It’s time to bring the project to a close. In this chapter, we touch on some subjects we haven’t covered and check if Elisa’s British boyfriend still wants to talk to us. Thank you for being with us through those 10 episodes, and let’s hope we’ll meet one day in our new podcast entitled “You’re […]
You are not so great Britain
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 9: Hey ho, hey ho, it’s off to work we go.
People from all over the EU until recently were coming to the UK in their thousands to look for work. People from other parts of the world still find Britain an attractive destination. But is the British work market a good place to be an employee? Was it ever? Are salaries really good and workers’ […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 8: Trains, buses and everything.
One of Elisa’s English language students said that “Britain is the country where everything is organized and buses are always on time”. Oh, how wrong she was. With the bus and rail strikers, the government accuses trade union leaders for “making the public transport unreliable”. But perhaps they should go on strike, because it can […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 7: British Universities. Are they really so good?
We invited professor Jan Čulík, lecturer in Czech from the school of modern languages and cultures at Glasgow University today. We decided to ask him if the British universities, so famous around the world for their teaching quality, are really as good as their places in the rankings show. Turns out, not everything is […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 6: Trucking hell!
Our guest today is Mat Ireland, driver, podcaster, and writer. We discuss the topic of the infrastructure for truckers in Britain. You can find Mat: – on youtube – on Facebook – the Truck and Driver podcast is here and you can find his book here Related posts: You are not so great Britain. Chapter […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 5: British bureaocracy.
This week Elisa and Tomasz discuss why British bureaucracy is so dysfunctional and what can be done to improve users’ experience in contact with the government, banks, and other institutions. To illustrate problems when talking to automatic voice recognition systems, we used a fragment of a clip from a TV show Burnistoun: https://youtu.be/HbDnxzrbxn4 Related posts: […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 4: Home, sweet home. Tiny, mouldy home.
Britons are pround of being one of the richest economy. But are standards of living really that great? We lived in a few countries between us, and we can’t remember topics like “mould”, “leaving rooms unheated to save money”, “single glazing windows” and “struggling to fit double bed into the bedroom” to be topics of […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 3: Britain is a world-leading democracy. Or is it?
Britain is very proud of its democracy. You can often hear soundbites like “world-leading”, “well-established” or “historic”. Sure, Magna Carta and other things were good – for their time. But it’s the XXI century. Is Britain’s democracy suitable for the times we live in? Can it be even considered a modern democracy at all? Related […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 2: Britain’s Rubbish.
Britain is a beautiful country. Old victorian towns, beautiful landscape, walkable city centres. Yet it is all spoiled by rubbish. Litter is everywhere, even despite the fact that bins are plentiful and easily accessible – from the main streets of big cities to the most remote areas of Scotland. Why is it, that Britain can’t […]
Welcome to my new Podcast: “You are not so Great, Britain!”
Some say one should not criticize another man’s beliefs. But what I can do? It’s not my fault that the conviction that the NHS is the best health system in the world and everybody is jealous of it is like a religion for many Britons. So if you are not afraid your religious beliefs might […]