The Uk has always been a VERY violent place - just look at its history.
You don't get the biggest empire in history by being a bunch of tea drinking pansies with delicate sensibilities.

If you don't believe me, have a look at ANY of the headlines from the 1800's or from the last century.

They are even worse than today, with gangs robbing and killing at will, knife crime, gun crime, alcohol fuelled fights and riots and much more.

The difference is that today we are much more aware of it, even though there is nowhere NEAR the same amount of crime.

The figures in the story don't add up either, and it is more of an opinion poll than anything.

But trust this particular rag to spin it in a way that tries to strike fear into the heart of every person.
The only surprise is they didn't blame it all on immigrants taking our council houses

Originally posted by budski
The Uk has always been a VERY violent place - just look at its history.
You don't get the biggest empire in history by being a bunch of tea drinking pansies with delicate sensibilities.

If you don't believe me, have a look at ANY of the headlines from the 1800's or from the last century.

They are even worse than today, with gangs robbing and killing at will, knife crime, gun crime, alcohol fuelled fights and riots and much more.

The difference is that today we are much more aware of it, even though there is nowhere NEAR the same amount of crime.

The figures in the story don't add up either, and it is more of an opinion poll than anything.

But trust this particular rag to spin it in a way that tries to strike fear into the heart of every person.
The only surprise is they didn't blame it all on immigrants taking our council houses

what utter nonsense- "nowhere near the same amount of crime" for crying out loud crime levels are around ten times what they where compared to the 1930s when there was ACTUAL poverty- the difference is now we have moral poverty to go with our fancy electronic gadgets, holidays, designer clothes etc

Of course there has been violence in British history and always will, this is the land of man where there will never be perfection, but there is better and much worse- today is much worse- we have selfish people, we have broken homes where people often do not have a father figure (because of the same selfishness, the selfish fathers who do not take responsibility, the selfish mothers who look to welfare and multiple partners even though abuse is much more likely to happen in such circumstances), we have a pathetic justice system where "life" for murder is abuse of the term.

You need to stop peddling fantasy

[edit on 7-7-2009 by blueorder]

I know a few people from Britain and every now and then they will talk about multiple stabbings in certain places. Makes you wonder what they would behave like if they could carry firearms.

Originally posted by TeddiRevolution
I know a few people from Britain and every now and then they will talk about multiple stabbings in certain places. Makes you wonder what they would behave like if they could carry firearms.

I'll tell you how, safer- firearms would be licensed for non criminals and adults- most of these crimes with knives are by young dickheads and people with criminal involvement

Originally posted by blueorder

Originally posted by budski
The Uk has always been a VERY violent place - just look at its history.
You don't get the biggest empire in history by being a bunch of tea drinking pansies with delicate sensibilities.

If you don't believe me, have a look at ANY of the headlines from the 1800's or from the last century.

They are even worse than today, with gangs robbing and killing at will, knife crime, gun crime, alcohol fuelled fights and riots and much more.

The difference is that today we are much more aware of it, even though there is nowhere NEAR the same amount of crime.

The figures in the story don't add up either, and it is more of an opinion poll than anything.

But trust this particular rag to spin it in a way that tries to strike fear into the heart of every person.
The only surprise is they didn't blame it all on immigrants taking our council houses

what utter nonsense- "nowhere near the same amount of crime" for crying out loud crime levels are around ten times what they where compared to the 1930s when there was ACTUAL poverty- the difference is now we have moral poverty to go with our fancy electronic gadgets, holidays, designer clothes etc

Of course there has been violence in British history and always will, this is the land of man where there will never be perfection, but there is better and much worse- today is much worse- we have selfish people, we have broken homes where people often do not have a father figure (because of the same selfishness, the selfish fathers who do not take responsibility, the selfish mothers who look to welfare and multiple partners even though abuse is much more likely to happen in such circumstances), we have a pathetic justice system where "life" for murder is abuse of the term.

You need to stop peddling fantasy

[edit on 7-7-2009 by blueorder]

I think you will find that the 30's were something of a historical blip and that in the 40's people were pre-occupied with organized violence on a wider scale. There has always been significant violence in British society. The ruling classes through the centuries lived in fear of 'The Mob'. From Footpads to Victorian 'Garroters', from the Luddites to Captain Swing, it's along rich history and to be fair, one which was often mirrored in other parts of Europe. The violence wasn't of course reported 24/7 across the media and the Coroner/Sheriff/Police were less pre-occupied with receiving complaints and keeping records than they are today.

Originally posted by TeddiRevolution
I know a few people from Britain and every now and then they will talk about multiple stabbings in certain places. Makes you wonder what they would behave like if they could carry firearms.

The people stabbing people obviously don't care about laws, so if they really want a gun they CAN get a gun regardless of laws. So there are people out there with illegal firearms.

Quick trip to the suburbs of Moscow will make the title of the thread look like Disneyland.

Peace

As an American, this thread title caught my eye, and I chuckled. Not as in funny, but peculiar.

Here in the US, we're supposed to be so violent, and lo and behold, our nation of origin is reported to be violent.

I suppose the apple never falls far from the tree.

Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, all were invaded so many times that there's no way to keep accurate count.

The Scots. Wow. Some fighting bastards to be sure. And when there was no one else to fight - they'd fight each other.

The Irish, whose Wild Geese earned an international reputation as being fine fighting men.

Oh, and of course, the Brits. Stiff upper lip and all that, who demonstrated a fighting ability over the centuries.

The offspring of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland came and settled in America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and around. You'll note that none of these nations put up with a lot of * .

So which pot is going to call the kettle black?

Like brothers, we argue amongst ourselves when we don't have a common enemy, but we stick together like burrs when the time comes.

Consider just two weapons. The famous P-51 Mustang was mediocre until a Brit shoehorned a Merlin engine in the narrow airframe, turning it into probably the most effective fighter of the Second World War.

When we in the States were looking to design a new Main Battle Tank, it is British Chobham armor that defines its design.

OK. So Brits are violent people. So their offspring are too.

Hey, that's likely going to come in real handy in the years to come. We have more fish to fry.

Shame on you Brits! Violence!

Some of mine on my mother's side came from Scotland via Ireland, and on my Dad's side, from Britain, with Cherokee Indian a few generations back.

So. I have an excuse.

It's genetic.

Originally posted by dooper

[Some of mine on my mother's side came from Scotland via Ireland, and on my Dad's side, from Britain, with Cherokee Indian a few generations back.

Are you available for the start of the English Football season? My team has some early matches with rivals, where I and my fellow supporters would welcome a chap like you.

Nice post Dooper, but just to clarify, Scotland is in Britain. All scots are British, but not all British people are scots. I think you mean England where you write Britain.

Good post all the same. The UK, the US, the Canadians and of course everyone's mates the Aussies really do have far more in common than we have differences.

I think the fact we speak the same language leaves us to imagine that we are EXACTLY the same, whereas there are obviously cultural differences which we are flummoxed by, because we look similar and speak the same tongue so we superficially imagine there to be no differences.

Personally speaking, i'm a proud Englishman, a proud Briton, who loves many aspects of US culture and its people (apart from Retseh) and can't wait to do a lot of border-hopping when i'm living in Canada next year.

Originally posted by Retseh

It never ceases to amaze me when my British counterparts openly quaff pints of beer during workday lunches

Beer!?! At lunch? How bloody dare you? It is lager or ale you moose. And management likes it, too. And you think YOU live in the land of the free, meh.

While London can be fun, the rest of the UK is a dark and dismal place, and the only european country I visit where I am relieved to board the plane home.

Well yes, we try very hard to make sure obnoxious visitors who take themselves far too seriously get that impression and leave. But they bloody keep coming back.

Cynicism is a national sport, and for some reason everything is some huge joke, destined to be mocked and derided at every opportunity. Insecurity and immaturity is rampant.

Like I said we do not enjoy obnoxious visitors who take themselves far to seriously, please see above.

Now Sweden on the other hand, I would move there in a heartbeat.

Please do, have a lovely stay, don't bother writing. But will they take you?

So is that the kind of cynicism you meant? Thought you might miss it. Cheers.

Originally posted by Fang
I think you will find that the 30's were something of a historical blip

erm, no they weren't it was just one decade selected before the 1960s

and that in the 40's people were pre-occupied with organized violence on a wider scale.

pick the 40s it was still on the same sort of tiny levels when compared with the post 1960s

There has always been significant violence in British society.

Nothing on the scale of the post 1960s generation

The ruling classes through the centuries lived in fear of 'The Mob'.

No doubt they did, back when people barely made it to 30- now what we tried to do as a civilisation and society was improve and progress, based on some sort of moral code- we have regressed since the 1960s- hope this is clear for you

From Footpads to Victorian 'Garroters', from the Luddites to Captain Swing, it's along rich history and to be fair, one which was often mirrored in other parts of Europe. The violence wasn't of course reported 24/7 across the media and the Coroner/Sheriff/Police were less pre-occupied with receiving complaints and keeping records than they are today.

That would make sense if I said

"THERE WAS NO VIOLENCE BEFORE 1930"- clearly there was, but certainly, in the 20th century, crime rocketed post 1960s (at a time when material wealth, life expectancy, material goods and diet vastly improved)- poverty causes crime my rectum