But, see, Richard. I don't agree with you. I think your brush is both too wide and too narrow.

4. Speech is free and the media varied US fail. While there are some limited left of centre print media voices, USTV is mostly very right wing. UK also fails but not so badly. The worst villain of the piece in both cases is Rupert Murdoch. The question is: Is speech free and the media varied? I say it is. In the US, I don't know anyone who is afraid to speak his/her mind. That, of course, does not extend to all scenarios. For instance, if you object to an individual's being arrested, if you are smart you know that it is not a good time to mouth off to the cops. Is media varied? Yes. There may be a preponderance of non-liberal reporting or venues (although the conservative doesn't see it that way) but I contend that the liberal is NOT always right- and I count myself as liberal -' as I once wrote in a song: "The good man's not always right nor the bad one always wrong." More to the point, the conservative, per se, is not automatically bad.    

11. . Education of children is universal, free and secular.US fail. Despite bussing from long back, the free education in less favoured areas is abysmal and condemns children to failure. That ain't necessarily so. That is a broad and biased and uninformed opinion. . US university is a long way from free. You said, "children." UK also fails but not so badly. Both have private schools for the wealthy that create vast advantage based on wealth (and UK builds religion into schools too)In the US too, many 'wealthy private schools' are religious schools. One has the option of not sending one's children to them. And that is freedom..

12. Other species are respected, valued and protected. I don't agree with you on this at all. Besides which I think that presenting Palin as an exemplar of such thinking is silly. US fail. There is lip service to preserving the gene pool and some good records (eg the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone, something the UK has not yet achieved in Scotland, and reasonably successful management of bison) the trend over the recent-ish past has been to demolish environmental protection with Sarah Palin a leading troglodyte in this respect. UK does fairly well largely thanks to EU regulation (and for example protects bats far more vigorously) but moves are afoot in the further right parts of our illegitimate government to water down environment and species protection. Bees are a disaster area for both.

13.3. Everyone secretly votes, every vote is openly counted independent of government. I have no doubt but that certain regions in the US have tainted elections- but see, I think that because I have no experience with it. My experience is quite different; I fail to see why you think you know better. Both fail. The US vote counting is clearly flawed - eg the Bush election, ballot stuffing is widely suspected, and electronic voting is under considerable and possibly justified criticism. UK vote counting is almost certainly wholly honest, but the Electoral Commission is under government control.

18.. Natural disasters bring massive state support for the hurt and homeless and helpless. This contention is silly. New Orleans was noteworthy because it failed so spectacularly. US fail. Remember New Orleans? UK - not all that bad.

19.The old, the sick, the disabled, are cared for. Frankly,my dear,you don't know what you are talking about. US fail. Only a limited proportion of the old get satisfactory (important word) funding support and as far as I know there is no state provision of homes for the elderly. UK marginally better although the state old age pension is inadequate and the limited range of state run elderly homes largely abysmal.

24.The balance between life at work and life at home is a healthy one. Sheesh. Both total fail. US is a total disaster for worker protection so there is in fact no protection from excessive management demands. UK is heading down the path of zero-hour contracts. At a higher level both demand 16 hour working hour days from, say, lawyers and the "lunch is for wimps" culture is still there. The UK has the longest working week and least protection from excessive working hours in Europe and the US is worse.