Bnp

[GUT]

Funny man...

Queensland alone is a B...I...G state about 10X the size of England.

I thought you meant the distance from Aus to anywhere else.

But yes she's a big hunk of land basically the same size as mainland USA with less than 10% of the population.

In the lead up to the 2000 Olympics people coming out were asking things like I'm in Adelaide can I drive to Sydney to see the games 1100km 725 miles, as the crow flies.

[Robert]

GUT, she's in Queensland.

The trouble with the distance is, once her family started spreading out, well, Oz is a big place.

I myself won't be emigrating, but here's what I'm missing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KsnnsWoF5w

[GUT]

G'day Robert

Sensible girl that cousin of yours, where n OZ is she.

And BTW the distance is what makes t so great, keeps a lot of you foreigners away.

[Robert]

My cousin emigrated to Oz and she doesn't want to come back. But one big drawback is the huge distances involved in getting anywhere. Same as the USA I suppose.

[GUT]

G'day Dave

Some are Twats, like anywhere. Probably the same percentages. And my brother in law and favorite niece are both Pommie bastards. One of my best friends was a Yank. Yes I admitted it.

[Cogidubnus]

Yeah but I rather gather from neighbours who've made the move, that if, for some reason or another, you jokingly refer to your neighbours as drunken, paedophile aussie twats the sense of humour, kind of isn't reciprocated...

Bit similar to the Rolf Harris/Jimmy Saville jokes currently circulating here...good job you aussies have a far better sense of humour than us so staid Brits!

All the best

Dave

[GUT]

G'day Abby

Like anywhere some people are pr444ks. But if you make an effort to fit and don't think you're Gods gift I think Aussies are generally open and friendly, if you are up yourself we can be pretty quick to take the micky and if you get upset about it, it will only get worse, laugh at it and you're in.

If you don't like being called a bloody Yank or a Pommie Bastard Australia is not the place for you, we tend to be a pretty irreverent bunch on the whole.

[Abby Normal]

G'day FM

I'm glad you don't want to move here, and I don't mean that personally, just too many here already, almost 23 million.

And there's not much here that wants to kill you, just it will if it thinks it has too. Like brown snakes will try to get away from you but if they're trapped well you know. Kangaroos are kittens unless they feel threatened etc.

Hey gut
I know of four instances where Americans I know who lived in Australia said that the Aussies for the most part were not very nice to them. What's up with that?

[GUT]

G'day FM

I'm glad you don't want to move here, and I don't mean that personally, just too many here already, almost 23 million.

And there's not much here that wants to kill you, just it will if it thinks it has too. Like brown snakes will try to get away from you but if they're trapped well you know. Kangaroos are kittens unless they feel threatened etc.

[Fleetwood Mac]

I think most would say that about their home.... But we know you all want to live in Aus.

Hello, GUT.

I think the majority of English people do head to Australia, mainly because they want what they see as England in the sun and a chance to start again.

My Sister spent time in Australia and loved it. Quite a few people I know moved there.

It's not for me, though, because firstly England is the place for me and secondly if I decided to move somewhere it would have to be a complete change (language, culture, everything), and thirdly if I was going to move somewhere sharing our language it would be the United States.

Problem with Australia, and the United States comes to think of it, is that you have things over there that want to kill you and I'm sort of accustomed to having a moderate climate and moderate animals where the worst you're going to get is a pack of rabbits hunting you down.

[Fleetwood Mac]

I'm not taking my ball home, I've simply given up on the idea of explaining my comments in any way that someone is willing to hear what I have to say. Maybe I'm saying it wrong. Maybe people are getting defensive. Maybe both, or none of the above. But no matter the reason, it's not worth getting into a fight over. It's an opinion, not a defining belief. I'm still reading the thread. I've just dropped my argument. And sure I'm a little peeved that apparently the only explanations for my thoughts were that either I was an idiot or a racist, but I'll get over it. I always do.

And this was never about some comparison with other flawed countries, but in comparison to a country's best self. Despite all the surface similarities between Britain and the US, it's still apples and oranges, if for no other reason that sheer size.

I gave you a different reason, Errata, and that is that while you are clearly well read on many subjects, you are not well read on this subject. That much is clear.

That doesn't make you an idiot, perhaps a little arrogant in that you've come on here talking about England and her obvious streak of 'exclusionism' when it's as plain as day that you haven't really thought about this much given England's traditions and actions down the centuries.

In terms of comparison between England and the United States, there are many, many areas in which we see things differently and many, many areas of difference in the way we conduct ourselves. In some ways you have far more in common with continental Europe. But, the one thing we share, which to me is the most important thing and the thing that means we are natural allies despite our differences, is we are both fiercely individualistic and are inclined to think small local government is a better bet than an overbearing central government. Given how most political ideals flow from an over-riding principle then politics is seen similarly in the England and the United States. The only difference being that there are so many people crammed into this island that it has inevitably led to more social programmes than you have in the US (as we're all on top of one another it has become difficult to maintain said individualism).

And, this goes back to the point about England and the EU. If we are an innately sceptical, pragmatic and realist people with a history of slow, steady change and moderation; and the continental Europeans generally believe in large, central government who can change the lives for the better of its citizens, with a history of extreme politics and countless revolutions as a means of change: then how on earth can these two peoples be part of a United States of Europe?

We just can't. Because we think differently. When negotiation time comes we'll always be in the minority opinion and it follows thus open to having our tradition, heritage and political ideals, which are certainly important to me and people I know, stamped all over.

This doesn't mean I don't like them, although admittedly I'm ambivalent towards the French and their history for what I believe are good reasons, it doesn't mean I don't want to visit, which I do regularly, it just means that I want my ideas heard and they're not going to be heard in a United States of Europe with hundreds of millions of people the majority of whom do not think like me.

[Errata]

Ha'way Errata, you sound like bairn who's taking her ball home.

Look, England is not perfect but it's the best the world has to offer.

I'm not taking my ball home, I've simply given up on the idea of explaining my comments in any way that someone is willing to hear what I have to say. Maybe I'm saying it wrong. Maybe people are getting defensive. Maybe both, or none of the above. But no matter the reason, it's not worth getting into a fight over. It's an opinion, not a defining belief. I'm still reading the thread. I've just dropped my argument. And sure I'm a little peeved that apparently the only explanations for my thoughts were that either I was an idiot or a racist, but I'll get over it. I always do.

And this was never about some comparison with other flawed countries, but in comparison to a country's best self. Despite all the surface similarities between Britain and the US, it's still apples and oranges, if for no other reason that sheer size.

[GUT]

G'day Fleetwood Mac

Ha'way Errata, you sound like bairn who's taking her ball home.

Look, England is not perfect but it's the best the world has to offer.

I think most would say that about their home.... But we know you all want to live in Aus.

[Fleetwood Mac]

I give up. I've tried to say it a bunch of different ways, and the first time somehow I was trying to say that Britain needed the EU despite my having no opinion whatsoever on the EU, and then I was told to brush up my history as to how Britain could never be like Nazi Germany, despite the obvious parallels between the political ad I referenced and Nazi Germany, and now because I say that Britain's image doesn't match up with it's multicultural fact, I'm a racist.

Okay. I'm an ignorant racist.


But speaking of which, Britain in no way shape or form gets to sit on some sort of moral high horse for the Kindertransport program. Which I would have thought would have been obvious, but apparently it was not.

I don't want to argue it anymore. I cared there for like, a minute, but I'm done now. I am totally okay with going to hell for being so wrong. I am fine with the Great White Savior idea, you guys can do no wrong, we should all be so blessed as to be as open minded and absolutely fair as you. So there you go.

Ha'way Errata, you sound like bairn who's taking her ball home.

Look, England is not perfect but it's the best the world has to offer.

[Fleetwood Mac]

What I would like you to think about is that, in America, a black person is far more likely to be convicted and imprisoned and far, far more likely to be executed. That is a very strong image that America presents to the world.

I don't recognise that image.

When I think of the United States I think of a nation with sound political ideals, a nation which has carried itself very well give or take the odd transgression, but then again which nation hasn't erred?

All in all, I'm a bit of a fan of the United States and when you think of the worst nations like the United States and England have done, it pales into insignificance compared with the vast majority of countries on this earth.