Re: Man arrested over quad bike death

On Jan 12, 6:05=A0pm, Mark Goodge <use...@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk>
wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:20:39 +0000 (UTC), Adrian put finger to
> keyboard and typed:
>
>
>
>
>
> >Mark Goodge (Mark Goodge <use...@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk>) gurgled
> >happily, sounding much like they were saying:
>
> >> It's very difficult to make any useful comparisons in situations like
> >> this, as there are no control groups and comparisons between different
> >> countries are hard to make due to different statistical methodologies
> >> and different legal frameworks. The two countries usually cited by
> >> anyone trying to make a claim for the validity or otherwise of gun
> >> control are the USA, which has a high gun ownership and by far the
> >> highest level of gun-related crime (particularly homicide) of the
> >> western world, and Switzerland, which also has a high level of gun
> >> ownership but has a very low level of gun-related crime. But all that
> >> really proves is that there's a lot more to gun-related crime than the
> >> simple matter of how easy it is to own or obtain a gun.
>
> >Indeed.
>
> >Switzerland's got to be an unusual case - you really can't extrapolate
> >anything from it to anywhere else. It's not for nothing that it's
> >sometimes described as "Germany, but without the reckless disregard for
> >authority".
>
> Switzerland is definitely odd. On the one hand it's a fiercely
> individualistic and independent-minded nation - it's not for nothing
> that Swiss banks have a reputation for being the haven of choice for
> the unscrupulous, and the individual Cantons jealously guard their
> quasi-independence from the federal government - but, on the other
> hand, social conformity is definitely considered a virtue.
>
> I spent a fair amount of time in Switzerland in a previous job,
> visiting or working with the multinational community that formed the
> staff of our European technical HQ. One thing that the non-Swiss staff
> all seemed to agree on was that we loved working there, but one of the
> reasons we loved it was because we knew we could go home if we wanted.

As someone once said about Switzerland:  everything is either
mandatory or forbidden.