Australia the second best place in the world

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Originally Posted by Kevnool

As long as the beers ice cold then thats ok by me.
Cheers Kev.

I'll second that

[glenc (Glen)]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1...ocratic:-study
Norway has been ranked the world's most democratic nation followed by Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia.
France, Italy, Greece and Slovenia dropped from the "full democracies" category and are now considered "flawed democracies."
The report also put the United States and the United Kingdom both near the bottom of the list of full democracies.

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by avandonk

Pining for the fiords!

Bert

Thanks Bert!

Al.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by glenc

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1...ocratic:-study
Norway has been ranked the world's most democratic nation followed by Iceland, Denmark, Sweden,...

Any comment on this will probably get the thread locked.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

... and now a massage from the Swedish prime minister.

[casstony]

Having spent some time in the US, Australia is an easier place in which to live if you're poor and our political model functions more smoothly than theirs. While we should always aim for improvement our problems are insignificant compared to the difficulties facing most other countries - I have to look hard to see the cloud beyond the silver lining here.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I am always amazed at how many people, after traveling overseas, say that we have it better here.

I don't even need to travel overseas to know that.

Australia is nation number 1 to me.

[ngcles]

Hi Bert & All,

Originally Posted by avandonk

Pining for the fiords!

Pining for the Fjords ! Now what kind of talk is that ...


Best,

Les D

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by avandonk

Pining for the fiords!

Bert

No thanks Bert, I'd rather have an Aussie 'Holden'

[multiweb (Marc)]

No way! Summer mozzies in Norway are the size of small birds... .... and the climate is great too [if you're a penguin]

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by multiweb

No way! Summer mozzies in Norway are the size of small birds... .... and the climate is great too [if you're a penguin]

Not to mention the lack of a night in summer.

[glenc (Glen)]

"On January 13, 2011, Freedom House released its findings from the latest edition of Freedom in the World, the annual survey of global political rights and civil liberties. According to the survey’s findings, 2010 was the fifth consecutive year in which global freedom suffered a decline—the longest period of setbacks for freedom in the nearly 40-year history of the report. These declines threaten gains dating to the post–Cold War era in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the former Soviet bloc. The latest survey hightlights the increasing truculence of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes, which has coincided with a growing inability or unwillingness on the part of the world’s democracies to meet the authoritarian challenge."
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=594

Table, Graphs, and Other Supporting Documents – Features graphical representations of global and regional breakdowns for freedom status, political rights and civil liberties ratings for each country and territory, the number and percentage of electoral democracies over the last two decades, and the total number of Free, Partly Free, and Not Free countries for each year since the survey began in 1972. Includes a summary of the Freedom in the World methodology.

Map of Freedom 2011 – This color-coded map of the world identifies the Free, Partly Free, and Not Free countries in 2010.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

High levels of freedom, highly ranked democracy, high standard of living, great education system, low unemployment, low intrest rates, low level of international dept, good health system etc etc...still seem to be plenty of complaints though huh...? The more you have, the more you want

Funny there's a lady in my office who, big breath... hates islamic people (even if they look middle eastern), dark skinned people, Asian looking races, is not sypatheic toward indigionous people one bit, hates Julia (in fact the whole Labor party), hates the United Nations, hates Obama and the list goes on... Funnily enough she is living in a nice house with a pool in a good suburb that's being paid off by her wealthy mother.... I have long given up trying to reason with her, in the office we just avoid all these subjects (and others) as best we can...its amzing what little snipet of news or topic will set her off. Once again, the better it is, the more you have, the more bitter you can become I guess...?

[luigi]

We must transplant all aussies to Argentina inmediately.
Same southern skies.
Great meat.
Nice weather.
And nothing is poisonous here! Except people.

[M110 (Andrew)]

Too damn cold in Norway for me

[Zaps]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Funny there's a lady in my office who, big breath... hates islamic people (even if they look middle eastern), dark skinned people, Asian looking races, is not sypatheic toward indigionous people one bit, hates Julia (in fact the whole Labor party), hates the United Nations, hates Obama and the list goes on...

Before finally retiring (again!), I had an Australian research assistant working for me who was just the nicest darn guy. He had a great sense of humor and would do just about anything for anybody, and was always concerned for the wellbeing of others.

Yet he referred to all non-white people by every racial epithet known, seemingly without even being aware that he was doing so. It wasn't ill-intentioned. He didn't seem to be trying to offend or insult any of them. It was apparently the way he was brought up to speak about such people.

[mill (Martin)]

Well i have been in Norway when i was in the marines (in winter time).
The wages might be high but if you have to buy booz or an $8.00 small jar of jam, you see your wages go down very quickly

[glenc (Glen)]

Australians have come out on top as the world's most envious people in a tally of the seven deadly sins.
BBC magazine Focus found Australians also scored highly for the other six sins, making Australia the 'most sinful' country on Earth.
"Sin-prone" Australia was followed by the US, Canada, Finland and Spain....
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/odd/673...untry-on-earth

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by glenc

Australians have come out on top as the world's most envious people in a tally of the seven deadly sins.
BBC magazine Focus found Australians also scored highly for the other six sins, making Australia the 'most sinful' country on Earth.
"Sin-prone" Australia was followed by the US, Canada, Finland and Spain....
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/odd/673...untry-on-earth

We all need to say three Hail Mary's, four Our Fathers and go straight..?...to bed..or perhaps maybe steal someones telescope

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

....not sure Julia would stack up against the average Norwegian gal though...

I can hear Wagner playing right now....