NationStates Jolt Archive

So since the death of Queen Vicotria, do you beleive the U.K., has improved, declined, or stood still?

So since the death of Queen Vicotria, do you beleive the U.K., has improved, declined, or stood still?

1. Much less poverty, squalor and disease. Much higher of wealth, education and life expectancy. Cleaner environment - but more global warming.

2. People are now allowed to masturbate to their heart's content.

I'd have to say things have improved all round, except for the global warming bit.

Yip, improved.

MUCH improved

Much less horse shit on the roads. Improved.

Improved for all of the above reasons. Especially the masturbating bit since i can only imagine what kind of permanent brain damage would be caused to a teenage boy unable to even look at it, let alone touch it. I think that explains so much about Victorian society...

I dunno, you guys kinda lost your empire and everything. :rolleyes:

I dunno, you guys kinda lost your empire and everything. :rolleyes:
I'm not British, but I'd say they GAVE it back, wouldn't you?

I dunno, you guys kinda lost your empire and everything.

And what did the empire ever do for the average Brit? (Well Australia and NZ did save the entire world a couple of times by fighting hard and disposing of dangerous concentrations of fermented liquor, but besides that?)

Well it did give them Canada, the "Hat of America" and you can't say that doesn't please the average Briton.

Lack of Victorian prudish hypocracy (sp?) (All that moralising about sex, yet planty of prostitutes, including children, often used by the exact classes that went about bollocking people for having sex and enjoying it). Decline of poverty rates. Getting rid of the British Empire. The rise of truely representative democracy.

All good. Certainly has improved.

If you regard how good a nation is solely by its military and international power, please gfo back to obsessively playing C&C please.

Thats not directed at anyone in particular, just incase someone thinks that way.

My guess is that it probably averaged out to be about the same.
Some things got better, others got worse.

But I guess it all depends on your opinion of what's better and what's worse.

My guess is that it probably averaged out to be about the same.
Some things got better, others got worse.

But I guess it all depends on your opinion of what's better and what's worse.

Huh? Surely you think that living longer, having less disease, lower infant mortality and being materially better off are improvments?

As just one example of how life has improved, even people on the dole can listen to CD music for an incredibly low cost per song. Compare that to the choices one hundred years ago. You could pay several hours wages to go to a music hall and try to hear someone sing a song that you don't get to chose without any amplification, or pay another large amount of labour time and buy some sheet music and sing yourself. And forget about having a piano or a phongraph. The average citizen couldn't afford such items. But nowadays even the poorest people can listen to the worlds best singers with almost perfect sound reproduction. I don't think people appreciate how tough things were it back then.

And imagine what it was like to be a woman 100 years ago. Or black. Or Irish. Or Gay. Or just different and not rich enough to be called eccentric. Life was often extremely tough compared to today. It wasn't hell, for the most part people got by, people still could enjoy themselves - but life in general was just so much harder.

Huh? Surely you think that living longer, having less disease, lower infant mortality and being materially better off are improvments?

I wasn't talking solely in terms of life style, believe it or not.
Also, all the things you mentioned above have their associated negative side effects.

The british empire has much improved, it dissolved! ;)

The british empire has much improved, it dissolved! ;)

Pffft. Better than the globe-spanning domain YOU created from a small damp island.

Huh? Surely you think that living longer, having less disease, lower infant mortality and being materially better off are improvments?

As just one example of how life has improved, even people on the dole can listen to CD music for an incredibly low cost per song. Compare that to the choices one hundred years ago. You could pay several hours wages to go to a music hall and try to hear someone sing a song that you don't get to chose without any amplification, or pay another large amount of labour time and buy some sheet music and sing yourself. And forget about having a piano or a phongraph. The average citizen couldn't afford such items. But nowadays even the poorest people can listen to the worlds best singers with almost perfect sound reproduction. I don't think people appreciate how tough things were it back then.

And imagine what it was like to be a woman 100 years ago. Or black. Or Irish. Or Gay. Or just different and not rich enough to be called eccentric. Life was often extremely tough compared to today. It wasn't hell, for the most part people got by, people still could enjoy themselves - but life in general was just so much harder.

I thought we're talking about britain, not the british. Almost everyone lives better today than one hundred years ago, but maybe the irakis and some people like them. But the Country it's not the same as the citizens. So....

Pffft. Better than the globe-spanning domain YOU created from a small damp island.

Sorry? My country it's not an island, where do you think I'm talking from? By the way, my country's empire was better in some ways and much worse in others.

I'm not saying you're from an island. That was intentionally ridiculously specific.

I dunno, you guys kinda lost your empire and everything. :rolleyes:

There was no LOSING involved - although I have often remarked upon how we managed to mislay it.
We gave our Imperial dominions the right to self government and then severed all political ties, or gave them total independence, as with India.

Besides, as with all great things, it had to come to an end. Look at all great Empires:
Pax Graecia
Pax Romanica
Pax Mongolica
Pax Sinica
Pax Britannica

All of them came to an end, in one way or another. Our Empire was not lost to War and foreign domination, but was lost to an era of de-colonisation and a union of world politics. It was overtaken by the Pax Americana, which will, in due course, fall shattering to the ground, and American hegemony over world politics and economics shall be over.

I thought we're talking about britain, not the british. Almost everyone lives better today than one hundred years ago, but maybe the irakis and some people like them. But the Country it's not the same as the citizens. So....

Ah, I see. Well I don't distinguish between a nation and its citizens. I don't see the point. I think it makes for confusion. If you said Britian has decreased in its international standing since 1900 I'd have to agree with you, but if you said Britian hadn't improved I'd just get confused. I believe that governments exist for the benefit of their citizens.

As JFK didn't say, "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you."

I'm not saying you're from an island. That was intentionally ridiculously specific.

Ok, thanks for the terderness! And it's you who are from an island!

No. It's a little known fact that the English Channel is Guernsey propaganda. Britain is in fact a very large peninsula.

I wasn't talking solely in terms of life style, believe it or not.
Also, all the things you mentioned above have their associated negative side effects.

Living longer has an associated negative side effect? How can that be considering that you always have the option to kill yourself? And since living standards have raised at the same time as life expectancy I don't think you can be reffering to the cost of looking after the elderly.

And what's the negative side of cheaply available music? Madonna?

No. It's a little known fact that the English Channel is Guernsey propaganda. Britain is in fact a very large peninsula.

One separated from the continent (and everywhere else) by a Very Large Body of water.

No! The English Channel is in fact a dry lake bed. A big one. It connects the UK to Franceland.

>_>

<_<

I thought we're talking about britain, not the british. Almost everyone lives better today than one hundred years ago, but maybe the irakis and some people like them. But the Country it's not the same as the citizens. So....

Well a nation is defined by the people who live in it. By what standard are we supposed to judge Britain on its own?

Well a nation is defined by the people who live in it. By what standard are we supposed to judge Britain on its own?

Cricket-standards. What else? D'uh...

Well a nation is defined by the people who live in it. By what standard are we supposed to judge Britain on its own?
By the behaviour of british tourists.

By the behaviour of british tourists.

Dang... so we'll pretty much be the worst in the world then... ok... maybe joint worst with the Americans.