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My wife has family in England and Scotland. My cousin lives in England also, so I’ve visited several times.
The only commonality I felt was language, and barely that. I’m a fluent German and Italian speaker, so language wise, I can get around continental Europe fairly easily in many countries.
Britain to me is simply NOTHING like the United States in any way (which by the way is probably a good thing...I frankly don’t care all that much for my countrymen). They drive on the other side of the road, which is not a small thing. British food does absolutely nothing for me. I don’t like beer or ale, so having a pint in a pub is out of the question. British customs and traditions are entirely alien to me, although I respect them greatly. Even in frivolities like sports, I just don’t feel any congruence. Soccer (I’m a mild fan), rugby and cricket? Meh...
The British also revere their royal traditions (even if they don’t revere the Royals themselves). I take the Thomas Paine approach to royalty, and consider hereditary succession and even the concept of royalty itself to be a burlesque upon society and even humanity. Earl, Duke, King, Prince, Queen, Lord, Count...no better than a toilet scrubber to me. And their Courtiers are even lower.
British education, and the way it’s tied to class distinctions is also something that may as well come from Jupiter as far as I’m concerned.
So that’s just a bit of why I find Britain to be a very strange place.
Thanks for that dd. Interesting observations from an American international traveller.
You may grow to like cricket if you watch it long enough........
My wife has family in England and Scotland. My cousin lives in England also, so I’ve visited several times.
The only commonality I felt was language, and barely that. I’m a fluent German and Italian speaker, so language wise, I can get around continental Europe fairly easily in many countries.
Britain to me is simply NOTHING like the United States in any way (which by the way is probably a good thing...I frankly don’t care all that much for my countrymen). They drive on the other side of the road, which is not a small thing. British food does absolutely nothing for me. I don’t like beer or ale, so having a pint in a pub is out of the question. British customs and traditions are entirely alien to me, although I respect them greatly. Even in frivolities like sports, I just don’t feel any congruence. Soccer (I’m a mild fan), rugby and cricket? Meh...
The British also revere their royal traditions (even if they don’t revere the Royals themselves). I take the Thomas Paine approach to royalty, and consider hereditary succession and even the concept of royalty itself to be a burlesque upon society and even humanity. Earl, Duke, King, Prince, Queen, Lord, Count...no better than a toilet scrubber to me. And their Courtiers are even lower.
British education, and the way it’s tied to class distinctions is also something that may as well come from Jupiter as far as I’m concerned.
So that’s just a bit of why I find Britain to be a very strange place.
Interesting observations.
Though we share a common language, sort of, few cultural traditions of England seem to have flourished in the US.
Not only the whole Queen, Duke, Earl, etc. business, sports interests, and side of the road driving, but even the food is not widely available. For example, in most cities of any reasonable size one can find restaurants and bakeries that serve food from just about every nation in the world -- French, German, India, Thailand, Mexico, Spain, you name it. We even have a Himalayan restaurant nearby. But I can't recall a single restaurant that serves Bubble and Squeak, Bangers and Mash, ...
Afternoon tea is about the only English tradition that comes to mind, and even those are few and far between and usually only offered by swanky restaurants that otherwise do not specialize in English fare.
Even so, I still hope things work out well for the UK.
This constant repetition that the EU is being mean to the UK is mystifying.
UK said they wanted to leave. EU said fine.
UK said it wanted to negotiate a deal. EU said fine.
After months of negotiating, the deal included paying what the UK had already committed to, and a transition period to work out the details of the Irish border.
UK said the didn't like the deal. EU said fine, but that's the deal.
UK can leave at any time.
Britain has made it clear that we won't acceot the Irish backstop, as has Parliament, and it has nothing to do with the EU being nasty or nice to the UK.
We are now therefore preparing to leave without a deal.
After leaving, the EU, there will be taks regarding trade and if a trade deal can be worked out, then discussions regarding continuing Britain's commitment to areas such as European defence and security can take place. If there is no trade deal then Britain will simply have to reviews it's commitments.
In the meantime Johnson is working with Trump and other leaders in order to secure trade deals and the Government is rightly prepareing for all eventualities, which is what May should have done. However the EU aren't dealing with weak and ditherting Theresa May any more, and itr's time for my country to just leave.
Boris Johnson is already becoming popular and has alredy built a 10 point lead in the polls and he is attracting ever more voters back from the Brexit Party.
Britain has made it clear that we won't acceot the Irish backstop, as has Parliament, and it has nothing to do with the EU being nasty or nice to the UK.
We are now therefore preparing to leave without a deal.
After leaving, the EU, there will be taks regarding trade and if a trade deal can be worked out, then discussions regarding continuing Britain's commitment to areas such as European defence and security can take place. If there is no trade deal then Britain will simply have to reviews it's commitments.
In the meantime Johnson is working with Trump and other leaders in order to secure trade deals and the Government is rightly prepareing for all eventualities, which is what May should have done. However the EU aren't dealing with weak and ditherting Theresa May any more, and itr's time for my country to just leave.
The US is not the solution nor was it the solution, besides I would be careful about believing anything Trump says because he is prone to bluster. Johnson is facing the same problems as May and he is back to negotiating with May, some of his foreign ministers have resigned and others have threatened to leave if their is a hard exit. The problems didn't just disappear when May resigned.
The US is not the solution nor was it the solution, besides I would be careful about believing anything Trump says because he is prone to bluster. Johnson is facing the same problems as May and he is back to negotiating with May, some of his foreign ministers have resigned and others have threatened to leave if their is a hard exit. The problems didn't just disappear when May resigned.
So what exactly is the problem, as a hard Brexit is the only credible way forward, the EU won't negotiate and Parliament and indeed the Government won't accept the backstop.
The only way forward is to prepare to leave whithout a trade deal, in the meantime it's sensible to try and get a trade deal with the US, something the EU has never ever managed to do.
The new PM is doing well in the polls with a 10 point lwas, and has stated there will be no snap election and that we will leave on the 31st October, unless there is a good reason to offer an extension such as tying up a deal then no extension can be offered by the EU, and Britain leaves by default.
It's then up to the UK and EU to put meaures in place to temporarily continue trade, and to engage in trade talks and then talks in relation to Britain's future relationship in terms of areas such as defence and security and a host of other collaboration, which the EU depends on.
This is at a time when Trump is still deciding on Americas future in NATO anf has even questioned Article 5, and the Democrats are equally looking at scaling back US Military commitments and making significant US Defence cuts.
Are the EU really prepared to lose the UK as an ally and trading partner, and if the UK does lossen it's ties then it may well end up being the catalyst for similar action across the Atlantic.
The backstop always was a stupid idea put forwards by equally stupid unelected EU officials, indeed there is very little trade in terms of NI, which has a population of 1.8 million, so I just hope as the pillars fall down in the EU Temple and they have to deal with the Russian threat all by themselves that they fully realise what a grave and stupid mistake they made, in underestimating the British.
Last edited by Brave New World; 07-28-2019 at 07:15 AM..
Especially the part about commonality with Anglophone nations...a connection that I’ve personally never felt whatsoever. I’m far more comfortable in Italy, France, Germany or even Scandinavia than I am in Britain. The U.K. feels like an alien planet to me.
Of course it has an affect on the US! It affects trade, it affects NATO, it affects the very relationships between the two countries, between the US and other Anglo countries and between the US and the rest of Europe, it will affect the financial markets, you can't be so blinkered that you fail to see this surely? How you personally 'feel' about the UK however IS completely irrelevant!
My wife has family in England and Scotland. My cousin lives in England also, so I’ve visited several times.
The only commonality I felt was language, and barely that. I’m a fluent German and Italian speaker, so language wise, I can get around continental Europe fairly easily in many countries.
Britain to me is simply NOTHING like the United States in any way (which by the way is probably a good thing...I frankly don’t care all that much for my countrymen). They drive on the other side of the road, which is not a small thing. British food does absolutely nothing for me. I don’t like beer or ale, so having a pint in a pub is out of the question. British customs and traditions are entirely alien to me, although I respect them greatly. Even in frivolities like sports, I just don’t feel any congruence. Soccer (I’m a mild fan), rugby and cricket? Meh...
The British also revere their royal traditions (even if they don’t revere the Royals themselves). I take the Thomas Paine approach to royalty, and consider hereditary succession and even the concept of royalty itself to be a burlesque upon society and even humanity. Earl, Duke, King, Prince, Queen, Lord, Count...no better than a toilet scrubber to me. And their Courtiers are even lower.
British education, and the way it’s tied to class distinctions is also something that may as well come from Jupiter as far as I’m concerned.
So that’s just a bit of why I find Britain to be a very strange place.
All this trying to 'distant' yourself from the UK and all said in beautiful ENGLISH! lol :-D. For somebody who has 'no interest' in UK politics you ain't half posting on here a lot! Like Dave I also don't believe you have been ANYWHERE near the UK you observations about the British are straight out of 'the big book of national stereotypes'!
The banks are not 'moving to Germany' don't be daft! You do also realise don't you that our Euro 'friends' collectively look down their noses at the UK, it's the British buying from the EU and not the other way round, believe me if Britain 'walks' with no deal it damages the EU just as much as the UK.
Yup.
That lie and scare tactic has already been 100% debunked. The global finance system is unaffected by Brexit and particularly so in this case because the UK never joined the Eurozone. BTW, the ECB is in far far worse shape than the BOE.
So what exactly is the problem, as a hard Brexit is the only credible way forward, the EU won't negotiate and Parliament and indeed the Government won't accept the backstop.
The only way forward is to prepare to leave whithout a trade deal, in the meantime it's sensible to try and get a trade deal with the US, something the EU has never ever managed to do.
The new PM is doing well in the polls with a 10 point lwas, and has stated there will be no snap election and that we will leave on the 31st October, unless there is a good reason to offer an extension such as tying up a deal then no extension can be offered by the EU, and Britain leaves by default.
It's then up to the UK and EU to put meaures in place to temporarily continue trade, and to engage in trade talks and then talks in relation to Britain's future relationship in terms of areas such as defence and security and a host of other collaboration, which the EU depends on.
This is at a time when Trump is still deciding on Americas future in NATO anf has even questioned Article 5, and the Democrats are equally looking at scaling back US Military commitments and making significant US Defence cuts.
Are the EU really prepared to lose the UK as an ally and trading partner, and if the UK does lossen it's ties then it may well end up being the catalyst for similar action across the Atlantic.
The backstop always was a stupid idea put forwards by equally stupid unelected EU officials, indeed there is very little trade in terms of NI, which has a population of 1.8 million, so I just hope as the pillars fall down in the EU Temple and they have to deal with the Russian threat all by themselves that they fully realise what a grave and stupid mistake they made, in underestimating the British.
Unlike Trump, Boris is extremely clever and cunning. He has personality and, well, he can run circles around Trump. Boris could flatter Trump's massive ego, trick him into a trade deal, and walk away as though it was a piece of cake.
Boris is smart enough to know how to handle Trump and Trump is greedy and naive enough to believe anything he is told if he thinks it will somehow benefit him. Boris is not above telling little white lies either. --he can out-Trump Trump.
Trump won't know what hit him, lol, and Britain will come out with a beneficial trade deal.
All this trying to 'distant' yourself from the UK and all said in beautiful ENGLISH! lol :-D. For somebody who has 'no interest' in UK politics you ain't half posting on here a lot! Like Dave I also don't believe you have been ANYWHERE near the UK you observations about the British are straight out of 'the big book of national stereotypes'!
Bingo
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