Thinking of emigrating to Britain - advice requested



  • I'm a 26-year-old male (almost 27), been coding since age 15, been employed for more than 6 years (impeccable work ethos... worked almost a month more than my required hours last year). I don't have any fancy pieces of paper to prove I wasted time at a university learning purely theoretical BS, but I do have an MCPD in MS .NET 2.0, and I'm a polyglot in terms of programming languages... I can write fluently in C#, Java, SQL, Delphi, PHP, HTML/DHTML/JavaScript/CSS and can do a bit of C/C++. I'm also pretty quick to pickup new languages/techs.

    What suggestions do the UK forumites have in terms of what sort of job I'll be able to get (with estimated salary if possible), where I should live, and anything else relevant? Replies from emigres would be appreciated.

    Before anyone asks, I'll probably be going it alone via an ancestral visa. So getting in shouldn't be too much of a problem, it's getting sorted once I'm there that's concerning me... and yes I intend to have a job arranged before I get there, hence the previous paragraph.

    TIA!



  •  I was under the impression that the job market in the UK was in recession these days, but then again I don't exactly live there any more. In any case prepare for cold, wet, gloomy, overcast weather that'll make you wanna slit your wrists within months. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can get a nice preview from watching Top Gear. Also they are so far north the sun is always just a little too low in the sky making the entire day feel like an endless morning. For me it was a pain because it messed up my internal clock, but then again I come from the mediterranean so your mileage may vary.

    Let's see what else was there...

    They have an affinity for building endless rows of identical houses. I don't know why, they just love copy-pasting architecture and it's not even good architecture; for some reason a lot of the houses have large unbarred windows looking right at the street, so you can either have random people in the street watch you pick your nose in your own living room or draw the curtains and sit there in the gloom.

    Entertainment revolves mostly around drinking. God help you if you don't enjoy sitting in a brown-colored pub drinking until you either puke or pass out. Only wimps do not flirt with liver damage on a daily basis.

    Most shops close at around 5:30pm ala north europe making it a pain to do your shopping any day other than Saturday. Large supermarkets tend to stay open longer though. To this day I still have dreams that I'm back in the UK, I'm hungry, it's 5-something pm and I run to the store but there simply isn't enough time.

    If you want a tv, you have to get a tv license or the tv men will come around with their van full of magic gadgets and track you down. It was a ridiculous 100+ quid about a decade ago; by now they'll probably be asking for a kidney (god forbid the BBC runs out of money to spend on extravagant productions). In fact pretty much everything is expensive, both services and retail. If you ever want a good laugh ask a cabbie how much a 5 minute drive costs. That or walk into a high street electronics retailer and see how much computer parts cost.

    Public access tv is mostly a joke. I don't know if it's improved any but a decade ago it was something like 4-5 channels in a country of 60 million people. I live in a country that has a sixth of the population and we have around 25 channels. Their cable is not bad though.

    Everything is signposted and clearly marked. If you're looking for something just look up. If there's no relevant sign, chances are it's not there. Brits hate chaos.

    If you ever have an appliance stop working make sure to check the appliance plug. There's actually a tiny fuse in there that you might have to change. When it comes to security they have taken the term anal to a whole new level.

    ...aaaaand that's all I have off the top of my head.



  • Reading material:  Bill Bryson - Notes From A Small Island.



  • @dhromed said:

    Reading material:  Bill Bryson - Notes From A Small Island.

    I love that guy.

    About Britain, you also get sucky politicians and spackle but that is commonplace



  • Get used to the following:

    • shit weather, causing people to be miserable
    • people being pessimistic, grumbling about things all the time, stating  the problem (but never motivated enough to propose solutions)
    • people accepting inefficiency and bad customer service with a simple shrug, a "stiff upper lip" mentality that means you can often treat people like shit and they'll never complain (loudly) about it. Fortuntely, that's changing.
    • British TV is amongst the best (Dr Who, Sherlock, Luther, Cracker, etc) but good programmes are somewhat few and far between. Yes, you need to pay the BBC for a TV licence even if you subscribe to Sky TV and never watch BBC programmes.
    • Shite broadband. Old copper infrastructure means that you're paying for "up to 16Meg" but receive only 4Meg. Don't think of paying "up to £20" for what you're receiving - ISPs are coining it in over here.
    • Some utterly ridiculous situations that make the news, causing everyone to stare in incredulous disbelief... until it happens the next time
    • Think-skinned politicians that really take the piss and try to get away with murder... and often do, convinced they've performed no wrong-doing
    • Racism - it'll simmer under the surface, not just whites sneering down on blacks but also blacks bringing in racial issues where none exist, etc It's just dickheads with inferiority complexes feeling threatened, usually from people that have never travelled outside of the country. Nto rising to the challenge and showing it's ineffectual is usually the best form of defence.
    • Good real ale. Not like continental lagers (British lager is somewhat insipid) but a nice mellow dark hoppy ale. You'll have to try around, see what suits your palate, but it's surprisingly more-ish.
    • Fish and chips, served in newspaper, with vinegar and salt steaming off the wrapper, eaten with a minute wooden fork that leaves splinters in the last few mouthfulls. It's just traditional.
    • Great British Fry-up. Good greasy breakfast to start the day and kick away any hangover from last night's activities. Trucker cafes tend to do the best (and cheapest).
    • Sunday Roasts. Roast chicken/beef/pork, with roast spuds, lashings of veg boiled rotten to a tastless sludge, covered in thick brown gravy. Also look for home-cooked grub in a pub, some of it is the best, definitely better than motorway service stations.
    • Tea. Yep, that chinese plant is the drink Brits are most famous for. A good mug of tea with a minor drop of milk (unless it's earl grey or green tea) washes down a fry-up well. Don't be surprised if you spot people swigging mugs of steaming tea, even in hottest summers.
    • Drop-top (convertable) cars. Rare in UK. We get about 2 weeks of hot sun when people can drop the tops down. Most cars tend to be small-engined (1.3 - 2 litre) due to fuel prices, and roads are abundant with plenty of smaller vehicles in the morning for mums doing school runs/shopping trips, or large people-carriers containing just one person, hogging most of the road and parking stupidly. I'm not sure if double-yellow lines actually expired one year and now they can be safely ignored.

     

    In terms of the job situation... check out a few websits like jobserve.co.uk etc and scope out what there is out there. You may find doing contract work remotely (coding from home, deliverables FTPd to a staging server) should give you a taste of what to expect. Many programming jobs are quite poorly-paid, yet you're expected to be an architect/designer/coder/tester/release manager/technical writer/project manager/customer support all rolled into one. Avoid local government jobs for coding - management is a nightmare.

    As someone suggested, watching a few programmes may give you an insight to Brit culture. Top Gear is one, soaps are another (Eastenders represents much of the south), some BBC news also provides an insight. For the more intellectually-stimulating, try QI or Have I Got News For You to gain an idea into British humour. It's a somewhat acquired taste.

     

    Hope that helps... 

     

     



  • Thanks for the advice all. I'm not particularly hellbent on living in Britain, it's just that "thanks" to Al-Qaeda, getting into a first-world country nowadays (never mind being able to stay there) is well-nigh impossible. Particularly if you come from a third-world country with notoriously porous borders and Home Affairs officials who will happily sell fake ID documents to anyone.

    Going to respond to Cassidy only because my replies should cover everything that others have said (and also because I'm a lazy sod):

    @Cassidy said:

    Get used to the following:

    • shit weather, causing people to be miserable

    Hot weather makes me miserable. Cool weather makes me happy.

    @Cassidy said:

    • people being pessimistic, grumbling about things all the time, stating the problem (but never motivated enough to propose solutions)

    I'm so pessimistic I've broken optimists before. I'm happy to complain about things and propose solutions, problem is no-one ever listens to me so I just end up complaining.

    @Cassidy said:

    • people accepting inefficiency and bad customer service with a simple shrug, a "stiff upper lip" mentality that means you can often treat people like shit and they'll never complain (loudly) about it. Fortuntely, that's changing.

    I live in Africa. Inefficiency and bad customer service are the norm.

    @Cassidy said:

  • British TV is amongst the best (Dr Who, Sherlock, Luther, Cracker, etc) but good programmes are somewhat few and far between. Yes, you need to pay the BBC for a TV licence even if you subscribe to Sky TV and never watch BBC programmes.
  • Not a problem since I don't watch TV.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Shite broadband. Old copper infrastructure means that you're paying for "up to 16Meg" but receive only 4Meg. Don't think of paying "up to £20" for what you're receiving - ISPs are coining it in over here.

    I'm currently paying nearly £40 for 384Kbps "broadband" here. 4Mbps would cost me over double that.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Some utterly ridiculous situations that make the news, causing everyone to stare in incredulous disbelief... until it happens the next time

    Here, people stare in disbelief if at least one of the news stories doesn't involve murder or rape. I'm sure I'll manage.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Think-skinned politicians that really take the piss and try to get away with murder... and often do, convinced they've performed no wrong-doing

    Better than SA's thin-skinned politicians who have no concept of sarcasm and react to satire by creating censorship laws.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Racism - it'll simmer under the surface, not just whites sneering down on blacks but also blacks bringing in racial issues where none exist, etc It's just dickheads with inferiority complexes feeling threatened, usually from people that have never travelled outside of the country. Not rising to the challenge and showing it's ineffectual is usually the best form of defence.

    One of the reasons I intend to leave is that the black government is hellbent on making white people into second-class citizens. I deserve better than that.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Good real ale. Not like continental lagers (British lager is somewhat insipid) but a nice mellow dark hoppy ale. You'll have to try around, see what suits your palate, but it's surprisingly more-ish.

    I don't drink alcohol. I'm not Muslim, it's just something I don't do.

    @Cassidy said:

    • Fish and chips, served in newspaper, with vinegar and salt steaming off the wrapper, eaten with a minute wooden fork that leaves splinters in the last few mouthfulls. It's just traditional.
    • Great British Fry-up. Good greasy breakfast to start the day and kick away any hangover from last night's activities. Trucker cafes tend to do the best (and cheapest).
    • Sunday Roasts. Roast chicken/beef/pork, with roast spuds, lashings of veg boiled rotten to a tastless sludge, covered in thick brown gravy. Also look for home-cooked grub in a pub, some of it is the best, definitely better than motorway service stations.
    • Tea. Yep, that chinese plant is the drink Brits are most famous for. A good mug of tea with a minor drop of milk (unless it's earl grey or green tea) washes down a fry-up well. Don't be surprised if you spot people swigging mugs of steaming tea, even in hottest summers.

    Sounds like heaven!

    @Cassidy said:

    • Drop-top (convertable) cars. Rare in UK. We get about 2 weeks of hot sun when people can drop the tops down. Most cars tend to be small-engined (1.3 - 2 litre) due to fuel prices, and roads are abundant with plenty of smaller vehicles in the morning for mums doing school runs/shopping trips, or large people-carriers containing just one person, hogging most of the road and parking stupidly. I'm not sure if double-yellow lines actually expired one year and now they can be safely ignored.

    Britain has one of the best public transport systems in the world, yes? Hence driving is pretty low on my priority list.

    @Cassidy said:

    As someone suggested, watching a few programmes may give you an insight to Brit culture. Top Gear is one, soaps are another (Eastenders represents much of the south), some BBC news also provides an insight. For the more intellectually-stimulating, try QI or Have I Got News For You to gain an idea into British humour. It's a somewhat acquired taste.

    I've been watching British comedies since I was a sprog (OMG Fawlty Towers) and as such have developed a very dry and sarcastic wit that I don't believe would be out of place. I don't like Top Gear though, I think Clarkson's a douche.



  • @The_Assimilator said:

    Thanks for the advice all. I'm not particularly hellbent on living in Britain, it's just that "thanks" to Al-Qaeda, getting into a first-world country nowadays (never mind being able to stay there) is well-nigh impossible. Particularly if you come from a third-world country with notoriously porous borders and Home Affairs officials who will happily sell fake ID documents to anyone.

    Going to respond to Cassidy only because my replies should cover everything that others have said (and also because I'm a lazy sod):

    @Cassidy said:

    Get used to the following:

    • shit weather, causing people to be miserable

    Hot weather makes me miserable. Cool weather makes me happy.

    @Cassidy said:
    • people being pessimistic, grumbling about things all the time, stating the problem (but never motivated enough to propose solutions)

    I'm so pessimistic I've broken optimists before. I'm happy to complain about things and propose solutions, problem is no-one ever listens to me so I just end up complaining.

    @Cassidy said:
    • people accepting inefficiency and bad customer service with a simple shrug, a "stiff upper lip" mentality that means you can often treat people like shit and they'll never complain (loudly) about it. Fortuntely, that's changing.

    I live in Africa. Inefficiency and bad customer service are the norm.

    @Cassidy said:
  • British TV is amongst the best (Dr Who, Sherlock, Luther, Cracker, etc) but good programmes are somewhat few and far between. Yes, you need to pay the BBC for a TV licence even if you subscribe to Sky TV and never watch BBC programmes.
  • Not a problem since I don't watch TV.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Shite broadband. Old copper infrastructure means that you're paying for "up to 16Meg" but receive only 4Meg. Don't think of paying "up to £20" for what you're receiving - ISPs are coining it in over here.

    I'm currently paying nearly £40 for 384Kbps "broadband" here. 4Mbps would cost me over double that.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Some utterly ridiculous situations that make the news, causing everyone to stare in incredulous disbelief... until it happens the next time

    Here, people stare in disbelief if at least one of the news stories doesn't involve murder or rape. I'm sure I'll manage.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Think-skinned politicians that really take the piss and try to get away with murder... and often do, convinced they've performed no wrong-doing

    Better than SA's thin-skinned politicians who have no concept of sarcasm and react to satire by creating censorship laws.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Racism - it'll simmer under the surface, not just whites sneering down on blacks but also blacks bringing in racial issues where none exist, etc It's just dickheads with inferiority complexes feeling threatened, usually from people that have never travelled outside of the country. Not rising to the challenge and showing it's ineffectual is usually the best form of defence.

    One of the reasons I intend to leave is that the black government is hellbent on making white people into second-class citizens. I deserve better than that.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Good real ale. Not like continental lagers (British lager is somewhat insipid) but a nice mellow dark hoppy ale. You'll have to try around, see what suits your palate, but it's surprisingly more-ish.

    I don't drink alcohol. I'm not Muslim, it's just something I don't do.

    @Cassidy said:
    • Fish and chips, served in newspaper, with vinegar and salt steaming off the wrapper, eaten with a minute wooden fork that leaves splinters in the last few mouthfulls. It's just traditional.
    • Great British Fry-up. Good greasy breakfast to start the day and kick away any hangover from last night's activities. Trucker cafes tend to do the best (and cheapest).
    • Sunday Roasts. Roast chicken/beef/pork, with roast spuds, lashings of veg boiled rotten to a tastless sludge, covered in thick brown gravy. Also look for home-cooked grub in a pub, some of it is the best, definitely better than motorway service stations.
    • Tea. Yep, that chinese plant is the drink Brits are most famous for. A good mug of tea with a minor drop of milk (unless it's earl grey or green tea) washes down a fry-up well. Don't be surprised if you spot people swigging mugs of steaming tea, even in hottest summers.

    Sounds like heaven!

    @Cassidy said:
    • Drop-top (convertable) cars. Rare in UK. We get about 2 weeks of hot sun when people can drop the tops down. Most cars tend to be small-engined (1.3 - 2 litre) due to fuel prices, and roads are abundant with plenty of smaller vehicles in the morning for mums doing school runs/shopping trips, or large people-carriers containing just one person, hogging most of the road and parking stupidly. I'm not sure if double-yellow lines actually expired one year and now they can be safely ignored.

    Britain has one of the best public transport systems in the world, yes? Hence driving is pretty low on my priority list.

    @Cassidy said:
    As someone suggested, watching a few programmes may give you an insight to Brit culture. Top Gear is one, soaps are another (Eastenders represents much of the south), some BBC news also provides an insight. For the more intellectually-stimulating, try QI or Have I Got News For You to gain an idea into British humour. It's a somewhat acquired taste.

    I've been watching British comedies since I was a sprog (OMG Fawlty Towers) and as such have developed a very dry and sarcastic wit that I don't believe would be out of place. I don't like Top Gear though, I think Clarkson's a douche.

    Whoa!, we are sooo alike..... and I thought SA was way better than Corrupsylvania (it seems it is only a bit better).

    Let me add something to this.  I like cold but not really cold and the thing about Britain is that you get depressing wheather



  • mmm.. sounds like you'll fit right in, then!

    To be fair, the downsides of UK are me being pedantic, but they're also characteristics of Brits that foriegn comedians (and even national ones) exploit during stand-up comedy. Yes, we laugh at it, nodding in agreement, whilst a few of us squirm uncomfortably.

    Sounds like you're gonna enjoy the upsides. I often forget about them until I take a trip abroad and am forced to reassess home comforts.

    In terms of  Brit comedies, check out the following (if not already done so):

    • Blackadder - season 2 was the best, and the ending of 4 is regarded as one of the finest closures to any series ever devised.
    • Monty Python - precursor to Fawlty Towers.  Seems the idea of Fawlty Towers emerged when the Python team spent a week on location filming, and their treatment by a customer-hostile B&B owner inspired John Cleese.
    • Coupling - underrated series written by Steven Moffet (of DrWho/Sherlock fame). It went abroad but failed miserably in USA.
    • Benny Hill - completely misogynistic sexist schoolboy bollock. If only to give an idea of how far we've come, and those antiquated 70's attitudes.
    • The Goodies - 70's drug-induced nonsensical mindfuck that still pretty abstract by today's standards
    • Drop The Dead Donkey/Have I Got News For You - topics news stuff, but it's time-constrined to events that took place that particular week. Last time I caught repeats of Donkey, they opened the programme with a brief summary of current events to put the humour into context.

    Erm.. Brit films...

    • Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    • Snatch
    • Layer Cake
    • The Bank Job (they're all "gangster" movies, those 4)
    • Clockwork Orange
    • Trainspotting (although that's more Scottish)
    • Shallow Grave
    • V for Vendetta
    • Notting Hill
    • Love, Actually (chick flick, but Bill Nighy steals the show. Well recommended)
    .. that should give you a bit more insight into Life As A Limey.

    Oh, "douche" is a merkin term, where they think it's insulting to call people "a shower". Brits use "dickhead", "shithead", "wanker", "tosser", "arsehole", "twunt" etc. Yah, I agree that Clarkson's all of those - if it wasn't for the other two, we'd not watch it.

    You'll also find some Brits are quite a reserved bunch, with those down south (read: London etc) preferring their own personal space, standing in a crowd jabbering away on their mobile phones, oblivious to those around them. People tend to open up the further up north you go, but don't be surprised if you've got to begin conversations with people standing at bars. I've not known many to be unfriendly, just shy, and it just needs that trigger to get them to open up.

    Like most countries, we have our share of regions that are complete squalid shitholes (mainly run-down inner-city places with high unemployment and deprivation) and others that are beautifully scenic (usually countryside places, or the more affluent cities where taxation from high employment combined with lack of time to vandalise things makes for a clean place with pride). When moving around the country, I used a combination of house prices plus a quick glance at the makes/models/maintanence levels of vehicles parked up and down streets to gauge living desirability. I know that's a bit judgemental, but I avoided places where my car looked the most posh on the street (for fear of getting it jealously smashed in) or the cheapest (in case it got mistaken for trash and towed away). It's clues like that which can aid your decision to remain in that area.

    okay.. enough to be going on with?



  • @The_Assimilator said:

    Britain has one of the best public transport systems in the world, yes?
     

    Not by my standards, which are Dutch.

    You must mean the London Underground.



  • @dhromed said:

    @The_Assimilator said:

    Britain has one of the best public transport systems in the world, yes?
     

    Not by my standards, which are Dutch.

    You must mean the London Underground.

    And even then - although this is the best Britain has to offer - it's still shitty at times.

    Our road system is compounded by several factors, including:

    • a transport minister that couldn't drive but was chauffeured around in two jaguar cars (Prescott)
    • new bypass roads, the construction funded from public money but tolls go to the management company, thus defeating the object of trying to be a relief road (most people favoured the congested but free motorways)
    • crap lane discipline - many luxury cars hog the middle lane on cruise control, forcing overtaking traffic all into the outside lane and causing bottlenecks
    • drivers losing the inability to walk once they're behind a wheel, thus driving right up to cashpoints or exits, the closeness of their parking being proportional to the inconvenience of other road-users around them


    The rail network has suffered greatly since becoming privatised. Multiple firms produce rolling stock (trains), some buy or lease these trains, other firms own and maintain the rails that the trains actually sit on. The breakup of one large rail organisation was supposed to encourage better service through competition, but rail firms have had many bailouts from public money so they can continue to deliver an overpriced low-quality transport service whilst executives pocket large bonuses for failing to meet targets. It's a national disgrace, yet governments lack the spine to get it fixed.

    It's not all bad:  Red Ken's congestion charge scheme has proved quite successful, despite local opposition shaping opinion and resulting in him being voted out of office.



  • @Cassidy said:

    Oh, "douche" is a merkin term, where they think it's insulting to call people "a shower".

    1. That's not what 'merkin' means.

      2) That's not what 'douche' means in the United States.


  • @blakeyrat said:

    @Cassidy said:
    Oh, "douche" is a merkin term, where they think it's insulting to call people "a shower".
    1) That's not what 'merkin' means.
    2) That's not what 'douche' means in the United States.
    What a showerhead.



  • @Cassidy said:

    In terms of  Brit comedies, check out the following
    You left out Bottom, Spaced, Red Dwarf, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

    I am disappointed in you.

     



  • Bottom & Young Ones (and the earlier "Comic Strip Presents") - yup.

    Not seen Spaced... I've been given it on DVD somewhere after watching some Pegg stuff.

     And as for  Shaun Of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.. I hang my head in shame. Especially given that I've spent a night in the same hotel they used in Hot Fuzz (didn't realise until someone nearby pointed out it'd been filmed locally). I'll also add "Paul" to that list, but although it's UK-written, not sure it could be calssified as a Brit film.

    Damnation. Upstaged.



  • @Cassidy said:

    In terms of  Brit comedies, check out the following (if not already done so):

    • Blackadder - season 2 was the best, and the ending of 4 is regarded as one of the finest closures to any series ever devised.
    • Monty Python - precursor to Fawlty Towers.  Seems the idea of Fawlty Towers emerged when the Python team spent a week on location filming, and their treatment by a customer-hostile B&B owner inspired John Cleese.
    • Coupling - underrated series written by Steven Moffet (of DrWho/Sherlock fame). It went abroad but failed miserably in USA.
    • Benny Hill - completely misogynistic sexist schoolboy bollock. If only to give an idea of how far we've come, and those antiquated 70's attitudes.
    • The Goodies - 70's drug-induced nonsensical mindfuck that still pretty abstract by today's standards
    • Drop The Dead Donkey/Have I Got News For You - topics news stuff, but it's time-constrined to events that took place that particular week. Last time I caught repeats of Donkey, they opened the programme with a brief summary of current events to put the humour into context.



    you forgot "only fools and horses" ...




  • Meh, I omitted loads. I thought that brief list was enough to be going on with.

    However... doesn't stop others from listing their suggestions. I may even pick up on some I missed the first time around...



  • @Cassidy said:

    Meh, I omitted loads. I thought that brief list was enough to be going on with.

    However... doesn't stop others from listing their suggestions. I may even pick up on some I missed the first time around...

    I would just like to provide a counter-example:

    Hyperdrive is the worst sitcom I've ever seen.



  • this?

    Not heard of it. I'm resisting the temptation to check it out, too. Must... control... OCD....gnnnnnnnnnnnn....

    In terms of thread derailing, I rate comedies such as "3rd Rock From The Sun", "Big Bang Theory", "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" from over your side of the pond. Never got into Seinfeld, Cheers or Friends, mind.



  • @Cassidy said:

    In terms of thread derailing, I rate comedies such as "3rd Rock From The Sun", "Big Bang Theory", "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" from over your side of the pond.

    How do you rate them?


  • @Sutherlands said:

    @Cassidy said:

    In terms of thread derailing, I rate comedies such as "3rd Rock From The Sun", "Big Bang Theory", "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" from over your side of the pond.

    How do you rate them?

    This would be an example of how British people talk weird. Yes, we're all rating sitcoms. But are you rating them as good, or bad?

    Be careful with your answer: anybody who likes "Scrubs" (motto: "It's like Ally McBeal but... ok there's no 'but' it's just a total ripoff of Ally McBeal, let's hope nobody notices!") is a moron.



  •  Ah, yep - Limey-speakstrikes again. "Rated" implies that it's good. "Slated" suggests it's bad, or not rated highly. I suppose you could view it as the UK equivalent of "awesum!" and "bogus!".

    In terms of "Scrubs" - I've only seen  the first three seasons or so and liked them, so a Moron Is Me. Of particular mention is "My Screwup" which was (IMO) a fantastic bit of scriptwork. I used to half-watch Ally McBeal also, but found it grew stale and unpredictable after a season or two; nonetheless I see what you mean about the rip-off.

    UK's got a "Scrubs" in the form of the Green Wing. Very irreverent random humour, although I'm not sure it'll translate well over the pond.



  •  Yeah its terrible over here, we have one of the most open minded and highly educated populations in the world, we have a free health service which is the envy of the world, we have the best education system in the world,we are pretty tolerant of most things.We tend not to judge people by what they get up to in bed as long as they don't do it in the street. We don't have lunatic right wing religious fanatics armed to the teeth wondering the streets.We don't like guns in general.We have a political system which is pretty crap and corrupt but it isnt run by the arms industry,we think that democracy is pretty much overrated and free speech leads to things like the tea party.

    We are a secular society, very few people are anything other than athiest.

    We dont take kindly to loud brash or generally ignorant isolationist americans  telling us whats wrong with our country.

    We tend to work to live and we have long holidays and nobody has called his boss Sir in this country for the past 40 years, we have pretty good rights in the workplace and any form of rasism will get you arrested, as will any form of homophobic abuse.

    We are not all obsessed with the royal family,in fact most people want to get rid of them, we don't all drink tea and we would rather drink warm bitter than cold dog piss that passes for american beer


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @karly said:

    We dont take kindly to loud brash or generally ignorant isolationist americans our imperialist Anglophone successors telling us whats wrong with our declining country.

    FTFY



  • I know he's a troll, but what the hell.

    @karly said:

    we have a free health service which is the envy of the world

    Bits of it maybe.

    @karly said:

    We don't have lunatic right wing religious fanatics armed to the teeth wondering the streets.

    Your highly educated population misspelled "wandering". But that's ok; that sentence is a blatant lie anyway.

    @karly said:

    We don't like guns in general.

    Blatant lie. Fox poaching is a huge problem in your highly enlightened country.

    @karly said:

    We have a political system which is pretty crap and corrupt but it isnt run by the arms industry,we think that democracy is pretty much overrated and free speech leads to things like the tea party.

    This sentence is so confused I don't even know where to begin with it.

    @karly said:

    We are a secular society, very few people are anything other than athiest.

    Another lie.

    @karly said:

    We dont take kindly to loud brash or generally ignorant isolationist americans telling us whats wrong with our country.

    Yeah; that goes both ways.

    @karly said:

    We tend to work to live

    Duh? Are you saying you're not a welfare state? I don't get the point.

    @karly said:

    We are not all obsessed with the royal family,in fact most people want to get rid of them,

    Lie.

    @karly said:

    we would rather drink warm bitter than cold dog piss that passes for american beer

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.



  • @karly said:

    we have one of the most open minded [. . .]populations in the world. [. . .] we are pretty tolerant of most things.
    @karly said:
    We dont take kindly to loud brash or generally ignorant isolationist americans[. . .]free speech leads to things like the tea party
    Lol?

    @karly said:

    Yeah its terrible over here



  • @blakeyrat said:

    We have the finest microbrews in the world.
     

    Any recommendations for stuff you know to be exported?

    karly's correct in the sense that British lager isn't great - compared to Dutch/Danish/Belgium/German stuff (we're more reknown for our real ales) but I'd be interested in trying out some tipples from across the pond if I know brand names to look out for.

    Guess I may have to find a more specialist beer shoppe than your common-or-garden supermarket.

    In terms of Limey Liquid, I'd  recommend Moorland Speckled Hen or one of the Wychwood ales if you wanna see what the hoppy fuss is about. They are acquired tastes, mind. I bought some over the last time I crossed the pond; my mate didn't like it but his wife took to it.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @karly said:

    Yeah its terrible over here, we have one of the most open minded and highly educated populations in the world,
    No we don't. If you're referring, perhaps, the the year-on-year increase in (e.g.) GCSE high-level passes, it's because the teachers are cheating and teaching to the test.

    @karly said:

    we have a free health service which is the envy of the world
    Is it fuck. It comes up with bollocks statistics on, for example, alleged binge drinking resulting in increased hospital admissions when the (1) the actual rate of alcohol consumption is actually decreasing in the UK and (2) the increase in total hospital admissions is due to them kicking the patents out prematurely, so they end up being readmitted (thus counting twice or more times for the alcohol figures for the same, usually non-alcohol related, injury).

    @karly said:

    we are pretty tolerant of most things
    More rubbish (For the benefit of left-pondians and others, black politician who jumps on the slighest whiff of racism (genuine, or more commonly, not) gets accused of racism herself, when it was simply hypocrisy.)

    @karly said:

    We don't have lunatic right wing religious fanatics armed to the teeth wondering the streets.
    We do have lunatic left and right fanatics though, and they're a pest.

    @karly said:

    We have a political system which is pretty crap and corrupt but it isnt run by the arms industry,we think that democracy is pretty much overrated and free speech leads to things like the tea party.
    Who is this 'we' you keep talking about by the way?



    The political system in this country isn't fit for purpose, partly because most of the rules that get passed are actually decided in Brussels, and The House simply rubber stamps them, usually after gold plating. Take the smoking ban for example. Or the bullying on alcohol, fat, salt and any number of other 'nannyist' stuff that's seen in the media these days?



    Partly, like politicians all over the world, they promise one thing to get elected, then once they're there it's all "oh, we didn't mean it that way." Take the Cleggaron promise for an EU in/out referendum, that ended up being watered down to such an extent when they got into power that it won't happen.

    @karly said:

    We are a secular society, very few people are anything other than athiest.
    Neither 15% or 77%(depending on how you ask the question) is not "very few".

    @karly said:

    We dont take kindly to loud brash or generally ignorant isolationist americans  telling us whats wrong with our country.
    But for some reason, the vast majority of sheeple are more than happy to let politicians and other vested interests tell them what to do, even though it's none of their fucking business.

    @karly said:

    We are not all obsessed with the royal family,in fact most people want to get rid of them
    There's that 'we' again (I'm ambivalent on the matter.) And I'd like a citation for that "most people" since I can find at least one that disputes it.





    In short, you're either full of shit, (not that this will come as a surprise to most on here,) or your rose-tinted glasses are making you blind to the crap that's actually going on in this country.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    "Scrubs" (motto: "It's like Ally McBeal but... ok there's no 'but' it's just a total ripoff of Ally McBeal, let's hope nobody notices!")

     

    Scrubs?

    Surely you mean Grey's Anatomy?

    Scrubs is barely comparable to Ally McBeal.

     



  • @blakeyrat said:

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.

    Not all mass-marketed beer is bad.  Yeungling Lager is fucking excellent.


  • @dhromed said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    "Scrubs" (motto: "It's like Ally McBeal but... ok there's no 'but' it's just a total ripoff of Ally McBeal, let's hope nobody notices!")

     

    Scrubs?

    Surely you mean Grey's Anatomy?

    Scrubs is barely comparable to Ally McBeal.

     

    Yeah, I didn't get that either.  Then again, I wasn't much of an Ally McBeal fan.

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @frits said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.

    Not all mass-marketed beer is bad.  Yeungling Lager is fucking excellent.

    Yes, it is, but blakey lives too far west to probably even know about it. What's funny about Yeungling is that when people first hear about it, they think it's a Chinese import.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @boomzilla said:

    What's funny about Yeungling is that when people first hear about it, they think it's a Chinese import.
    Erm - yes, I did actually.



    On the occasions I'm over there, if that's not available I tend to go for Sam Adams. Presuming they have anything on tap that is.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @PJH said:

    On the occasions I'm over there, if that's not available I tend to go for Sam Adams. Presuming they have anything on tap that is.

    Ugh. I'd rather drink Miller Lite. For whatever reason, I've never cared for Sam Adams.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @frits said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.

    Not all mass-marketed beer is bad.  Yeungling Lager is fucking excellent.

    Yes, it is, but blakey lives too far west to probably even know about it. What's funny about Yeungling is that when people first hear about it, they think it's a Chinese import.
    Yeah, especially if you misspell it (oops).

    A former coworker, who was from Munich, once told me that Yuengling Lager was very close in flavor to the beer he was accustomed to.  This makes sense considering the founder of the brewery came from Baden-Württemberg, which neighbors Bavaria.



  • @dhromed said:

    Scrubs?

    Surely you mean Grey's Anatomy?

    Scrubs is barely comparable to Ally McBeal.

    I agree; Ally McBeal was much better and as an added bonus wasn't simply a complete and blatant rip-off of some other show.

    I've never seen Grey's Anatomy, it came on after I stopped watching network TV.

    @frits said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.

    Not all mass-marketed beer is bad.  Yeungling Lager is fucking excellent.

    Look, whatever. The point is people who complain about American beer sucking when the ONLY American beers they've tried were Bud and Coors Lite is fucking retarded, as if we only had TWO BEERS in a country of 300+ MILLION PEOPLE. If you turn on your fucking brain and tingle some neurons it becomes obvious in 13 milliseconds how retarded that complaint is. Yet I hear it ALL THE TIME.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    The point is people who complain about American beer sucking when the ONLY American beers they've tried were Bud and Coors Lite is fucking retarded, as if we only had TWO BEERS in a country of 300+ MILLION PEOPLE. If you turn on your fucking brain and tingle some neurons it becomes obvious in 13 milliseconds how retarded that complaint is. Yet I hear it ALL THE TIME.

    I'm an isolated American separatist, so I never heard that.  BTW- I love Coors Lite, so maybe my taste is a little suspect.

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @blakeyrat said:

    Look, whatever. The point is people who complain about American beer sucking when the ONLY American beers they've tried were Bud and Coors Lite is fucking retarded, as if we only had TWO BEERS in a country of 300+ MILLION PEOPLE. If you turn on your fucking brain and tingle some neurons it becomes obvious in 13 milliseconds how retarded that complaint is. Yet I hear it ALL THE TIME.

    NONONONONO! Get on board! It's the Americans who over generalize about other countries and don't know much about those other countries to begin with!

    OTOH, watching American movies and TV shows gives those foreigners a perfect window on every day life in America. Because we all live in New York and drink beer they think they don't like.



  • @boomzilla said:

    OTOH, watching American movies and TV shows gives those foreigners a perfect window on every day life in America. Because we all live in New York and drink beer they think they don't like.

    I thought it was funny when I went to New Zealand, and something like 80% of their TV programming was US imports. In retrospect, I now get what the "Culture Victory" in Civilization IV is all about...



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I agree; Ally McBeal was much better and as an added bonus wasn't simply a complete and blatant rip-off of some other show.
     

    I liked Ally a lot. Also Scrubs.

    I'm not sure why you're comparing apples to meatballs.



  • @dhromed said:

    I liked Ally a lot. Also Scrubs.

    I'm not sure why you're comparing apples to meatballs.

    I don't like things that rip-off other things.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @blakeyrat said:

    @dhromed said:

    I liked Ally a lot. Also Scrubs.

    I'm not sure why you're comparing apples to meatballs.

    I don't like calling people names who like things that rip-off other things I don't like.

    FTFY



  • @boomzilla said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    @dhromed said:

    I liked Ally a lot. Also Scrubs.

    I'm not sure why you're comparing apples to meatballs.

    I don't like calling people names who like things that rip-off other things I don't like.
    FTFY
    Well he's right in the ultimate sense... scrubs sucks.

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Sutherlands said:

    @boomzilla said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    @dhromed said:

    I liked Ally a lot. Also Scrubs.

    I'm not sure why you're comparing apples to meatballs.

    I don't like calling people names who like things that rip-off other things I don't like.
    FTFY
    Well he's right in the ultimate sense... scrubs sucks.

    I can't dispute that. I've never watched it. I just know why he was talking about it around here.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    2) That's not what 'douche' means in the United States.
     

    Sorry, had to slap it in.



  • @frits said:

    @boomzilla said:

    What's funny about Yeungling is that when people first hear about it, they think it's a Chinese import.
    Yeah, especially if you misspell it (oops).
     

    You mean it's not spelled 运另?


  • @boomzilla said:

    @frits said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    It's not American beer you hate, it's mass-marketed beer. (And here's a protip: mass marketed beer from any other country is just as bad.) We have the finest microbrews in the world.

    Not all mass-marketed beer is bad.  Yeungling Lager is fucking excellent.

    Yes, it is, but blakey lives too far west to probably even know about it. What's funny about Yeungling is that when people first hear about it, they think it's a Chinese import.

     

     

    Guilty as charged. 

     



  • How does the ancestral visa work?  Does it work for Australia, Canada, or New Zealand?    



  • The UK in my experience (YMMV):

    • Bloody cold
    • I like not having to worry about the cost of my healthcare, even if the service isn't as good as other countries. I'm sure it's neither the best or worst, but I have no experience of foreign healthcare.
    • Pub culture is a big thing.
    • Bloody cold
    • Some TV is good - with the digital switchover there are quite a few channels (see "Freeview" for more info). TV license has already been mentioned.
    • Political system is a bit meh, as I'm sure it is in most countries.
    • Bloody cold
    • I'm an adult over here, unlike in the States. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you.
    • There is lots of good food, especially in the aforementioned pubs
    • Bloody cold
    Did I mention the weather?

    The first google result for "define british person" says a lot


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @charlie said:

    I'm an adult over here, unlike in the States.

    How does that work? Did the UK lower the age of majority? Or maybe just a fake ID thing?



  • I'm led to believe you can't do a bunch of things in the US until you're 21. Over here I can do pretty much everything from 18.


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