Incompetent Lazy Britain

As my Grandmother celebrated her 90th Birthday today (Happy Birthday Nana!), I was reminded of how she was born in an era of Great accomplishment and optimism. The Germans had just been defeated by the Allies for what wouldn’t be the first time in the 20th Century. The Day after My Grandmother was born Charlie Chaplin helped launch United Artists – responsible for such films like 12 Angry Men & Some Like it Hot! Point vaguely proved that back then things were getting done and its fair say there was optimism and people certainly weren’t worried about a little bit of snow on the roads!

I found myself driving through London’s streets on Monday morning at 6.30am – yes the snow was deeper by London standards but in a two wheel drive Mini it wasn’t impossible to navigate as long as you drove slowly and safely. I managed to drive to Stansted Airport to discover over half the flights that day had been cancelled – so a new flight was arranged and booked for 8pm later that day in the hope Cecilie could get back home. Well when everybody was busy skiving off work and claiming it was impossible to get to work I managed to drive from London to Stansted then to Cambridge then later up the hills in the villages where villagers were claiming conditions were too dire to venture to work, whereby I later then went back to Stansted Airport – where the roads were clear of traffic all because you guessed it Joe Boggs’ and The Jones’ next door had all deemed Monday a day off.

Now normally people having a day off doesn’t concern me as it doesn’t effect me – but the reality is the British Economy probably lost hundreds of Millions in earnings yesterday this is despite times being hard because we are now in recession (see the last article - ). But it’s not the loss of The UK’s GDP that concerns me – because will I ever see any of the state pension – probably not! But I did have an operation booked at Addenbrookes Hospital on Thursday (tomorrow) to have my Tonsils removed (finally). And yet due to all the schools being shut these last few days because the teachers & head teachers are either too lazy to go to school or because 8 weeks holiday in the summer isn’t long enough! Thus with no complaints from the children (I wouldn’t complain if I was a child) they stay at home labelled pansies because we all fear for their “Health & Safety” forcing parents to stay at home, off from work if they can’t get any child care or just giving them an excuse to take a day off because everyone else is off thus destroying Operating theatres timetables out the window and thus causing my Operation to be cancelled as of lunchtime today!!!

“BASTARDS!”

Yes – I’m turning into a grumpy old man – but the reality is I’ve been waiting for months now to get this operation (and yes fool me for cancelling my private medical insurance months before I needed this operation).


Why are Schools closed for days on end because of a few inches of snow? Even if we had experienced 10 feet of snow should the Schools be closed? If Children & teachers can get to work (which I believe they can given the amount of driving I did on Monday) – why stay off work?

Why am I signalling out the Schools when they don’t concern me because I’m no longer a School Kid or a parent? Well the parents of these precious children have to stay at home if the kids aren’t at school – completely disrupting the mechanics or the economy – flights get cancelled and operations get cancelled all because certain segments of society are either too worried about bloody health and safety or too bloody lazy to go to work! Snow does not give you the right to take the day off!

The snow we experienced this week pales in comparison to the snow the Scandinavians’ experience every winter and yet they manage to get to work – is it any wonder why our GDP per head of roughly $35k pales in comparison to Norway’s $53k! And yet the Norwegians’ don’t have the benefit of an old Empire and certainly have a lot less people (so effectively it doesn’t have the potential for as much scientific breakthrough) we share the same Oil reserves in the North Sea – and yet because they have been wise with North Sea Oil investment and we have done nothing but squander and spend, our country is fast going broke and Norway despite all the snow is becoming richer by the day – thanks to wise spending by its government. And yet Norway educates and looks after its people while the UK puts up with scroungers and lets those who battled the Germans die in the homes because they can’t afford to heat their homes. Well Done Lazy Britain!


External Source Below: CIA World Fact Book & Wikipedia.

GDP dollar estimates here are derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations. Such calculations are prepared by various organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. As estimates and assumptions have to be made, the results produced by different organizations for the same country tend to differ, sometimes substantially. PPP figures are estimates rather than hard facts, and should be used with caution.


United Kingdom (Rank 18) - 35,634 est
Norway (Rank 3)- 53,152 est


Only Luxembourg & Qatar beat Norway on GDP