Why Don't We Get Support From Our British Embassy - Crazy Uk

[Thongkorn]

What Do you want them to Do, Do you want us tax payers to pay for your jollies. You got there,

[Blackandwhite]

I find that the people who make the most demands upon foreign service offices are the people that pay the least to support the delivery of those services. If you want concierge service, then don't bitch and holler at the government to cut back on spending for the delivery of the services.

Another stupid comment, there are only a handful of people that take your rather unintelligent and need I say rather mad post with any seriousness, I pay more tax than most people earn in a year and this tax goes towards running British embassies world wide to protect and serve the citizens of the uk. Maybe you don't understand the British systems based on your very irrational and stupid post I would guess your a little green when it comes to basic understanding and intelligence. The Embassy is there to support its citizens why should they not support the citizens of the Uk that is the whole point of having a British embassy in each country, are you that short sighted and stupid, embassies are not just to take money for visa's for people wishing to visit the Uk. No wonder there is so little Britishness left in the Uk when there is such thoughts as yours.

[smokie36]

I find that the people who make the most demands upon foreign service offices are the people that pay the least to support the delivery of those services. If you want concierge service, then don't bitch and holler at the government to cut back on spending for the delivery of the services.

Another stupid comment, there are only a handful of people that take your rather unintelligent and need I say rather mad post with any seriousness, I pay more tax than most people earn in a year and this tax goes towards running British embassies world wide to protect and serve the citizens of the uk. Maybe you don't understand the British systems based on your very irrational and stupid post I would guess your a little green when it comes to basic understanding and intelligence. The Embassy is there to support its citizens why should they not support the citizens of the Uk that is the whole point of having a British embassy in each country, are you that short sighted and stupid, embassies are not just to take money for visa's for people wishing to visit the Uk. No wonder there is so little Britishness left in the Uk when there is such thoughts as yours.

Well I for one wouldn't travel abroad without having the means to support myself for at least a month longer than I intend to travel and be able to fund an alternative route home should it all go wrong. But I have some compassion for people who run on a tighter budget particularly the young or those with families caught up through no fault of their own and the UK government just washes their hands of helping or giving any useful advice of any kind. That's where Britishness has fallen down mate not in the middle or bottom. Pathetic!

[bjoe97]

first of all- there are no British citizen's.You are all subjects.

Secondly, stop your whining.

Most of you all sound like a bunch of spoilt brats who have gone off on holiday willingly,to the worlds 11th most corrupt country/knockshop one you must of known has serious issue's, but waived those aside due to local pleasures which cost a lot more back home. But still came anyway, things happened- and who is to blame?

Not me , so lets pretend we're all back in the playground and act like kids.

Oh, lets ignore the warnings signs, the advise,found on websites, posters at passport office,officials, etc, lets put aside what is so obviously lacking here- common sense,lets ignore the plainly obvious-despite what happened here last year and take the risk anyway....

Nobody forced you to come.

Did they? if so, who? Were you not aware of the risks? If not, you are either stupid, blind,irresponsible...anything else?..... or a combination of all.

Stop being a pain in the neck and placing a burden upon something you only have yourself to blame for.

Your taxes should not be wasted upon this issue. And they won't be.

If I was in charge I would not pay a single penny out of government coffers for those to fail to take responsibility. They will not anyway.

There are far, far more important things. Do not think the British embassy does not care, but it has far more important things to deal with.

All the dealings I have had with the British Embassy have shown me that amongst all the foreign missions they are one,if not the best.

They have two excellent,caring, hard working staff Mr Jeff Mitchell, and Miss Kate Dufall who go way over and above their call of duty and are a true credit to their service.

In real proper case,like a very injured brit, someone flew down immediately, the murdered Scottish lady.... excellent treatment of the whole matter, their handling of brits in jail.....excellent.Although some seem to have a personal vendetta against some of the staff.One even has his own website which contains pure lies.

They arrange so many charitable events,promote so many positive things- and I think that's where any moneys should be going.

[smokie36]

first of all- there are no British citizen's.You are all subjects.

Errm no we're not...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_natio...ish_nationality

[smokie36]

They arrange so many charitable events,promote so many positive things- and I think that's where any moneys should be going.

Nope! its British taxpayers money and should be used to help British citizens in time of unexpected need.

[smokie36]

Oh, lets ignore the warnings signs, the advise,found on websites, posters at passport office,officials, etc, lets put aside what is so obviously lacking here- common sense,lets ignore the plainly obvious-despite what happened here last year and take the risk anyway....

There are far, far more important things.

You certainly ignored the OP. Maybe that should be your first important stop. Not heard about the volcano on the news then?

[wolf5370]

Wow do people seem to like the sound of their keys clicking or what? So many similar posts all spouting the same diatribe without actually reading (or possibly understanding) the posts they attack.

There is nothing wrong with expecting you Embassy to step in and employ its diplomatic metal in aid of its citizens. Stranded holiday makers may well be able to use their credit cards to cover the expenses or call up their insurance companies, but that does not stop them having issues with overstay visas (only extended until Friday - with people still stranded until the following week) or getting more definite dates. Using a bit of pressure to ensure their citizens are treated fairly in the seat free for all and so on.

Britain's pay an incredible amount of tax each year - they pay taxes upon taxes. High income tax, VAT on almost everything, taxed savings, council tax, and so on. They are entitled to representation and support form their embassy because it is theirs - not the bloody Ambassador's, not the Queen's, not even the government's, but the people's. People had the right to protection by the government under the Magna Carta almost 800 years ago, its about time the government lived up to its responsibilities.

...Those who said that people should take responsibility for their own lives and not expect government handouts of tax payers money, must have missed the irony of their statement as that same government has just bankrupted itself doing exactly that to banks, with no responsibility, that quite happily still give seven figure bonus to the failures that run them into the ground in the first place. I feel this argument is somewhat flawed given such recent actions in this regard.l

[bjoe97]

first of all- there are no British citizen's.You are all subjects.

Errm no we're not...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_natio...ish_nationality

wikipedia also says things like karate is martail art

that taekwondo is korean- all wrong

if a country has a Queen everyone who carry's Her passport is a subject, all words maybe....

[bjoe97]

Oh, lets ignore the warnings signs, the advise,found on websites, posters at passport office,officials, etc, lets put aside what is so obviously lacking here- common sense,lets ignore the plainly obvious-despite what happened here last year and take the risk anyway....

There are far, far more important things.

You certainly ignored the OP. Maybe that should be your first important stop. Not heard about the volcano on the news then?

yes, and have you heard all the different ways people are managing to still get home?

why is it that some people moan moan moan, and others, despite that volcano are now back home safe and sound

spend a little less on the ladys/beer/egos, go another route

it was still your choice to come

I would not be giving out a penny in taxes so this of "emergency"

My friend has just returned, 5 days after leaving...he did okay.... got out, got back in,what is he able to and others not?

The mindset of the lame.

[bjoe97]

They arrange so many charitable events,promote so many positive things- and I think that's where any moneys should be going.

Nope! its British taxpayers money and should be used to help British citizens in time of unexpected need.

but, the UK in it's noble attempt to be benevolent has turned most of its subjects into children, like the whinners here into defining something any mature, able, competant individual could handle into a" an unexpected time of need"

oh dear,,,, fetch me a tissue please,poor babys, "unexpected need"

The worst thing the UK did was stop national service.That bred people who did not run to mummy each time an " unexpected need" came up

opps... I just ran out of milk, anyone have the UK embassys number?

[theoldgit]

wikipedia also says things like karate is martail art

that taekwondo is korean- all wrong

if a country has a Queen everyone who carry's Her passport is a subject, all words maybe....

OK, if you don't trust Wikipedia read the UKBA's take on it, or maybe they are wrong as well.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/

[smokie36]

wikipedia also says things like karate is martail art

that taekwondo is korean- all wrong

if a country has a Queen everyone who carry's Her passport is a subject, all words maybe....

OK, if you don't trust Wikipedia read the UKBA's take on it, or maybe they are wrong as well.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/

Thanks for that oldgit.

And just to say to bjoe97 at least I could understand your first rant. I couldn't make head nor tail of your replies today unfortunately or I would attempt to reply to them directly.

[bjoe97]

wikipedia also says things like karate is martail art

that taekwondo is korean- all wrong

if a country has a Queen everyone who carry's Her passport is a subject, all words maybe....

OK, if you don't trust Wikipedia read the UKBA's take on it, or maybe they are wrong as well.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/

Thanks for that oldgit.

And just to say to bjoe97 at least I could understand your first rant. I couldn't make head nor tail of your replies today unfortunately or I would attempt to reply to them directly.

no problem and regardless of what anything says, if a place has a monarch as the head of its state, apparently then everyone is subjected to that monarch's say. Even if its only ritual.Apparently even in UK an elected person has to see The Queen before he/she becomes the head of state.Therefore being subjected to the monarch says means they are subjects.

The UK trying modernize has steered away from any of this old fashioned terms, but never the less the laws are those of precedent ( i hope my English correct) which is why there is no law against female homosexuality.

Regardless of anything said on any wikipedia, passport website, having a monarchary means the people are really subjects. But I may be completely an utterly wrong. I called my UK history teachers over this and even he said " that's a hard one"

Also, regrading home office website, apparently a UK subject needs a passport to exit UK, that's not true. I should know my friends do it all the time. What one is told is not always the truth or accurate.In this case he was actually told he was breaking the law. The case was checked and it was proven he was right.

Excuse my rants, its my lumbago and chronic piles

[Rinrada]

Are we subjects or citizens? ...or even british (for another day)

from aunty.

Are British people subjects or citizens?

The short answer is that we are probably both - a very British compromise - but it needs some explaining.

A subject is someone "under the dominion of a monarch", says the Oxford English Dictionary.

The subject has no say in how they are treated - although there is an excellent sketch in Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the merits of revolutionary government among the peasantry.

A citizen however is someone who does have rights.

In ancient Greece and Rome that meant some citizens took part in government. So, in short, a subject does what he is told - but a citizen has the right to be heard.

Magna Carta

It was in the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066 that things really started to change in the British Isles.

In 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta what was essentially a "code of conduct" for how a monarch should treat barons, but it also conceded the principle that the King's power was not absolute.

This was the first time that the concept of the rights of an individual appears in British law. Over the next 800 years, Britain slowly ...o so slowly developed these ideas.

One very early development was Habeas Corpus - the right not to be detained without good reason.

As European philosophers increasingly questioned the nature of authority, more and more power was ceded to Parliament by the Monarchy and indeed the English Civil War and the French Revolution came down to an argument over the power of the monarch.

In the last 150 years hhowever ordinary people themselves finally got a proper say in the UK, culminating with universal suffrage of men and women by 1928 (only women over 30 got the vote in 1918).

Unwritten constitution

Each and every one of these steps created more rights for the people and more duties upon rulers - the fundamental shift from subject to citizen.

That transfer of power was not however absolute: the unwritten "social contract" declares that society only functions if citizens agree to be subject to the law made in their name - in other words we give up our right to be absolutely free in return for the protection that society provides.

Here's the tricky bit for the UK:

When you search for the piece of paper explaining exactly when we stopped being subjects and became citizens, you won't find it, although admittedly passports now use the word citizens and part of the reason for this confusion is that that our constitution is not neatly contained in a single form like other states.

Nationality laws introduced the word citizen during the break-up of the British Empire - but only as a means to differentiate UK residents from other British subjects for immigration purposes.

But if you do look what you find is a history of rights and duties flowing from Parliament, in the name of the Monarch, which create the concept of citizenship.

And it is the role of the courts in protecting these rights and duties as citizens, rather than just enforcing the state's will, that is key to the idea of modern citizenship.

Take the 1998 Human Rights Act for example, which enforces a European-level convention:

If your child cannot get a place at any school anywhere within in reasonable distance of your home, a judge may well decide the local council has breached little Johnny's right to an education.

In other words, a public authority must consider how their decisions affect you, the citizen. If that effect is damaging without good reason, then it shouldn't do it in the first place.

Today, the government talk is very much of "rights and responsibilities" within citizenship. Children get taught it, naturalized immigrants formally celebrate it. Home Secretaries make speeches on it and even employ lots of people to think about how to create it.

All leading politicians generally agree that citizenship is in the interests of a strong society - they just squabble over government's role in achieving it.

So while we are legally "subjects" because there isn't a single piece of paper that says otherwise, the sweep of history essentially finds that we are citizens, albeit in constitutionally different ways to other nations.

Could suggest that the Jury is still out but at least nobody is ch ucking stones...

[smokie36]

^ Thanks for the history lesson Rinrada.

Seems we're in a right old British pickle over this one...!

[slapout]

Agree Smokie; Rinrada, its nice to see someone make an educated informed response to a question without the rants and off topic confetti some seem to throw out.

[bjoe97]

Agree Smokie; Rinrada, its nice to see someone make an educated informed response to a question without the rants and off topic confetti some seem to throw out.

its not clear because someone seems to have just changed meaning

simple this- having a monarch means anyone under that monarch, strickly speaking is a subject of that monarch

on one wedsite, ask jeeves, you can see so ,many contradictions

anyway, I love the British Royal family, espcially the old Queen Mother

don't ask me why, maybe its because i'am, old queen myself!

UK goverment- please spend the tax payers money on your soldiers, your police,your old, your sick,your education system and you great unreconginesed efforts at keeping the world a safer place

[Soutpeel]

UK goverment- please spend the tax payers money on your soldiers, your police,your old, your sick,your education system and you great unreconginesed efforts at keeping the world a safer place

Based on Flash Gordon's comments about the lady in Wigan, think this gives us great insight into what the "ruling classes" think of the common UK born citizen/subject... ....." I apologised profusely in person, as there was a misunderstanding".....<deleted> Gordon, start packing your bags now...

[theoldgit]

Based on Flash Gordon's comments about the lady in Wigan, think this gives us great insight into what the "ruling classes" think of the common UK born citizen/subject... ....." I apologised profusely in person, as there was a misunderstanding".....<deleted> Gordon, start packing your bags now...

Summed up nicely, the boy is still trying to wriggle himself out of that stupid remark as I speak.

[bjoe97]

who is flash Gorden? and what has he do with the UK tax ?

[bjoe97]

UK goverment- please spend the tax payers money on your soldiers, your police,your old, your sick,your education system and you great unreconginesed efforts at keeping the world a safer place

Based on Flash Gordon's comments about the lady in Wigan, think this gives us great insight into what the "ruling classes" think of the common UK born citizen/subject... ....." I apologised profusely in person, as there was a misunderstanding".....<deleted> Gordon, start packing your bags now...

i know if off topic- but please explain, I UK politics

[rgs2001uk]

UK goverment- please spend the tax payers money on your soldiers, your police,your old, your sick,your education system and you great unreconginesed efforts at keeping the world a safer place

Based on Flash Gordon's comments about the lady in Wigan, think this gives us great insight into what the "ruling classes" think of the common UK born citizen/subject... ....." I apologised profusely in person, as there was a misunderstanding".....<deleted> Gordon, start packing your bags now...

Gillian Duffy seems to be more clued up on whats happening than the clown with his seige bunker mentality.

The woman should be made a dame of the realm for givings us all an insight into the ways these wanke_rs think of us all as idiots, best phone Pickfords now Gordon.

[theoldgit]

But it wasn't the esteemed PM's fault he slagged off the lady in the privacy of his car, straight away he looked for someone to blame, in this case it was Sue, one of his advisers.

You have to remember Gordon can do no wrong, I can hardly believe there could be another four years of that <deleted> idiot at the helm.