It's probably already there since Sunday
I've found this to be common among MANY nationalities. A Korean child was bullying Mini-S in Singapore. He was the tallest and oldest kid in the class, for now I'll call him Kim. When he told me about it - he wouldn't tell me at first but I knew something was going on (frequent bumps on head where he'd been pushed over for example). I mentioned it to the teacher (a lovely Kiwi lady). She told me that they had in fact called Kim's parents into school several times as they had witnessed how he started nasty incidents. Kim's father refused to believe that his son was to blame and actively tried to have my son removed from the school. In the end he was on a final warning. We have since left Singapore so I have no idea what happened in the end but I'm sure his parents are still insisting that they are the injured parties. I have other examples of incidents where kids have misbehaved in my home and parents have refused to believe it - Australian and American. I'm no over-protective mama by they way, Mini-S can be a little git sometimes, if ever anything happens my usual question would be "Ok what did YOU do to bring that on."
Won't argue with you on Potter or the royal family. Personally, I never understood the anachronistic obsession with the royal family. I don't hate them but I don't particularly care for them either.They don't paid taxes. And I don't buy the hogwash over the national symbolism and all that stuff they represent. Whatever the latest gossip is on Prince William or Kate is not my concern.
However on your mutually dependent point in regards to defence and NATO, there is a limit to that kind of cooperation you referred to. Notice how the UK is complaining that other NATO members, especially Germany, isn't pulling their weight in the Libyan campaign? And what about the 'Falklands" scenario? The UK was pretty much on it's own in that campaign. Can one be so certain that another "Falklands" will never occur again? Given it's depleted strength, it is highly unlikely the British military can mount a similiar operation today.
But getting back to topic, can anyone compare the kind of riot/crowd control techniques in the UK with US or Canada? I wonder what would happen if the UK applied US-style riot control, or if the US applied UK-style crowd control...
Last edited by Watercooler; 09-08-2011 at 04:10 PM.
Actually they DO pay taxes these days. Voluntarily, I believe.