I'm sick of all these threads moaning about things being better in other countries...

So what you are saying is immigrants play an important role in wage repression and undermine UK working conditions/rights?

You don't think the onus should be on the government to spend resources properly enforcing things like the National Minimum Wage and gangmasters?

Alles ist besser in Deutschland

Tbh, the only one that is arrogant enough to make generalisations about millions of people is yourself.

No one ever claims that Britain or the British are better than everyone else because it is an absurd statement to make.

You generalised yourself below

There's a good minority of people within the UK that do. Britain is pretty arrogant as is Germany.

I come from France. I feel we have a better health system than the NHS.

From what I've seen, A-levels are actually really bad. They barely scrape the surface of subjects - you go into more depth with the French baccalaureate than you do A-levels. They don't teach students how to work hard, they do not require enough hours (vs. the baccalaureate where I had like 45 hours a week). I went to both SOAS and LSE, and the only people I actually saw working hard were the international/EU students.

The weather is better in Paris than it is the UK. It's raining/grey all the time there. That was sarcasm right?

EDIT: And I have to say that higher education should, imo, cater to all sorts of people. The US system is great for people who are still unsure about what they want to do. At 18, few people actually know what they want to specialise in. It's great that you don't have to waste precious years of youth studying for a degree that will be a real waste of time. It's also great for people with eclectic interests. But it doesn't suit people who know exactly what they want to study - which is why I chose the UK.

That all sounds marvellous.

Strange then that so very many French people want to, er, cough, come to live in the UK.

Taxes. Have you heard of them in France?

EDIT: But the UK still doesn't do Taxes best, so I didn't put it in the list.

No no. It's the food that brings the French here.

Oh yes, that overcooked beefsteak! And the amazing cheese! Not to mention all the fish and chips, mmmmmh!

You did make me laugh though. Thanks for that. I did forget to mention that there are more job opportunities in the UK though, or at least there seem to be.

Have you been outside the UK to find out?

Customer service is so much better in the United States...it's not even funny.

I love the United Kingdom. Well, quite a few things about it, anyway. The beautiful countryside, the interesting history, the British sense of humour, the general friendliness, the acceptance of eccentricity, the show of determination when necessary, the general display of good manners, the NHS, the generosity shown in charity appeals... I could go on.

That's not to say that everything is perfect. There is a lot of inequality, for example, and I think that we should have the PR voting system rather than FPTP. There are also things that we could learn from other countries. We could learn from the Netherlands how to deal with floods, and learn from Scandinavia about how to drive down re-offending rates amongst prisoners. On the whole, though, there's a lot that's good here .

If there wasn't limits on giving reputation, I'd give you it 10000000000,0000000000000000,000000000,00000000000 times over!

Aww thank you!

I especially loved the comment about the Scandinavian approach to crime, especially when the majority of people say we should take the far eastern approach to it.

Don't want to start another NHS thread but why do you think so highly of it? It is a monolithic socialist relic of the 20th century, which has its unquestioning support from the legacy of a generation who actually believed in socialism as a cosy, utopian alternative to austerity and from the BBC, another relic who paradoxically survived the 1980s. In fact it is, I can only suppose, looked down upon by the rest of Europe as a misfit, seeing as they would hear, if anyone, the fanatical labour supporters saying how grateful they are for the NHS and 'free health care' for all, where when someone living on the continent needs health care, they go to private hospitals, who are refunded the cost by the tax payer, thus avoiding neglectful nurses and incompetent doctors (who imagine they are owed something by the state funded NHS), who I have had experience of. They have innumerable Hospitals, the thought of going to which can insight genuine fear and have repeatedly wasted billions of pounds on new schemes. It is exactly the sort of serious problem which should not be sited as treasured institutions, which the UK has over neighbours, as it will be so ardently defended by idiotic labour supporters, who would say: 'I don't know what I'd do without the NHS', where in fact other Europeans would never have to think about their health system, knowing that doctors have no less sympathy for their patients, and doubtless more awareness of their responsibilities, seeing as any sign of incompetence would be immediately noticed and they would get the sack, while of course what these people can't seem to understand is that it is free