British Expatriate Network

As America and Europe are becoming more polorized in terms of attitudes to subjects like Stem cell research, public decency and things like religion, ethunasia and abortion I was wondering which country do you think is more liberal the US or UK?

Liberal is a very broad term and seems to mean a great many things to a great many people. But I'll assume we both take it to mean a nontraditional stance on the issues mentioned. I'd say it's obvious that hands down the UK is more liberal.

Absolutely no contest. Britain is, hands down, more liberal.

Examples? I wouldn't even know where to start.

The UK is more relaxed, more compromising, less extreme, more tolerant...so much more in the middle of the liberal-conservative axis.

Examples would nice if you could so kind?

On a completely unrelated point, both me and David used "hands down", almost simultaneously.

Which got me wondering about the origin of that phrase. Per the OED

"Hands down," it seems, dates back to the mid-19th century and harks, not from card-playing or schoolyard fisticuffs, but from the genteel world of horseracing. A jockey nearing the finish line well ahead of the competition, with victory certain, would often relax his posture and drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, as his steed galloped the final few yards. To win a race "hands down," therefore, was to win it easily, without any serious competition, and by the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean "with no trouble at all."

Got to love the OED.

In what ways the UK more liberal than the US on certain subjects?

I think that people in the UK are far more tolerant of other people's individual choices, even if they don't approve of them - abortion, for example, where in the US the activism is very o to Brits. I think this is the key thing in making the UK overall more liberal.

Some specific examples not particularly related to the above statement

Obviously in something like gun control, the US is more liberal (on average).

The UK is more liberal about alcohol consumption - it's legal at a younger age and it's just about OK to drink at lunchtime; although Americans drink their fair share, they deny it too. OTOH, driving laws are more liberal in the US - with teenagers driving and lax driving test standards.

Health care.

British people, no matter how much they love the NHS, couldn't imagine life without it. Lots of Americans think that any kind of national healthcare is some sort of evil creeping socialism to be avoided at all cost.

Relgion

Notwithstanding the Constitution, many Americans would like to be religion (although, only THEIR religion) play a central (actually, THE central) role in public life.

Death Penalty

OK with most Americans, not so OK in the view of many Brits (pace the editors of The Sun).

Obviously all these are generalisations, but that's what we are talking about here.

That's always a good argument when they want 'Prayer in schools' and so on - Britain has a Christian state religion and it has one of the lowest percentage s of practicing Christians in the Western world.

I would expect to say UK but haven't been there since 1990. Has anything changed since then?

Just like Canada eh.

Only warmer and with funnier accents.

/oo arr my dear, I'm a Wurzel.

I believe they have a Labour government now.

Get away with you. The family back home tells me this government has a much to do with labour as Maggie did.!
socialist regards :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: