What's So Great About The UK?

hi all,
just thought i'd help out a little, "mingin" well it means really ugly,
and as for moss side the pit bull's go aroung in pairs and watch their collars.
another one for you as brain dead as braintree.

o yes i live there

I once sat at my computer, wasted three hours typing my usual mix of utter rubbish and slight genius, then I pondered to myself - the screen is blank... I know! I was supposed to turn the computer on!

Another great thing about the UK is pub lunches. Way back in 2004, I went to Wrocław for the first time and went to the Scottish pub on the rynek, hoping for a good dollop of haggis and neeps or stovies, obviously scampi wasn't likely but hey...!! Full of booze and nowt else. Not exactly prison I know but I was disappointed. I miss the range of food in pubs back home.

I had haggis with the usual mash and swede (I'm English as I have stated previously) last night.
I'm sure you're all fascinated to read that.

The fact that people still eat haggis is good to hear. I actually like it!! The English folk at my bro's wedding really got stuck into it too. What other pub food r u gonna make me jealous of u 4 osioł? The fact that u can just go and get a good bar meal tomorrow is a swine, hehehe. I love Polish food, with the Hungarian dimension of bogracz, gulasz and leczo too, but I miss British grub so much

mmmmm white pudding suppers from North Berwick....I salivate....
My Polish ex wanted to try haggis,I made the mistake of telling her what it was made from BEFORE she tried it...oh well,live n learn :)

I read that you don't miss black pudding - I had a big fried / grilled breakfast today with black and white puddings, tomatoes, two sausages, two rashers, a fried egg (and a bit of Polish mustard for the sausages).

Bangers and mash?
Roast pheasant tomorrow if I make it to the greengrocers. I haven't decided what veg to have with it.

I believe haggis is illegal in the USA due to the includion of lung! So if anyone manages to sneak one in, why not celebrate with a fine Cuban cigar?

Horrid!! I could eat almost anything from a chippie bar white/red/black puddings. Jumbo haddock from the Ashvale or Dolphin or Torry Bar, heaven!! Jumbo sausage also hits the spot, wait, that's what she said, lol

What? Even those luminous radioactive mushy peas?


A fine choice, sir. But I do find an extra brush of the teeth is required to prevent the breath of death from occurring.

Scampi is out of this world though. I used to love fish cakes bought fresh from the fishmongers. I'd kill 4 a Forfar bridie now too

Dressed crab (there's nothing kinky about that).

I meant the salmon fishcakes, they were expensive but u knew where ur money went. Poland has some good white fish like panga and, to a lesser extent, mintaj, but ling and lemon sole are both very good. Scotland is good 4 white fish.

I have a few of these in my freezer and all this talking is tempting me, but I must resist - it must be pheasant tomorrow, then spaghetti bolognese (complete with chicken livers) on Saturday - all traditional British cuisine. I'll save the fish until everything else runs short. This has all made me think - it's a long time since I had a pie!

Pie and bovril, heavenly. Steak and kidney, chicken, u name it, it's probably good. Mince pies at footie games are legendary. Even the cheaper ones from Farmfoods or Iceland are decent.

lol no. "Slagging off". So saying that waiting times and cancellations are a problem means dissing the NHS, so be it! I know much about the NHS, seeing as every day I work within it and with it. Actually, I work with a group that tries to forward the NHS (and also what needs forwarded in the private sector). My group highlights what works and what doesn't. So any suggestions are greatly taken...

I should add that my group works within one specific area but nonetheless...

Also a fact is, the Poles have nothing to do with a declining NHS.

Certainly Pakistanis do bring in drugs but according to the statistics very little by Indians.


Perhaps you heard that 'curry' is quite popular in Britain - one of several things that unites Britain with parts of Asia.


This sheer double standard is impressive!
Millions of British immigrants can live all over the world and be considered a part of those nations because hundreds of years ago Britain forcibly conquered them!

Yet, according to you,if a British person in Britain marries someone from Asia (who could be from Japan,China,Thailand as well as India etc)then they have no right to comment on 'Britishness'.So Shelley,if your partner was Polish would that prevent you expressing your views on Britishness?

Regarding the original post 'Whats so special about the UK?' I could make a long list of all the cultural and other achievements that make the UK proportionately the greatest nation on the planet.If anyone cares I will find time to do it.

If I were to I wouldn't be banging on about another national ruining the country which is exactly what he did!


So is pizza dont start saying we have an infinity with Italy though do we?


Used to be, its a sh*t hole now with no industry and an infrastructure thats about to buckle, we have recently sold of the brand Dulux (ICI) to the Dutch company Akzo Nobel, Ford are at present in the process of selling off Land Rover and Jaguar to the Indian company TATA...yeah Britain is brilliant! Dont make me laugh a possibility of another 20,000 jobs being lost in the car industry alone, not to mention those who work for ICI and for one who lives pretty close to ICI in Manchester it means losses of jobs in the comunity I live in!!


I dont think I blamed one particular group.

Britain made the highest number of cars in its history last year.Both the Mini and Rolls Royce achieved record sales in 2008.One third of the passenger planes on earth are made in Britain.The designs and skills are British but the owners are foreign.Does this matter?When they were British owned all they did was lose money and productivity.

Britain is ahead of other nations in this game.The French and Italians are still throwing away money on their loss making industries.
Hollywood has more British actors,directors etc than at any other time.Of the top 10 most successful international films of the last 5 years,6 of them were based on British literature (Lord Of The Rings,Harry Potter etc).Even the latest film(Sweeney Todd) is a British story.

When I look at the state of some UK cities today and compare them to the sad state they were in back in the 1970s I can say for sure that things are better now.

Wake up Shelley the UK is still great.


That should have read 2007

True. But 2008 sounded so promising ;)

Maybe Im looking at things in a different way, lets see if you are so optimistic at the end of 08.

As for Hollywood - Great a few people make a lot of money, whats that got to do with the average person and the impact on the UK...sorry to sound so negative, I just dont see the UK as you see it, "going to hell in a hand cart" as Jim Reeves said many years ago!

I had Italian coffee for breakfast then spaghetti bolognese for lunch the other day. The next thing I knew I was driving really badly and arrogantly. Someone started to argue with me so I waved my arms around a lot and made loads of noise, but when things started to escallate, I quickly changed sides.

More seriously, Britain has been all over the world, for better and for worse. Culturally, we just take the things we like and leave the things we don't.

new bonus text, added free of charge:


Some people are optimistic because things are so bad, they can only get better.
Other people are optimistic because things are actually good.
I think there is a bit of both in the UK at the moment, but there is far more going well here than there is going badly.

Ever been to Scotland ShelleyS? Our history of industry is impressive. Cloth, shipping etc in the past but now tourism, farming, oil/gas and education. Scotland is doing very well thank you very much!!

Your having a laff..Seanus, only for the very generous intervention monies from the mother parliament, Scotland would be destitute!

Yeah right, organise a debate with Alex Salmond and he'll keep u right. Destitute my right hand!!

And, whose name is on Alex's monthly salary cheque....yup..thats right, the British treasury!

LOL...lol...lol

So what? Where's the ENGLISH government? Scotland has its own Scottish Parliament, NI has Stormont and Wales have their own Welsh Assembly. Ireland, just btw, has a great govt with a nice Taiseoach. A large part of our people govern Britain. We have produced some excellent politicians. Salmond's salary is given by the Treasury because we are part of Britain Frank, plain and simple. Give me some solid examples of why Scotland would fare dismally on its own and then it's game on

The West Lothian question.

We must just accept that being British, most people (mostly, not only foreigners) don't know who we are or who governs whom within these isles.

Good answer as ever Osioł. I just don't like blanket attacks on Scotland without any foundation. I'd be prepared to accept hard facts. Because I was born there doesn't mean that I defend everything. Frank gave me nothing to defend

Seanus, don't want a row...lol

Its just sometimes I have to take nationalistic type statements and assumptions back down to earth....!

NI.....is just a puppet government, in hock to UK parliament...saying nothing about the Welsh!

As for the government down south...you're having a laff......only for tens of euro billions and USA support, it took 30 years...yes 30 years for the Celtic tiger to be born, not by planning but by chance!! There will NEVER be another European Celtic Tiger !!!!!!

Scotland can call their own excecutive a "government" if they wish, but the ultimate test is, raising their own taxes and absolutely determining how they are spent.

There many other tests Scotland would have to pass to be taken seriously...and you'll excuse me for saying but over the centuries there were several reasons why the Scottish got into bed with the English...one being, treachery within their own ranks!!!

Seanus...no row.....just observations...agreed?

The fact is, fiscal autonomy was not conferred upon us so it's merely conjecture how we'd fare. For power dynamics, look at subsidiarity. There has been a sizeable dilution of UK executive powers, ceding them to Brussels. Costa Vs ENEL and direct effect/application have watered them down. The English got into bed with the Scottish too for the same reasons sir. I'm part Irish, my family is from Enniscorthy, Wexford. As a person, I like to compromise. Let's look at commonalities, not divisions. Let's salute the virtues of Guinness and raise a glass to being Celts! Slainte mhaithe!!