What do we think of the UK?

[SMHarman]

The third way...
Not having lived in other countries, so having no direct experience, it appears from here that in a socialist countrly like France, you pay high taxes and get good service for those taxes in terms of health, public transport etc, you also get mayors with responsibilitiy for raising and spending money locally and thus strong accountability.
In somewhere like America you pay lower taxes and thus have higher disposable income from which you choose the level of health coverage etc.
In the UK i feel like I pay high tax for all these services, then have to pay high end use charges or pay for private coverage where the state falls down (dental, BUPA etc), comparitivly pay a lot for rail travel to commute and suffer poor local services which are constrained because they have 80% percent of their income allocated from central govt.

Then, we have the EU, which most of the other member states ignore the legislation emmitted from it, we fight it to make it workable (ish) then implement it and often gold plate it.

Between those it makes me want to leave.

[Angua]

I like Britsh Bobbies (without guns)
The local pub and pub games
The seaside
British people (wherever they may live are usually great)
Fish and Chips
Sunday Roast
Tea and Scones
Small towns and villages
The Cotswolds
The Lake District
Brecon Beacons
Scots people (never been to scotland yet, so a treat to look forward to)
The NHS which tries really hard.
Boating on the river.
Rugby
Cricket
Quiz nights
School PTA's
Sausages
Next door Neighbours
The BBC
Sheep on the hillsides
Farmers Markets

I hate
The current electoral system.
Gangs of youths who intimidate.
Not being able to leave my front door unlocked.
"the little England mentality"

[Chrysalis]

Sorry I havent had time to read the thread but my view is that the UK is too capitalist and there are some very rich people who I feel should be paying more in tax, not enough done to close tax loopholes etc. Their are people caight up in whats called social exclusion who will get very little help as it isnt politically correct and too much power to corporations. Also too many companies owned by shareholders so always only looking at short term gains.

The result of all this chaos is that proper health care is only recieved by those who can afford to go private, the best jobs go to those from priveledged backgrounds, the poor pay a higher proportion of their income in tax and the socially excluded dont get heard.