Grrrrr Prince Harry ...

[FlipHesAnnoying]

When will he stop criticising the UK (fair enough you left us (thanks!), but stop with the 'oh the USA is great and UK is crap etc...' It's annoying)

And .... Remember Harry - we are NOT ALL LOADED!!! Where are we supposed to get the money for all this therapy you think we should have? The NHS is at breaking point (have you noticed? What r you doing to help?) And we can't all afford private therapy Harry ... especially not 4 years worth!! 'my therapist spoke to your therapist..' is not a reality for most of us struggling to afford heating.

Out of touch much? Yes

Regardless, I'm a person not a statistic and people do win multi millions and you really don't know if I'm one of them.

Very interesting. That enforced positivity might be because America barely has a safety net. In the past people had religion i.e. pray to god when things looked uncertain but I suppose in California, people are less religious. Maybe therapy is their religion. In northern Europe, countries have welfare states so less impetus to be 'positive' all the time. The thing is, you might be a wealthy supermodel or actress but success can be ephemeral esp in certain industries (and even for many businesses) and it must be scary/stressful to think that you can lose it all...if it was me, I would default to insane positivity too. But in UK, people are more likely to think; yes we can fall on hard times but we would weather it somehow.

Not that a privileged person like Harry would understand this.

I am not sure if medicine in the US leans towards over diagnosing mental health but if I compare what I saw in the years living there and the ones living in the UK, I suspect that medical help is only sought in the most serious cases as mental health issues are still a stigma in the US and someone suffering with issues is more likely to be told to pull themselves together than advised, as they should, to get counselling.

And there is also the issue of medical costs, which a big chunk of the population would find unaffordable anyway. So I would be inclined to think that when it comes to mental health cases, it is not that the US is doing better or worse, there are just far less people starting treatment.

Very interesting views on happy clappy American culture there, @IcedPurple.

I'd love to know how you arrived at your conclusions.

YANBU - his comments are perpetually idiotic! You can tell he lacks proper advisers as he just talks nonsense and comes across as so out of touch and superior!!!

@ancientgran, yes there have been some tragic cases of people not able to afford insulin.

However, the vast majority of people either receive health insurance through employment or a parent's or spouse's employment, or through the marketplace established under Obama (the ACA) or are covered by Medicaid. People over 65 are entitled to Medicare.

Wrt the mentally ill homeless you see on the streets of LA and SF and other cities, many are in active addiction or suffering from schizophrenia, and resistant to engagement with treatment. In a larger population, you are going to find a higher number of people who are addicts or not engaging with treatment. The proportion of the population outside of therapeutic care might be the same as in the UK.

I don't actually think you'd 'love to know'. I think you're just looking for an argument.

However, in the unlikely event that you do actually want learn about America's culture of toxic positivity, I highly recommend this book as a primer.

granta.com/products/smile-or-die/

@ancientgran, are you suggesting that Charles' hopes of good grades were so precarious that six months at Geelong Grammar's Timbertop campus torpedoed his A levels?

@IcedPurple, deflection, I see.

Given that the Spencers were so notoriously and deplorably dysfunctional, you would think that the scion of the House of Windsor would have run a mile from any of the Spencer women, but Charles apparently couldn't keep away from them, and nobody raised any serious questions about Diana's suitability as a paragon of British marriage when it came time to choose a random virgin from the homegrown aristocracy or another royal house.

Could it be that despite Margaret's stoutly loyal statement concerning marriage, the members of the House of Windsor wouldn't have known a healthy marriage or a functional family life if it jumped up and bit them in the bum?

After all, the history of pretty much every Windsor and Saxe Coburg Gotha marriage, with the possible exception of Victoria and Albert (cousins, yuck) and George VI and Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, marriages in the dynasty were not renowned for their monogamy, and parenting practices erred heavily on the side of coldness and boarding school from a young age.

@IcedPurple, thanks for the book recommendation.

I'll consult my own lived experience of life in the US and draw my own conclusions on the mandatory smiling.

However, the vast majority of people either receive health insurance through employment or a parent's or spouse's employment, or through the marketplace established under Obama (the ACA) or are covered by Medicaid. People over 65 are entitled to Medicare
do you realise how shockingly strange this sounds to someone coming from country with a healthcare system that is free and accessible to all?

, deflection, I see.

Given that the Spencers were so notoriously and deplorably dysfunctional, you would think that the scion of the House of Windsor would have run a mile from any of the Spencer women, but Charles apparently couldn't keep away from them

Not sure what I'm supposed to be 'deflecting' from, but Charles had at the very most a brief relationship with one Spencer sister and married another against his will. So saying "Charles apparently couldn't keep away from them" seems rather an exaggeration.

Could it be that despite Margaret's stoutly loyal statement concerning marriage, the members of the House of Windsor wouldn't have known a healthy marriage or a functional family life if it jumped up and bit them in the bum?

Still going on about Margaret's choice not to marry a much older divorcee in the 1950s?

After all, the history of pretty much every Windsor and Saxe Coburg Gotha marriage, with the possible exception of Victoria and Albert (cousins, yuck) and George VI and Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, marriages in the dynasty were not renowned for their monogamy, and parenting practices erred heavily on the side of coldness and boarding school from a young age.

In other words, pretty much the norm for the upper classes at the time.The time being at least a century ago. A different world. Not sure what any of this has to do with, well, anything really. But we've been through this already, haven't we?

@queenofarles oh I don't know, free healthcare is great... if you can access it! My dad (who lives in another country where healthcare is paid for using a mixture of mandatory healthcare savings, mandatory insurance and government subsidies) got an abscess and he had an operation on the same day. Cost him nothing out of pocket due to subsidies and insurance. My DH got an abscess that needed removing in the UK. Approached the NHS, NHS hospital said they were overrun, nothing can be done. He went the private route as he has private medical cover through work, paid £200 in order to make a claim and got his operation at a time of his choosing. Basically despite having access to 'free medical care', my DH spent £200 more than my dad in this instance.

I am no fan of the medical health system as I think it is too expensive for a co-pay system and the insurance coverage doesn't seem comprehensive enough. But 'free at the point of use' healthcare is only useful if it can actually be accessed. What is the difference between dying cos you wait too long for a doctor or dying because you can't afford medical care? At least with the latter, maybe you can run a gofundme and maybe there is a chance you would live. With the former, maybe you can scream and cry at the hospital but if there aren't enough doctors/nurses and the queue is too long, I don't think it would help much, maybe prayer is a better antidote? I think in the UK, we would end up having to take out private insurance anyway because waiting for the NHS might actually be a risk to life, so in a way will end up living in a US style system.

Great if you are one of the vast majority, not so great if you aren't. I wonder if Prince Harry realises than some people in the US can't even get insulin let alone help with mental health issues.

I'm saying that being sent to a different country for six months in the middle of A levels isn't ideal. Maybe you think it is but I would say it is pretty disruptive and I've never heard it suggested as a good idea.

I suggest you look up Geelong Grammar. It's Australia's answer to Eton.

It's clear that Charles was never cut out for academic glory, and since his life was never going to require anything but dogged perseverance in a mind-numbing formal role and the ability to shake hands with multitudes of people, there was actually no need to bother hitting the books too hard.

His education was designed to remind him that -
1 - the UK is made up of different cultures,
2 - the Commonwealth consists of different cultures, and
3 - there are many people out there who are more intelligent than he is. This is the only part of his education that could be construed as useful.

Not sure what I'm supposed to be 'deflecting' from, but Charles had at the very most a brief relationship with one Spencer sister and married another against his will.

Still trying but failing to present the Queen and Philip as model parents and their offspring as well adapted, emotionally literate people, whose children couldn't possibly have any problems with their upbringing, @IcedPurple.

This is why Harry is suggesting therapy is a good idea.

do you realise how shockingly strange this sounds to someone coming from country with a healthcare system that is free and accessible to all?

@queenofarles the NHS is falling apart at the seams thanks to successive governments' refusal to face facts about how much a decent healthcare service costs. There is no point to a system that is free and accessible to all if you have to join a long, long queue to get medical help.

Wrt the mentally ill homeless you see on the streets of LA and SF and other cities, many are in active addiction or suffering from schizophrenia, and resistant to engagement with treatment. In a larger population, you are going to find a higher number of people who are addicts or not engaging with treatment. The proportion of the population outside of therapeutic care might be the same as in the UK

Those tent cities, though, are shocking. European cities with big populations have nothing comparable.

@ancientgran Off topic, but the variations in effectiveness of healthcare systems around the world has been interesting me for awhile.

I'm Australian. I have an inflammatory illness, and subscribe to an inflammatory disease site with a discussion forum. I take a life changing medicine which costs me approximately AU$40 per month. If I was on a pension/low income it would cost me $6.80, I think. Someone in the US on the forum questioned the lack of checks and balances on the efficacy of the same medicine which costs him $16,000 American every four months.

As I said, the medicine is life changing, but I doubt if I'd be taking it if it cost me that much.

This is why Harry is suggesting therapy is a good idea.

Harry is recommending therapy because he's a shill for that American company he's a CHIMPO for. That's why he's saying America's approach to mental health is so much better in the US than in the UK because he's trying to drive business and increase his investment. He's all about the money.

Harry needs to grow up and shut up! He's chosen to live a 'private' life. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Still trying but failing to present the Queen and Philip as model parents and their offspring as well adapted, emotionally literate people, whose children couldn't possibly have any problems with their upbringing, @IcedPurple.

Well, there's a strawman argument and a half.

Why don't you defend the points you made, rather than invent points nobody made?

This is why Harry is suggesting therapy is a good idea.

Maybe he should follow his own advice then and get a professional therapist, as opposed to the unlicensed 'life coaches' from the woo corporate coaching app he shills for. He doesn't seem like a happy man to me.

Homelessness in LA for anyone who’s not aware how bad it is.

(Charles's) education was designed to remind him that ... there are many people out there who are more intelligent than he is

Are you sure about that bit? I can't quite see that this would be an acceptable part of any syllabus, and what's the point anyway when he's otherwise surrounded by sycophants who'll tell him he's an intellectual?

And have you ever (tried to) read "Harmony"? If you can stand the appalling prose, it's an insight into an ... errr ... interesting mind