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-- United Kingdom - Big Issues


Posted by Rostros on Apr-10-2004 11:32:

United Kingdom - Big Issues

Im sure there are lots of British TA's on here, im sure you all think the same way as me, Over the last 3-4 Years The United Kingdom has Gone from bad to worst. Im not to sure on the actual figures but here are some of the issues the UK is Facing.

1. Number 2 in the world for Possible Terrosim Act's To strike

2. 1 out of 3 People are obese, leads to early health problems

3. Drinking at an all time high
"It will also highlight the huge criminal and social disorder problems linked to alcohol, revealing that there are 1.2 million incidents of alcohol-related violence every year and 360,000 incidents of domestic violence, perpetrated mostly by drunk men"
The report will say that 40 per cent of all hospital accident and emergency costs are linked to alcohol and that, between midnight and 5am, 70 per cent of all A&E admissions are alcohol-related. Alcohol-related treatment costs the NHS �1.7bn a year.

4. The country is over-run by Asylum seekers, seeking benifits, free driving lessons, free VISA, free english lessons, free education the list goes on.

5. Gun crime has Rose 4% from last year

6. Council Tax and Interest Rates have increased

7. The NHS (National Health Service) Is in Shambles, average waiting time for operation is 3-6 months

8. House Property Values have Doubled in the last 5 years,according to a survey
"One recent report noted that six out of seven UK workers (85%) are unable to afford the 'average-priced home'the average 18-25 would not be able to buy a house.

9. Education fee's now can charge upto $2000 a term, including students loans are reaching 10-15 grand for an education

10. The country is in biggest debt than ever
"The result being that mortgage lending hit another record high again in April with gross advances totalling �19.6 billion, according to the latest estimates released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders."

11. The UK now is the highest place in the western europe for teenage pregancy.

12. Unemployment is still a growing problem,

13. Homelessenes : 15,000 under-16s are forced out of home

14. Rise in Crime Rates
"the number of race hate crimes received by prosecutors from the police jumped 12%, new figures show."

15. Britain's roads are the most congested in Europe.
"Statistics show that unless something is done things are going to get much worse.
Key statistics


There are nearly half a million traffic jams in Britain every year. That is nearly 10,000 a week.

There are between 200 and 300 incidents of major congestion every day.

Britain's roads are becoming more congested


A quarter of Britain's main roads are jammed for an hour a day.

Congestion levels are forecast to grow by between 11 and 20 per cent over the next ten years.

Nearly a quarter of people affected by congestion experience it every day and 55 per cent at least once a week.

The cost of traffic jams to British business is �20 billion every year. "


( All sources taken from BBC Big Issue, and Other Net Sources)


Do other Britains feel the same ?


Posted by Dervish on Apr-10-2004 12:00:

4. I would say is gonna become the biggest problem I think. Not because of the costs. And don't get me wrong we do need to take our share, further we need a few. But we have this tendancy to do the right thing all the time. Where as other nations will just look out for themselfs so we end up taking in more and less approprate people. (e.g. France and the rest of Europe) But these new people have no real attachment to Britain. They don't come here because they think they can contribute alot or becuase they are forced (in many cases) just becuase they know they will get the most here. I say again I don't really have a huge problem with that. It's just that our government is too slow with these matters

"Ohh look you've hidden on a lorry to get here(why didn't you apply in your own country to get here?), why don't you go see this person he'll tell you how best to make a claim (and all the scams as most of these people are fellow imagrants who don't care), you won't have to pay (no no while we are charging people to goto university here we'll still pay for him), here have more money than you've ever seen in your life for a week of no work and you can stay in this nice hostal till your claims been processed......what youv'e lost(BURNT!) your papers ohh dear that'll make the claim take much longer.... " then 2 years later "Ohh dear you lost your application..... have you considered an appeal? have a talk with your lawer(guess who pays for that) so we can take it to court again(guess who pays for that)."

BUT worse than that some citys are just immagrants now, seriously. And these people have no reson to have any sort of British identity, in fact they are told to maintain their "cultural identity". Now I'm not talking negativly about that really just that these days we are pushed to see being British as a negative thing. In France perhaps they have taken it too far the other way "act French or your out" practicly. But really here we do have a genrally negative view of ourselfs which is completly unwarrented. "NHS is shit these days" people say is there seriously any other point in the past you'd prefer to be treated by the NHS? "Army doesn't even get it's own supplys sorted out" the army is more capable than it ever was. "Jobs going everywhere" the lowest unemployment since the industrial revolution. I'm not atall digging at your post but I don't see it all that bad.

Apart from the debt taking culture, problems with our own "britishness" and the amount of welfare imagrant and young girls who leave school to take up the job of single mum (free house, free money). And also in England and Wales variable top-up fees.


Posted by Spin Doctor on Apr-11-2004 05:22:

Re: United Kingdom - Big Issues

I�ll keep my comments brief to knock though them, though we can always take a more detailed approach if the mood takes anyone!

1) That�s the result of playing second fiddle to US foreign policy for so long. We are no longer a sovereign, independent power, simply a US colony in Europe under a false self image.
2) That�s down to the way food is sold to us. We�ve all seen the kinds of adds they show during kids TV. They only advertise high sugar, high salt, high fat foods. Add to this that in general, the healthy choices are invariably the more expensive ones too.
3) Drinking is one of the few point on this list where I will actually admit that we as citizens are predominantly to blame. It�s all down to our culture. For centuries, British culture has been an alcohol culture. The only to change that is to try and change deeply ingrained norms and values, not an easy task.
4) The country IS NOT as over run with asylum seekers as it would first seem. Don�t believe a word the Daily Mail tells you. Every developed country which affluent has large numbers of asylum seekers, it�s just the media in this country which plays it up, trying to convince us its worse here than elsewhere.
5) Influence of American culture, a general trend to show things which are more violent images in the films/tv etc. without the proper context and insufficient controls on who can own a gun/punishment form breaking said rules.
6) That�s down to inefficient use of monies.
7) Oh well, what do you expect from years of underinvestment.
8) The reason why housing prices are sky rocketing is simply because not enough affordable houses are built. Nearly everywhere that gets developed is tuned into executive flats or some such unattainably expensive property for first time buyers. Then, because of a shortage in the market of cheap housing, their prices go up too. So, to push housing costs down, more affordable housing needs to be built.
9) I think that�s obscene. Yes, graduates will tend to earn more non-graduates, but they will also pay more take because of this! I think everyone agrees that universities, and education is underfunded in general. If the government wants to give them more money, how about a reduction in the number of tax breaks it gives to businesses.
10) That�s because loans are SO ridiculously easy to get (not to mention the horrific interest rates that come with them). Have you seen daytime TV on sky? It�s a personal finance add, followed by two personal claim adds, an trailer for a show later on the same channel then more personal finance adds.
11) Education, education education. I�ve not long been out of school, but even in my time Sex education was crap.
12) Not enough jobs to go around.
13) See 6), 8) and I guess 12) too.
14) See 14)
15) That�s because there are TOO MANY CARS ON THE ROAD. The answer to this is not to just build more roads, but to encourage use of public transport (which unquestionably had suffered from privatisation) and put in place carpool schemes, or incentives to walk/cycle to work (if possible)

16) Rant over. Good thread btw.


Posted by George Smiley on Apr-11-2004 13:01:

Bring back socialism!

In 1997 the British people went to the polls and voted for a return to socialsm by a landslide victory, but we were conned, we did not get socialism, cos Tony Blair continued with the policies of the Tory Party and things continued to go down hill!

Solve our country's problems...bring back social democracy!


Posted by Diehard_clubber on Apr-12-2004 12:45:

People that live in Britain seem to think we are so hard done by. that to me is just plain selfish.


Considering how many people round the world are suffering from famine, or civil wars, disease etc.. Britain in reality is a very cosy place to live. Be greatful for what u've got.


Posted by Streakfury on Apr-13-2004 15:48:

quote:
Originally posted by Diehard_clubber
Britain in reality is a very cosy place to live...


Which is precisely why there are so many asylum seekers wanting to come over here. I'm not in any way racist, but the increase in the problems mentioned above can be greatly reduced if it was made much harder to be granted citizenship (term??).

If I were to implement a plan for reducing the number of asylum seekers, there are a few things that I would do. Each person wishing to live in the UK must have:

- An education equal to or above the national UK average for a person of their age.
- Already found a long term residence.
- Already be guarunteed long term employment.
- Been inoculated against every virus and disease that a person in the UK has.
- No previous criminal record, involving either petty crimes such as theft, or more serious crimes such as terrorism acts.

Only if these conditions have been met would they be allowed to live in Britain. That way, they wouldn't depend on government handouts, free council housing and doll money. I personally think that if the government doesn't have to give that amount of support to people, they could concentrate much more on solving the increasing problems in the UK such as crime, homelessness, drug use, and the state of the NHS.

There are obviously many arguments to actions such as those, but something really has to be done, because things won't get better on their own.


Posted by George Smiley on Apr-13-2004 15:57:

What!? You wouldn't even grant someone like poor old Nelson Mandella asylum?!

And I have mates who just sponge off benefits, if I had my way, I'd like them to be the ones to fuck off somewhere else to live!

Dont fall into the trap of thinking all our countries faults are down to the money we spend on asylum seekers cos when they get jobs (they are not allowed to work for the 1st 6 months for some reason) they create more in taxes than they get spent on em...(unless its some British/European **** peddling them to work in the black market)


Posted by torontotrance on Apr-13-2004 22:30:

Join Canada in the Countries with NOT BRIGHT FUTURES....still better than the USA

Our country debt stands at 523 BILLION (FUCK YOU Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark)

Gun Crime is UP
Gang Crimes are UP
Illegal Drugs seized are UP

Unemployment is UP
Personal Debt is UP

College and University fees are UP!
(heck I graduated with a 9K debt)

No fucking jobs..sighs...I graduated and can't find work..pathetic

What else....hmmmm.....taxes on the rise

Roads in shambles
Our version of the healthcare plan with long waiting lines and near shambles

Our govenor general (basically the rep of the Queen...for us)....tho just for show....spends 42 fucking million dollars in one year..talk about stupid..lol

so look at it as you are not the only country in the world with massive problems.


Posted by Izzy on Apr-13-2004 22:44:

quote:
Originally posted by Vesa
pussified EU governments pursue ineffective policies which make EU unable to cope in international competition against the other trade blocs.




i'm glad you can be so frank with us


Posted by Izzy on Apr-14-2004 00:36:

quote:
Originally posted by Vesa
Well, Finland used to have the Soviet Union as a neighbour, which makes our current situation understandable. For 50 years, kissing up to the big brother was the only lesson our politicians needed to learn.

Public education was intended to teach obedience and to appease special interest groups (church, minorities, Leftist culture establishment, etc). Everyone got the same brainwashing at school, and thereby learned to play nicely with other people. But kids' entrepreneur instincts were left undeveloped, thus bringing up successive generations who can't look at things from a business perspective. For them, it's hard to even imagine that some organizations could contemplate abusing the asylum system for business purposes.

During the Cold War, politicians were used to having big static rivals. Today they are helpless against small, dynamic, non-state actors such as special interest groups and criminal organizations.

Diplomacy, international laws and general empathy were sensible policies in the 1900's to keep peace with other countries. In the relatively static societies of last century, individual freedoms helped to keep ordinary people happy. But these policies are outdated in the current situation where the state needs to be able to quickly crack down on destructive organizations.

On paper, Social Democracy may look like nice and enticing politics. Just look at how well Scandinavia succeeded in the 1900's when the reality happened to partly match the premises of Social Democracy. In the first half of the 20th century, Finnish Social Democrats were tolerable, and made many improvements in our society. Unfortunately, 1970's changed Social Democrats completely. The post-Cold-War-era New Labour indeed seems to mix the high ideals of Leftist counterculture with some of the more dubious Tory policies, resulting in a toothless hybrid.

By its nature, Conservative Realism is more robust than Social Democracy. When kids are taught that competition and unfair advantage drive human behaviour, they grow up into adults who won't leave so many loopholes in the system.

Illegal guns, substance abuse, human trafficking and chaotic immigration are on the rise because some organizations financially benefit from them. If they were stopped at once with special countermeasures, society would keep healthy with only minor limitations to individual freedoms. A temporary halt of all flawed systems, thorough reviews and cautious restarts would enable fine-tuning the systems to a maintainable level. But Social Democrats are stubbornly pressing on with their outdated ideals, leading to increasingly flawed systems.


i agree. at this day in age the world is so interconnected economically that those same effects you talk about would definetly take hold in places with little experience to combat them... luckly education (as you stated) is a great way to start and using the experiences of more successful nations could pave the way forward for finland.


Posted by Yoepus on Apr-14-2004 00:38:

quote:
Originally posted by torontotrance
Join Canada in the Countries with NOT BRIGHT FUTURES....still better than the USA.


Apparently someone hasn't been keeping in top of their annual UN Human Development reports


The US is very promising, aside from the growing debt (debt shmet), I likey

Cheap education, taxes you can evade.. err avoid, good roads, good health, good tv, low unemployment, healthy growing economy, I likey



I mess the old neo-con anaylst vesa! Somebody has converted him to an Finish politican


Keep it up Vesa... if you need a hawk in your government lemme know I'm sure your little special interest party can do the immigration papers for me, right?



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