created, what used to be three lanes of cars leaving town has now been pushed into two lanes of cars leaving town - making that road congested. The bus can't get through to the bus lane because he's stuck way back in the congestion - rendering the bus lane pretty much pointless! 2. The UK's financial situation: This country is the richest its ever been, thanks to increasing taxes, and a reduction in the countries national debt BUT the state of the NHS is worse than ever. The NHS is closing wards because it can't fund them, doctors and nurses are being made redundant because the NHS can't afford their salaries, and life-saving, but expensive medications, are being turned away by the NHS because it can't afford to pay for it. The annoying thing is, we've just wasted £850 million on a new national football stadium, a still-increasing £12 BILLION on the 2012 olympics, £400,000 of public money on a daft olympic logo, a substantial amount of money on funding the war in Iraq, and millions of pounds more in aid to countries that have suffered a national disaster. NONE of those things were needed - they're all luxuries. A new national stadium is nice, but we don't NEED it. We don't NEED the olympics, and we certainly don't need its s***ty logo. The war wasn't really our business - that was between the USA and Iraq - they should have funded it. As for aid in other countries - well, what has happened is all unfortunate, but why do we always fund their rebuild process - why don't other countries offer some financial support? If we hadn't paid for any of the above, we could have wiped the NHS debt - and saved thousands and thousands of lives, and maybe even helped fund cures for chronic illnesses such as Cancer, Diabetes, Renal failure and Cardiac failure. Saving lives is more important than funding a mickey-mouse event that we won't even win anyway. 3. Stupid laws: We can't climb on a ladder at work any more to put decorations up at Christmas because its a "health risk" - contractors have to do it instead at additional cost. So, don't contractors fall off of ladders? Christmas is offensive to foreigners, despite it being our national festival - but we have to accept their religious festivals. Blakc people can have their MOBO awards, but if white people were to have a MOWO award (music of white origin), we'd be branded racist! We can't display our national flag on cars and buildings because its offensive, yet our foreign friends can drive around with their national flag on their car - and not a word is said, because if we do, its racist! If a white person hits a black person, its automatically classed as a racial assault - but if a black person hits a white person, its just an assault! You're involved in a car accident with an uninsured driver - your car is a write-off, but he escapes with a slight neck injury. You can't claim for your car because he has no insurance, but he immediately puts in a personal injiry claim against you for hurting his neck - so he gets £3000 in compensation. Meanwhile, it has costs you £700 to insure your car and a further £150 to tax it - thats to drive legally. Meanwhile, the uninsured driver has no tax or unsurance - so he gets a £200 fine for driving illegally. Its cheaper to drive illegally than it is legally. 4. Fairness: A single mother with three kids gets a free council house, all her bills paid for, gets her education paid for should she wish to return to work, and also recieved financial help to buy food in the form of benefits - despite her never working in her life and paying nothing into our tax system. A refugee moves over from a foreigh country. He speaks very little English, has no qualifications, has no intentions of finding a job, and has a criminal record for theft in his home nation. Because he's lived abroad, he's not paid into our system. He moves over to the UK, immediately gets a free house, and has financial support in the form of benefits. Meanwhile, a 65 year old pensioner that has worked since he's 18 and paid thousands and thousands of taxes into the UK's system, is struggling to make ends meet because he gets a poor government pension and no other form of income. By the time he's paid his rent and bills, he has very little left over. He also has a serious illness and needs a life-saving drug - but its unavailable on the NHS because it is too expensive - therefore, he'll die needlessly. Where's the fairness in that? 5. A Government that doesn't think before it speaks: A. They want us to ditch our cars to use public transport - meanwhile, the deputy PM is driving around in two gas-guzzling Jaguars. B. They want us to ditch cars to protect the environment - yet Tony Blair is driven to the houses of parliament, which is 5 minutes away from Downing Street. Is that pollution from that car necessary? Walk you lazy sod! C. Fat tax! 18 months ago, the government tried, but failed, to introduce a tax on unhealthy food to encourage healthy eating. Meanwhile, the bench seats in the houses of parliament are struggling to cope with the weight as John Prescott and Anne Widdecombe sit their big fat arses down! Get down to a 32 waist before you tell us about our weight chaps!! D. One property! The goverment wanted to clamp down on people owning two or more properties. A day later, the press announce that Jack Straw has just invested in his third property. E. Anti-social behaviour! The government was on-the-spot fines for any drunks found causing anti-social behaviour in the streets. This comes from our prime minister - who's son was arrested for being found drunk and disorderly in a London street! F. Minimum wage: The government say we can live on a mimimum wage of £5.50 per hour. Meanwhile, their all earning £200,000 per year, plus claiming an extra £100,000 in expenses. Not to mention the fact that all of the leading MP3's are millionaires! G. Identity cards: Due to terrorist threats and high crimes committed by foreigh people, the governemt want us to pay £65 for a compulsory ID card - even though it was them that let all the foreigners in to start with! 6. Police: A. If your house is burgled, you have to wait 2 days for them to come out, however, if you're doing 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on the motorway, the police pull you over! B. You're speeding at 80mph up the motorway, and the police have spotted you. They want to pull you over because your speed is dangerous, so they pull out of the services, and race along the motorway at 100mph so that they can catch you up. So, they've just had to go faster than you to catch up with you, to tell you off because your speed is dangerous. So, they're 100mph is safe is it? C. Parking on double yellow lines is an offence, so the police can issue you with a ticket. Unfortunately, they have knowwhere to park their car, so the only way they can put a ticket on your car is by parking their car on the double yellow lines opposite you. Am i missing the point there? How can they penalise you for something they've just done themselves? D. In 2004, new rules came into force which stated that the Fire Brigade and Ambulances were only allowed to go 10mph maximum over the speed limit to get to their emergencies, however, that limit did not apply to the police. However, the Fire Brigade and Ambulance save lives - whereas the Police don't, so surely it'd make more sense for the Fire Brigade and Ambulance service to be exampt from this limit, with the police being the ones forced to stick to just 10mph over the limit? 7. Justice system: A. A man kills a 12 year old girl by wreckless driving. She's dead - forever! No way back! Her family have to live with that forever. Meanwhile, he gets a 12 year sentence for manslaughter, but because of his "good behaviour", he is released after 6 years and can carry on with his life as normal. He celebrates his release by driving to and from the pub after 12 pints.... Next door to his cell, was a poor, pennyless, 70 year old lady, who was sent down for 7 years for missing her council tax payments for three years. She was also caught stealing £100 from someone so that she could try to pay her council tax bills. Unfortunately, she was badly behaved in prison, so she had to do her full 7 year stint - meanwhile, the chap in the cell next door that killed that young girl, has now been released. B. A man that hates animals has savagely attacked 6 ponies in a field - three of which were so badly injured, they needed to be put down. He's also killed three of his next door neighbours cats. he is caught by the RSPCA, and court action is taken against him. His punishment is a £100 fine, and an order which prevents him from keeping animals for one year (Errr hello, he didn't like animals anyway, so why would he want one now?!). In my opinion, a life is a life - regardless of whether its an animal or a human. Taking a life is murder - so they should face the maximum possible sentence. ANimals have feelings too!! So, are you proud to be British?...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakey Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 That is one long post lol! I'll have a read tomorrow, off out tonight for some pub golf!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simcut Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Nope, not proud to be british, I think Im going to move to either Scandinavia or Germany I think..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 That is one mighty long post! I work in the transport sector and there are a few technical errors in your post. Such as vast swathes of SE England's railways are electrified, the Midland line is electrified to Bedford, etc. Electrification is very costly and lines have to be used enough to warrant it, ie beyond the Central Belt in Scotland and Wales, the patronage does not warrant the investment. ie Trains on the West Highland line are few and far between - it just doesn't make economical sense to electrify it. Single deck buses are more accessible and are hence preferred. ie Pushchairs, disabled users and the perceived security element of not having to sit upstairs with only one exit and no visible driver. Usually routes that switch to single deck buses opt for 'bendy' buses or increase the frequency. Don't know whats going on with Coventry? The bottom line is that people are not willing to give up their cars. Look at the amount of people that signed that petition against road charging - if people are so against using public transport instead of their cars, which political party will take the risk and introduce it? Bus lanes do work - clearly Coventry needs a new transport planner. PM me with a lucrative offer and I'm yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Just skim read through the rest of it and there are some good points, mainly with the justice system. And I totally agree with you on ID cards. Time to set up a political party Briggsy and see if you can sort the place out! Are there any countries that are differnet to ours? Does Utopia exist? I don't agree with your point about the police speeding to catch up with offenders. How else are they expected to catch them? Let them off! It kind of disagrees with your point about a speeder that kills someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Just skim read through the rest of it and there are some good points, mainly with the justice system. And I totally agree with you on ID cards. Time to set up a political party Briggsy and see if you can sort the place out! I think i'd stay clear with that to be honest - i'd be slaughtered for speaking my mind. I tend to say things that a lot of people dare not say, hence this thread. Most people think along the same lines as i've put, but won't openly say anything in fear of being branded racist, offensive or downright rude. I'm neither of those - I just hate being taken for, or seeing others taken for, a mug. I don't agree with your point about the police speeding to catch up with offenders. How else are they expected to catch them? Let them off! It kind of disagrees with your point about a speeder that kills someone. I'm going to stick with my original comment to be honest. I've never thought that speeders are the biggest problem on the roads, you can get some very aware, and careful drivers that drive 10 or 15mph over the speed limit. They know whats going on around them, they indicate clearly and leave gaps between cars, etc. In my opinion, the worst drivers are those that constantly switch lanes without indicating, sitting up the cars arse that's in front of them, and undertake all the time. Those are the ones that need penalising because its just downright ignorant and careless. Hence my comment about wreckless driver. A speeder isn't necessarily wreckless (some are though, I agree) - whereas people with no driving awareness are. I work in the transport sector and there are a few technical errors in your post. Such as vast swathes of SE England's railways are electrified, the Midland line is electrified to Bedford, etc. Electrification is very costly and lines have to be used enough to warrant it, ie beyond the Central Belt in Scotland and Wales, the patronage does not warrant the investment. ie Trains on the West Highland line are few and far between - it just doesn't make economical sense to electrify it. Quite right mate, I realised my mistake afterwards. There are regular trains out of Victoria and Waterloo to the south east that are electrified too. However, the Midland Main line is only electrified for the Thameslink trains. Its a very busy line that warrants electrification. Trains run to Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield and beyond on a regular basis. The same applies to the Great Westerm mainline. Trains run from Paddington and St Pancras to Cardiff, Swansea, Plymouth, Penzance and Bristol on a regular basis. That line could also do with electrification. I agree that remote parts of Wales and Scotland don't justify it, but there are some parts that do - yet they've not been done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Unfortunately its the sheer cost of electrification - it has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere can only really be the government. However, Network Rail made huge profits recently, so there is hope. Speeding isn't the most common cause of accidents, but as the severity of an accident increases, the speed is higher. http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/162469/221412...rstoroadacc1802 I think the ad on the TV with the young girl saying that at 30mph she has an 80% chance of dying. At 20mph she has an 80% chance of surviving, says it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 The Government don't want people to give up their cars at all, they just make empty suggestions so it looks like they want to go green, the entire country would fail if the government lost its lucrative tax takings from petrol, so they keep a monopoly. They increase petrol tax saying it's designed to make us go public transport when they know we won't hence increasing their takings on taxes, they make public transport just about acceptable in terms of facilities so that they can claim it is a reasonable alternative, put simply they wish to retain the current status quo, it makes them more money. Speed cameras are a joke, it's fair enough that ridiculous speeding is dangerous & isn't acceptable & should be punished but when patrol cars & cameras are put up with the sole intention of catching people for fines it's obscene, there is no vindication for that. As regards being proud to be British, I most certainly am, i'm a massive patriot (moreso an English patriot actually ) but feel that the country is going down the pan a little, mainly due to needless PC & left wing philosophies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducky Posted June 9, 2007 Report Share Posted June 9, 2007 I totally agree with everything said, i am totally pissed off as i had spent 30 mins writing a big rant myself only for my conection to die wiping it all! argh!!!!! To cut a long story short, on one of my rants in regard to imigration: When and not If Albania join the Eu we will get hit with Masses of Albanian Beggars and Gypsies. We all know there heading here as soon as they join, Albania is one of the worse countries for Homeless/Beggars/Gypsies!!!! And we all know where there headed as soon as they get the Green Light!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Brown Posted June 10, 2007 Report Share Posted June 10, 2007 I tend to say things that a lot of people dare not say, hence this thread. Most people think along the same lines as i've put, but won't openly say anything in fear of being branded racist, offensive or downright rude. I'm neither of those - I just hate being taken for, or seeing others taken for, a mug. I talk to alot of people during the course of the day and most people think like you do, myself included, we are all sick of being taken for a ride. Its really scary whats happening in this country and l fear it is going to get alot worse. The government just don't listen, they're arrogant and don't have a clue what's going on in the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 The government just don't listen, they're arrogant and don't have a clue what's going on in the real world. Exactly Chrissie! You've hot the nail on the head - that was my point in this thread - the government are so out of touch with the real world, because they've never had to live in it. How can MP's that earn hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, plus expenses, tell us that we can afford to live on a minimum wage of £5.50 per hour? How can MP's that own three properties tell us we're being greedy for owning two or more? How can MP's that own two Jags tell us that we don't need to drive - public transport is a good alternative. When Tony Blair and John Prescott reduce their salaries to £5.50 per hour, sell their additional properties, and catch two buses to work instead of two Jags, then we might actually get somewhere in the UK again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 The government just don't listen, they're arrogant and don't have a clue what's going on in the real world. What happened to democracy? Briggsy, so true with what you say about the min wage, public transport etc, spot on! Sadly, it is true and makes you question what Blair said in his stand down speech, concluding "This is the greatest nation on the planet [britain]". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducky Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Another thing to back up just how good the UK is, i read earlier that our Police force spent £24 million last year on translators for Asylum Seekers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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