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Post by boris on Nov 8, 2006 21:54:45 GMT 1
Slatkica, if you mean me, I'm from England, one of the very few English people that actually live in Split full time, and for me the experience has on the whole been very good. The Croatians I deal with have all been helpful and friendly, efficient and well priced, be it builders, carpenters, car mechanics, cafe owners etc. The only comments I've had negatively about England have been about John Major's government, who some of my Croatian friends feel was very against them in the war, and this feeling of unhappiness with the British government does seem to have influenced how some Croatians now view the English. There are quite a few Irish and Australian people living in Split, and these people are constantly believed to be English by the locals, which does give the impression there are loads of us here. Fortunately, there aren't!
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Post by boris on Nov 8, 2006 21:56:04 GMT 1
Westy, thanks, this was exactly my point that some Croats feel that the English are not friendly towards them.
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Post by Slatkica on Nov 8, 2006 22:14:44 GMT 1
Lol, thanks for the reply Westy it was Owl that I was trying to direct the question to but I didn't make that very obvious ;D Though how long have you been living in Split for, what are you involved in?
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Post by Westy on Nov 8, 2006 22:28:11 GMT 1
Boris, that certainly wasn't the point I was hoping to make! I was saying that Croatians were very upset that the British government let them down badly when they needed support, rather than the English in general were not being friendly towards Croatia.
It's unfair for the population of a country to be viewed by what it's political leaders do, often against the wishes of the majority of the country, such as Tony Blair's desire to send troops into Iraq.
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Post by Westy on Nov 8, 2006 22:34:41 GMT 1
Slatkica, I've been here a couple of years now, did some property renovation and now just working on some new ideas.
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Post by jill on Nov 8, 2006 23:12:52 GMT 1
Westy, I don't suppose you know how I can get my electricity supply connected, I have an apartment in Supetar in the harbour on Brac. My restoration is complete....just waiting for electricity...8 months now. Can't move in or furnish 'til I have a bit of heat or light. Do you know the name of the Director or have any other contacts or ideas I can try! I know patience is a virtue and am used to this situation here in Italy but in Italy I can squeak 'til I get oiled but in Croatia I have to get someone else to squeak for me which is more awkward!
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Post by Westy on Nov 8, 2006 23:20:53 GMT 1
Sorry Jill, no ideas on that one - everything I've done so far has already been connected for electricity. Though the house I'm trying to sell might not be for long - have to dispute a bill for 104,532 kuna for an empty building for a five month period! Good old HEP!
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Post by jill on Nov 8, 2006 23:26:34 GMT 1
Grief! I guess I should count myself lucky. My bill has been about 19 Euro per month (but I only have 1 kw of power and one plug socket 'til the new supply arrives!
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Post by capio on Nov 9, 2006 20:27:22 GMT 1
It's unfair for the population of a country to be viewed by what it's political leaders do, often against the wishes of the majority of the country, such as Tony Blair's desire to send troops into Iraq. Eh, unfer... so many things in life are unfer but that's how it's go. Population of the country IS viewed by what it's political leaders do because ( thinking logically ) the majority people of that country CHOSE that politician to represent them. So, at the moment whatever Tony Blair and his cabinet decide to do, in the eyes of the world that things are decided by British people ( like it or not ). Or what Bush is doing and whatever c**p he is telling, it's American people who are looked at as an idiots, or those Croatian f*****s who are robbing my country. Automatically one would think, this Croats are sheeps for letting them to go away with it. Oh really? So then I am free to say all Croats were nazis in WWII? Or that you were all like Tudjman 15 years ago?
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Post by Westy on Nov 10, 2006 2:43:41 GMT 1
It's unfair for the population of a country to be viewed by what it's political leaders do, often against the wishes of the majority of the country, such as Tony Blair's desire to send troops into Iraq. Eh, unfer... so many things in life are unfer but that's how it's go. Population of the country IS viewed by what it's political leaders do because ( thinking logically ) the majority people of that country CHOSE that politician to represent them. So, at the moment whatever Tony Blair and his cabinet decide to do, in the eyes of the world that things are decided by British people ( like it or not ). Or what Bush is doing and whatever c**p he is telling, it's American people who are looked at as an idiots, or those Croatian f*****s who are robbing my country. Automatically one would think, this Croats are sheeps for letting them to go away with it. Owl, in the last general election in the UK, in England the majority of the votes cast were in favour of the Conservative opposition, but due to the Scots voting heavily for Tony Blair's Labour goverment, the UK has ended up with Scotland's choice of goverment and a Scottish Leader, Scottish Chancellor, Scottish Home Secretary .... so on your thinking does this absolve the English of any responsibility for the Iraq war and put all the responsibility on Scotland? I think that would be an unfair point of view, but it appears to be yours.
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Post by Frederick on Nov 10, 2006 8:43:16 GMT 1
Westy, I can't really agree with your analysis of the 2005 General election in the UK.
There were 645 seats up for grabs. This means that any party which got 323 seats could form a majority government.
Here are the results of the number of seats:
Lab: 355 Con: 198 LibDem: 62 Other: 30
This gave Labour a majority of 65 seats. Since there are only 59 seats in Scotland, even if everyone in Scotland had voted Conservative, Labour would still have won. So you can see, there is no way that your statement that "in England the majority of the votes cast were in favour of the Conservative opposition" can be true. Sorry.
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Post by Carol on Nov 10, 2006 8:48:19 GMT 1
you are describing the first past the post system. Westy is talking about the number of votes cast.
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Post by Westy on Nov 10, 2006 10:57:17 GMT 1
Westy, I can't really agree with your analysis of the 2005 General election in the UK. There were 645 seats up for grabs. This means that any party which got 323 seats could form a majority government. Here are the results of the number of seats: Lab: 355 Con: 198 LibDem: 62 Other: 30 This gave Labour a majority of 65 seats. Since there are only 59 seats in Scotland, even if everyone in Scotland had voted Conservative, Labour would still have won. So you can see, there is no way that your statement that "in England the majority of the votes cast were in favour of the Conservative opposition" can be true. Sorry. Frederick, as Carol said, I was referring to votes cast rather than seats won. Below is a snippet from the History Learnings web site. More people voted for the Conservatives in England than for Labour - but the Conservatives won 92 seats less than Labour within England (285 to 193). The Conservatives received 60,000 more votes than Labour in England.
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/2005_british_general_election.htm
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Post by Frederick on Nov 10, 2006 13:09:01 GMT 1
Thanks for the clarification and I apologise for doubting the truth of your statement. I still don't see why Labour getting in was due to the votes cast in Scotland. Surely the reason Labour got in was BECAUSE we have a first past the post system and not PR.
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Post by Carol on Nov 10, 2006 13:26:35 GMT 1
as far as I remember the tories also voted in favour of the war, so you could only really say that you have nothing to do with the war if you either voted lib dem or abstained. In any case we were are misled about the reason for war by tony blair, and no one but tony blair actually knows why we went to war. Maybe Tony Blair doesn't know either (it just seemed like a good idea at the time as the americans had asked him to do it)!
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