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Sorry you are just full of shite. .... ..... ..... news at 11 fit for purpose laws in the UK the term you were so clearly desperately trying to avoid ( as it is specifically illegally excluded in M$ EULAs http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/.... So regardless of your deceit, regardless of a company claiming to exclude fit for purpose, in the UK consumer laws categorically state that products must be fit for purpose. And by no stretch of the imagination can anyone claim that a software product, oh my, wear the fuck out ;D.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_common_problems_with_products_e/consumer_problems_with_delivery_e/consumer_unsolicited_goods_e/youve_received_goods_or_services_you_didnt_ask_for_distance_sales.htm

In UK Law you have an absolute right to keep unsolicited Goods and are under no legal obligation to return them.

The loser in a small claims case doesn't pay the other side's lawyers' fees. So you're definitely not getting reimbursed for your own time.

This is actually the main advantage of small claims. If they were liable for your fees, you would be liable for theirs and however good your case, losing is always a possibility. You wouldn't want to take a case to small claims if losing meant you were down another £10,000 in lawyers' fees on top of what you had already lost.

Ok...
Doctors leaving Germany over low wages:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/german-brain-drain-sick-of-bad-pay-doctors-flee-germany-a-399537.html

Waiting lists for hospital treatment:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nireland/healthcare_ni/healthcare_nhs_healthcare_e/nhs_patients_rights.htm#Hospitalwaitinglists

Hospitals unable to meet maximum wait times and resorting to fraud to meet guidelines:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-90691/Patients-cheated-NHS-waiting-list-scandal.html

Wait times continue to increase despite government pressure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/19/david-cameron-pressure-nhs-waiting-times
"Recent hospital figures show the average waiting time across all 19 departments to be about eight months. While breast surgery patients are seen in less than a month, patients waiting for a pain management appointment can expect to wait years"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-20238418

Remember those "death panels" that were such a joke? Meet a victim of one:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/2910780/NHSs-refusal-to-fund-cancer-treatment-costs-mother-21000.html

Can you point to this in legislation? I believe the GP is right, everything I've seen in the Sale of Goods Act and Consumer Protection Act seems to suggest 6 months statutory burden on the seller to prove user fault, and after 6 months on the buyer. Most companies if you push it wont ask you to prove you weren't at fault though because they know full well that you weren't and that in pushing it to that point could escalate their costs as they may then face small claims court costs, costs for time and money spent trying to get them to accept fault etc. too.

John Lewis isn't just accepting a legal minimum with their 2 years at all, they're just saying that they'll accept fault assuming there is no obvious evidence of user damage no questions asked and deal with the problem up to 2 years. It just gives you piece of mind that they wont try and shirk their obligations by trying to shift burden of proof of cause of fault onto you, which is something you don't have with the likes of Dixons group stores.

I had a look for the 2 year period you mention but can find absolutely no evidence of it in the acts themselves:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/43

Further, all of the consumer advice organisation seem to be agreeing with the 6 months, and again no mention of 2 years so I'm not sure where you dug up the 2 years figure from:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs/buying_goods_your_rights.htm

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/understanding-the-sale-of-goods-act/your-rights/

Six months doesn't sound great, but in practice it works well, I've had a leather office chair replaced outright by Staples after 2.5 years because the pump went on it because they knew it should last longer than that, and similarly my Dell laptop was replaced at 3 years and 1 month with a newer model because it was high end and should've lasted longer and they knew they couldn't just shirk it off as "out of warranty now". The maximum period for a claim is 6 years.

Everything I said is deduced from the article that you claimed I didn't read:

Oliver Drage, 19, of Liverpool, was arrested in May 2009 by police tackling child sexual exploitation.

From advice on UK law:

Police can arrest you if they have a valid arrest warrant. There are also some situations where they can arrest you without a warrant. These are where:

        * you are in the act of committing certain offences
        * they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are committing certain offences
        * they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you have committed certain offences
        * you are about to commit certain offences
        * they have reasonable grounds for suspecting you are about to commit certain offences.

So they can't arrest without reasonable grounds for a start. That includes having evidence of the crime being committed. Furthermore from the same article that I "didn't read":

Drage was convicted of failing to disclose an encryption key in September. He was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on Monday.

Hence: they had to convince a judge that they had reasonable grounds to request the encryption key, or he wouldn't have been sentenced at all.

You either failed to read the article, or failed to comprehend the article. I trust you're done being a rude, ill-informed little prick?

Actually the NHS bills foreigners (non-EU at least) who require treatment. Little known fact, hidden behind Daily Mail "health tourism" rhetoric.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nm/index/family_parent/health/nhs_charges_for_people_from_abroad.htm

In the UK, we've got different classes of licences as well. See here for classes of vehicles in the UK. (As an aside, it can be most annoying - for example, anyone who passes their driving test before 1st Jan 1997 gets Class C1 on their licence automatically, and those who passes on or after 1st Jan 1997 must take a test to get Class C1. I passed my test in August 1997 so I keep having to ask my Dad to drive Class C1 vehicles for me every time I move house)

Also, licence plates for vehicles in the UK is linked to the car, not the driver. When a car is sold in the UK, it's assigned a licence plate which stays with the car until it's crushed, then the licence plate is never re-used (unless brought by a rich person decades in the future). For example, my first car had "F564 SLO" (now crushed), my second car had "K380 AUR" and so on - the registration year and location is stored in the plate too, so it wouldn't make sense to move plates. So, nice idea, shame it won't work in the UK.

But like someone else said, if someone is caught drink driving, they lose their licence. Simple.

Our plates here (US) stay with the car as well. The difference being that every 7yrs (at least in my state) we must receive new plates. So, I think it still might be able to work for you guys too.

In the UK, we've got different classes of licences as well. See here for classes of vehicles in the UK. (As an aside, it can be most annoying - for example, anyone who passes their driving test before 1st Jan 1997 gets Class C1 on their licence automatically, and those who passes on or after 1st Jan 1997 must take a test to get Class C1. I passed my test in August 1997 so I keep having to ask my Dad to drive Class C1 vehicles for me every time I move house)

Also, licence plates for vehicles in the UK is linked to the car, not the driver. When a car is sold in the UK, it's assigned a licence plate which stays with the car until it's crushed, then the licence plate is never re-used (unless brought by a rich person decades in the future). For example, my first car had "F564 SLO" (now crushed), my second car had "K380 AUR" and so on - the registration year and location is stored in the plate too, so it wouldn't make sense to move plates. So, nice idea, shame it won't work in the UK.

But like someone else said, if someone is caught drink driving, they lose their licence. Simple.

In response to the other point, 15 isn't child labour in the UK, but the hours children can work are more limited than the hours employed adults can work (48/week max, pretty much). A 15 year old can work 25 hours a week (unless it's a week he should be at school, in which case it's 2 hours a day).

(There are other requirements for both children and adults, like a required number of breaks and having rest days etc.)

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/young_people_and_employment.htm

Actually it does work like that in the UK. Just choose your new name and start using it. You have to provide evidence for some purposes, like getting a passport, but this isn't a difficult process. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/family/change_of_name.htm

Not sure about the United States.

Tha Sale of Goods Act is the answer to the story submitters problems. Even if the guarantee (which is a contract) does specify limitations that the submitter has transgressed the submitter still has their statutory rights.

It's reasonably self evident that if a hinge has cracked within 5 months then it wasn't as durable as one would reasonably expect and is therefore defective.

At the end of the day if the store doesn't come to the party it should be a rather easy victory in a small claims court.

Thanks - I checked that all out and stand corrected.

Good advice here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/your_world /communications/television_licences.htm

No, you are wrong.

UK law gives you four weeks holiday, which is 20 days a year if you work 5 days a week, but the law does not give anyone time off on bank holidays. Some employers will give you a paid day off, but some will make you use your annual leave allowance if you don't want to work on a bank holiday.

There is lots of information here and here.

From adviceguide.org.uk:

If your employer gives you bank or public holidays off and pays you for them, they will count towards your four weeks' holiday unless your employment contract says that you get bank/public holidays on top of the holiday the law gives you. For example, if you work five days a week and you get eight paid bank holidays off each year, these are taken off the 20 days' holiday the law gives you.

No, you are wrong.

UK law gives you four weeks holiday, which is 20 days a year if you work 5 days a week, but the law does not give anyone time off on bank holidays. Some employers will give you a paid day off, but some will make you use your annual leave allowance if you don't want to work on a bank holiday.

There is lots of information here and here.

From adviceguide.org.uk:

If your employer gives you bank or public holidays off and pays you for them, they will count towards your four weeks' holiday unless your employment contract says that you get bank/public holidays on top of the holiday the law gives you. For example, if you work five days a week and you get eight paid bank holidays off each year, these are taken off the 20 days' holiday the law gives you.

You're right. The minimum term is six months. Specifically:

"If you take the goods back within six months of buying them, the trader must accept that they were faulty at the time of sale and offer to repair or replace them. If the trader doesn't accept that the goods were faulty, they will have to prove this.

If you have had your goods for more than six months when they go wrong, you can still ask the trader to repair or replace them, but you may have to prove that they were faulty when you bought them if the trader doesn't agree. You can ask for a repair or replacement at any time up to six years after you bought the goods (five years in Scotland), as long as it is reasonable for them to have lasted this long. If the goods go wrong after six years (or five in Scotland), you no longer have the right to ask for a repair or replacement."

From this UK consumer site.

In the uk, you can threaten them with going to the ombudsman if you think that things are taking too long. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6m/index/your_right s/civil_rights/how_to_use_an_ombudsman/index/your_ rights/civil_rights/how_to_use_an_ombudsman.htm Shows you how they are used in the UK. Looks like an ombudsman is a lawyer, so if you cannot find one, maybe a Lawyer will do.

US federal Income tax:
Rate: 25%
Income Band: $29,051 - $70,350

UK income tax:
Rate: 22% + (1-3% for National Insurance)
Income Band: £2,091 - £32,400 ($4k - 60k)

Sources:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/2004taxrates.asp
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/life/tax/i ncome_tax_rates/index/life/tax/income_tax_rates.ht m
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/nic.htm

Mandatory, expensive and mediocre health care.
That comes out of of the 1-3% mentioned above. What does your government do with that 1-3%? Invade countries? Build space weapons systems? Subsidise cotton farmers? I think I'd rather have my free health service, ta.

Cameras everywhere
Not sure what you mean by that.

A sensationalistic press that makes Fox look bi-partisan.
Umm... not really. Having read both US and UK papers, I've seen nothing in the US to compare to the Guardian or the Independent. People take as much notice of the Sun and Mirror as they do of the National Inquirer.

Out of control, bureaucratic utilities
BT is the last one, but yes.

Television licenses along with warrant-less searches of homes suspected of running an unlicensed television.
TV licenses pay for the largest (ad free) news site on the web, plus a whole bunch of programs that wouldn't get made otherwise (The Office, HHGTTG, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen, etc). Warrantless searches is bollocks. The TV License people have no more right to enter my house than you do, or the police do, for that matter.

Speed traps everywhere, set to excessively low limits and with giant fines.
Speed traps yes, they are a fucking pain in the arse, but not in their self a reason not to live here. "Excessivly low speed limits" is a bit rich coming from a yank. What's the interstate limit? 55mph? jebus!

Cameras monitoring every meaningful inch of public space.
I guess that's a repeat of No. 2 above. Don't know where you got that from. Don't believe everything you read on slashdot.

wtf does libertarian mean in the US?! I can't believe you put up with the possibility of being shot by the police after being stopped for traffic incidents; a transparently corrupt political system; unrestricted development on a beautiful countryside; blatant society-wide racism; a massively powerful religious right-wing movement; advertising on every inch of spare space;

Now THAT is taking up the arse.