A nation you feel proud to live in?

[the other bob wilson]

Sorry to mention Brexit again, but this message is not really about it. The reason I mentioned Brexit is that I often hear leave voters talking about this "great" country of ours and how we can stand on our own two feet again. However, can a country which allows situations like this to happen really be called great?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47540281

[StraightOuttaCanton]

Sorry to mention Brexit again, but this message is not really about it. The reason I mentioned Brexit is that I often hear leave voters talking about this "great" country of ours and how we can stand on our own two feet again. However, can a country which allows situations like this to happen really be called great?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47540281

A post for the politics board really but since it’s here...

Are you suggesting that the employees should have donated their money to new housing or that they shouldnt have been awarded?

Bonuses are seldom discretionary and their terms are written at the start of a scheme. This was tragic but in my experience there was almost certainly a structured bonus pot with accruals made against it.

The story, the circumstances of which are obviously very sad, is a little sensationalist isn’t it? The country should have rehomed these poor people and everyone should have paid for it through their taxes. The fact that that hasn’t happened is one of the reasons why the country isn’t great (actually I never remember it being great in the way I interpret you to mean it)

[the other bob wilson]

I remember that at the time of the fire there were plenty on here who thought it wasn't a political matter - seems like you can't win whatever you do when it comes to posting about the Grenfell tragedy.

Too true I'm suggesting the bonuses should not have been awarded - you sound like Peter Mannion MP trying to justify banker's bonuses in The Thick of It.

We do agree on this country not being great.

[xsnaggle]

I think the term "Great" originally referred to the size of the island, as in the biggest of the collection of islands know as the british isles in antiquity. It has nothing to do with empire or anything really although it is often used to imply that . Britannia major. as opposed to Britannia minor (The island of Ireland)

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Sorry to mention Brexit again, but this message is not really about it. The reason I mentioned Brexit is that I often hear leave voters talking about this "great" country of ours and how we can stand on our own two feet again. However, can a country which allows situations like this to happen really be called great?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47540281

I don't think the majority of leave voters made their choice because they thought Britain was 'Great', rather how shit the EU cabal was...

[StraightOuttaCanton]

I remember that at the time of the fire there were plenty on here who thought it wasn't a political matter - seems like you can't win whatever you do when it comes to posting about the Grenfell tragedy.

Too true I'm suggesting the bonuses should not have been awarded - you sound like Peter Mannion MP trying to justify banker's bonuses in The Thick of It.

We do agree on this country not being great.

Who’s Peter Mannion? Never heard of him

[Taunton Blue Genie]

I think the term "Great" originally referred to the size of the island, as in the biggest of the collection of islands know as the british isles in antiquity. It has nothing to do with empire or anything really although it is often used to imply that . Britannia major. as opposed to Britannia minor (The island of Ireland)

Indeed. And as someone who is obsessed with travel and visiting at least three new countries every year I can also see some of the great positives in this country as a counterpoint. I sometimes meet people in other countries who would give their right arm to live here. Yes, there are negatives but we have to keep things in perspective.

[the other bob wilson]

I don't think the majority of leave voters made their choice because they thought Britain was 'Great', rather how shit the EU cabal was...

Where did I say the majority of leave voters? I was talking about the statements I've seen recently from leave supporters (there was one on this board over the past few days) saying that this is a great country which can prosper by itself - I don't feel the same way, Britain is not a country I feel proud to live in.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Where did I say the majority of leave voters? I was talking about the statements I've seen recently from leave supporters (there was one on this board over the past few days) saying that this is a great country which can prosper by itself - I don't feel the same way, Britain is not a country I feel proud to live in.

You didn't - I did. Anyway re. the council bonuses, either they were quite small when divided among the recipients in which case it's not such a big thing, or else it shows there's no such thing as austerity.
Personally, when a country prosecutes it's own soldiers 40yrs later, allows the likes of Motability and Perssimon homes take the p*ss out of taxpayers, lets banks close any branch that doesn't make enough money then tell you it's 'to improve services' and then take millions in bonuses, when govt wastes billions of my money on foolish rail schemes that get you somewhere 20 minutes quicker, when govt. would rather spend taxpayers money on corrupt nations overseas rather that look after it's own people, when govts [both] wage war for no good reason other than get a thrill out of playing soldiers, well, I could go on, but I wouldn't lift a little finger in defence of this place - my family, yes, my 'country no..

[trampie09]

Make Wales great again.

[splott parker]

Oh I yearn for the summer of 2016, most of us on this board were in Europe, literally, best 4/5 weeks of my life and it was spent in Europe🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿⚽️

[xsnaggle]

Indeed. And as someone who is obsessed with travel and visiting at least three new countries every year I can also see some of the great positives in this country as a counterpoint. I sometimes meet people in other countries who would give their right arm to live here. Yes, there are negatives but we have to keep things in perspective.

It is good that you say that. My wife is from a non-EU country and the first time I took her to London for a trip. (her first travel outside her home area) she was looking round in wonder on the tube on day and I asked her what was wrong. Her answer surprised me. She said "Look at the people they are all so free. I can't believe it" She could see it but I couldn't because of course I've grown up here and take some much for granted.
I assumed it was because she was not an EU citizen and had had a very under-privileged life by European standard until a few weeks later when I was talking to a friend and colleague of mine who is an Italian architect, from Sicily, who now lives in Richmond. I related the story to him and he said she was 100% right.
I pointed out that he is an EU citizen and has the same rights and freedoms as me and he laughed at me. He told me that people in UK are far freer and far better off than Italians or people from any other EU country. He couldn't put what he meant into simple words trying to explain it more as a deep seated feeling than something on paper, part of which was about a person here can achieve almost anything with the right attitude and luck/timing, but assured me that she was absolutely right and he agreed with her. His actual words were (and this was pre-brexit) "If UK ever leaves the EU and they try to make me go back to Italy they will have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me out of UK." Perhaps that's what all those migrants (Political and economic) sitting on the french coast can see too. It's surprising isn't it?