My wife and I relocated to the UK a few months ago after spending the past 37 years in the United States, and I cannot stop comparing the two countries. I oscillate wildly between my irrational exuberance at America’s superior market efficiencies and my sheer amazement at how orderly and polite you all are.
These reactions surprise me, as I am hardly new to these shores. I attended graduate school at Oxford, worked for a while in London, married a beautiful and talented Essex girl (TOWIE indeed), and have consulted for the UK government in Northern Ireland for the past eight years.
But now I actually live here, there are so many things that I am seeing with new eyes and deeply appreciate about the UK. Let’s start with the major ones. No guns. We lived in Virginia, which is an ‘open carry’ state, which means that anyone with a licence can openly display their handguns and automatic weapons. It is a little unnerving when you visit the local grocery store and see a shopper with a holster and side arms. I know that knives in the UK are a scourge, but you still don’t have to worry about a mass shooting when you send your kids off to school in the morning.
British politics. Everyone moans about their country’s politics, but no one here is going to assault and pillage No. 10 after an election result disappoints. No other democracy has anywhere close to the diversity of your political leadership. And in a presidential election year, when the Democrats and Republicans will each raise more than $1 billion in their marathon to the White House, the amount of money your politicians can raise is capped by law. Not having to spend all their time raising money means that they can actually spend their time mastering their brief and representing their constituents.
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