Just what has Britain got to be proud of ?

[ivanhoe]

The British Empire was built on the slave trade.

Right wing Capitalism continues to use the poor as fodder for making the rich richer.

Just what has Britain got to be proud of ?

the NHS
the fact that we do not have the death penalty

Red Dwarf you fool !

The widening gap of relative poverty between people - the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. The argument that 'we can't afford stuff' is pretty thin when you realise we are one of the richest countries on the planet (is it 6th, 7th, 8th?).

Eton and tradition like the Bullingdon Club

I'm sorry, but I will never buy into the - 'I'm poor so I have an excuse to riot and cause mayhem' - I'm currently on a thread where I'm awaiting a PM entitled 'how to feed your family for £30 pw' - ( 100's of other M'netters have already requested it) - there's dignified poor, and there's mindless criminals - do not confuse the two.

carmin - I never asked you to buy into anything. I am not talking about rioters here.

The Daily Mail

The Royal Family

Yes, Caroline Aherne is quite good

But I much prefer
Only Fools and Horses

Great literature, great entertainers, great history, great universities, great people, great country

In seriousness

Free Museums
NHS
Free Preschool education

Great newspaper

No pan you didn't - sorry

Free press.

Gay marriage.

s'okay! Am sure relative poverty was something to do with the riots, but also chuck in a load of people who didn't think before they acted, some malcontents, some crims. who had it in for the police, young people getting caught up in the 'exciting frenzy' that mass psychology does to people, and people going 'free shopping' even when they could afford whatever they stole.

Mumsnet.

Yes absolutely -

Hopefully as a country we'll pull together and move on. ( signs are good )

Oh, and good luck to Man.U tomorrow.

Ha ha at Mumsnet

Our kids will be fine tomorrow thanks carmina.

We were largely responsible for drafting the European Convention on Human Rights after WWII (unfortunately some of the present government would like the UK to opt out ...). The drafters had recent experience of what happened in countries where such rights are not protected.

As I get older, I feel that very little can be done without disadvantaging others, however far away. Short of buying myself a couple of acres of land, building myself a wattle-and-daub house, growing all my own food, and selling enough to pay voluntary NI contributions, I can't see how I can live a totally blameless life. (Of course if we all did that, there'd be no land left to farm, bringing disadvantage to some. And not employing anyone to do anything has its effects too.)

Not an apology for the worst bits of colonialism or anything, but we are here, now, and we can't take responsibility for those, obviously.

I'm proud of the people I know who work away at small projects, trying to tackle the worst disadvantages, and make a difference both to individuals and to policy. (They then come home and worry because they can only afford to buy goods that they know are cheaper because someone, somewhere has been exploited.)

""We do sometimes have a very ruthless attitude to 'the poor'""

Yes, and this is because we are largely a pompas and arrogant little nation full of pretentions and class distinctions.

Did you start this thread just to knock Britain, Ivanhoe?
The countryside. I'd take the British countryside over pretty much anywhere else.
Friendly local pubs.
Blackadder.