Wow! I reckon this should be awarded a blue ribbon for "fastest growing thread" -- Only started at lunchtime yesterday and already on its fifth page!
(Oops, make that the sixth page while I was typing!)
MI,
I'm British, born and raised, but have also lived in the States for a while, so I'm looking at things from a somewhat different perspective.
As several people have mentioned, American house prices would certainly be a big draw from our point of view. The price of real-estate in Britain has just gotten absolutely ridiculous in recent years. Back in 1986 my family bought a home on the edge of a small seaside town in Lincolnshire. It was certainly a "fixer-upper," needing work on the roof, rewiring, new kitchen, etc., but it was over 1000 sq. ft. and came with a 1/4-acre lot. Incredible as it may seem today, we paid just £18,500.
The little seaside settlement in Norfolk where I live now has some of the lowest prices you'll find, yet even "fixer-uppers" which are barely 600 sq. ft. and on small lots are now on the market for £80,000 plus. In a nearby village there are 1970s bungalows, 3 bedrooms, pleasant enough setting, but nothing special. I've seen them advertised in the £150,000 to £200,000 price range, and that's still considered a cheap area. If you go anywhere into the towns, you can end up paying almost £100,000 for a small terraced house (that's a row-house, typically with a front door which opens almost directly onto the street and a tiny backyard if you're lucky).
Compared to all of this, the typical American home with greater privacy, more space, and all for a much lower price is very attractive. I don't know about in the U.S. now, but 10 years ago where I was in a small midwestern town (Neb.) the average 3-BR home on a nice lot was about $60,000. At that time, the equivalent in Sterling here would buy you a small studio apartment if you were lucky. (These days it wouldn't even get you an empty lot in most areas -- At least not one for which you'd be able to get a building permit.)
Other prices (e.g. groceries, clothes, general household goods) also follow this general trend, although not to anything like the same degree. For many years when the exchange rate was around £1 = $1.50 it was a joke that to go from the American price to the British you just crossed out the dollar sign and wrote in a pound-sign. Even with the overseas postage, it could be cheaper to get something sent from the U.S. than to buy it here.
The most notable exception to the price rule is insurance, especially medical. The NHS is criticized for mix-ups, long delays and waiting lists, and inconsistency of the levels of service from area to area. It's probably safe to say that the level of actual medical care here is not up to U.S. standards overall. On the other hand, you don't get stuck with a huge bill if you do need hospital treatment. Of course it's not "free" as some people would have you believe, as we pay through our taxes. When I hear of some of my friends in the U.S. whose premium has now spiraled to over $1000 per month for their families, this is probably the one aspect of U.S. living which would be of most concern to me now.
A couple of people mentioned the friendliness of people. I have to say that in my experience it
is easier to chat to people in America on a casual basis than it is here, and the American way is very easy to get used to. In fact I recall walking into a small cafe just after I returned to England and saying "Hi, how are you doing?" or something along those lines. It took a puzzled look from the girl behind the counter to make me stop and think "Oh yeah, I'm back home now."
It seems to me that England has become a much less friendly place than when I was young. One of the things I like about being out here in the boonies is that people are still much more open and receptive to a little friendly chatter. In the cities it seems as though the politeness, friendliness, and neigborliness that used to exist just isn't there any more.
It's true that there are certain freedoms in America that don't exist here. For example, if you're thinking of
anything that even remotely touches upon the Second Amendment, forget it. The already very strict laws were made even more draconian a few years ago, and the government would have you in jail faster than the proverbial speeding bullet.
Regarding the monarchy, I think it's been summed up pretty well already. Technically the queen could refuse to give royal assent to a bill from parliament (and in some cases recently I've often why we she didn't!), but I've never heard of such refusal in the 50+ years she has been monarch.
Britain
has become much less free than it used to be though, of that there is no doubt. We are getting more and more petty, restrictive laws interfering with every little detail of our everyday lives than ever before (the same is true of the U.S. of course).
Freedom of speech is supposedly protected here, and as others have said, you're not going to be hauled off to the Tower of London if you announce to the world that you think Tony Blair is an idiot or that the monarchy should be abolished.
There are some very worrying trends in the direction of restricting freedom of speech though. Over the last few years Westminster has enacted various legislation to appease the "politically correct" lobby. There are now various discrimination laws which could be very dangerous. When it gets to the point where people are at risk of being arrested for simply stating an opinion about those from some minority group, it's time to take a long hard look at the way we're headed. This atmosphere has become all to pervasive these days.
Actually, the flag issue mentioned above has been raised in association with freedom of expression. It's always been the case that you won't see flags flying here anything like as frequently as in America. There are no Union flags automatically flown outside of courthouses, schools, post offices, and such like in this country.
There are still some people who like to display a flag from time to time though. The "looney left" councils in some urban districts a few years ago tried to order such residents to take down their flags, deeming them "racist." No, I'm not kidding -- That actually happened. Couple this sort of nonsense with the "hate" laws which are now going through the books and I think we are very much in danger of losing true freedom of expression if we're not careful.
I'm sure you're aware of the argument over the Patriot Act in the States. Similar concerns are being raised about the anti-terror legislation which the present administration has pushed through here. We already have politicians supporting the idea that the right to trial-by-jury should be restricted. The Home Secretary apparently considers it perfectly acceptable to brush aside centuries of British law and hold terror suspects indefinitely without trial.
By far the biggest threat to freedom comes from the European Union though. This emerging federal European government to which we've become a party is just running completely out of control. To take one example, the concept of
habeas corpus, an essential part of British/American Common law is one which is not recognized in most European countries. They consider it perfectly acceptable to detain someone for months without charge, and certain Euro politicians have even openly stated that they regard the British rights of jury trials and
habeas corpus to be quaint relics of our past which need to be eliminated.
The law on the new EU arrest warrant is particularly disturbing. Under this new legislation, a British citizen could be arrested and hauled off to a foreign country under
their rules without a British judge even
knowing about the arrest, much less examining the evidence and authorizing an extradition. It wouldn't even have to be a British cop who carries out the arrest -- Under the proposed law the foreign country could send one of their officers to Britain. So a foreign police officer (who might not even speak English) would be legally allowed to come into Britain and physically remove a British citizen to answer for something, even if the person in question has never set foot in the country concerned and even if the "crime" is something which is not even illegal here.
Developments such as these cause great concern for our future freedom, especially when one looks at other aspects of the EU. For example, a few years ago one of the EU bigwigs openly stated that in his opinion criticism of the EU was akin to blasphemy and could legally be restricted without violating the right to free speech.
Now if
that isn't grave cause for concern, what is? That a commissioner of this suppoedly democratic group could even
consider the idea that criticism of the EU should be made illegal shows their true colors.
So yes.... Although we are still nominally free at the moment, I believe that we are
very much in danger of losing those freedoms.
