Seeing with a foreign eye

It's a very peculiar thing, to be a foreigner living somewhere. You obtain a different perspective on your native land, but also you bring with you a different perspective on the adopted one.

For instance:

It's now been snowing non-stop for close to 24hrs here in the UK. Yet Brits always seem just as shocked and ill-prepared for it when it happens, EVERY YEAR. I'm not suggesting that Brits should all have studded tyres and chains at the ready, but possibly another set of coarser tyres would be helpful, nay, obvious?

Why not consult with your neighbours in Europe that run train systems yet experience annual heavy snow-fall and seem to manage OK? Ask them what they do and then put plans into place to COPE with the white stuff?

Instead, there's a lot of wringing of hands and shrugging of shoulders, and very little action. The whole country comes to a standstill because there's snow. This may work if it's one day, every 5-10 years or so. Like I imagine Greece has (my apologies, my Greek correspondent is in fact, in Greece and unavailable for comment or verification) - not the UK.

I think at some point the UK is going to face the facts. It is a fairly northern island, in the Atlantic, whose only meteorological saving grace is the Gulf Stream. It is not the Med. Snow is an annual, regular thing, lasting for weeks. Maybe more weeks.

And controversial or not, the Global Warming thing is kind of already happening. It's not just a theory of what might happen in the future - it's happening NOW. Look outside.

I know it seems counterintuitive that lots of snow = global warming, but this is in fact the case. Global warming = messing up of weather systems and patterns, which is why Newfoundland is balmy for this time of year and the UK is an igloo.

Item two

Two party politics, first past the post. Yeah. This may have worked in Victorian times where the electorate was limited to white adult males, which then split into two, rich and poor, but it doesn't work in a multicultural society. Yet mention proportional representation or dog forbid, a coalition government and all of a sudden people start sounding like Victorian stereotypes, spouting 'it's just not British' or some such sentiment.

The current Labour government seems to believe it may actually win the next election. The Tory opposition seems to think they might have a clean majority. Other parties are seen as irrelevant. I think they might all be in for a surprise by June at the latest.

Learn to play nicely with other parties and you just might find yourself in government. And the population needs to realise that a coalition government does not mean the government is weak, or that the country is weak. Again, look at your neighbours in Europe and ask them how they manage.