Frances roads are better than ours - no $h1t sherlock - its a country 5 times the size of the UK but the same population - but the Champs Elyse is a pretty $h1tty road! My experiences of Italy's roads are that they are just as crap as ours, if not crapper, and they drive alot worse than we do, so on balance the UK's roads are better.
I think that the very nature of this debate i.e. complaining about the roads and the NHS is indicative that things are actually not that bad in the UK. Our roads are crap - that is due to over use because most people are rich enough to have cars and use them, so the roads are understandably a bit knackered. I'd be more concerned if people could't afford cars or use them. The NHS for all its faults and difficulties is still the gold standard of a civilised countries health service, and though it faces severe challenges we are determined to keep it - and quite rightly so. In alot of other countries around the world people are dying or suffering from treatable or curable conditions simply because they can't afford the treatment or medicines they need. One of the US's most successful TV serials is all about a teacher who can't afford his cancer treatment - what does that say about the so called best country in the world - apart from the fact that if they're not dying of curable and treatable conditions they're shooting each other with military grade weaponry that are easier to get hold of than a Snickers bar? So when all is considered the UK is not doing too badly at all.
Sometimes you need to just stop yourself from being a glass is half empty person to a glass is half full.
If you look over any meaningful period, the NHS (and medical science) has improved immensely since, say 1970s e.g.
People suffering from some of the most common forms of cancer are twice as likely to survive for at least 10 years, compared with patients diagnosed in the early 1970s, research showed today.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jul/12/cancer-survival-rates-doubled
Some other random comparisons from the 1970s...
*In 1971, UK residents made 6.7 million holiday trips abroad.*In 1970/71, there were 621,000 students in the UK in higher education.
*In 1974, 26 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women in Great Britain who smoked regularly were classed as heavy smokers.
*In 1970, life expectancy at birth for males in the UK was 68.7 years and for females was 75.0 years.
*In 1970, there were 340,000 first marriages in England and Wales.
*In 1970, nearly half (48 per cent) of all households in Great Britain did not have regular use of a car.
*In 1971, the average household size in Great Britain was 2.9 people per household, with one-person households accounting for 18 per cent of all households.
*In 1971, the proportion of babies born to women aged under 25 in England and Wales was 47 per cent (369,600 live births).
*In 1970, food and non-alcoholic drinks was the largest category of expenditure, accounting for 21 per cent of UK total domestic household expenditure.
2000s: Longer lives and more holidays
*In 2008, UK residents made 45.5 million holiday trips abroad.
*In 2007/08, there were 2.5 million students in the UK in higher education.
*In 2008, 7 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women in Great Britain who smoked regularly were classed as heavy smokers.
*In 2008, life expectancy at birth for males in the UK was 77.8 years and for females was 81.9 years.
*In 2007, the number of first marriages in England and Wales was 143,000.
*In the second quarter of 2009, the average household size in Great Britain was 2.4 people per household, with one-person households accounting for 29 per cent of all households.
*In 2008, just over a fifth (22 per cent) of all households in Great Britain did not have regular use of a car.
*In 2008, the proportion of babies born to women aged under 25 in England and Wales was 25 per cent (180,700 live births).
*In 2008, housing, water and fuel was the largest category of expenditure, accounting for 21 per cent of UK total domestic household expenditure.
Compared to when I was a kid, life (in the UK) is way better....
We're richer, we're living longer, we're safer (in the UK at least), our kids have better life chances than ever no matter where they're born, they no longer are at risk of suffering TB, Ricketts, or consumption, our kids are more likely to be cleverer than us, wealthier than us, live longer than us etc. That is not a typical indication of a nation going down the pan.
Its not perfect, never will be, but better than it was and that is progress. Like someone on R4 said the other day - there is no other decade or period in human history that you'd rather be born in than right now.
We're a victim of our own success and it is a uniquely British trait to always do ourselves and things in general down. Maybe that is a symptom of our success that we're never satisfied and always striving for something better, which is fine, but it does pay to once in a while take stock.
Come on people - it's Friday night and if there is any night of the week to be optimistic (especially with a beer on the go and a few more lined up - the wife has the pass out tonight) then it's tonight.
Like someone on R4 said the other day - there is no other decade or period in human history that you'd rather be born in than right now.
I was born in 1981, and had rather grow up then, than now.
Will we ever seen an event so spectacular as Michael Jackson laying down the Moonwalk?
Seriously, the main issue we have in the UK is rising inequality. It's getting to the point where a revolution could be on the cards, led by what remains of the middle-class as they see their prospects going down the pan like the working class before them.
there are more pot holes than there used to be
Are there?
I want to pay more tax for better services, the govt need to tax everyone more we need to spend more money on inequality, I love stewart lee, isnt the guardian great, hey I care cos ive got a mortgagae ......do I win five pounds?, i never voted for blair honest, Aay up john has tha got a new motor..........KA !
ffs cheer up
It's getting to the point where a revolution could be on the cards, led by what remains of the middle-class as they see their prospects going down the pan like the working class before them.
In your dreams, people have never been so politically apathetic!
We've been sold a pup. Savings through removing bureaucracy springs to mind; a great Tory mantra.
I call bollocks: good things done well -cost. We're just lowering the quality of things so the wealthy can pay less tax and the rest of us suffer.
They're mean-spirited. They'd be better off admitting it and their ideology would make more sense.
