http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider As a UK citizen living overseas this weblog is about the deterioration that I see steadily eroding Britain as we used to know and love it. en insider2 insider2 Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:51:00 +0200 daily 1 I see in a piece on the BBC News website that UK city planners look to US cities for inspiration. God help you folks in the UK! Most UK towns and cities, for all their faults, are a model for the rest of the world. In US cities the car is absolute king and unless you happen to live in the dead centre of a city it is virtually impossible to manage without your own private transport.  Urban sprawl continues for mile after mile.  Most communities have no central gathering point.  Railway stations and bus stations are invariably in the seediest parts of town. Don't do it!!!!! Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:51:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Don-follow-the-mistakes/8/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Don-follow-the-mistakes/8/ The recent changes on Blogigo, and people's reaction to them, has inspired me to write a few words on the subject of change. I do not regard the words "new" and "improved" as necessarily belonging together.  To me change is not necessarily for the better.  I think there was a "sea change" on December 31st, 1999 and since then many people have implied that anything in the 20th century is somehow "invalid".  Sentences that begin "In the 21st century....." grate on my mind. When I was in my early days of employment I was often chastised for "re-inventing the wheel" when I proposed "new and improved" ways of doing things.  As I progressed through my career (in computer software development) I saw many changes, some for the better.  I did get the impression that often change was just for the sake of change and I saw many wheels re-invented simply because people did not want to be bothered by learning about... Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:45:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Change-for-the-better/7/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Change-for-the-better/7/ Perhaps someone more familar with present day Britain can help me out on this question. Listening to Radio 4, I hear that some people in Britain are concerned that EU immigrants from Eastern Europe will put a new load on local authorities in the UK (Slough was mentioned) and cause a rise in council tax as a result of these new immigrants claiming benefits. Let me tell you my situation.  I am a British Citizen.  I was born and raised in the United Kingdom.  I worked in the United Kingdom and paid tax and National Insurance from the age of 16 to the age of 41 (a total of 25 years).  I moved to the United States in about 1988 and worked here, paying taxes and social security until 1998 when I became disabled as a result of a brain haemorrhage.  Without question, the US government paid me a disability pension of about 1050 dollars a month (about 600 British pounds) although they tax away about half of this amount. When I was in England a few years ago I visited my local... Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:48:03 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Help-me-out-here/6/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Help-me-out-here/6/ I heard on Radio 4 that some British MP had proposed a ban on men going "topless" (i.e. without shirts) on the street during the latest heatwave. While he's about it can he also ban: 1.  The public display of fat bellies by women who are old enough to know better, especially the ones with stretch marks. 2.  The public display of thongs, tatoos and  various other butt decorations by women bending over to pick up their kid from the push chair. 3. Women shopping in "bootlace bikinis" with a tiny triangle of cloth almost covering their pubic hair and a piece of string flossing their butt crack - I personally regard this as a health risk.  Where on earth did women get the idea that we wanted to see all this flesh on public display? Wed, 02 Aug 2006 01:48:06 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-more-belly-buttons-please/5/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-more-belly-buttons-please/5/ I hear that now scientists have managed to create sperm from stem cells men will be surplus to requirements and women will take over the world. That's just as soon as the women have finished the ironing, made the bed, put the kids to sleep, cooked dinner and cleaned the bathroom. Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:47:28 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Barefoot-and-Pregnant/4/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-Barefoot-and-Pregnant/4/ I hear on BBC Radio 4 today that the Mayor of London, Ken Livingtone, is proposing to triple the daily " congestion charge " paid for private vehicles to enter Central London to 25 UK pounds (about 40 US dollars) per day for SUV's (otherwise known as "SUV's" or "Chelsea Tractors") while at the same time reducing the charge for hybrid vehicles. What a SPLENDID idea!  I know central London very well. I was a student there in the 1960's and I have travelled to or through it thousands of times and in the last thirty five years I have never used a private vehicle.  London has by far the best public transport system in the world and I can find absolutely no possible justification for the use of private vehicles in the city centre. London's example should be followed by other major world cities. Thu, 13 Jul 2006 03:54:53 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-What-a-SPLENDID-idea/3/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-What-a-SPLENDID-idea/3/ Back in the bad old days of Reagan and Thatcher there used to be a satirical show on British televsion called Spitting Images.   There was a running gag showing Maggie Thatcher (as a poodle, I believe) following Ronald Reagan around with her nose permanently up Reagan's butt. We have all seen (and hopefully been sickened by) the brown nosing of Tony Blair towards George Bush over Iraq and Afghanistan but a current case in England is highlighting the gross imbalance between the US and the UK. The case involves three financial "experts" who formerly worked in the City of London and are now being extradited to the United States to face charges in connection with the collapse of Enron.  They are due to be flown under the care of US marshals from Gatwick to Houston on Thursday, July 13th. These three British citizens face the possibility of up to two years in a Texas jail awaiting trial. I carry no flag for Enron, the City of London or the Capitalist System but this extradition... Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:19:51 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-More-brown-noses/2/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-More-brown-noses/2/ I have been writing my America from the Inside  blog for about fifteen months now but I decided that some of my thoughts didn't quite fit that blog. As a British citizen living overseas and visiting England about three times a year I have a strong interest in how England and the rest of the United Kingdom is developing.  I stay very closely in touch with the UK by listening to two or three hours of BBC Radio 4 each day. I see a distressing drift in the UK toward American Capitalist values, obscene consumerism, government bias towards support of big business to the detriment of working people, government increasingly out of touch with the people. I will use this blog to report and comment on the evils of the UK as I see them. I will also use my America from the Inside  to continue to report on the evils of the US. Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:09:57 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-I-needed-a-new-blog/1/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/outsider/Thought-For-The-Day-I-needed-a-new-blog/1/