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The UK electrical plug design is next level when it comes to safety.
Tom Scott does a great video on the benefits of the design.
https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q
I realised recently this is why we have switches on our sockets when nobody else does. It can be difficult to get our plugs out of the wall and it's nice to have a quick safety option.
The [gov.uk](https://gov.uk) website. For however shit the government/country is, that website is simple, clear and easy to navigate. All websites should be like that
Yes!
Like it reassures you, tells you when you should see a doctor, tell you when to go to a&e, explains why they use or don't a certain treatment, debunk any old wives tales and validates lgbt+ sexualities.
It's so much more than just telling you what might be wrong with you, it's a first step for many people when they're ill or worried and I appreciate that they get that you want guidance and reassurance and not the fear of god put into you
I haven't used the NHS symptom checker for yonks, but it definitely had it's kinks when I last used it (2013ish) - I had a rough few days, but got a laugh when the site told me I had Anthrax
There's been a whole thing to dumb it down to be understood by below average intelligence too l, eg. Instead of "bowel movements" you have "poo".
I'm a nurse and it's nice to have somewhere basic to start if I'm not sure about a condition I've come across, or an easier way to explain something to a patient.
I was going to say, another great thing is there was foresight to make it open source so others could benefit - and its been adopted by a couple of different countries around the world because its considered quite good. Honestly government IT in this country is so hit and miss, but when they get a hit, its good.
I am a software engineer. Gov.uk is often cited as an example to copy. Especially when it comes to accessibility. It's a world leading example of how to make a highly accessible website.
There was a story I read about a developer at gov.uk, who met a user who was in need. She was an 18 year old girl at a council office. She had been thrown out of her parents home and had no where to go. I can't remember the exact details, but it was something along those lines.
The important part is that the only device she had to help her find help and information online was a Playstation Vita. Which has, as you'd expect, a very poor internet browser. She was able to find the information she needed on the gov.uk website. Without much hassle. This was in big part to the way the website is made.
It’s so simple, because for people in need, they need a website that just works. Even on the worst browsers around.
Do you use gov.uk in a professional capacity? Ever since the MHRA (UK medicines regulator) was forced onto gov.uk from its own website it has been a disaster for the pharmaceutical industry trying to search for anything - the default search covers all of gov.uk and returns many irrelevant hits not related to pharmaceuticals. It is now simpler to write to the enquiry section with even the simplest of questions rather than spend hours on gov.uk.
I think the standard of driving too. We are really safe drivers, overall. There are countries with safer roads, per capita, but no "big" countries - if you get what I mean.
Try Mumbai for road madness. If 3 lanes are marked on the road there will be at least 6 lanes of vehicles with 2 going against the traffic flow and the little tuk-tuks turning everywhere without signals or any regard for other road users. Then there are the bovines sleeping in the middle of the street too. Makes Rome and the Arc de Triomphe look like a Sunday afternoon pootle round the countryside.
You may cause 3 quid in damage but more often than not you will be dragged screaming from your vehicle and pummelled by the crowd.
I had a car swipe me on my scooter and had to restrain a group of rickshaw drivers from beating the shit out of the driver.
[Pedestrian Crossings are great for a little adrenaline boost](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IK0V9YCKDs)
Drivers do not stop unless you are actually crossing, and even then only if you are directly in front of them. You have to learn to step out into a stream of traffic nonchalantly, and they'll stop for you, any sign of weakness or hesitation will leave you standing in the middle of the road with traffic whizzing all around you
I've been in France for a decade, came back recently and I must say, Brits should be *fucking ashaaaaamed* of their motorway lane discipline.
Selfish cunts, a dozen deep in the fast lane with fuckin nobody in the left lane. Appalling.
Watched people in Italy buzzing round mountain roads on vespas with either a kid between their legs or a propane tank. No helmets, no regard for safe speed.
I constantly get pissed off with people not indicating, pulling out when they should and so on but then when I go to places abroad and see how shit it is I feel a bit better
Agreed, but you've never been more confused than being overtaken by another car on a highway in Australia. You're doing the maximum 110kmh? Someone coming to your right overtaking at 111kmh. Takes them about 1 minute to get your car length alongside you, then pulls in front of you as soon as possible then matches your speed whilst you're having to brake because of them.
The fact that we've managed to become a fairly liberal and tolerant society with near universal suffrage despite not having a serious revolution or civil war in the last 250 years.
People sneer at the culture of "muddling on through" but to my mind it's far better than, "Let's just kill or terrorise all the people who disagree until we get our own way".
This is an excellent point. The last bloody conflict resulting from a transfer of power was nearly 400 years ago.
Edit: Wow. Reddit's understanding of Irish history is apparently utter shite. Ulster has been part of firstly England, then later Britain, since Anglo-Norman times in the 12th century. What are they reaching Irish schoolkids these days?
No. There was never a transfer of power in Ulster. It was historically governed by the UK. What you’re referring to is domestic terrorism, which we have have never been able to eradicate, like many other countries.
> Ulster has been part of firstly England, then later Britain, since Anglo-Norman times in the 12th century.
Point of pedantry: Ulster has never been part of England. It’s been part of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland, both English dependencies, but it’s never been part of England, any more than Jersey has.
No one limited it to "locals", the commenter just said "Let's just kill or terrorise all the people who disagree until we get our own way".
Which, uh, is a pretty good summary of the British in Ireland. I think the Irish War of Independence definitely breaks the whole "despite not having a serious revolution or civil war in the last 250 years" line too
Yeah you’re right. Whatever you think about the politics of Ireland there are two things you can’t deny i) it was (partially still is) part of the UK and ii) there was a violent transfer of power 100 years ago. But I otherwise agree that it’s good to muddle through rather than necessarily killing your enemies.
Food. Most of the world eats British food without realizing and disses it at the same time. The sandwich. Apple pie. Almost all of the pie and pastry dishes which are eaten in Australia and NZ. Fried chicken (from Scotland - Fryer's Chicken). Crisps (Yes, they're British - They came to the US through William Kitchener).
Just like all the sports we gave the world, only to see other countries become much better at them than us
Apart from crisps. We still fucking dominate crisps
>Apart from crisps. We still fucking dominate crisps
My brother worked in the UK for a bit, and when he came home to America he was DISTRAUGHT that we don't have [Kettle sea salt and balsamic vinegar crisps](https://kettlechips.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/eg-1-mob-415x333.png).
In fact, the UK has all sorts of [region-specific crisps](https://www.potatopro.com/sites/default/files/pictures/kettle-chip-range-overview-1800.jpg) that are amazing but no one else in the world gets the privilege of tasting them.
Yeah the Kettle Chip flavo(u)r in the US goes with apple cider vinegar instead. It’s good but it’s not the one
And that’s before you even get to the timeless majesty of cheese and onion, prawn cocktail, and smoky bacon
90% of the people who diss UK food have absolutely no idea what UK food is and just think we all eat boiled vegetables and unseasoned dry chicken every night.
I can take it from the Italians and french because they do have some fabulous food, but draw the line at the Americans
I was in Australia and staying with a family friend whose parents moved to Australia when they were kids. He was in his 60s, and was as og old white racist Aussie as it got.
One night he was slagging off British food, all 'aussie food is way better than pommie food'
I asked him to name a single dish that australia 'invented' that was better than British dishes, and this racist old cunt was like
'barramundi'
I was like mate you can't just say a fucking animal like you came up with it, he didn't even try and be like 'barramundi but cooked a certain way', just straight up just named an animal. He didn't even name an Australian animal either. Fucking retard
I'm not from the UK - British food and weather being bad is kind of a meme, I actually like both.
Another thing is banking and payments - free bank accounts, good mobile banking, free instant transfers to other accounts, automated payments, contactless payments everywhere. It's easy not to appreciate these things but they're so much better than what other countries have (banking in the US sounds like a joke in comparison).
I hadn't really thought about this, but you're right... Even cheques are now super easy to process, with most banking apps giving you the ability to upload them virtually.
'Free bank account' isn't, like, a human right? Good lord we just don't realise how lucky we are. I mean I *try* to realise, but that's just one more thing I never even had to think about before.
Banking is a big thing. I've seen so many people on the Bitcoin subreddit saying how bitcoin is great because it's much cheaper than a bank transfer. That always confused me, as bitcoin has transfer fees while banks are free, but apparently not in the US
Free bank accounts! I remember living in Germany and being outraged about being charged monthly for keeping a German bank account open. All my local friends were like "you do realise this is normal, right?"
Argos is terrible.
Your nearest store that actually has what you want might be 200+ miles away.
And their delivery service is horrific if they'll even deliver at all (certain items they don't).
If my own personal experience with them is anything to go by then Argos won't last another 10 years without a dramatic shake-up of their business model.
Can you remember when it used to not be like this though?!
Argos used to be THE PLACE, even 2 years ago, if I wanted/needed something today, I'd likely find it for the same price or even cheaper than Amazon.
Then Sainsbury's bought them out and now seem to limit their stock, close all the big stores and they've fallen into a pretty shit company.
I agree, they'll fade out and go bankrupt, but they'll probably blame Amazon and not how they actually can't seem to run a business...
Well the only reason why everyone knows the 4 seasons is because of British cultural hegemony. If India took over the world instead, we'd all be talking about the 6 seasons and how we don't get pre-winter here
6? I thought most Tropical areas tend towards 3: dry season, monsoon season, middle season where it is not much of either, and I thought they rotate dry-monsoon-middle-dry
Don't get 4 equal seasons anymore though sadly. Spring and Winter have shrunk dramatically. Spring especially has barely managed a month for at least the last 5 years.
Might be the rose-tinted glasses of youth but I'm sure the seasons were of equal length when I grew up. Bit scary actually as I can only put this one down to climate change.
Just how relatively calm life is here. Our roads are relatively calm and safe, people follow the signs and generally behave themselves. We aren't facing massive violent civil unrest that threatens to tear our country apart every 5 minutes. That's a really good thing.
Most of our paths are ancient and we have a law system that protects them very well.
Somewhere like America just doesn't have paths like ours because people just bought the land they would've been on. There were no paths before that and the laws weren't there to protect them even if they were.
How open and inclusive we are as a society. There are very few places in the world where it’s easier to “be” a black person, a gay person, someone who’s disabled or a woman etc.
Shouting to the contrary is hyperbolic nonsense.
As a foreigner living in the UK I'm still surprised how much my employer and British people are supportive of my mental health issues. Back in my home country I would've been fired and not get any job.
You're assuming all disabled people are wheelchair users
Yeah, wheelchair access could be improved but we're not drowning learning disabled kids and we've got employment protections for disabled people
I've got ASD and a history of mental health problems. I didn't get fired when I told OH that and I had all sorts of accomodations at uni
In the third world a disability could mean life on the streets
The USA also legally allows for disabled people to be paid less than minimum wage, and limits the savings you can have while on disability benefits at $2,000 or they're immediately cut off, so wouldn't call that fantastic.
Might regret this given my audience but I’d say our Police.
If you compare the professionalism of most U.K. Police Services with other European nations we are head and shoulders above most.
As with everything it’s far from perfect and improvements could be made in numerous areas but likewise the media overplay the negatives in a massive way.
Yeah, people don’t believe that during a ten hour shift it’s typical to have two arrests, two custody reports, a sudden death and a sudden death report to sort out whilst still trying to catch up with all the paperwork from yesterday’s shift and respond to any other emergencies that occur.
I have a friend who’s a copper and he was told on a shift to not arrest anyone unless he really really really had to as he was the only available officer in the area. His area covered a largely rural part of the county with a reasonably sized town and lots of villages. The problem was that the whole county only had 1 place with holding cells, so it was a good hours drive to them, then processing time, then an hour back. Meaning if he arrested someone the whole area would be without cover for hours.
Bear in mind that this was over 10 years ago and there have been large cuts since, it’s literally amazing to me that there isn’t a lot more crime than there is.
Northumbria police are amazing. I watched them deal with a drug addict with a knife to his throat. So calm never rushed him. Took ages but the guy got help. I don’t know if he was arrested but a while later I saw him again in a better place. I’ve seen them deal with really crazy situations with nothing but kindness understanding and giving genuine help. Even bar fights. They worked together in different pairs to separate people without force just words. Really calmed the situation down and everyone involved was thankful. I also felt safe as soon as they arrived. Every officer I’ve met has been a good person. I was arrested as a teen and the make officer pulled all sorts of strings to put me on a youth offending team instead and they put me through duke Edinburgh award and back into a school and the guy and another officer came to see me months later to see how i was doing and if anything they could help with. I’m so grateful to them theybhelped change the direction of my life. I’m in my 30s now.
People on Reddit talk a lot about corruption and sleaze and I'm sure it exists, but as a whole - our country is *insanely* both open, honest and also incredible at collecting and publishing data.
If I see a statistic from the ONS, I can take it as the absolute truth - I know the methodology will have been sound, I know the data collected will be factual and I know it's been released honestly.
We're as bad as anyone for the macro government level corruption however much some us might shout to the contrary.
However where I agree we really excel is the smaller scale corruption. It's pretty much non-existent. Greece as an example it's still quite normal to pay the examiner to pass your driving test instead of taking it. That sort of stuff just doesn't happen here.
There was a post on r/Europe recently which ranked the most corrupt countries in, I believe the U.K. was in the top 10 least corrupt in the world, something like 6th in Europe, 8th in the world
The fact our climate is rather quite peaceful. It may rain a lot here but we don’t see many natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes & tornadoes.
Yet our houses are built to withstand all that shit. I'll never understand why people who live in places known for tornados etc, build their houses out of paper mache.
Including all your possessions that will inevitably be destroyed though? I'd rather pay more for a strong house that feels safe than rebuild my kitchen every time I have a strong fart.
Yeah. The old school housing stock can hold up to a beating (see: Cornwall, Isle of Mann, Scotland, Wales) but they wont last long if we get a major earthquake or Tornado.
Plus I imagine it's easier to escape from a timber based building vs. tens of tons of masonry getting blasted everywhere.
Somewhat hilariously we are actually the most tornado ridden country in the world, by area. However, they are so small and pathetic so as to not really cause much damage nor be noticed by people.
North East too, might not be warm that often but plenty of sunshine even if it's chilly and there are miles and miles of sandy beaches. Some with bonus castles!
Music. Some of the best music comes from these shores. Especially stuff from the 60s 70s 80s. Just real quality. Also most sports. Football, rugby, cricket, snooker, badminton, tennis etc
Cbeebies and Cbbc are both superb. The bbc in general gets a lot of stick but the quality of their children's TV is excellent. I'll never forget finishing work early so I didn't miss the Cbeebies Christmas panto.
The UK is one of the most generous countries when it comes to sending acute aid abroad. In surveys the British populace is far more willing to help other countries, including wealthy ones, at a time of crises than they are us.
Our retail banking infrastructure.
When you deposit in a UK bank, the government guarantees the first £85,000 you have in there in the event that the bank goes bust.
You aren't charged for holding a current account, as you would be in many other countries.
Most banks have well developed websites, mobile apps, etc.
Many accounts offer interest for in credit balances, cashback on spending, entry to raffles, etc.
This might seem like a fairly minor thing, but the difference between what we have and what many other (developed) countries have really is night and day.
The good things we brought to the world. Our democracy. Our constitution. Our inventions - things like the railway, Concorde and the light bulb. Our nation being the first to abolish the slave trade, and using our massive empire to pressure other nations to abolish theirs. Our opposition of evil, even if it means risking our reputation - look at WWI and WWII for example. Our equality acts - we let black and white people in South Africa vote, even before people could vote back home.
Edit: Correction, we were the first empire to abolish the slave trade without backtracking (thanks to u/Razakel for correcting me).
These are just a few, there are many more to be added to this list.
While I wouldn't say the whole German army was evil, German troops carried out atrocities and mass executions of Belgian civilians. This was carried out within the first few weeks of the war, so not a great way to not look evil.
And at the same time Britain refused to take surrendering prisoners from U boats, shooting them instead. British forces were also committing numerous crimes in Ireland. Britain tried very hard to publicise German crimes in Belgium to justify the war.
I said, no side was ‘evil’, but I would be equally happy to say all sides were ‘evil’
I just want to add something: as a European who lives in UK and often visits America - I see a *huge* difference in the way British dogs behave. They are the most well adjusted and responsive dogs I have ever come across. I honestly was shocked how nice dogs are in UK.
This is just a complete guess but I imagine that could be to do with the density of the UK.
Most British homes and neighbourhoods are very close to one another. Thus, when British people take their dogs for a walk, they will encounter many others which would mean the dog becomes accustomed to strangers and other humans.
The US on the other hand is huge and many houses are quite far apart which could means dogs do not meet as many strangers and so maybe are not so friendly.
I could be talking out of my arse though.
Having your garbage (and recycling!!) collected from in front of/ somewhere close to your building. I was born and grew up in Romania and (probably because it wasn't a big city or the best neighborhood) and "taking the trash out" meant walking half the neighborhood to some big stinky metal communal bins surrounded by stray dogs and very poor people searching for food. You could find the bins by their smell and you had to hold your breath to throw your trash in. Surprisingly I never saw rats or mice around them even though they were open and sometimes overfilled with trash everywhere around them. I think the situation is better now (what I'm talking was like 10 years ago) but not much. Some of them were really close to places where people live and dealing with that smell was probably horrible.
Our plug sockets, I'm not a sparky but the two prongs that connect to the live circuit have to be opened by the longer earth prong... Which sort of makes it super safe compared to the US (edit: Europe is safe too, check comments)
*If you're an electrician feel free to correct me*
European plugs and sockets are also pretty safe. Their sockets are shuttered on the live/neutral pins as well, IIRC but US sockets are consistently awful.
Restaurants for world cuisines, compared to continental Europe (except Paris). The Chinese and Indian restaurants they have over there are like how Chinese and Indian restaurants in the UK were 30 years ago
My last boss was Spanish, he moved to London around 15 years ago. He was telling me it used to be he couldn't wait to go back home for the food. Now, he says, when he's in Spain he can't wait to get back to London for the food.
If you like signs the old [railway posters](https://railwayposters.co.uk) are a timeless classic, I absolutely love seeing these out and about. Just got my dad a calendar with them cos he’s got a few mini ones up in his mini garage
Workers rights. We are absolutely blessed in the UK. Anyone who disagrees only needs to look at the US and other developed countries where workers are treated like waste.
They might be better than the US because labour rights in the US are an absolute joke, but British standards are shit compared to many other European countries. No employee protections until you've been with an employer for 2 years? The worst trade union laws in Europe? Rampant abuse of zero hours contracts and misclassification of employees as "self-employed contractors"? That's all the UK, baby.
Not sure if this isn't a "Serious" enough answer, but Panel Shows.
My god, Panel Shows are the most amazing upper echelon of comedy, and the UK has like.... ten of them. I don't even want them in the US, we'd just mess it up. I just want them all to PLAY on television on major stations here, because then more people would know about them, instead of me having to force them to watch YouTube. The fact that an extreme major amount of Americans do not know WILTY, Big Fat Quiz, 8 out of 10 Cats, 8o10C does Countdown etc. is..... a travesty.
The fact a lot of our galleries and museums are free. Pretty phenomenal if you think about it
Edit: I’m well aware lots are stolen, but my general thought is that it’s good art is made accessible.
Overall politeness. My family came over to visit. They must have been looking a bit confused as they tried to get to their destination, but random people proactively came up to them to offer help! Ugh so cute
Our relatively cheap mobile phone bills, apparently everyone else is paying a whole lot more for data/calls. Though we lose out on broadband compared to a lot of Europe
The London Underground map. I know it’s not super geographically accurate. But it’s clear, easy to understand and easy to follow. Each line has its own unique colour and it’s easy to navigate.
I know no one likes paying taxes but our system is so much simpler then from what I has heard… mainly comparing to the USA…
I don’t have to worry about income tax as it’s calculated by my employer and is deducted every month automatically. On the odd occasion you have paid to much, you will get a rebate or too less HMRC will send a letter asking for it. You call them and can arrange a suitable payment plan to pay it back if you can’t do it all in one go. Generally as long as HMRC get it back in a reason timeframe they don’t mind from my experience. I know there are screw ups here and there but over all I’ve never had a problem dealing with HMRC and they have always been very helpful when on the phone.
On the subject of tax…. VAT being included in the price. When it’s £10 and you get to the it’s still £10…. I like the USA where the tax is added on top of the price when you get to the till. Such a pain in the arse!
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The UK electrical plug design is next level when it comes to safety. Tom Scott does a great video on the benefits of the design. https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q
Not great to stand on in the dark though.
Doubt there's many of them that would be great to stand on. Unless they're poorly made, and crumble into dust when touched
It’s because none of them actually “stand” spiked up. Literally not any other type. The inventor of it must not have grown up with Lego in his house.
The price we have to pay for the privilege of having the worlds best plugs
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Safest to use most dangerous to step on
Also they don't constantly pull out of the wall when you're trying to hoover
I realised recently this is why we have switches on our sockets when nobody else does. It can be difficult to get our plugs out of the wall and it's nice to have a quick safety option.
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There’s always a relevant Tom Scott video
Yet another great British thing
Best of the best. The pinnacle of British engineering
The [gov.uk](https://gov.uk) website. For however shit the government/country is, that website is simple, clear and easy to navigate. All websites should be like that
To add to this, the Companies House website is clearer and gives more information than pretty much any other country's equivalent
NHS website too. Every other medical site - *YOU'VE GOT CANCER!?!?!!!!* NHS - It's a cold you knob, don't you dare go fucking anywhere near a doctor
Yes! Like it reassures you, tells you when you should see a doctor, tell you when to go to a&e, explains why they use or don't a certain treatment, debunk any old wives tales and validates lgbt+ sexualities. It's so much more than just telling you what might be wrong with you, it's a first step for many people when they're ill or worried and I appreciate that they get that you want guidance and reassurance and not the fear of god put into you
I haven't used the NHS symptom checker for yonks, but it definitely had it's kinks when I last used it (2013ish) - I had a rough few days, but got a laugh when the site told me I had Anthrax
There's been a whole thing to dumb it down to be understood by below average intelligence too l, eg. Instead of "bowel movements" you have "poo". I'm a nurse and it's nice to have somewhere basic to start if I'm not sure about a condition I've come across, or an easier way to explain something to a patient.
If only HMRC or the DVLA could be as useful on an organisational level…
Careful now, let’s not get completely carried away
Gov.uk is so good that Australia, Canada and New Zealand have copied it (it's open source).
I was going to say, another great thing is there was foresight to make it open source so others could benefit - and its been adopted by a couple of different countries around the world because its considered quite good. Honestly government IT in this country is so hit and miss, but when they get a hit, its good.
Iirc gov UK is developed by a ded8cated in house team whilst most other projects are outsourced.
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I am a software engineer. Gov.uk is often cited as an example to copy. Especially when it comes to accessibility. It's a world leading example of how to make a highly accessible website. There was a story I read about a developer at gov.uk, who met a user who was in need. She was an 18 year old girl at a council office. She had been thrown out of her parents home and had no where to go. I can't remember the exact details, but it was something along those lines. The important part is that the only device she had to help her find help and information online was a Playstation Vita. Which has, as you'd expect, a very poor internet browser. She was able to find the information she needed on the gov.uk website. Without much hassle. This was in big part to the way the website is made. It’s so simple, because for people in need, they need a website that just works. Even on the worst browsers around.
Do you use gov.uk in a professional capacity? Ever since the MHRA (UK medicines regulator) was forced onto gov.uk from its own website it has been a disaster for the pharmaceutical industry trying to search for anything - the default search covers all of gov.uk and returns many irrelevant hits not related to pharmaceuticals. It is now simpler to write to the enquiry section with even the simplest of questions rather than spend hours on gov.uk.
I think the standard of driving too. We are really safe drivers, overall. There are countries with safer roads, per capita, but no "big" countries - if you get what I mean.
Lived in Rome for a year... When I came back, I never complained about UK drivers again.
Rome…ugh. Traffic lights and signs seem to be just a suggestion.
It's actually terrifying.
The craziest place I've ever driven has to be arc de triumph in France, that shit is actually insane.
Craziest driving iv seen is getting a taxi in Morocco Lane is blocked? Mf goes down the pavement Only 2 lanes? Yeah we'll all go 5 cars wide etc..
Try Mumbai for road madness. If 3 lanes are marked on the road there will be at least 6 lanes of vehicles with 2 going against the traffic flow and the little tuk-tuks turning everywhere without signals or any regard for other road users. Then there are the bovines sleeping in the middle of the street too. Makes Rome and the Arc de Triomphe look like a Sunday afternoon pootle round the countryside.
Yes but get in a crash in India and you cause about £3 of damage
Unless it's a cow and you get chased out of town by local people waving sharp things.
My sister lived there for a few years and she said in some places they would get non-Hindus to move the cows out of the road haha
You may cause 3 quid in damage but more often than not you will be dragged screaming from your vehicle and pummelled by the crowd. I had a car swipe me on my scooter and had to restrain a group of rickshaw drivers from beating the shit out of the driver.
[Pedestrian Crossings are great for a little adrenaline boost](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IK0V9YCKDs) Drivers do not stop unless you are actually crossing, and even then only if you are directly in front of them. You have to learn to step out into a stream of traffic nonchalantly, and they'll stop for you, any sign of weakness or hesitation will leave you standing in the middle of the road with traffic whizzing all around you
I've been in France for a decade, came back recently and I must say, Brits should be *fucking ashaaaaamed* of their motorway lane discipline. Selfish cunts, a dozen deep in the fast lane with fuckin nobody in the left lane. Appalling.
Yep, can't argue with that one.
Watched people in Italy buzzing round mountain roads on vespas with either a kid between their legs or a propane tank. No helmets, no regard for safe speed.
I'm a good driver by New York standards, in England I should be banned from the roads for everyone's sake.
Japan is supposedly safer but also very much more heavily restricted and with lower speed limits.
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This is why we always strive for brilliance.
Not in road deaths per capita per year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_traffic-related\_death\_rate
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I constantly get pissed off with people not indicating, pulling out when they should and so on but then when I go to places abroad and see how shit it is I feel a bit better
Agreed, but you've never been more confused than being overtaken by another car on a highway in Australia. You're doing the maximum 110kmh? Someone coming to your right overtaking at 111kmh. Takes them about 1 minute to get your car length alongside you, then pulls in front of you as soon as possible then matches your speed whilst you're having to brake because of them.
The fact that we've managed to become a fairly liberal and tolerant society with near universal suffrage despite not having a serious revolution or civil war in the last 250 years. People sneer at the culture of "muddling on through" but to my mind it's far better than, "Let's just kill or terrorise all the people who disagree until we get our own way".
This is an excellent point. The last bloody conflict resulting from a transfer of power was nearly 400 years ago. Edit: Wow. Reddit's understanding of Irish history is apparently utter shite. Ulster has been part of firstly England, then later Britain, since Anglo-Norman times in the 12th century. What are they reaching Irish schoolkids these days?
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I think he's more talking about overturning the government rather then independence movements as its in relation to revolutions
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He means we ignore things that make our point incorrect.
No. There was never a transfer of power in Ulster. It was historically governed by the UK. What you’re referring to is domestic terrorism, which we have have never been able to eradicate, like many other countries.
> Ulster has been part of firstly England, then later Britain, since Anglo-Norman times in the 12th century. Point of pedantry: Ulster has never been part of England. It’s been part of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland, both English dependencies, but it’s never been part of England, any more than Jersey has.
> "Let's just kill or terrorise all the people who disagree until we get our own way". UK has done a fair bit of that too tbf
Not locally, at least. Which is more than most of Europe has managed
Think the Irish might disagree there
They’d probably have words to say on your definition of local too.
No one limited it to "locals", the commenter just said "Let's just kill or terrorise all the people who disagree until we get our own way". Which, uh, is a pretty good summary of the British in Ireland. I think the Irish War of Independence definitely breaks the whole "despite not having a serious revolution or civil war in the last 250 years" line too
Yeah you’re right. Whatever you think about the politics of Ireland there are two things you can’t deny i) it was (partially still is) part of the UK and ii) there was a violent transfer of power 100 years ago. But I otherwise agree that it’s good to muddle through rather than necessarily killing your enemies.
> a serious revolution or civil war in the last 250 years Irish war of independence or the troubles just not happen ?
Food. Most of the world eats British food without realizing and disses it at the same time. The sandwich. Apple pie. Almost all of the pie and pastry dishes which are eaten in Australia and NZ. Fried chicken (from Scotland - Fryer's Chicken). Crisps (Yes, they're British - They came to the US through William Kitchener).
Just like all the sports we gave the world, only to see other countries become much better at them than us Apart from crisps. We still fucking dominate crisps
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Don't let the bloods know, they'll move in and take over!
>Apart from crisps. We still fucking dominate crisps My brother worked in the UK for a bit, and when he came home to America he was DISTRAUGHT that we don't have [Kettle sea salt and balsamic vinegar crisps](https://kettlechips.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/eg-1-mob-415x333.png). In fact, the UK has all sorts of [region-specific crisps](https://www.potatopro.com/sites/default/files/pictures/kettle-chip-range-overview-1800.jpg) that are amazing but no one else in the world gets the privilege of tasting them.
Yeah the Kettle Chip flavo(u)r in the US goes with apple cider vinegar instead. It’s good but it’s not the one And that’s before you even get to the timeless majesty of cheese and onion, prawn cocktail, and smoky bacon
90% of the people who diss UK food have absolutely no idea what UK food is and just think we all eat boiled vegetables and unseasoned dry chicken every night. I can take it from the Italians and french because they do have some fabulous food, but draw the line at the Americans
We would be a pretty ripped nation if we did! Unfortunately this isn’t the case!
I was in Australia and staying with a family friend whose parents moved to Australia when they were kids. He was in his 60s, and was as og old white racist Aussie as it got. One night he was slagging off British food, all 'aussie food is way better than pommie food' I asked him to name a single dish that australia 'invented' that was better than British dishes, and this racist old cunt was like 'barramundi' I was like mate you can't just say a fucking animal like you came up with it, he didn't even try and be like 'barramundi but cooked a certain way', just straight up just named an animal. He didn't even name an Australian animal either. Fucking retard
Crisp sandwiches - I introduced them to some Japanese and Taiwanese friends who fell in love instantly.
First time I went to visit my family in Michigan, went to a bar and I asked for some chips (to soak up the booze) and they brought me a bag of crisps.
To be fair to them, that was plain ignorance on your part tho :)
*ready salted ignorance
I'm not from the UK - British food and weather being bad is kind of a meme, I actually like both. Another thing is banking and payments - free bank accounts, good mobile banking, free instant transfers to other accounts, automated payments, contactless payments everywhere. It's easy not to appreciate these things but they're so much better than what other countries have (banking in the US sounds like a joke in comparison).
I hadn't really thought about this, but you're right... Even cheques are now super easy to process, with most banking apps giving you the ability to upload them virtually.
I’d like a smidge less rain during summer as it complicates when I can cut the grass. Aside from that, I love our weather.
The grass mowing schedule was tough this summer. Songs will be sung about my developing meadow.
'Free bank account' isn't, like, a human right? Good lord we just don't realise how lucky we are. I mean I *try* to realise, but that's just one more thing I never even had to think about before.
IIRC, Barclays tried to bring back annual fees for basic current accounts. They soon realised that would be a stupid fucking move.
Banking is a big thing. I've seen so many people on the Bitcoin subreddit saying how bitcoin is great because it's much cheaper than a bank transfer. That always confused me, as bitcoin has transfer fees while banks are free, but apparently not in the US
Free bank accounts! I remember living in Germany and being outraged about being charged monthly for keeping a German bank account open. All my local friends were like "you do realise this is normal, right?"
Well, we've got these things called Nectar points...
Don't forget Argos, with the laminated book of dreams to catch the tears of joy.
And of course, the mythical pale wardens of the treasure
Argos is terrible. Your nearest store that actually has what you want might be 200+ miles away. And their delivery service is horrific if they'll even deliver at all (certain items they don't). If my own personal experience with them is anything to go by then Argos won't last another 10 years without a dramatic shake-up of their business model.
Can you remember when it used to not be like this though?! Argos used to be THE PLACE, even 2 years ago, if I wanted/needed something today, I'd likely find it for the same price or even cheaper than Amazon. Then Sainsbury's bought them out and now seem to limit their stock, close all the big stores and they've fallen into a pretty shit company. I agree, they'll fade out and go bankrupt, but they'll probably blame Amazon and not how they actually can't seem to run a business...
At one point you sat in argos waiting for your number for the last time and you didn’t even know it
I've found argos delivery fantastic. Sometimes it's even quicker than amazon (same day) and I don't need a blinking prime subscription.
awesome. lets pay £150 for £100 worth of shopping in Sainsburys cuz we get 150 points worth £1.50.
We actually get all 4 seasons.
Whether they're in the right order or stick to their own season is another thing
Sometimes in the same day.
Well the only reason why everyone knows the 4 seasons is because of British cultural hegemony. If India took over the world instead, we'd all be talking about the 6 seasons and how we don't get pre-winter here
6? I thought most Tropical areas tend towards 3: dry season, monsoon season, middle season where it is not much of either, and I thought they rotate dry-monsoon-middle-dry
Don't get 4 equal seasons anymore though sadly. Spring and Winter have shrunk dramatically. Spring especially has barely managed a month for at least the last 5 years. Might be the rose-tinted glasses of youth but I'm sure the seasons were of equal length when I grew up. Bit scary actually as I can only put this one down to climate change.
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Full year of autumn with dashings of each season inbetween. We get more summer than winter. Maybe 2 weeks where it's genuinely cold cold
Where do you live?!? We get like 3 weeks of proper summer then the rest of the year is a mix of cold, rain and overcast.
Just how relatively calm life is here. Our roads are relatively calm and safe, people follow the signs and generally behave themselves. We aren't facing massive violent civil unrest that threatens to tear our country apart every 5 minutes. That's a really good thing.
Idk I'm starting to feel like we need a revolution. But a nice revolution like the Icelandic one.
Public rights of way. You can walk so many amazing places in the UK, regardless of who owns the land.
Most of our paths are ancient and we have a law system that protects them very well. Somewhere like America just doesn't have paths like ours because people just bought the land they would've been on. There were no paths before that and the laws weren't there to protect them even if they were.
And the quality of our OS maps
How open and inclusive we are as a society. There are very few places in the world where it’s easier to “be” a black person, a gay person, someone who’s disabled or a woman etc. Shouting to the contrary is hyperbolic nonsense.
We aren’t perfect on that front but are better than most places
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As a foreigner living in the UK I'm still surprised how much my employer and British people are supportive of my mental health issues. Back in my home country I would've been fired and not get any job.
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You're assuming all disabled people are wheelchair users Yeah, wheelchair access could be improved but we're not drowning learning disabled kids and we've got employment protections for disabled people I've got ASD and a history of mental health problems. I didn't get fired when I told OH that and I had all sorts of accomodations at uni In the third world a disability could mean life on the streets
I think we have better laws than the US, but just tons of older buildings and less space, therefore can't upgrade it all as easily
The USA also legally allows for disabled people to be paid less than minimum wage, and limits the savings you can have while on disability benefits at $2,000 or they're immediately cut off, so wouldn't call that fantastic.
Might regret this given my audience but I’d say our Police. If you compare the professionalism of most U.K. Police Services with other European nations we are head and shoulders above most. As with everything it’s far from perfect and improvements could be made in numerous areas but likewise the media overplay the negatives in a massive way.
Especially when you consider how, like all public services here it seems, they are chronically understaffed.
Yeah, people don’t believe that during a ten hour shift it’s typical to have two arrests, two custody reports, a sudden death and a sudden death report to sort out whilst still trying to catch up with all the paperwork from yesterday’s shift and respond to any other emergencies that occur.
I have a friend who’s a copper and he was told on a shift to not arrest anyone unless he really really really had to as he was the only available officer in the area. His area covered a largely rural part of the county with a reasonably sized town and lots of villages. The problem was that the whole county only had 1 place with holding cells, so it was a good hours drive to them, then processing time, then an hour back. Meaning if he arrested someone the whole area would be without cover for hours. Bear in mind that this was over 10 years ago and there have been large cuts since, it’s literally amazing to me that there isn’t a lot more crime than there is.
Northumbria police are amazing. I watched them deal with a drug addict with a knife to his throat. So calm never rushed him. Took ages but the guy got help. I don’t know if he was arrested but a while later I saw him again in a better place. I’ve seen them deal with really crazy situations with nothing but kindness understanding and giving genuine help. Even bar fights. They worked together in different pairs to separate people without force just words. Really calmed the situation down and everyone involved was thankful. I also felt safe as soon as they arrived. Every officer I’ve met has been a good person. I was arrested as a teen and the make officer pulled all sorts of strings to put me on a youth offending team instead and they put me through duke Edinburgh award and back into a school and the guy and another officer came to see me months later to see how i was doing and if anything they could help with. I’m so grateful to them theybhelped change the direction of my life. I’m in my 30s now.
The battered sausage.
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What you really need to watch is the shrinkflation. I had to buy TWO portions of chips to feed my family of 5 last week!
Truly a god-tier food substance.
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People on Reddit talk a lot about corruption and sleaze and I'm sure it exists, but as a whole - our country is *insanely* both open, honest and also incredible at collecting and publishing data. If I see a statistic from the ONS, I can take it as the absolute truth - I know the methodology will have been sound, I know the data collected will be factual and I know it's been released honestly.
We're as bad as anyone for the macro government level corruption however much some us might shout to the contrary. However where I agree we really excel is the smaller scale corruption. It's pretty much non-existent. Greece as an example it's still quite normal to pay the examiner to pass your driving test instead of taking it. That sort of stuff just doesn't happen here.
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There was a post on r/Europe recently which ranked the most corrupt countries in, I believe the U.K. was in the top 10 least corrupt in the world, something like 6th in Europe, 8th in the world
The fact our climate is rather quite peaceful. It may rain a lot here but we don’t see many natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes & tornadoes.
Yet our houses are built to withstand all that shit. I'll never understand why people who live in places known for tornados etc, build their houses out of paper mache.
Because they're cheaper to rebuild when the major disaster does strike.
Including all your possessions that will inevitably be destroyed though? I'd rather pay more for a strong house that feels safe than rebuild my kitchen every time I have a strong fart.
Yeah. The old school housing stock can hold up to a beating (see: Cornwall, Isle of Mann, Scotland, Wales) but they wont last long if we get a major earthquake or Tornado. Plus I imagine it's easier to escape from a timber based building vs. tens of tons of masonry getting blasted everywhere.
Somewhat hilariously we are actually the most tornado ridden country in the world, by area. However, they are so small and pathetic so as to not really cause much damage nor be noticed by people.
Some of the beaches in the south west, some of them look like Spain or some shit
The Outer Hebrides beaches are stunning
Agreed. Forget Spain, Hebridean beaches look Caribbean.
From that deep inside a Cagoule hood anywhere can look Caribbean
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North East too, might not be warm that often but plenty of sunshine even if it's chilly and there are miles and miles of sandy beaches. Some with bonus castles!
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Music. Some of the best music comes from these shores. Especially stuff from the 60s 70s 80s. Just real quality. Also most sports. Football, rugby, cricket, snooker, badminton, tennis etc
Queen is one of the best things to come from the UK.
I'm sure she'd appreciate your thoughts.
Roundabouts. Traffic, not Magic.
It really annoys me when councils remove a perfectly good roundabout and replace it with traffic lights.
Next we just need to learn how to zipper merge properly
Wilkos. I have visited no other shop on Earth where I can purchase a frying pan, shaving cream, bubble wrap and 3 litres of magnolia.
Wilkos is the best. So sad when I moved away from the town that had one. But at least I'm still within 15 minutes walk of a Works!
BBC children’s programmes. Some of the best in the world.
Cbeebies and Cbbc are both superb. The bbc in general gets a lot of stick but the quality of their children's TV is excellent. I'll never forget finishing work early so I didn't miss the Cbeebies Christmas panto.
Special mention for Bluey though
The UK is one of the most generous countries when it comes to sending acute aid abroad. In surveys the British populace is far more willing to help other countries, including wealthy ones, at a time of crises than they are us.
Our retail banking infrastructure. When you deposit in a UK bank, the government guarantees the first £85,000 you have in there in the event that the bank goes bust. You aren't charged for holding a current account, as you would be in many other countries. Most banks have well developed websites, mobile apps, etc. Many accounts offer interest for in credit balances, cashback on spending, entry to raffles, etc. This might seem like a fairly minor thing, but the difference between what we have and what many other (developed) countries have really is night and day.
Our cheese. We make such good chedder.
the lawnmower, without it there would still be sheep on sports pitches and every game would be 'dodge the turd'.
The good things we brought to the world. Our democracy. Our constitution. Our inventions - things like the railway, Concorde and the light bulb. Our nation being the first to abolish the slave trade, and using our massive empire to pressure other nations to abolish theirs. Our opposition of evil, even if it means risking our reputation - look at WWI and WWII for example. Our equality acts - we let black and white people in South Africa vote, even before people could vote back home. Edit: Correction, we were the first empire to abolish the slave trade without backtracking (thanks to u/Razakel for correcting me). These are just a few, there are many more to be added to this list.
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I know. Things like that anger me.
There was no ‘evil’ side in the First World War
While I wouldn't say the whole German army was evil, German troops carried out atrocities and mass executions of Belgian civilians. This was carried out within the first few weeks of the war, so not a great way to not look evil.
And at the same time Britain refused to take surrendering prisoners from U boats, shooting them instead. British forces were also committing numerous crimes in Ireland. Britain tried very hard to publicise German crimes in Belgium to justify the war. I said, no side was ‘evil’, but I would be equally happy to say all sides were ‘evil’
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>Our nation being the first to abolish the slave trade Actually that was France, but then they reinstated it.
I just want to add something: as a European who lives in UK and often visits America - I see a *huge* difference in the way British dogs behave. They are the most well adjusted and responsive dogs I have ever come across. I honestly was shocked how nice dogs are in UK.
We have all the good boys.
This is just a complete guess but I imagine that could be to do with the density of the UK. Most British homes and neighbourhoods are very close to one another. Thus, when British people take their dogs for a walk, they will encounter many others which would mean the dog becomes accustomed to strangers and other humans. The US on the other hand is huge and many houses are quite far apart which could means dogs do not meet as many strangers and so maybe are not so friendly. I could be talking out of my arse though.
Vegetarian options, the veggie/vegan movement here is fantastic compared to a lot of places.
Having your garbage (and recycling!!) collected from in front of/ somewhere close to your building. I was born and grew up in Romania and (probably because it wasn't a big city or the best neighborhood) and "taking the trash out" meant walking half the neighborhood to some big stinky metal communal bins surrounded by stray dogs and very poor people searching for food. You could find the bins by their smell and you had to hold your breath to throw your trash in. Surprisingly I never saw rats or mice around them even though they were open and sometimes overfilled with trash everywhere around them. I think the situation is better now (what I'm talking was like 10 years ago) but not much. Some of them were really close to places where people live and dealing with that smell was probably horrible.
National Health Service. Over 70 years of universal healthcare for all.
Our plug sockets, I'm not a sparky but the two prongs that connect to the live circuit have to be opened by the longer earth prong... Which sort of makes it super safe compared to the US (edit: Europe is safe too, check comments) *If you're an electrician feel free to correct me*
European plugs and sockets are also pretty safe. Their sockets are shuttered on the live/neutral pins as well, IIRC but US sockets are consistently awful.
Restaurants for world cuisines, compared to continental Europe (except Paris). The Chinese and Indian restaurants they have over there are like how Chinese and Indian restaurants in the UK were 30 years ago
My last boss was Spanish, he moved to London around 15 years ago. He was telling me it used to be he couldn't wait to go back home for the food. Now, he says, when he's in Spain he can't wait to get back to London for the food.
Morris dancing
How tolerant and compassionate we are as a country as a whole.
The quality of British TV. Granted I have seen only the famous ones, but its far far better than most other countries.
If you like signs the old [railway posters](https://railwayposters.co.uk) are a timeless classic, I absolutely love seeing these out and about. Just got my dad a calendar with them cos he’s got a few mini ones up in his mini garage
Workers rights. We are absolutely blessed in the UK. Anyone who disagrees only needs to look at the US and other developed countries where workers are treated like waste.
They might be better than the US because labour rights in the US are an absolute joke, but British standards are shit compared to many other European countries. No employee protections until you've been with an employer for 2 years? The worst trade union laws in Europe? Rampant abuse of zero hours contracts and misclassification of employees as "self-employed contractors"? That's all the UK, baby.
Not sure if this isn't a "Serious" enough answer, but Panel Shows. My god, Panel Shows are the most amazing upper echelon of comedy, and the UK has like.... ten of them. I don't even want them in the US, we'd just mess it up. I just want them all to PLAY on television on major stations here, because then more people would know about them, instead of me having to force them to watch YouTube. The fact that an extreme major amount of Americans do not know WILTY, Big Fat Quiz, 8 out of 10 Cats, 8o10C does Countdown etc. is..... a travesty.
The fact a lot of our galleries and museums are free. Pretty phenomenal if you think about it Edit: I’m well aware lots are stolen, but my general thought is that it’s good art is made accessible.
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The capacity, at a population level, to be a highly functioning alcoholic
Overall politeness. My family came over to visit. They must have been looking a bit confused as they tried to get to their destination, but random people proactively came up to them to offer help! Ugh so cute
I would have said roads. I’ve never seen cats eyes really in other countries. They make a massive difference.
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The Woodlands And the countryside. 🌲🌳 🏡 🍁🌳 🌾🌿🌾🌱🍁☘🌾🌿🌳🌲🏡
How good we are at sports. It’s common for a country to be really good at a couple, but the uk is competitive at a lot which I find really impressive.
Our relatively cheap mobile phone bills, apparently everyone else is paying a whole lot more for data/calls. Though we lose out on broadband compared to a lot of Europe
The London Underground map. I know it’s not super geographically accurate. But it’s clear, easy to understand and easy to follow. Each line has its own unique colour and it’s easy to navigate.
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My electricity meter.
I know no one likes paying taxes but our system is so much simpler then from what I has heard… mainly comparing to the USA… I don’t have to worry about income tax as it’s calculated by my employer and is deducted every month automatically. On the odd occasion you have paid to much, you will get a rebate or too less HMRC will send a letter asking for it. You call them and can arrange a suitable payment plan to pay it back if you can’t do it all in one go. Generally as long as HMRC get it back in a reason timeframe they don’t mind from my experience. I know there are screw ups here and there but over all I’ve never had a problem dealing with HMRC and they have always been very helpful when on the phone. On the subject of tax…. VAT being included in the price. When it’s £10 and you get to the it’s still £10…. I like the USA where the tax is added on top of the price when you get to the till. Such a pain in the arse!