Should regions be allowed to opt out of the UK's NHS Yet get the benefits?

Tell me Carol, how do the young people feel about the concept of the UK?

Do they feel linked culturally and nationally to the Scots, the Welsh & the Irish, or do they think the UK is an outdated institution?

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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

Red Pill Junkie

I am not sure about this. I thought the EU treated the UK as a single member state, like France, Italy, Germany, Luxemburg and the rest. Correct me if that is wrong.

But if that is how it is, does the EU have any say in this? Or is it entirely a UK-internal matter?

I know the Eu has many tendrils into every day life, in terms of business and environmental and legal issues. Is this one of them?

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It is not how fast you go
it is when you get there.

Thanks are to you for taking this blog post seriously and trying to respond with equal status.

RPJ, I admit I don't know what the young people think of the UK. If the papers and other social studies are to be believed then they think very little in reality, or are being very gullible and trusting about life around them

Gullibility and naivity are rife in the UK today, but even worse is the way the young are failing to show respect, or should I say "good manners" towards others. It seems to be due to a breakdown of the family, and the determined effort by the powers that be to make children have sex, and not only give birth to but look after babies when they are themselves still too immature.

Today, I see people put their feet up on bus seats, and they show little thought or consideration for others that have to sit on those seats after them. Even their parents do this, showing a definite lack of thought of the consequences of their actions.

In addition, these children are taught about non-British cultures in school to help bring "integration" and "an understanding" of the different people which now inhabit this island, but little is encouraged with regard to the culture of Britain, and especially England. Scotland has always had different laws - a throw back to the time of the Union. But now they are positively enjoying an arrogant attitude towards the English, and what was once friendly rivalry is now becoming nasty in some instances. Unfortunately, too few people like to admit that racism can exist between white races - only between white and black/asian ones!

The British Identity used to bind the peoples of the old kingdoms together, but now that British identity has been maligned, in more ways than one, and is slowly being erradicated.

Even in religion Christianity has become a non-word, a word/culture that can be mocked, despised, ignored. When someone did a survey of young people recently it was said that they knew about the Islamic Ramadam and Hindu Dwali festivals but were ignorant of the Christian festivals. As the UK is supposed to be in essence a Christian country this says a great deal about the UK's state education system, and society as a whole!

I don't think the young people of this country will even be aware of the old ideas, the country being a Christian country, or the Christian/Common Sense ideals that underpinned its existence.

I don't blame them as I was also gullible and very trusting at that age but it does not bode well for the future of my country.

Earthling

The EU does dominate our lives a great deal, and it was when Ted Heath, the then British PM, signed this country up to the European Economic Community - said to be for trades purposes only - that it was decided the UK may be a member state, but the older divisions based on ancient kingdoms no longer existed. This was clearly the prerequisite for the desired Federation of European States.

The closer ties that now bind us to the EU Commission are beginning to strangle us. Our government accepts every diktat that the EU Commission approves without question. Other countries within the EU are prepared to look after their own interests and often do ignore rules if they think those rules will damage the country's integrity. The UK government doesn't and we are now suffering as a country because of this. It is also proving very expensive for us to implement, and even worse, we are now the ONLY country which pays more into the EU than it gets out of it!!!

I know change has to happen, it is an essential part of life, but the changes which have been wrought into our lives here in the UK, are in my opinion destructive. I don't say this country has never made mistakes, or been arrogant in the past, but the slow demolition of our culture, which was always different to that on the continent, has been tortuous and painful, and is certianly not what the people of this country sought. We have been lied to by our politicians, time after time, and we have seen everything that the UK, under the guise of being British, destroyed and thoroughly undermined. We used to have a reputation for fair play, honesty, good workmanship, a caring attitude, community spirit. Now this has been demolished and in its place is nothing but ruin.

Yes, what I am saying sounds very morbid and possibly not what others see, but then I have been able to see many things that others don't see until the last final moment when it is too late to do anything about them. I also believe that where we were once a country with people of courage we are now a frightened people, scared to do or say anything, prisoners of our own minds!

At least the US still has some remnants of democracy and people power left - rightly or wrongly the Paulson financial proposals have been rejected! In the UK, no matter how much we complain, or protest, we are lumbered with the ideas that the politicians and big business desire with the protesting movement stifled.

I wish I could be more positive about my country, politically and socially, but I walk around my nearest city centre and all I hear are languages that are alien to me, and less and less English being spoken. Many voices are from foreign students who are now living here to take higher education, but there are also a lot of asylum seekers who clearly don't want to learn English, and continue in their old ways, in what should be a foreign and alien country to them. They didn't have to come here, but they chose to, and it is because of this I believe that less and less foreign cultural ideas should be made in public. It is slowly destroying the very culture of this country, and it makes me feel an alien, in the only country I have ever known or loved. Heartbreaking sometimes.

Whenever I see a nice, positive action, or hear beatiful caring spoken words, I rejoice and am uplifted. But these are becoming a rarity when at one time they were the norm.

Carol A Noble