I agree with about 90% of it. (I'm still not sold on food or nature here but the parks are indeed lovely). My main gripe is their weird attachment to some old timey things that make absolutely no sense, but it will probably be another 200 years before they change them. Like those blasted sinks, it made sense back in the day, when hot water was a luxury, and not everyone had it and you did fill out those sink basins to wash yourself (because no one took showers daily like we do now). They KNOW those sinks are ridiculous but they persist for absolutely no good reason other than - well it's always been that way.
Another example: putting your jobs on the birth certificate. Clearly a throwback to when people became cobblers when they were 16 and stayed cobblers until they died, back when your job was your identity to the point it could become your surname. Obviously it's absurd in the modern times. Our daughter wasn't even 2 when we both changed our jobs from what we put on that certificate (I went from being a Finance Manager in the charity sector to being a Financial Analyst in the entertainment sector, and my husband went from being an Industrial Graphic Designer, to being a Design Engineer). What is literally the point of putting that info there?
Another observation I have relating to the English conservatism is the fact they are not as socially progressive as everyone thinks they are. Abortion, despite what many might think, is technically illegal in England. However, an exception can be made if your doctor thinks it is in your best interest to have it. Of course in practice, you can access abortion fairly easily here, because doctors just sign it off at your request, but legally they don't have to. The law (made when there weren't many lady doctors) made so that a woman can only have an abortion if a doctor agrees to it.
England didn't have No fault divorces until TWO years ago! You could only get a divorce if one party was found guilty of one of the few permissable reasons. Of course again in practice most people would just agree one would take some bogus blame and get the divorce through. But one person could effectively stall divorce proceedings for two years if they wanted to.
UK didn't have maternity leave available to all women until sometimes in the 90s. And even know the current maternity leave is only impressive to Americans, the most Europeans the deal the British women get is absolutely terrible.
And don't get me started on childcare. Something has finally started moving now with the free 15-30 hours, but I was shocked by how unaffordable childcare was that SO MANY women just completely fall out of the workforce and it's just perfectly normal here.
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I agree with about 90% of it. (I'm still not sold on food or nature here but the parks are indeed lovely). My main gripe is their weird attachment to some old timey things that make absolutely no sense, but it will probably be another 200 years before they change them. Like those blasted sinks, it made sense back in the day, when hot water was a luxury, and not everyone had it and you did fill out those sink basins to wash yourself (because no one took showers daily like we do now). They KNOW those sinks are ridiculous but they persist for absolutely no good reason other than - well it's always been that way.
Another example: putting your jobs on the birth certificate. Clearly a throwback to when people became cobblers when they were 16 and stayed cobblers until they died, back when your job was your identity to the point it could become your surname. Obviously it's absurd in the modern times. Our daughter wasn't even 2 when we both changed our jobs from what we put on that certificate (I went from being a Finance Manager in the charity sector to being a Financial Analyst in the entertainment sector, and my husband went from being an Industrial Graphic Designer, to being a Design Engineer). What is literally the point of putting that info there?
Another observation I have relating to the English conservatism is the fact they are not as socially progressive as everyone thinks they are. Abortion, despite what many might think, is technically illegal in England. However, an exception can be made if your doctor thinks it is in your best interest to have it. Of course in practice, you can access abortion fairly easily here, because doctors just sign it off at your request, but legally they don't have to. The law (made when there weren't many lady doctors) made so that a woman can only have an abortion if a doctor agrees to it.
England didn't have No fault divorces until TWO years ago! You could only get a divorce if one party was found guilty of one of the few permissable reasons. Of course again in practice most people would just agree one would take some bogus blame and get the divorce through. But one person could effectively stall divorce proceedings for two years if they wanted to.
UK didn't have maternity leave available to all women until sometimes in the 90s. And even know the current maternity leave is only impressive to Americans, the most Europeans the deal the British women get is absolutely terrible.
And don't get me started on childcare. Something has finally started moving now with the free 15-30 hours, but I was shocked by how unaffordable childcare was that SO MANY women just completely fall out of the workforce and it's just perfectly normal here.