Two Germans walk into a bar

[barackattack]

Queen Elizabeth isn't responsible for Canada's policy, but as "Head of State," she could theoretically refuse (through her representative) to allow any legislation to be enacted. For some unfortunate reason, she hasn't exercised that power... However, the Queen is more powerful in England than you think... Ever wondered about the private meetings she's had with the Prime Minister, and then sudden changes in policy? hmmm....

Theoretically is a pretty key word there, ya know. What do you think would happen if the Queen went 'no thank you, we'll do it my way'? She'd immediately be deposed as head of state. It's the same in the UK: technically, every single law that goes through Parliament has to be approved by the Queen. But good luck to the Queen trying to prevent a law being passed.

I'm no more concerned about the lobbying power of the royal family (one of the UK's largest land owners) than I am the lobbying power of corporations.

jonh9blue: you cede that the UK having a disproportionate amount of universities at the top of the league table is not evidence of a sneaky bias, then?

[saxitoxin]

Hey, Saxi. The Queen is head of state of Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well, ya know.

Those were included in the catchall "etc." along with Belize, St. Kitts & Nevis, Pitcairn Island and other nations of equivalent global relevance governed by the ancient Bavarian uradel clan of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

What do you think would happen if the Queen went 'no thank you, we'll do it my way'? She'd immediately be deposed as head of state.

The political reality of Year 297 of the bloodless German occupation of Albion:

"Ministers have been forced to seek permission from Prince Charles to pass at least a dozen government bills, according to a Guardian investigation into a secretive constitutional loophole that gives him the right to veto legislation that might affect his private interests.Neither the government nor Clarence House will reveal what, if any, alterations to legislation Charles has ordered ..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/3 ... egislation

[AlgyTaylor]

Besides, the Queen isn't even ethnically English - and this is a thread about how great the English are! To hold the Queen up as an example of anything is to hold up the fact that the English are a cowed race.

Jaysus, her family's been in the country since 1714, I think she counts as a British national by now! Otherwise all you Yanks count as Brits on account of you 'being independent for under 250 years ... bunch of bloody upstarts!

Come back when yer country's been around for 500+ years ...

[saxitoxin]

Besides, the Queen isn't even ethnically English - and this is a thread about how great the English are! To hold the Queen up as an example of anything is to hold up the fact that the English are a cowed race.

Jaysus, her family's been in the country since 1714

The absence of attempts of the native population of England to liberate their country from an occupying foreign power is a political question. Ethnicity is a genetic question.

No one considers George Bush to be native Iroquois. He was the head of a parasite government that displaced the indiginous political order. Just like your future King Charles Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg is the head of a parasite regime running England and Englishpeople are a subject race under long-term foreign control.

The British Empire collapsed and ceased to exist back in 1715 after its capital city, London, was invaded and sacked by the army of the extremely tiny country of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the most stunningly lopsided military defeat in human history. A German-run apartheid state existed in roughly the same territory of the former British Empire from 1715-1938 when a transitional dictatorship was declared through 1946 to oversee the fair and orderly disposal of its remaining assets under supervision of the nations of the world (UN), in accordance with the San Francisco Agreement. Since 1946 there's been a rump state operating in the territorial remnants.

This is not intended as a slur, simply a correction of some historical misunderstandings propagated by an overzealous poster who has jerked off to Michael Cain's (admittedly marvelous) performance in Zulu one too many times.

Also, I'm not a US-American.

[oVo]

add to the list the great films

Ridley Scott... Aliens and Blade Runner top an impressive list for me
and this summer's, Prometheus...
as well as the Apple Computer Ad... 1984

[whitestazn88]

The cricket is a prime source of protein in many parts of the world
and Peru has 5000 varieties of potatoes.

Peru has 5000 varieties of potatoes, and something like 90% of US corn is all oneof 3 particular hybrids.

WhatisthisIdon'teven...

[pimpdave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Wycom ... _the_Mayor

[barackattack]

Ministers have been forced to seek permission from Prince Charles to pass at least a dozen government bills, according to a Guardian investigation into a secretive constitutional loophole that gives him the right to veto legislation that might affect his private interests.Neither the government nor Clarence House will reveal what, if any, alterations to legislation Charles has ordered

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/3 ... egislation

Hate to break it to you, but the Guardian to our monarchy are like Fox News to the Democrats: they'll do anything they can to paint them in a bad light.

Yes, Prince Charles could veto new laws, but do you really think he'd get away with it? No. Ever since Cromwell our monarchy has only ruled with Parliament's permission, and if they took it upon themselves to start meddling in domestic affairs they'd lose any power they had left immediately.

You might as well say that the USA could nuke Madagascar off the face of the world tomorrow. They could, but they won't.

(P.S. you appear to have a fairly racist definition of what constitutes a true citizen of a country. Only people whose lineage goes back centuries and centuries? Tsk.)

[saxitoxin]

Ministers have been forced to seek permission from Prince Charles to pass at least a dozen government bills, according to a Guardian investigation into a secretive constitutional loophole that gives him the right to veto legislation that might affect his private interests.Neither the government nor Clarence House will reveal what, if any, alterations to legislation Charles has ordered

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/3 ... egislation

Hate to break it to you, but the Guardian to our monarchy are like Fox News to the Democrats: they'll do anything they can to paint them in a bad light.

Yes, Prince Charles could veto new laws, but do you really think he'd get away with it? No. Ever since Cromwell our monarchy has only ruled with Parliament's permission, and if they took it upon themselves to start meddling in domestic affairs they'd lose any power they had left immediately.

You might as well say that the USA could nuke Madagascar off the face of the world tomorrow. They could, but they won't.

(P.S. you appear to have a fairly racist definition of what constitutes a true citizen of a country. Only people whose lineage goes back centuries and centuries? Tsk.)

uh huh

Don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever been outside Milton-Keynes? There's a certain suburban charm in your writing infused with just enough angry EDL rhetoric to make your posts awesomely weird in a kind-of "Gary Busey at Age 14" way. Anyway, just wondering.

[jay_a2j]

Correction:


The Bible is the best selling book ever.

[oVo]

The cricket is a prime source of protein in many parts of the world
and Peru has 5000 varieties of potatoes.

Peru has 5000 varieties of potatoes, and something like 90% of US corn is all oneof 3 particular hybrids.

WhatisthisIdon'teven...

The spuds sold globally as tasty fries are all of a single variety.

[barackattack]

uh huh

Don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever been outside Milton-Keynes? There's a certain suburban charm in your writing infused with just enough angry EDL rhetoric to make your posts awesomely weird in a kind-of "Gary Busey at Age 14" way. Anyway, just wondering.

I was going for more of a Gary Dobson. Nice diversion btw. That appears to be your signature move.

jay_a2J: thank you for this brand new insight.

[laughingcavalier]

British guys are really different to the guys in America - they're all such gentlemen and they're far more mature

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/paris-in-a-sizzling-shoot-for-fhm/1/167277.html

Yah boo sucks.

[thegreekdog]

what a coincidence that 4 of the world's top 7 *universities are in a relatively small country of 50 million. sounds unbiased to me

I believe this is a league table of 'top universities', not 'largest countries'.

firstly, all universities ARE colleges, and are also (presumably) the best colleges in the world.

secondly, in america the words "college" and "university" are interchangeable

so my use of the word "college" is 100% correct.

i do not make errors with the english language.

The words college and university are not interchangeable in the United States.

[barackattack]

Here are another couple of fun facts:

Slavery abolished in the UK: 1807
Slavery abolished in America, Land of the Free: 1865

Universal suffrage in UK: 1919
Universal suffrage in America, Land of the Free: 1965
(Universal suffrage in the Soviet Union: 1918)

[Aradhus]

England is dumb.
Scotland is worse.
Ireland isn't even a real place it's so awful.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA! Wtf? Some englishman picks a fight an we get dragged into it along with the Irish? Typical. TY-PI-CAL.

[aad0906]

If William III of Orange Nassau would have had children, the UK would still be part of the Dutch Empire.

[2dimes]

The spuds sold globally as tasty fries are all of a single variety.

Almost true. Russets are the most common potato grown for market and consumption by far. That was the problem in Ireland, they were all growing the same ones and the desease that was introduced by ship wiped out all the crops.

[Aradhus]

The two most popular sports in the world are soccer and cricket. These are English games.

Only an Englishman would brag about something like Cricket. The only possible thing to brag about worse than that would be thegreekdog bragging about mime.

[thegreekdog]

The two most popular sports in the world are soccer and cricket. These are English games.

Only an Englishman would brag about something like Cricket. The only possible thing to brag about worse than that would be thegreekdog bragging about mime.

I was going to respond to this thread with something like "The Greeks created western civilization, democracy, etc., etc." but then I realized (unlike barackattack) that my homeland's glory has faded into history and it would be disingenuous of me to talk about the past glory of my people in response to a dude talking about the past glories of his people.

[saxitoxin]

Here are another couple of fun facts:
Slavery abolished in the UK: 1807
Slavery abolished in America, Land of the Free: 1865

Incorrect.

- Slavery was selectively abolished in portions in portions of the British Empire beginning in 1807. Slavery was fully abolished (including the Indian Raj) in 1860.

- Slavery was selectively abolished in portions of the United States beginning in 1780. Slavery was fully abolished (including Georgia) in 1865.

(Slavery was fully abolished in Japan in 1200, BTW. Another point in the inferiority of western culture.)

Really, you should try to get some grasp of history before continuing to post in this thread. Does the occupying and ruling House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg not permit you and the rest of the aborigines access to books or what's the issue?

Cheer up. The uradel wiped-out the Czech intelligentsia in 1620, about 100 years before they wiped-out the English intelligentsia. It took 300 years but the Czechs eventually deposed their Bavarian masters and ended their servant-class status. There is still hope for the English. Just don't give up. Keep fighting. John Travolta was in a similar situation - use him for inspiration:

[AlgyTaylor]

Jaysus, her family's been in the country since 1714

The absence of attempts of the native population of England to liberate their country from an occupying foreign power is a political question. Ethnicity is a genetic question.

If you're going down that route, we're all Africans who've 'invaded' various parts of the world

And in any case, George I didn't 'invade', he just happened to be next in line to the throne after Queen Anne popped her clogs. The last successful invader was William The Conqueror (1066)*

I think it's just you yanks have a bit of an inferiority complex cos you live in a country without any proper history or even decent native sports. I mean, you lot think netball, rounders and hockey are 'manly'.



* William III sort of invaded in 1686, but he was also invited to do so ... so it's not really invading in the sense you were talking about.

[AlgyTaylor]

I was going to respond to this thread with something like "The Greeks created western civilization, democracy, etc., etc." but then I realized (unlike barackattack) that my homeland's glory has faded into history and it would be disingenuous of me to talk about the past glory of my people in response to a dude talking about the past glories of his people.

Nonsense, past glory is where it's all at. No civilisation lasts forever, culture's the only thing that survives. And Greek culture is present in practically every civilsation in the world (though Pythagoras' theorum, for example)

[saxitoxin]

Jaysus, her family's been in the country since 1714

The absence of attempts of the native population of England to liberate their country from an occupying foreign power is a political question. Ethnicity is a genetic question.

If you're going down that route, we're all Africans who've 'invaded' various parts of the world

And in any case, George I didn't 'invade', he just happened to be next in line to the throne after Queen Anne popped her clogs.

Incorrect, though I understand the parasite rulers that have occupied your country demand this be taught.

The next-in-line to your so-called throne, as I previously noted, is Franz Bayern, descendent of the last aboriginal British monarch, now living at Nymphenburg as an anonymous old aristocrat most English people have never heard of so thoroughly has any memory of England before it was cowed been washed from your collective memory by Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

The fact the English meekly rolled over and didn't resist the landing of 20,000 German troops in England to forcibly enthrone the uradel in Britain as part of the extermination of the aboriginal English intellgentsia doesn't mean the island wasn't invaded and cowed.

The Czechs at least admit the uradel destroyed their indiginous intelligentsia and nobility at the Genocide of the White Mountain as the precursor to 300 years of Bavarian rule. It's always struck me as odd that the English so pride themselves at having been meekly obedient - non-resistant - to the conquering foreign potentate. England is the world's last apartheid state ... a foreign minority ruling over the vast, unwashed natives, turned into a servant-class. This is why the very concept of Britain as part of Europe or Britons as Europeans is so fundamentally creepy and unsettling for modern, progressive-minded people from the continent and UK would be better served as some anonymous, 51st American state than a member of the EU.

Also - again - I'm not American.

[2dimes]

Are you done yet? This thread is about potatoes.