Author Topic: Is there anything in england that is better than in the states? (Read 4487 times)

Hortlund · « **Reply #60 on:** November 12, 2002, 03:27:25 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Jack55
SAS, didn't they get killed or captured by the Iraqis during DS?

So?

How many SEAL casualties in Grenada? Or Panama? Now there are some dangerous enemies.

Iran 1979 anyone?

marauder · « **Reply #61 on:** November 12, 2002, 03:29:50 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Swoop
Marauder, yeah I did.

I stand corrected. However in your original post next to Blackadder could have been Mr. Bean/Rowan Atkinson (all the same guy) -he's good:D

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #62 on:** November 12, 2002, 03:30:55 AM »

Oh, as for the SAS. Well, they trained most of the Special Forces in the world, including the US, so I would hardly call them boy scouts. Same goes for the SBS.

And Laz, please explain to me how NI is supposed to be sorted out with Special Forces alone? I can see you're an expert on the subject. It must come from all that time you spend with your SWAT buddies.

Kieran - nobody tells the Yanks how to run their country on this board. Most 'foreigners' on this board couldn't care less about your Democrat vs Republican 'discussions'. As a complete outsider, it bores me stupid, which is no surprise. Foreign policy is a different matter, because it affects all of us, and therefore it is a fair target. The same goes for any nation, including Britain.

Swoop · « **Reply #63 on:** November 12, 2002, 03:53:01 AM »

Btw Laz, I highly recommend you look up the author Andy McNab. He's an ex SAS sgt who was part of the Bravo 2-0 patrol, wrote the book Bravo 2-0, two further non fiction books about the SAS and a whole series of fiction about life after the SAS.

You can read about what the SAS actually did in NI......

Sparks · « **Reply #64 on:** November 12, 2002, 06:35:05 AM »

Must admit to finding it a little odd to be gloating about a society's sucess due to its ability to buy or steal it........

Why do you think so many engineers at NASA are Brits - you buy them.

Good things here:-

1. knowing I can have a car accident and not lose my house family etc in bills or wonder who's going to pay for the ambulance.

2. A walk in the country 5 mins from home without worrying about getting a gun stuck in my face by the land owner.

3. Not having armed guards patroling the schools

4. REAL engineering talent - most F1 and sportscar racing stuff originates here - Ferrari - Ross Brawn - oh yes a Brit.

5. Better special forces - probably - funny how 4 Commando had to go to Afghanistan to do the tricky bits.

6. Real houses built on concrete foundations with bricks blocks and mortar - not matchwood.

Don't get me wrong it's far from perfect here. I've lived and worked in USA and like it but its far from perfect also.

Just remember as you watch your economy go down the pan - how ya going to buy all this good stuff when you have no money ?? - Oh yes you'll just steal it Laz ..........

Sox62 · « **Reply #65 on:** November 12, 2002, 08:56:04 AM »

Britain has much tougher squirrels then the U.S.

Monk · « **Reply #66 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:08:23 AM »

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Originally posted by funkedup
They have porn in their newspapers.
And Goodwood.

Naa....Germans have that too.

Monk · « **Reply #67 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:09:41 AM »

Andy McNab.........muhahahaha:D

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #68 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:17:59 AM »

I've met Andy McNab. Interesting guy.

Wlfgng · « **Reply #69 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:37:50 AM »

my gawd that's an UGLY person.. woah

(SirLoins picture of Bean)

Swoop · « **Reply #70 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:37:54 AM »

You serious?

lazs2 · « **Reply #71 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:52:13 AM »

hmm... little touchy on the sas thing.. all I said was that there probly wasn't a nickles worth of difference between the better special forces. I believe that the sas trained our people in close quarters anti terrorist stuff but don't the sas train on swimmers on our west coast? Don't all the major forces train together often?

So... comedy... matter of taste. I would say that you can find more good comedy in the states with less effort. Inventions.... many are old news.. I don't live in the past but say 40% of all new inventions come out of england (does that include scotland?)... so what? They come here to develop em.. they live and work here. We buy em. music? what music do you have access to that we don't?

America is variety.. I believe that a "history" can be a hinderance as well as an asset. Hidebound might describe some british institutions. On the one hand you are proud of ideals set half a thousand years ago and on the other you scoff at our 200 year old constitution as being outdated. I believe england is blandness.

pubs and drinking... If that is all your life revolves around then you belong in england.. people live in pubs. And why not? have you seen the average house?

cars... I will admit that britan has some of the best race car development teams in the world. we contract with them all the time here but.... their cars are horrible and allways have been. terrible, unreliable junk. Beautiful tho in a lot of cases. even beetle won't drive one.

depressing weather.. That is enough to cinch it for me right there. An island... I hate the idea of an island. feel trapped.. where I live I can fill the tank with gas and either be in the mountains in the snow or on the beach or in the giant redwoods. You could spend a lifetime exploring the U.S... and people have.

stupid Americans? perhaps. It does seem unfair that such a stupid lot controls the world but ... what can you do?

lot of things wrong with America but they have to be wrong in order to have the climate that fosters so many things that are right.

british women.. I like british women.. the ones that aren't drunks. they seem very homey. I certainly wouldn't want them to vote here tho. course I don't want ours to vote either. end up like england.
lazs

funked said in response to the terror squirrle attack in england that was only stopped by a grandfather with an illeagal air rifle... "Wow if they had a rabid racoon I bet they'd have to call in NATO to bring over a .22 or something."

Thrawn · « **Reply #72 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:53:56 AM »

Sorry Micky, Pam is ours.

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #73 on:** November 12, 2002, 09:55:03 AM »

Yeah, I was at Durham uni from 1996-2000, he came and did a talk at the Union - promoting one of his books if I remember rightly. Reminded me of the racing drivers you see - Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Schumacher etc - not outspoken, quite quiet and self-controlled. Definitely not like the hollywood image. Seemed like an ordinary bloke - I even shook his hand. I remember thinking that those hands had probably killed more people than I've had hot dinners.

Yeah, met some interesting people while at uni. Paul Daniels, Martin Bell (war correspondant), a few MPs, some weird sex-change Peer (never quite understood the full story there, but he was some big black fella in a dress who talked like the Queen).

Dowding (Work) · « **Reply #74 on:** November 12, 2002, 10:19:50 AM »

Let's see now. America. Population 280 million. Huge natural resources, large oil fields. Able to develop in almost complete isolation from any threat for most of it's history.

Britain. Population 60 million. No natural resources at all. Relatively small oil/natural gas fields with high cost of extraction. Has had to defend itself against it's neighbours for its entire history. Has had to expand to maintain level of development and to preserve its sovereignty.

Comparing America and Britain is like comparing apples and oranges.

Laz - you know nothing about Britain. Really you don't. You didn't live over here for any length of time, obviously. No-one I know spends their entire lives in a pub. In fact, pubs are very much in decline over here. Shame, because a nice pint on a sunny summer's day in England is worth a milllion dollars.

You might be able to gloss over the fact that 40% of the world's innovation orginates from a tiny island off the coast of Europe, populated with nearly a fifth of the population of the US. 'We buy it', you say. What happens when you can't buy it anymore? Circumstances change, and relying on foreign ingenuity is not a recipe for long term success.

Most people in Britain couldn't give a rat's bellybutton about the concept of empire and Imperialism or Monarchy. It was another world away. But for some reason many Americans have this hang-up about it and it seems to be the first retort in any 'discussion' of this nature. It's laughable. Although I will say that the Empire would still be around if Britain's youth hadn't virtually bled to death on the battlefields of WW1. Not to mention the sacrifice of the Commonwealth.

As for trivialities like cars. I think American cars are horrible. It's a matter of taste. There's not one American sportscar I'd buy if I had the money. As for American owned British firms - GM owned Vauxhall is a joke. Is that the best GM can do? Fords range is poor, apart from the Focus. Give me a British made TVR Tuscan any day of the weak. Or how about the new MG sportscar coming out next year. Failing either of those I'd buy Japanese - an Evo, a Skyline or Impreza.