http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279 The NewsBiscuit Community en-US Fri, 24 May 2013 00:34:33 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/search.php http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12737 Sat, 15 May 2010 07:40:53 +0000 MADJEZ 12737@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Don't get us started, damn money sucking European bureaucrats, bloody Brussels... 'Mayday mayday we're going down... Who tied that banner on ?' </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12730 Sat, 15 May 2010 01:13:57 +0000 Quaz 12730@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Sounds like the polar opposite of the EU which aims to copy it </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12726 Fri, 14 May 2010 22:48:43 +0000 rikkor 12726@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Je thanks vous, Quaz. In the US, we are supposed to be a republic. That is, small central government, more immediate state government. Putting six months worth of debate aside, I can state that we are still very much that way. The laws and customs of Tennessee are very different from those of California. But, strangely, we all feel welcome in each other's states and still are vehemently supportive of the US as a whole. For whatever reason, it works. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12559 Thu, 13 May 2010 23:59:09 +0000 Quaz 12559@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Thanks Rikkor (I did realise that you likely know more about it than I given your background). I just enjoyed the chance to mock the weirdly democratic institutions of this septic isle.</p> <p>Out of interest, how about a brief Rikkor description of how the US system works? I once read somewhere that the system of Executive, Senate and Congress was designed at independence expressly to make it hard for a federal govt to do anything. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12556 Thu, 13 May 2010 23:03:32 +0000 rikkor 12556@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Quaz, I was just being an ass (see previous posts). Not to be more of an ass, but I most likely know more about British history, literature and society than most folks who were born there. English Lit. degree, and on and on. But, thanks. U R the best! </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12313 Thu, 13 May 2010 05:31:32 +0000 edward hack 12313@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Benign dictators are the best </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12310 Thu, 13 May 2010 00:41:37 +0000 Quaz 12310@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>OK Rikkor, here's the 101 on UK Democracy.</p> <p>The Queen is head of state, in theory like a president for life, but she has to do what she's told or she'll get a slap. In practce, the prime minister is more like a president, or least ways has been since Thatcher or Blair. When a govt gets elected they have to ask her if they can run the show then tell the queen what her govt is going to do, and she has to read it out to parliament with a straight face, otherwise she'll get a slap. Quite why the queen puts up with this is beyond me, since she is in ultimate control of the armed forces, the judicery, and owns much of the land, but maybe she has issues about self worth that she needs to work through.</p> <p>MPs, like congressmen, are elected to parliament. Unlike congressmen they then tend to vote slavishly for their party under threat of never making off the back benches or being deselected if they don't and thus loosing their right to claim expenses for duck houses, trouser presses and to drink 24 hours a day in many bars in the palace of Westminster (you know, tha big building by the Thames with big ben stuck on the side of it).</p> <p>The house of lords is sort of like an unellected senate full of the decendants of robber barrons or cronies or past monaches, or more frequently cronies of the current govt. Legistlation passed by the house of commons (the MPs elected by us commoners) has to be scrutinised by them to ensure it is no more insane than it needs to be, but they can only send a peice of legislation back twice before it becomes law, no matter how mad (see the poll tax).</p> <p>Most of them in both houses end up in the pay of special interest groups or just go plain crazy with power, so as you can see it's not that different from the US system apart from the democratic deficit in the house of lords. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12265 Wed, 12 May 2010 18:20:46 +0000 virtuallywill 12265@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Many of us to enjoy congress here in Blighty. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12214 Wed, 12 May 2010 13:18:09 +0000 rikkor 12214@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Edward, thanks for asking. I would say that it hurts, but I don't like to seem a whiny complaining bore on this site. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12136 Wed, 12 May 2010 08:41:43 +0000 edward hack 12136@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>How's your ass? </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12092 Tue, 11 May 2010 22:36:28 +0000 rikkor 12092@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>"Different from" is of course, completely correct. Better than (from?) "than". But, I am not such a snob that I pretend to speak a different way than (from?) I write. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12050 Tue, 11 May 2010 19:23:03 +0000 riesler 12050@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>or talking up? </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12023 Tue, 11 May 2010 16:37:10 +0000 The All New Jeni B 12023@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Although it does sound less threatening when Americans say, "talking with" rather than our, "talking to". </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12021 Tue, 11 May 2010 16:32:50 +0000 allmyownstunts 12021@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Also, we say 'different from' rather than 'than' </p> <p>vive, as they say, la difference! </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12006 Tue, 11 May 2010 14:54:50 +0000 QorbeQ 12006@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>You're so damn lucky to have a two party system.</p> <p>Our two-point-four party system just gets bloody complicated. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12002 Tue, 11 May 2010 14:38:51 +0000 saltire 12002@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>And we still have one pound notes Rik. Unlike some I could mention.</p> <p>How you doing ? </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-12001 Tue, 11 May 2010 14:37:00 +0000 Sigmund Freud 12001@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>bawahahahahhaha. As they say. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4279#post-11999 Tue, 11 May 2010 14:28:56 +0000 rikkor 11999@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>As an American, I was interested to learn that you do not have a Congress in England, but a "Parliament". Also, your political parties have different names than ours. I could not have been more surprised if I had learned that Scotland also has a legislature! </p>