american or british

You have to let it brew in the pot for about 10 minutes at least in my house, non of this southern nancy tea bag in the mug for 5 seconds buisness. Milk first allways, brown sugar when you can get it.

We should be scandanavian really, but the gulf stream keeps us warm, so we dont deserve the title. ;)

We are European though, bring on the Euro!

PS. Uriel, we really couldn't find any, we had to use ice tea bags with lemon! Maybe the names are different and thats why we couldn't spot any.

***Milk first allways, brown sugar when you can get it***

Aye...and full cream milk at that - none of that skimmed or semi skimmed weasel pee! What do mean "brown sugar when you can get it?" Go down the supermarket anytime and you can buy any kind of sugar you like ...and any colour...how about those weird looking wee pink sugar type crystals? What the **** do people use those in? Tea round the camp fire? LOL

I 'm home from work now and I'm off down to London for the weekend...by train...I'll give you a wave as we whizz through Yorkshire this evening...I can't remember if I go through York? I'm going to work in London for a couple of weeks in July...down at Canada Square...I cannae wait!

"We are European though, bring on the Euro!"

You're joking, aren't you?

Before spurting off about the "benefits" of having the Euro, why don't you become more knowledgeable in economics first?

Haven't you noticed yet that nearly all of the countries that have the Euro have stagnant economies?

If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency (thus ceasing being independent nations) then they should all adopt the pound.

Some people don't buy brown sugar, so meant when your round some ones for a brew. And resterants some times only have white sugar, or this weird sticky brown sugar for coffee. Full fat milk yeah, semi-skimmed is better for your ticker though. Pink Sugar??!! maybe for dainty pink cakes?

You'll go through York, Actualy if I'm outside for a cig at the right time I'll actualy see your train. Youlle know this actualy, what is that big massive white box of a building just off the coast about 40 mins south of Edinburgh?

Didn't see Adam's post before.
Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent. And if you think that our current economic situation is down to you having £ instead of € on your coins you are seriusly mislead, like it or not you have the Scot, Gordon Brown to thank not our over priced currency.

Instead of me listing the benefits here, read this.
http://www.ldeg.org/briefs/policy-euro.htm

"If anything, if European countries want to continue the stupid idea of all having the same currency **(thus ceasing being independent nations)** then they should all adopt the pound. "

Read point 11.

"Adam, have you heard of "The Celtic Tiger"?? Ireland has the Euro, and its economy is far from stagnent"

Ireland was the "Celtic Tiger" for years before it adopted the Euro.

It's not the Euro that has helped Ireland - it's the fact that Ireland, unlike Britain, is a big RECEIVER of money from the EU, whereas Britain is a big contributor. All it's done is ridden the EU Gravy Train.

Britain should keep the Pound.

If France, Germany, Italy and the rest want to have a Mickey Mouse currency, then it's their choice.

Britain should, and WILL, keep the Pound.

That way, we can control our OWN interest rates always to the benefit of Britain, whereas the Frogs and the Krauts can't control their own interest rates as they are controlled by the European Central Bank - and so the interest rates in France and Germany aren't always the interest rates that they want, unlike Britain.

"Five Reasons to Keep the Pound"

*In a single currency there will only be one interest rate. But because our economy is out of step with the rest of Europe, the single interest rate will nearly always be wrong for us. That will make our economy more volatile with unsustainable booms and deeper recessions.

*Most people in Europe think the single currency will lead to a European super state. The EU Commission President, Romano Prodi, has described monetary union and political union as "two sides of the same coin". That may be what people in Europe want. But it is not what the British people want. If we keep the Pound, Britain can keep its independence.

*There is a great danger that joining the single currency will mean handing over our power to set our own taxes. This could mean British taxes rising by a sixth, to the levels in the rest of Europe.

*With the fifth largest economy in the world, Britain can make a success of its own currency, if we want. No-one suggests that much smaller economies like Australia, Canada or Switzerland have to scrap their currencies to survive.

*It would cost billions of Pounds for all British businesses to change their systems to the Euro. But only a small proportion of them would benefit from reduced costs of trade with Europe.



Only 1.8 % of euro companies use the Euro
Only 1.8 per cent of euro-zone companies use the Euro to conduct business. (source: Daily Mail, Tuesday January 4th, 2000 Quarterly Memorandum on the Future of the Euro).


Scrapping the Pound will cost £36 billion
A detailed report published by the industry pressure group, Business for Sterling, estimates that the cost of scrapping the Pound could be up to £36 billion (4.2% of GDP). This is getting on for the cost of the entire education budget (£40 billion) or the NHS budget (£49 billion).



Taxes in the UK could have to rise by as much as a fifth
Most politicians in Europe think monetary union should be followed by tax harmonisation. But Professor Tim Congdon has calculated that taxes in the UK would have to rise by as much as a fifth in order to bring them into line with the rest of the EU (Lombard Street Research, February 1999).



One-size-fits-all interest will be bad for the UK
A one-size-fits-all interest rate set to suit conditions in the EU would nearly always be wrong for us. Our economic divergence with the Continent means that when other European countries need low interest rates we need higher rates and vice versa. It also means that external shocks can affect Britain in a different way to other EU countries, and require a different interest rate response.



UK output could be reduced by £9 billion
UK output could be reduced by £9 billion through the loss of control of monetary policy if we joined the single currency, according to a study published by the Bank of England.

(source: Financial Times, 5 November 1999)



GB exports to Europe are less than a fifth of GDP
British exports to Euroland account for less than a fifth of British GDP. In other words, more than four-fifths of the British economy is not involved in trade with Euroland.

(source: ONS Economic Trends, December 1998 and ONS: The Blue Book 1998). Exports (visible and invisible) to Euroland in 1997 were £151 billion; British GDP was £802 billion; thus exports to Euroland as a proportion of GDP = 18.8%.



The British economy moves in step with the US, not Europe
The British economy and British interest rates and exchange rates, are more in step with those of the US, than with those of the Continent.

(source: HM Treasury, October 1997: UK Membership of the Single Currency: An Assessment of the Five Economic Tests).



The City increased its share of financial business within Europe
Far from suffering outside the Euro, the City has actually increased its share of financial business within Europe since the currency was launched last January. The former Lord Mayor of London, Lord Levene, said that banks and brokers are: ‘certainly not suffering and, if anything, increasing [their] market share.’

(source: The Times, 9 November 1999)



Prodi: European Commission is "the Government of Europe".
On 27 October 1999, The Times quoted Commission President, Romano Prodi describing his European Commission as the "government of Europe". He said: "But what is the Commission? We are here to take binding decisions as an executive power. If you don't like the term government for this, what other term do you suggest? Consultative commission? I speak of a European government because we take government decisions."

Julian Lewis MP



93% of French tourists: 'spending the Pound' is a highlight of visiting Britain
93% of French tourists cite 'spending the pound' as one of their favourite aspects of a visit to Britain.

(Source: Liberation poll, Dec 98)



[Apr 15, 2000]

Britain Will Survive!



Quite simple really, I wish to keep the pound. Unlike our European partners (I'm English not European!!) we have a booming world trade. We have a natural survival technique and we will survive quite well with our pound.

Author:
Philip Potts



[March, 2000]

ICM Research Poll

QUESTION: Do you think Britain should replace the Pound with the Single European Currency?

VOTING INTENTION:




TOTAL...CONS....LAB...LIB...DEM...OTHER

Base.1207

Yes .......28% .. 17%.. 42% ... 31%.... 43%

No ........62% ...75% ..51%.. 59% .... 52%





SAMPLE DETAILS: ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1207 adults aged 18 + by telephone between 17th and 18th March 2000. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.

Where %'s do not = 100% due to rounding.

Margin of error for a sample this size = +/- 2.8%

http://www.aurecon.de/finplan/euro/000422-keep-pound-campaign.htm

"It's not the Euro that has helped Ireland - it's the fact that Ireland, unlike Britain, is a big RECEIVER of money from the EU, whereas Britain is a big contributor. All it's done is ridden the EU Gravy Train."

You’re right; Ireland has received a large amount of money but that is about to change. The money was a boost and most of it has been spent on infrastructure. Your economy does not grow because your country has been handed money.
The main reason the Irish economy grew and continues to do so is because she has invested in education which has left us with a highly educated workforce which is extremely useful to Multinational companies. These multinationals are attracted to Ireland because we offer them low corporate tax rates. They have an educated English speaking workforce to choose from and are on the edge of Europe. What more could they ask for?

>>I heard a bloke on telly call it the revolution, then he appologised and corrected him self, with the war of independance, I was a bit confused.
I thought that maybe Americans prefered to think of British rule as imposed on them rather than them being previously British? Revolution = British rising against their system of government, War of Independance = Induvidual nation throwing off the shackles of British oppression.<<

The main problem with the idea of the Americans as having been British is that "the Americans" as we know them today really did not exist at the time of the War of Independence. To say that they simply had been British assumes full continuity between the population of the US today and that of the colonies then. While one might be able to speak of such to some degree with respect to the US along the eastern seaboard, I doubt one can really speak of the population of the interior of the US in such a manner.

Of course, then, that is from the viewpoint of Americans today, rather than the viewpoint of the newly independent colonists of the early US. Those, for a large part, you could speak of having been British, aside from groups such as Irish, Germans, and Dutch.

Oh my my, does Adam know what summarising and paraphrasing are?

Et oui oui, the UK is 100% European!

By the way, here's something I've always wondered about:

Do you Britons usually drink tea with milk AND sugar or with milk OR sugar?

Curious, curious, because I usually drink tea raw, with nothing added. I tried adding cream (the coffee creamer type) to tea once, and the product tasted more like coffee creamer than tea. I tried adding sugar to tea once, and felt the tea lost its flavour. And I can only imagine how un-tea-like the combination of tea+milk+sugar must be.

I drink tea with milk AND sugar, because I find tea without either addition too revolting for words. :) Having said that, I rarely drink tea at all as I don't like the taste of it that much. (But don't tell anyone - they'll take away my British citizenship! :)

I drink lots of tea everyday- strong with milk and one sugar.

Kids these days don't seem to drink tea like they did when I were a lad- they are too busy drinking litres of sugary pop and trying to find out what's given them type II diabetes!!

Oh I see. Thanks, you two! Tea plus milk plus sugar it is for you, then.

If you want a place where kids gulp tea down by the litre, then you should probably visit Taiwan. There, they're always finding wacky ways of making tea attractive to young'uns...and making tea a cause of type II diabetes!

Tell me about it! My boyfriend's mother adds sugar to everyone's drinks. Even to MILKSHAKES, okay? Is this not insanity?? No wonder her parents and her husband are diabetic.

For me, sugary drinks defeat the purpose of drinking. They just make me more thirsty.