Stars and Stripes
Many people have asked me why I chose to move to America, especially Dallas. Now I want to make one thing clear from the outset, I am extremely proud to be British as I would expect everybody to be just as proud of their own home country - it's just that I don't like what Britain has become and more importantly, what I believe it is going to become.
Britain is moving to be part of a European 'super state' and this is something that is going to happen seemingly without the consent of the people and has been planned for a long time. I am not going to lay the blame on the existing government (although they have played a significant part) or previous governments - they all got it wrong. the idea of a united Europe is in theory, a good one, but how do you unite such diverse Countries and cultures? For me, this is the greatest challenge as they really are so diverse! The issue is that European decision making will be done in Brussels, Belgium - the European Union will decide and set policy for the rest of the member states (sorry, Countries)! Already this has happened with the passing of some insane and even comical laws!
One example is how Britain moved into the metric measuring system - from pounds and ounces into grams and kilograms - not that I am against this in any way. What I am against is the forcing of retailers to no longer be able to display the old system after a certain period of time - granted you may say, if the time line is enough then people should have learned and changed. but what about the elderly - many who have spent 90% of their lives in one system and who now have to suddenly learn another - some of which had fought in two world wars, surely we can have a 'dual' system whereby we can display goods in both the new and the old? Not according to Brussels, who declared this very practice as illegal. You might think that this was trivial in the overall picture, but for me, it was a sign of things to come.
I love Europe - I have traveled through most of it and I love the individual cultures, food, lifestyles and I even enjoyed changing currencies and trying to figure out if I was really better off buying beer in Spanish pesetas compared to English pounds! I agree with the creation of maybe a 'trading currency' to help encourage countries to do business with each other, but to take away the heritage of a country and change its currency is in some ways, heartbreaking. This is exactly what will eventually happen to the British pound.
Growing up in England has left me with fond memories - I say England because there is a sense of pride about where you are from in the British Isles. My Mother is Welsh, so I have Celtic blood in me and I am extremely proud of my Welsh ancestry also (especially when Wales win at Rugby)!
Britain today is a shadow of its former self - the health care system is seriously short of cash and patient care is declining, the police and law and order system is virtually powerless to deal with the burning issues of increased violent crime, the education system is declining and all of this in spite of increased taxation!
Deciding to come to America was fairly easy due to my business interests, but I was extremely and pleasantly surprised after living here just for a few months. I saw children playing in the streets, shopping malls devoid of graffiti and people are consistently polite and friendly.
For me, this was the Britain of old.
~ Neil
Technorati Tags: European Union, America, Tony Blair, Politics, Euro, Wales, Currencies, business
