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The UK is the greatest country EVER!
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It's not the greatest, but it's pretty good. I mean I like different countries for different reasons. Like I prefer Tokyo and NYC over London. A lot of developed countries have very famous scientist.
I think saying the UK is the greatest country is kinda ignorant and very closed minded.
I think saying the UK is the greatest country is kinda ignorant and very closed minded.
*ignore my username*
but **** this place,i cant even get a decent job
but **** this place,i cant even get a decent job
half of those are just events within british history lol
This country is also, horribly unequal and has one of the worst social mobilities of the western world; dsigraceful
Original post by french mouse
Why do you say that ? And you should come to France seriously... Most teachers would agree something is wrong with the education system here... Of course there are good points, but the english system is definitly better, and England has the biggest number of universities figuring in the world top 11 after USA ! (And even if league tables aren't the best way to know, that surely isn't totaly irrevelant ?)
My point exactly.
In order for him to truly appreciate what he has, he should come to France to have a taste of our education system (not saying that it is bad; they give us a very good preparation for university, but it is quite rare you will find an outstanding, very helpful, enthusiastic teacher). Also, I think that although the UK is not "THE best country everrr", it still ranks highly in many disciplines. 
(edited 10 years ago)
Yay, yet another person with a sense of patriotism or nationalism or whatever this is, as usual, for no good reason really. Does it really matter where the works were made, events happened, people born? In most cases, no, what matters is that they were made/happened/were born and went on to reach the level they are at now.
Now please make a similar list of all the bad things, and let me make comments on most of what was said:
Yes, it's turning into a ****hole now, but
Brb Shakespeare fair enough (place of birth irrelevant, somehwat)
Brb English language (International language of the world, the world's most widely used language) only because of the below
Brb largest empire in world history Not necessarily a good thing
Brb Britain's Sir Tim Berners-Lee, invented the World Wide Web Due to his career, I should think others had similar ideas
Brb Industrial Revolution *fastest revolution, helped by empire
Brb Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of his era debatable, and a bit of a dick really
Brb Charles Darwin
Brb Magna Carta Really I would say it's a bad thing, given why it was needed
Brb University of Oxford, University of Cambridge Debatably the best now, and only so good due to being the ONLY universities for some time
Brb Parliamentary democracy There are better forms
Brb Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing What about Seacole?
Brb Alan Turing (leading role in the creation of the modern computer) Don't forget his suicide and the reasoning
Brb Alexander Graham Bell (the first practical telephone) Debatable, definately not the first telephone
Brb John Logie Baird (world's first working television system, first electronic colour television) I'll give you this one
Brb Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine), Charles Babbage (who devised the idea of the computer) and Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin),Rosalind Franklin(Photo 51), Viagra by British scientists. Sir Alec Jeffreys pioneered DNA fingerprinting. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, successfully achieved conception through IVF, Sir Francis Bacon, Richard Trevithick (Train) Thomas Henry Huxley, Francis Crick (DNA) etc Breaking down and commenting is just effort,
Brb Railway, steam engine and civil engineering The first two comments are just industrial revolution again, third comment, done before
Brb Stonehenge Not the only place in the world to have such structures
Brb fairytales and folklore e.g. Guy Fawkes,Jack and the Beanstalk, Loch NessMonster, Goldilocks and the Three Bears , Frankenstein, Dracula ) GUY FAWKS SHOULDN'T BE ON THIS LIST, CRETIN!!!!
Brb iconic British cars Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley,Aston Martin,McLaren,Lotus and Rolls-Royce And how many still are?
Brb largest museum Biggest is irrelevant
Brb sports invented by the British- Badminton, Rounders(baseball),Tennis, Golf, Cricket, Rugby, Snooker, Darts, Football(soccer) as it's played today is directly descended from the rules established at English public schools in the 18th and 19th centuries,Table tennis, Netball, Curling. Modern Boxing began in England at early 18th Century See comment on other long list
Brb SAS 1st special forces
Brb Royal Marine Commandoes (first green berets)
Brb Parachute Regiment ( first fully functioning Paras ) False, just false. Not formed until 1941, the Germans beat us to it
Brb Royal Navy is the reason English is the language of the sea in the WORLD No, it is a major factor for the empire which is the reason why english is so widely spoken
Brb Royal airforce ( called royal flying corps ) first organised military airwing.While strictly true not really a big point to be made, was formed at the end of WWI, there had been similar for most of the war
And generally using the military, eurgh, you're sounding American
Brb London, financial capital of the world Because we don't exactly have much else to contribute to world trade, and I should think still somewhat a remnant of the empire
Brb Christian Bale And you didn't list this in actors why?
Brb James Bond Should come under authors really, obviously as Flemming, not Bond
Brb English Gothic architecture Not that different to other nations ultimately, just in the details really
Brb Beatles, the greatest,most significant, most influential rock band ever Highly debatable, along with all your "greatest statements"
Brb Charlie Chaplin, greatest comedian ever HE ISN'T FUNNY!
Brb Alfred Hitchcock, greatest director of all time Highly debatable, along with all your "greatest statements"
Brb Robin Hood Already given in folklore, quit with your DPs
Brb Jack the Ripper, most famous serial killer Is it really a good thing? I do get where you're goming from though
Brb David Bowie,Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen etc
Brb Sherlock Holmes Should come under authors really, obviously as Doyle, not Holmes
Brb British sense of humour I'll give you this one too
Brb greatest actors Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, John Gielgud, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis. Greatest makes it hugely opinionated
Brb outstanding authors such as: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, William Blake,JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien (to name but a few) Hardly exclusive to Britain, and your prime choice could have been better
Brb some of the best known nursery rhymes; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roses are red, Jack and Jill, Cock a doodle doo, Baa, Baa Black Sheep, London Bridge Is Falling Down, Rock-a-bye Baby, Mary Mary Quite Contrary,Three Blind men and Humpty Dumpty etc No ****, they're ENGLISH rhymes, and the empire made them spread dramatically, ultimately this should also come under empire
Brb some of the most notable carols from the UK include; We Wish You a Merry Christmas, O Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, God Rest You Merry, See above
Brb British designers Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney,
Brb David Gandy, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley best supermodels Best is highly subjective
Brb Kate Beckinsale I had to look her up, so yeah...
Brb Emma Watson Lots of other "hotties" out there, and other countries with substantially more
Brb Cheryl Cole Really? And this should be listed with other music anyway
Now please make a similar list of all the bad things, and let me make comments on most of what was said:
Yes, it's turning into a ****hole now, but
Brb Shakespeare fair enough (place of birth irrelevant, somehwat)
Brb English language (International language of the world, the world's most widely used language) only because of the below
Brb largest empire in world history Not necessarily a good thing
Brb Britain's Sir Tim Berners-Lee, invented the World Wide Web Due to his career, I should think others had similar ideas
Brb Industrial Revolution *fastest revolution, helped by empire
Brb Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of his era debatable, and a bit of a dick really
Brb Charles Darwin
Brb Magna Carta Really I would say it's a bad thing, given why it was needed
Brb University of Oxford, University of Cambridge Debatably the best now, and only so good due to being the ONLY universities for some time
Brb Parliamentary democracy There are better forms
Brb Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing What about Seacole?
Brb Alan Turing (leading role in the creation of the modern computer) Don't forget his suicide and the reasoning
Brb Alexander Graham Bell (the first practical telephone) Debatable, definately not the first telephone
Brb John Logie Baird (world's first working television system, first electronic colour television) I'll give you this one
Brb Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine), Charles Babbage (who devised the idea of the computer) and Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin),Rosalind Franklin(Photo 51), Viagra by British scientists. Sir Alec Jeffreys pioneered DNA fingerprinting. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, successfully achieved conception through IVF, Sir Francis Bacon, Richard Trevithick (Train) Thomas Henry Huxley, Francis Crick (DNA) etc Breaking down and commenting is just effort,
Brb Railway, steam engine and civil engineering The first two comments are just industrial revolution again, third comment, done before
Brb Stonehenge Not the only place in the world to have such structures
Brb fairytales and folklore e.g. Guy Fawkes,Jack and the Beanstalk, Loch NessMonster, Goldilocks and the Three Bears , Frankenstein, Dracula ) GUY FAWKS SHOULDN'T BE ON THIS LIST, CRETIN!!!!
Brb iconic British cars Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley,Aston Martin,McLaren,Lotus and Rolls-Royce And how many still are?
Brb largest museum Biggest is irrelevant
Brb sports invented by the British- Badminton, Rounders(baseball),Tennis, Golf, Cricket, Rugby, Snooker, Darts, Football(soccer) as it's played today is directly descended from the rules established at English public schools in the 18th and 19th centuries,Table tennis, Netball, Curling. Modern Boxing began in England at early 18th Century See comment on other long list
Brb SAS 1st special forces
Brb Royal Marine Commandoes (first green berets)
Brb Parachute Regiment ( first fully functioning Paras ) False, just false. Not formed until 1941, the Germans beat us to it
Brb Royal Navy is the reason English is the language of the sea in the WORLD No, it is a major factor for the empire which is the reason why english is so widely spoken
Brb Royal airforce ( called royal flying corps ) first organised military airwing.While strictly true not really a big point to be made, was formed at the end of WWI, there had been similar for most of the war
And generally using the military, eurgh, you're sounding American
Brb London, financial capital of the world Because we don't exactly have much else to contribute to world trade, and I should think still somewhat a remnant of the empire
Brb Christian Bale And you didn't list this in actors why?
Brb James Bond Should come under authors really, obviously as Flemming, not Bond
Brb English Gothic architecture Not that different to other nations ultimately, just in the details really
Brb Beatles, the greatest,most significant, most influential rock band ever Highly debatable, along with all your "greatest statements"
Brb Charlie Chaplin, greatest comedian ever HE ISN'T FUNNY!
Brb Alfred Hitchcock, greatest director of all time Highly debatable, along with all your "greatest statements"
Brb Robin Hood Already given in folklore, quit with your DPs
Brb Jack the Ripper, most famous serial killer Is it really a good thing? I do get where you're goming from though
Brb David Bowie,Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen etc
Brb Sherlock Holmes Should come under authors really, obviously as Doyle, not Holmes
Brb British sense of humour I'll give you this one too
Brb greatest actors Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, John Gielgud, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis. Greatest makes it hugely opinionated
Brb outstanding authors such as: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Lewis Carroll, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, William Blake,JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien (to name but a few) Hardly exclusive to Britain, and your prime choice could have been better
Brb some of the best known nursery rhymes; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Roses are red, Jack and Jill, Cock a doodle doo, Baa, Baa Black Sheep, London Bridge Is Falling Down, Rock-a-bye Baby, Mary Mary Quite Contrary,Three Blind men and Humpty Dumpty etc No ****, they're ENGLISH rhymes, and the empire made them spread dramatically, ultimately this should also come under empire
Brb some of the most notable carols from the UK include; We Wish You a Merry Christmas, O Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel, God Rest You Merry, See above
Brb British designers Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney,
Brb David Gandy, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley best supermodels Best is highly subjective
Brb Kate Beckinsale I had to look her up, so yeah...
Brb Emma Watson Lots of other "hotties" out there, and other countries with substantially more
Brb Cheryl Cole Really? And this should be listed with other music anyway
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Jenn.
In terms of education, it is probably one of the best country ever (after the USA)! although I would argue it is partly due to the fact that English is a very powerful language.
Indeed. We have Marie Curie, first woman to have ever received a Nobel Prize for the discovery of Polonium.
although I would argue it is partly due to the fact that English is a very powerful language.Indeed. We have Marie Curie, first woman to have ever received a Nobel Prize for the discovery of Polonium.
She was Polish...
The education system is poor, and to think Americas is any better is somewhat foolish
Original post by AntisthenesDogger
Na sorry, Germany has given more m8.
Original post by ronmack
At the top they tend to be so close that it barely matters, and any edge from America isn't because America's system is so much better, but because Hitler forced many of the great academics of the time to flee to America.
The reputation one could easily be skewed, depends who it is that's getting a say.
Original post by Jenn.
My point exactly. In order for him to truly appreciate what he has, he should come to France to have a taste of our education system (not saying that it is bad; they give us a very good preparation for university, but it is quite rare you will find an outstanding, very helpful, enthusiastic teacher). Also, I think that although the UK is not "THE best country everrr", it still ranks highly in many disciplines.
In order for him to truly appreciate what he has, he should come to France to have a taste of our education system (not saying that it is bad; they give us a very good preparation for university, but it is quite rare you will find an outstanding, very helpful, enthusiastic teacher). Also, I think that although the UK is not "THE best country everrr", it still ranks highly in many disciplines. I think the problem mainly is that in France many teachers become teachers because of how the education system is made : if you go to university (''faculté'') to studdy, lets say, physics, you don't have a great many pathways : or you become a researcher, or you become a teacher (this is a BIG caricature but not that far off from reality ^^), so a lot of teachers are not really that happy. One of my best teachers is a former engineer, who has two PHDs, and became a teacher afterwards, because she was fed up with her former job.
Plus I just find it slightly sad that nobody is proud at all of the subjects they studdy (probably because we don't really get to choose them) and we hardly get the time to get involved in anything (I've got 40 hours of lessons/week !) so everything we tend to do is superficial.
Of course there are some good points, but I think the UK system is far better, at least for higher education!
But yes, I agree it's not the best country ever!! France has got many good points too (as every country out there tbh) !
Original post by Jammy Duel
She was Polish...
The education system is poor, and to think Americas is any better is somewhat foolish
The education system is poor, and to think Americas is any better is somewhat foolish
You don't know the story of Marie Curie, do you?
She was a Polish immigrant and acquired the French citizenship! She conducted all her experiments IN France (which led to the discovery of Polonium). There, she met a French scientist, Pierre Curie, who later became her husband! So, she IS kind of French to me.
Original post by french mouse
I think the problem mainly is that in France many teachers become teachers because of how the education system is made : if you go to university (''faculté'') to studdy, lets say, physics, you don't have a great many pathways : or you become a researcher, or you become a teacher (this is a BIG caricature but not that far off from reality ^^), so a lot of teachers are not really that happy. One of my best teachers is a former engineer, who has two PHDs, and became a teacher afterwards, because she was fed up with her former job.
Plus I just find it slightly sad that nobody is proud at all of the subjects they studdy (probably because we don't really get to choose them) and we hardly get the time to get involved in anything (I've got 40 hours of lessons/week !) so everything we tend to do is superficial.
Of course there are some good points, but I think the UK system is far better, at least for higher education!
But yes, I agree it's not the best country ever!! France has got many good points too (as every country out there tbh) !
Plus I just find it slightly sad that nobody is proud at all of the subjects they studdy (probably because we don't really get to choose them) and we hardly get the time to get involved in anything (I've got 40 hours of lessons/week !) so everything we tend to do is superficial.
Of course there are some good points, but I think the UK system is far better, at least for higher education!
But yes, I agree it's not the best country ever!! France has got many good points too (as every country out there tbh) !
Yes, totally agree (as I live in the same country)
I'd be happy if they could remove some hours in our timetables! Yes, I know what you mean by "you either get to become a teacher or a researcher" after a science degree, which is kind of sad as I'm sure there are many other open doors! This could partly explain why most of our teachers are not very enthusiastic about the subject they are teaching. Of course, not all of them are like that: you can have some awesome teachers!! France is below the UK for higher education, that's for sure. ^^
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Jenn.
You don't know the story of Marie Curie, do you?
She was a Polish immigrant and acquired the French citizenship! She conducted all her experiments IN France (which led to the discovery of Polonium). There, she met a French scientist, Pierre Curie, who later became her husband! So, she IS kind of French to me.
She was a Polish immigrant and acquired the French citizenship! She conducted all her experiments IN France (which led to the discovery of Polonium). There, she met a French scientist, Pierre Curie, who later became her husband! So, she IS kind of French to me.
The whole reason that it's called Polonium is because she came from Poland, and I am aware or her history, I would consider her much more Polish than French since she became French through marriage and very much maintained the Polish identity, and Polonium over Francium (even if it was for somewhat diplomatic reasons)
Original post by Jammy Duel
The whole reason that it's called Polonium is because she came from Poland, and I am aware or her history, I would consider her much more Polish than French since she became French through marriage and very much maintained the Polish identity, and Polonium over Francium (even if it was for somewhat diplomatic reasons)
"Francium", haha. "Polonium" sounds better
Yeah, I agree that she remained Polish but she greatly contributed to scientific research in France. (edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Jenn.
"Francium", haha. "Polonium" sounds better Yeah, I agree that she remained Polish but she greatly contributed to scientific research in France.
Yeah, I agree that she remained Polish but she greatly contributed to scientific research in France. France did eventually get it's name slapped onto an element 37 years later, doesn't like to hang around too long though [insert slightly racist French military joke]
Original post by ILovePancakes
Guy Fawkes isn't folklore....
That anonymous stuff is though... If you say that the "V for Vendetta" movie was based on a real story then I'll call Snow White and Aladdin real too.
Original post by 0xygen
That anonymous stuff is though... If you say that the "V for Vendetta" movie was based on a real story then I'll call Snow White and Aladdin real too.
Yes.. the anonymous stuff is. But Guy Fawkes is a true story.
Original post by Gondur
Germany has contributed more to Science than England has despite Isaac Newton's invention of calculus, which was also discovered independently by Leibniz too. If you look on wikipedia there is an extensive list of German Scientists and their contributions exceed the UK by far, especially in fields like quantum physics.
Original post by AntisthenesDogger
Na sorry, Germany has given more m8.
a study by MITI - Japan's equivalent of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - concluded that 54% of the world's most important inventions of the past 100 years were British.
Brb second on the list of most Nobel Prizes(amazing if you look at the population)
(edited 10 years ago)
All of which has nothing to do with you or 99.99% of this country.
USA>UK.
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