(Also, the UK Kitchen Nightmares episodes seem to be a bit more focused on the restaurant and not clawing for ratings like than the American one though)

Everyone did a good job and some did very well indeed. The only thing that kept me from really enjoying the evening was the over-tired five year old that insisted on sitting on my lap and talking through the whole show.

I think the average UK car mileage is around 12,000 per year. I’ve no idea what the US equivalent is, but it may well be higher. My experience is I use the car for the same amount of journeys, but here each journey may be a little longer.

The Tube (the London Underground system) is heavily used simply because of congestion - driving around London is so slow. Mind you, they have laws for the transport of animals and the way humans cram onto the Tube would not be tolerated for animals! London is, quite simply, congested.

The invention of Suburbia really puts some miles on our U.S. cars!

oh, and about the post - what is wrong with these people? i used to love toys r us. now it seems they are just dumb.

I found phone interviews convenient while I was searching but still employed, because I was able to schedule the interview over my lunch hour.

It’s just a fair way to interview job applicants who are both in town and out of town. By interviewing everyone over the phone first, it puts everyone on an even playing field.

As for how it all compares to what is going on here, it doesn’t. There is no UK equivalent of the presidential race, for instance. A General Election involves 646 constituencies each electing one person. The debate will be focussed on party lines with some local issues thrown in in each of the 646 battles. You can easily get up to 20 candidates fighting for each seat. Some mud-slinging goes on, but usually only on a local scale and usually only on truthful issues (i.e. the candidate once slept with a camel or something

Single issue voting can occur, and has done in the past. One Martin Bell stood as an independent in a constituency where he challenged both main candidates on an ‘anti-sleaze’ platform. He won. However, that single issue affected 1/646th of the Government and was therefore a point well made but fairly irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things. Single issue voting generally does not occur and never on a national scale. You get the Government you deserve, as they say, and if you vote on single issues you get what you deserve!

There is no election for the Prime Minister as you have with the President. The party with a majority of the 646 seats is asked to form a Parliament and the party leader becomes Prime Minister, just like that. That party can fire and replace the Prime Minister at any time without any public vote or involvement.