To think the USA and UK should become 1 country

[FortyDoorsToNowhere]

As the title says.

I think it should happen, not sure why exactly other than to pool out resources.

In what ways, Mum?

Happy New Year from farm country, everyone!!

happy did I get it right that you're saying you thought having a SAHP was more the norm where you lived in the US than in the UK? How fascinating -- I would think it would be much less financially risky to be a SAHP in the UK due to social services. So it's especially interesting if in fact it is riskier here but also more popular here despite the greater risk b/c of differences in cultural approaches to family, etc.

Re: the extreme-right/evangelical position on reproductive rights: that's actually a good example of what I mean about the majority of Americans vs. the fringe group that gets attention in the media. Surely most Americans, conservative or not, think that the ultrasound thing is really extreme and nasty. Surely most Americans, including those who are against abortion but not totally crazed about it, really would not support treating women that way. But perhaps I am wrong to say that.

CheerfulYank yes totally. He looks like such a kid. Which, well, he is, but in a way that e.g., Eminem didn't look like a kid in his younger days.

I'm getting a little rambly and random too! Ha. Must go to bed.

Can we have New York please, as an extra county/European state, but not the remainder.

The only advantage of a full scale union would be that presumably the border controls would no longer exist. I don't think I have ever met anyone so rude as the people who work at the USA border controls. They just seem to be gratuitously officious and unpleasant. We had the misfortune to transit LA a few years ago - my mother in law has a false hip which set off the alarm and you would not believe how unpleasant the airport staff were to her; she was reduced to tears and despite having previously lived in the USA for a number of years, has vowed never to return. On the other - admittedly limited - occasions that I have had the misfortune to pass through border controls, I found the staff equally unpleasant.

The USA also have very odd attitudes to alcohol. I was in a bar somewhere in Florida and attempted to buy two glasses of wine, one for me and one for my DH, who was sitting at a table. I was advised that I could not buy two drinks at the same time, in case I was proposing to consume them both........!!

Even though Florida is the presumably fluffy and touristy part of the USA, I just didn't feel comfortable. The overt patriotism is intimidating - at the end of an evening of family entertainment, some sort of horse show, everyone was expected to stand up for the national anthem and to show support for the soldiers in Iraq, or some other country they were meddling in. I didn't want to stand up but was, frankly, afraid not to.

Also, it is hard to find vegetables - it's not meat and 2 veg, it's 2 meat and a carrot, if you're lucky.

I am a European and happy to remain so, thank you.

I wonder if you would all be so keen, had the American vote between Englush & German as their official language gone the other way?

It's hard to find veg?

That's the weirdest criticism of America yet. Lol!

happytalk13 I think you're right that being a SAHP is far more common in the US than it is in the UK. I only know one friend in the UK who stays at home, but have tons of SAHM friends around here. I think subpar childcare is partly a reason, subpar maternity leave, but there's also a different cultural attitude at play.

I've lived in NYC and CT for eleven years, and have found most Americans to be charming, upbeat and enthusiastic, but not overbearingly so.

What I dislike about living in the US:

Bloody ticks and Lyme Disease
Gun laws
Having to drive a great deal more
The tendency to reach for prescription drugs at the merest hint of a sniffle
Leash laws for dogs
The lack of public footpaths

What I like about the US:
Nobody dismisses with scorn your new business venture idea/acquisitions
Social mobility is better
Slubbing it in trainers and sweats is perfectly fine for a Saturday venture into town
Working out is not looked upon as a curious venture
Far less pressure to drink oneself into oblivion
Generally land is cheaper, so having a huge back yard is the norm

Think I'll turn down Dame Edna and keeping tight hold of David Tennant so how about Jeremy Clarkson and John Barrowman (though I'm not sure he actually belongs to us) .

By the way are we having an Australian tunnel as well? Or could the spiders come through?

That's awful Dolcelette :( I gave no experience with boarder patrol.

However I was a vegan for awhile so I can assure you I was able to find vegetables to eat, and have bought several drinks more times than I could possibly count The only thing I can think of even close to their reasoning is that in some states bars can be sued if they allow someone to be overly intoxicated and drive, if someone is killed.

have no experience

Thank you for being so gracious CheerfulYank.

Of course there are many charming Americans, so apologies for a bit of a rant. There are some wonderful American poets and authors, as well as films and I probably didn't search hard enough for the veg! In short, I am sorry to have seemed so negative, your country has much to admire and be proud of; perhaps we are a bit more cynical here which expresses itself in irony/humour.

Happy new year!

To you as well :)

I agree about the irony, though it's not so much that Americans don't get it as it just isn't as prevalent. In the same vein it seems to me that sometimes our satirical humor is misunderstood...for instance on here and among my Brit friends on Facebook I've seen links to sites like the Onion (though not the actual Onion as it's too well known) with "can you believe..." Er, no, 'cause it's fake! :o

At the risk of making this too seriously I think wobbly should think again about nhs. The spend on healthcare per capita in uk is far lower than in US. In US it is private individuals paying for private provision, with many not be able to afford anything. If his US private healthcare is better it is because he is paying more for it privately than the average UK citizens pays in tax towards the NHS. If we raised the taxes and spent the same per head on the NHS as the US does on healthcare privately then we would have an extraordinary level of provision across the board.

Good plan.

I love the USA.

Capital punishment and all.

Er ... great. You do realize we are not all in favor of it? And you're good with every aspect of current UK government policy and law?

The key thing we have in common is extraordinary rendition.

Now that's cooperation.

Death penalty hasn't been legal in my state in over a century.

Not legal in mine either, though apparently reinstatement has been a campaign topic in recent years.

At the risk of making this too seriously I think wobbly should think again about nhs. If we raised the taxes and spent the same per head on the NHS as the US does on healthcare privately then we would have an extraordinary level of provision across the board.

Precisely. Start funding it better and make it work better and it would be a fantastic system.

With its current funding levels... Well... Just read the other threads about it right here on mumsnet.

I'm all for single payer healthcare, but not one that offers the current service levels that the NHS offers.

Capital punishment not legal anywhere near where I live.

Gay marriage is though. I hear the UK is catching up on that :-)

Agree with Caitlin17, I spent 2 months on a training course in Texas a few years ago. It was mainly US students with a few internationals. I became very good friends with a Norwegian which seemed to just happen naturally. The Americans were lovely people but we didn't seem to get the same things, definitely a culture gulf. Of all the places I have travelled it was the only place I got homesick, even if just there for a week.

Would the US offer a welcome/acculturation present of a year's pass to Dollywood to its new UK/US citizens? If so, I'm in!

Keats, I seem to remember it was right turn on red, not left!
I came home a year and a half ago so am mentally replaying my drive to town! Anyway, it was a very good rule!

I am very surprised by the attitude of: " if I had a daughter, I would not want to bring her up in the USA." I have a DS, but if I had a daughter, I would love for her to be brought up in the community I live in here in the USA. The promotion of positive role models for women here is far more prominent than anywhere else I have lived (UK, Switzerland, Italy, Africa) - they have all sorts of sports schemes, internships, memberships for women and young girls that give them fantastic role models, and a very varied range of role models at that - women who live each stage of their life as they feel best, whether they are Staying at home with their kids, or working in the community or in professional roles.

I have personally been selected for 3 schemes through my job to promote and support women as they are trying to fight against working mothers leaving the work place. I meet the daughters of my friends and I have been asked to mentor several of them - amazing ambitious young women who have great minds of their own, have travelled extensively and have a clear idea of their self worth. I would be proud to have a daughter like them!

I've experienced private medical in the UK, and it's not always that great. The doctors IME are quite complacent as they still know they're going to get a shitload of money regardless of what goes on (bitter recent experience) and the insurance companies can be very difficult about paying for stuff if you have the slightest whiff of a permanent condition.

Personally, I would agree to the alliance purely to have readily available Reece's pieces and peanut butter M&Ms.

spamm - I totally agree, and I have two daughters.