A letter from John Cleese to America...

[Fade]

@ PMC
 "Actually, I rather like the idea of revoking American independence"


More UK bluster again!

And yet three years after that first post, not one of you have stepped forward to try to enforce these funny little suggestions. Methinks that's about all the UK has left. Suggestions!

Meanwhile you might suggest to the old Queenie that she should try it on one of her other old possessions that she might be able to conquer. Maybe Malta or Uganda. :lol:  


 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

............

[Karlos]

Methinks that's about all the UK has left. Suggestions!

At least we have the intellectual capacity to make them. What have you got? :-P

"Might is right!" and all that sh!te.

[motorollin]

I would like to add that adjectives and adverbs are NOT interchangeable. "You did good" makes my skin crawl.

--
moto

[bloodline]

odin wrote:
I belong to nobody! (Or well, perhaps the IBG..)

I belong to Lloyds TSB... :-(

[shillard]

Karlos wrote:

"Might is right!" and all that sh!te.

It's how the British Empire was built.

Mind you, it's bit hard to maintain your Empire when everyone with any "get up and go", got up and went.

To the US, Australia, South Africa....

[Karlos]

@shilltard

You say it like I ought to be sad that we are no longer in a realistic position to subjugate and plunder the resources of entire nations.

[metalman]

How the mighty have fallen

Active British Navy
(17) frigates
(42) destroyers
( 2) (Invincible class) Light Aircraft Carriers (18 to 23) aircraft & helicopters, Displacement 20,700 tons
( 0) Sea Harriers
(13) Submarines
 


HMS Illustrious (20,600 tons) with the USS John C. Stennis (104,000 tons)

[PMC]

@Metalman

Ah, but we're getting new ones shortly and I'm assured they're bigger too.

It raises an interesting point:

USS Winston S Churchill - is the only US Navy warship with a foreign officer onboard on it's permanent crew roster (Royal Navy).  It also is unique in the US Navy for having a fully stocked bar, any vessel bearing Churchill's name should expect nothing less, hehe :pint:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Winston_S._Churchill

There is a Royal Navy frigate with a serving US Navy officer as a permanent crewmember, but I can't recall the ship in question.

[edit]

It's the HMS Marlborough, which is due to be decomissioned.  Incidentally, the Marlborough was the first ship to render assistance to the stricken USS Cole when it was damaged in Aden in October 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Marlborough_%28F233%29

[amiga92570]

I like that idea as long as we get some decent british tv programming along with the deal. I really like 'A touch of Frost' and maybe they can make some more Faulty Towers or even Monty Python episodes.

[KThunder]

brits are just upset that we were once theirs. but they screwed up and pissed us off  by not allowing us representation in government.
we were their little brother, then we grew up and they are our little brother, we developed our own culture (which everyone seems to feel the need to look down on) and our own region specific pronunciations, spelling, and grammer.

its amazing how much people make of something from john cleese (i realize it was likely tongue in cheek) i am familiar with his work.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

KThunder wrote:
(which everyone seems to feel the need to look down on)

You know why? Because your 'culture' has no feeling, no guts (or well, culture as in: what the majority brings up as 'culture'). And you do not seem to have any sense of humour either.

[KThunder]

what exactly do you mean no feeling, no guts. our culture is as sofisticated and deep as any in europe, it is just different.
i have a sense of humour, i know the original quote was meant to be humourous. i think it is funny that people take it and run the way they do.
* yeah stupid americans, uncultured, illiterate, clods imperial freaks (as though the european empires never existed and the us actually had an empire)
im amazed at how many people form their opinions of other countries based seemingly on info from sitcoms.

[metalman]

PMC wrote:
@Metalman

Ah, but we're getting new ones shortly and I'm assured they're bigger too.

It raises an interesting point:

USS Winston S Churchill - is the only US Navy warship with a foreign officer onboard on it's permanent crew roster (Royal Navy). It also is unique in the US Navy for having a fully stocked bar, any vessel bearing Churchill's name should expect nothing less, hehe

Assuming they are not cut due to funding problems.

Britannia Flees the Seas

Do they know something?

The MoD plans to build, ( Type 45 Destroyers (£1 billion each), (2) aircraft carriers (£3.5-3.9 billion), (4) Astute class hunter killer submarines (£3 billion) and a fleet of up to 14 auxiliary ships (£3.5 billion).


The  (2) future aircraft carriers are planned at 65,000 tons and 280 meters long (carry 35 planes).


The US has (6) carriers in the reserve fleet and has offered one to Britain or Japan.

In 1963, by an Act of Congress, Winston S Churchill  :cheers:   was proclaimed an "Honorary Citizen of the United States". As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill would be distressed by the current state of the Royal Navy.

[PMC]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were cut.  However, a deal has been done with France to supply a second carrier to compliment the Charles De Gaulle.  The De Gaulle took thirteen years to reach service and has been plagued with technical problems, so the French Navy are looking for a conventionally powered vessel next time round.  The British design, with it's flexibility (it is designed with possible fitting of CATOBAR equipment in the future) is the closest thing they have to meeting their requirements.

Lessons from Afghanistan and UN peacekeeping duties have meant that the RN needs a more capable strike carrier fleet along the lines of the US Navy, however purchasing a USN reserve carrier would require extensive re-engineering and possibly mean high running costs.  

BTW, Winston Churchill's mother was an American citizen...

[edit]

Actually Metalman, I think you'll find that the steam catapaults used on the US carriers was a British invention?  As were the angled flight decks required to land and launch planes simultaneously....

[CannonFodder]

we developed our own culture (which everyone seems to feel the need to look down on) and our own region specific pronunciations, spelling, and grammer.

I believe it is known as "retardation" in your neck of the woods. ;-)