The UK is Sicker than Italy

July 1, 2008 · Filed Under UK · 17 Comments 

Over on Man of Roma’s thoughtful blog, I made a bold statement. What I said is that the UK is in a greater state of decline than Italy.

Now, I can’t go around saying things like this without giving some evidence, so here it is.

  • Senseless violence - stories of knifings and shootings seem to be an almost daily occurrence, and the culprits, more often than not, come from cultures which are not strictly English. This leads to the second piece of evidence.
  • Appalling levels of integration. Britain opened the flood gates to immigrants many years ago, but did little else. Now there are Islamic terror cells springing up all over the place. I mean, was it a good idea to encourage people with such diverse religious beliefs to come to the UK? Or are we just seeing the results of yet more politicians who simply stay in power and do little else?
  • State education quality is dire. The politically correct bunch have managed to achieve their dubious aim. This aim was to eliminate competition and make it easy for anyone with less than half a brain to obtain some qualifications. And just about anyone can get degrees now, and good ones too. Why? Simple, the universities receive greater funding if more people pass, especially if they pass with better grades. Even secondary education has become so performance oriented that quality is at rock bottom levels.
  • Many English people want to leave the UK. English TV is full of programs about finding a dream home in any number of locations around the world. You can find more than a few Brits dotted all over the world, including quite a number in Italy. People are proud to be British, but pleased to escape.
  • The formerly venerable House of Lords has become full of government cronies who are politically correct to the point of insanity. They seem to take respect for human rights to extreme lengths. In the UK now, if you come from some country with a crackpot regime, murder a few people, and are caught, you need have no fear of being deported. All because the lovie dovies fear that you may come to a sticky end in your country of origin. Really those who continue to practice their wicked ways need to be kicked out and face the consequences of their actions, then at least others would think twice about coming to the UK and wrecking lives.
  • The great British bobbie has been legislated out of existence, just about. Would you believe that British policemen are actually leaving the country to find work in countries where their services are better appreciated? You can read more about the former English policeman behind the Copper’s Blog who is now in Canada in my ‘The Dark Side of the UK and the Free Press‘ post.

I’m sure others can give more examples as to why post-Blair Britain is no longer great. Do I think Blair did great things for Britain. No. If anything, the man dragged the place down even faster.

At the end of the day though, it’s not too much of a surprise that the UK should be spiralling downwards even faster than Italy. The UK is ten years ahead of Italy in many respects, which means it hit a trough more recently. And the UK suffers, in the same way as Italy, from that bane of modern society - the career politician.

Remember Neil Kinnock - former head of the Labour party? He hated people with posh accents, but with his knighthood, and all the dosh he makes from the European Parliament, this good socialist is laughing all the way to the champagne bar, as many career politicos do. They would make, sorry, are great actors.

You can say what you like about Italy, but at least the place has not become politically correct to the point of self destruction.

Does the UK have equivalents of Di Pietro and Beppe Grillo, or, even better Clementina Forleo? I’m a bit out of touch, so enlighten me. If the UK does not, it sure as heck needs them.

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The dangerous heart of Italy.

July 25, 2007 · Filed Under Italy · 2 Comments 

Italy can be quite a dangerous place. In fact there are various ways in which people can come to an untimely end in this country. In order of lethality these are driving, working, and stepping on toes.

Driving

Sorry, driving, is a little misleading, because pedestrians are also at risk from Italy’s gung-ho drivers. The figures seem to speak for themselves. According to an article on the Reuters website 8.47 pedestrians per 1000 inhabitants are killed or hurt in the eternal city. I’m assuming that this is an annual rate of carnage, but the site does not say. However, it does specify that in London 0.85 pedestrians are killed or injured per 1000 inhabitants, whereas in Paris, the figure is only 0.4. Something is not right in Italy.

The rising number of young Italians drinking too much and then driving has led to an increasing number of fatal incidents, and the checks carried out by Italian police, although increasing, as a result of their waking up to the problem, are limited. More numbers. Number of alcohol limit tests carried out this year so far in Italy: One million. In France last year, the number was 8 million checks. It has to be said that Italians are much more blasé about having a few drinks and then hopping in their cars and zooming off, than, say, English people who have learnt to avoid drinking and driving at just about all costs. High profile UK government advertising campaigns, severe punshments and sky high car insurance have all contributed towards reducing drink drive cases to a minimum in the UK. In Italy, the driver education process has yet to begin.

However, it is not just drinking that causes accidents in Italy. Many Italian drivers seem to be incapable of anticipating possible problems on the road ahead of them. Or at least this is the impression I get. Feet do seem to be glued to the accelerator and there is an uncanny reluctance to apply the brakes. Non-Italians have all heard stories of Italian drivers swerving round pedestrians while they cross the road. This is one hundred percent true and something I experience almost every day here in Milan. I’ve literally lost count of the number of times I have nearly been hit while crossing the road. And I’m not talking about crossing just any old where, I generally cross roads via crossings and at traffic lights. I’ve mentioned before that the little green man stays green for a few nanoseconds and you virtually have to run across the road. This is all while drivers are turning in front of you, or driving behind you, as you cross. For heavens sake NEVER, I repeat, never, ever, stop on an Italian pedestrian crossing. If you do, you will be run down. I’d almost bet money on this.

Talking of pedestrian crossings, if you do read the Reuters article, you will hear that the Italian president’s wife was recently run down on a crossing. This high profile incident seems to have started to wake Italy’s politcos up to the problem. There have also been a few other nasty incidents in the press recently involving mad motorists wiping out pedestrians. Ever heard of the film ‘Deathrace 2000′? Well, I fear the inspiration for this film came from Italy. Attempt to drive in Naples and you will know what I am talking about. I have to add I remember one incident clearly, and it was here in Milan. It scared the hell out of me. I was pushing my son across the road at a crossing in his push chair when some idiot cut right in front of me, narrowly missing both of us. If I had had a gun, I would have shot at the car. That’s how angry I was. Don’t these people think about their mothers or their own children? Obviously not.

Working

Anyway, assuming that you have actually managed to cross the road and, let’s say, arrive in one piece at work, you might feel safe. Er, not. Would you believe that it is actually safer to fight in Iraq than it is to work in Italy? No, probably not. Yet European figures show that over 5,200 people died in work related accidents in Italy from the start of 2003 to October 2006. Whereas in the same period in Iraq, just over 3,500 soldiers perished. The worrying thing is that the figure concerning deaths in Italy is probably inaccurate. You see, most of the people who are dying are unskilled, illegal immigrant workers, and you can bet that some never make it onto official records.

Reasons for this appalling situation? Three, in the eyes of this here blogger. First, Italian taxes and contributions are high, so cheap labour remains attractive. Then, there is the problem of sacking workers, which encourages the employment of illegal cheap labour. This is something that has been brought about, partially, by intransigent unions who have refused attempts to make Italian employment legislation more flexible, or rather, flexible enough. Although new employment contracts have rendered employment contracts more flexible, they are not yet flexible enough, as the figures above attest. And finally, there is the famous Italian disregard for regulations, which means that these illegal labourers are not provided with appropriate safety gear. By way of an example, from what I have noticed, building site workers never seem to bother putting safety helmets on. And this is despite there being official signs stating that helmets and other gear must be worn at all times.

Stepping on Toes

The final route to an untimely death in Italy, stepping on toes, can also be said to be work-related. If, for example, you ‘work’ for certain not so legal organisations and you do the wrong thing. Watch out for people on motorbikes. Then, if you happen to be one of the small but dedicated group of people who is trying to deal with the aforementioned organisations and you get too close (there are, regrettably, too many stories of this), you may get to meet your maker sooner than expected. Journalists who ‘get too close’, end up pushing up daisies or running chat shows. And, last but not least, there are those who act as consultants for the government. Provide certain advice, and you may well become the target of Italy’s best known terrorist organisation.

After having painted something of a black picture of this sunny land in the final section of this post, you may be surprised to hear that I do not consider Italy to be a violent place, at least not at street level. The UK seems to be much more dangerous than Italy in terms of spontaneous and mindless violence. And the number of shootings back in Britain that I keep on hearing about, is worrying.

But in terms of driving and working, Italy is way more dangerous than the UK.

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