[vyper]

Ach well, no body's perfect.

[Gank]

Definetly not. Truth is the UK just didnt have have the manpower to take Basra, 45,000 cant secure a city of 1.5 million. It was assumed when the invasion started the Iraqi army would surrender and the people would rise up against Saddam. When this didnt happen the only option was to lay siege to the place and wait for the regime to collapse.

[Tiara]

Eh... The Netherlands... Period.

[Gank]

Been there, didnt like it.
Ireland aint so bad
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_gdp_gro_199
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_dev_ass_to_ldc

[aldo_14]

Scotland / Catalunya

(ok, so not technically a country)

[Zarax]

Before that half dictator of berlusconi (he has the worst of both bush and putin with a tatcher flavour) Italy was one of the best places where you could live in...
I mean, we had (we still have, but the damn liberists are stripping them down) the second best world public healthcare system (slightly behind of france) and one of the best public schooling...
Oh, well... owning 90% of the media in the country allows to make the worst things being nearly unpunished...

[pyro-manic]

The USA isn't even a proper country any more. It's run by the corporations, for the corporations. The original principle of the USA as a country was pretty neat (i.e. a place where everyone has equal opportunity and chance of a decent life - read this poem from the Statue of Liberty: http://www.nps.gov/stli/newcolossus/index.html ), but that was never fully realised, and is nowhere near the truth these days.  As was said in the article, ethnic minorities are still at a huge disadvantage, the education and healthcare systems are terrible, and most of the population are getting screwed over so that a wealthy few can get even wealthier.

I'm also none-too-impressed with the recent civil and human rights record of the USA. Guantanamo Bay is a f***ing disgrace. And the USA is incredibly hypocritical. They're forever going on about the "war" on terror (an excuse to invade anyone they bloody well like with a fair degree of impunity), and yet they allow terrorists to train on their own soil! --> www.alpha66.org

[Rictor]

pyro, please be sure to check out The Corporation, a documentary look at the Corpoartion as the predominant istitution of our time. Now, admitedlly, its only showing in a few US theatres, but even this is a *huge* increase from when it started. When I saw it about two months ago, it was showing only in two Candian cities. No doubt it will get even more support and additional screenings as time goes by. I may have pimped this before on here, can't remember. Brilliant movie..

Oh and, this goes for mikhael too, and anyone else with an interest in sociology/politics/economics.

:thepimp: :thepimp:

[Jiggyhound]

i think id like to move to south africa when im old. 10 times cheaper than the uk, an established large white community and great weather. Shame that the natives are living lives of poverty.

[Zeronet]

Originally posted by SadisticSid


Look at how **** the country is now, and look at how prosperous it was at the end of Mrs Thatcher's tenure. And Major doesn't count since he's a twat.

I think if you check the facts, you'll find Britians economy is in a much better state and that there is lower unemployment than in Mrs Thatcher's reign of terror .

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Jiggyhound
i think id like to move to south africa when im old. 10 times cheaper than the uk, an established large white community and great weather. Shame that the natives are living lives of poverty.

I'd think twice about moving to a country where carjacking is such a big problem that flamethrowers are considered a reasonable defence against it

[SadisticSid]

Originally posted by Zeronet


I think if you check the facts, you'll find Britians economy is in a much better state and that there is lower unemployment than in Mrs Thatcher's reign of terror .

Oh really? So I must be dreaming when public services are worse than they've ever been in living memory while so many new and so many old but increasing taxes are draining this country of its successful. Not to mention our country's enormous debt due to the wasteful borrowing habits of our useless chancellor.

Originally posted by Flipside


I think you'll find that was partly to do with the 'cash-in now, pay later' technique of the Tories at the time, it was their privatisation of the Rail Service and Energy/Phone services that led to the current money-grabbing poor services we get now.

Wrong, British Rail was just as bad and disorganised as Railtrack or whatever they're called now, before privatisation. And you could do better than cite the phone services as a bad example of privatisation when it's generated billions and improved customer service tenfold. Before the days of privately owned BT, it would often take six weeks just to get a telephone line installed. And if privatisation is so bad and unfair a concept, why did Labour opt to continue with it? Answer... because it works, and in most cases it works well.

[karajorma]

Oh come on. The phones do work better once privatised but you won't convince me that BR were causing crashes due to poor maintainence of the rail network.

[Liberator]

I wouldn't want to live anywhere that takes 80% of my paycheck beofre I see it, and then expect me to pay VAT on top of everything else.  The way I see it Western Europe is sliding into decadence.

[Rictor]

Originally posted by SadisticSid
And if privatisation is so bad and unfair a concept, why did Labour opt to continue with it? Answer... because it works, and in most cases it works well.

Because Labour is the Tories with added "free market" zeal and none of the old fashioned common sense of the conservative movement.

[Gank]

80% of your paycheck? Where does that happen?

[Zarax]

Oh, well...
Why the people keeps believing into the low taxes slogans?
If you want a 33% tax limit like many promises, then forget about 90% of public services.
Ergo: Low taxes = shameful public school, almost no public healthcare, police and other emergency services reduced to the bones...
The list is long, i'm sure that who lives in the US knows better than me...

[Flipside]

Actually, it's not that far from the truth.

When you are paid, you pay PAYE and National Insurance. While you pay is sitting in the bank, the government are scraping a small percent of your interest off via the Bank of England.
Once you get your money out, you pay your bills, many of which have extra taxes on them.
With what you have left you buy other things, which you pay VAT on.

The worst part is that most of the taxes and NI you are paying are for RIGHT NOW, this very minute, not one penny of your own money will be left by the time you are 60+, and there aren't enough working people in Britain to support this generation when it retires. Basically, if you don't have a private pension, you are fu)(ored.

[Zarax]

Don't make me think about it...
In the few countries where public pensions are still alive you can expect to retire at 70+ years for our generation...

[SadisticSid]

Originally posted by karajorma
Oh come on. The phones do work better once privatised but you won't convince me that BR were causing crashes due to poor maintainence of the rail network.

Perhaps not, but the trains were running just as late. Travelling on trains is still at least ten times safer than travelling by road. Do not forget also that the majority of train crashes are caused by external factors or driver error.