h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

ah yes, but Uncle Sam massages our egos and europe won't do that!

Bouncy,

I have to check this but I believe you have the highest interest rates in all of Europe and your housing industry is on the verge of collapse. Otherwise, I guess you're doing great with the pound.

az

Housing is a problem, prices are going up and therefore there is a decrease in demand at the bottom of the property ladder. Markets do not collapse while demand continues to rise. People will rent if they have to. New houses can of course be built; this was an effective strategy after WWII and can be again.

The interest rate in the UK is currently the lowest it has been in a long time. I believe 4% at present. Inflation is extremely close to government targets, economic growth is high and sustained despite slow growth or even recession in many of our major trading partners.

Guess you oughtta know, Bouncy.

Meanwhile this Sheik Yassin guy got blown to smithereens the other day and this thread was started and . . .

What happened?

az

>> Have you been drinking? <<

Not a drop. You can tell when I have been drinking. My spelling get worse than usual!

Why should Britain join a large conglomerate when its doing quite well on its own. Inside the Euro it would be small and insignificant if France and Germany got their way. When it comes to setting interest rates, most powerful way of controlling the economy after taxes, France and Germany would always get their own way. For no other reason that they have a far larger population. France and Germany's economies a closely linked because they occupy the same piece of land with a large border. The same way the the USA and Canada's economies are linked. Outside Britain can do its own thing when it wants to and how it wants to.

High interest rates are not necessarily a bad thing. It does indicate a thriving economy. The housing market is having problems at the moment, but I don't think its on the verge of collapse. Overpriced perhaps, but then thats another indication of a thriving economy.

>> Britain looks way more puny when it tries to be best buddies with Uncle Sam. <<

Well I have to agree with that. With JWB in that chair, it frightens me.

Donald

israel will live to regret this murder

Someone on the radio earlier on compared it to a wasp.

A wasp stings a man who then follows the wasp back to its hive. He hits the hive repeatedly to show the wasp that he's not to be messed with. Then, when other wasps come out and sting him, he starts whacking the hive again. Then more wasps come out to sting him, so he gets a bigger stick and thrashes the hive again saying how he'll keep hitting the hive harder and harder untill the wasps stop stinging him!

Donald

Sorry, my reference to Suez was more a reply to ReddyFreddy who had only noticed Arab attacks on Isreal and not Isreali attacks on Arab states. I should probably have made two seperate posts to make that clear.

"Two nations divided by a common tongue" - wasn't that Oscar Wilde?

"I don't think Britain got a lot of help form America during the Battle of Britain. A few volunteer pilots and thats about it."

Oh dear.

Donald, if you're going to make pronouncements like this you really need to do some serious research...or things like this happen:

The Battle of Britain was fought by allied pilots - Canadians, Free French, Polish, British and yes, a few Americans.

It was fought using ammunition and fuel, in part shipped from the USA, in addition to certain parts for the famous Merlin engine.
Without American involvement through the Lend/Lease act, which supplied not only the goods required by the RAF, but the ships that carried them over the Atlantic, the UK would not have been able to fight the Battle of Britain long enough for the German High Command to decide to switch targets. It's not a fact that is proclaimed too loudly in case it takes something away from the unquestioned valor and excellence of The Few, but it is a fact nevertheless.

The history of Britain is full of these things; the UK is a nation composed out outside influences. It excels in taking the ideas of others and absorbing them, turning them into something uniquely British as a result.

>> The Battle of Britain was fought by allied pilots - Canadians, Free French, Polish, British and yes, a few Americans. <<

True. I'm not denying that.

but

Battle of Britain Aug-Sep 1940

Lend Lease Act March 1941.

In 1940 Churchill and Roosavelt where in communication with each other. Roosavelt wanted to help Britain, but he was restricted in what he could do as the US Government where still sitting on the fence. 7 December 1941 changed all that.

Donald

Drat.

Glad you posted that. Boy is MY face red.

However, still true about the ammo, fuel and engine parts.

during the brain dn drain us dollars brought abo about mass migration

I'm not so sure about engine parts. I can't imagine American manufactures manufacturing spare parts for Merlin engines. The Merlin engine was made in the USA under licence by Packard, but that came later.

As for fuel and ammo. That was supplied, but under a cash and carry arrangement. The America Neutrality Act prohibited the supply of war good to belligerents. It took an amendment, pushed through by Roosevelt, to allow this to happen.

However, it was not all a one way trade. Early in 1940, both Britain and America were developing RADAR - probably the single most effective weapon in winning the Battle of Britain. Both side were coming up against the same problem, detecting the height of aircraft, particulalry at low levels. With current technology, this wasn't possible as it needed higher powered transmitters operating at a far shorter wavelength than was hitherto possible. Until British scientists invented the cavity magnetron which operated at 10cms with a power of 400 watts.

In August 1940 Churchill ordered that this invention was to be shared with America. So a cavity magnetron was packed up in a box, about half the size of a shoe box, and shipped across the Atlantic.

I wonder how many gallons of fuel that bought.

http://www.marconicalling.com/museum/html/events/events-i=64-s=6.html

Donald

I find this discussion interesting, I am learning a lot! Thanks you all!

"Two nations divided by a common tongue" - wasn't that Oscar Wilde?

I always thought it was Winston Churchill, however the definitive answer seems to be George Bernard Shaw. Seems like something GBS would say.

Donald

Aha! GBS. (Three different answers here, but GBS makes sense to me..Not Mark Twain, I don't think...)