Whats wrong with England, it needs a pick-me-up

Just what is wrong with England - Just to be clear I was born there but you can see I don't live there any-more. Nope I didn't leave there because I didn't like it I left due to work commitments so don't give me the well rid of me post.

I recently visited there for a few weeks for personal reasons so you can tell I don't hate the place far from it. I am saddened from some of the attitudes, pub conversations that simply knock government and the life style. I didn't travel widely on this visit and so it may have been a local attitude but some how I think not.

I was simply appalled at the inconsiderate litter bugs found on the highways an motorways that have litter spread ether side to the point that its almost impossible to clean up. I mentioned this to the people I was with who didn't actually notice it until I pointed it out.

I heard complaints about various Europeans taking jobs from them even though they were there doing crap jobs like washing cars.

The English Pound not buying what it used to do, complaints about the weather (probably justified).

Complaints about cameras, speed and security agreed it was over the top by a good factor for me also.

Rubbish bins so scarce around London you had a pocket full of rubbish in no time all in aid of preventing terrorism (bombs in bins) and all that.

This attitude is not good for tourism.

Come on guys pick it up and be a bit more positive in front of your visitors

Don't take offence take a hint
Just saying - end of my little rant

MJ2

You might be interested in the following thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I started it when I started to notice, as you did that there seems to be some kind of malaise in England.

Originally posted by ipsedixit

What is going on in the UK?

For some time now I have noticed a surprising amount of negativity and despair coming out of members from the UK. We read in different threads about how they are not allowed to defend themselves in street fights, how they are having their guns taken away, how fox hunting is fighting for it's life, how there are security cameras everywhere, and now this . . .

ca.news.yahoo.com...

"Beer sales in pubs are now at their lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s -- down seven million pints a day from the height of the market in 1979.

Are people in Blighty losing their marbles?

I visited the UK in 1975 and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I could go on and on about what a great place it is/was and how nice the people are/were, how pretty the towns are/were how dynamic and interesting London is/was and how English and Scottish and Welsh girls are/were among the most beautiful in the world and how fabulous the fish and chips are/were.

Bottom line. Rule Britannia!!! And pull up your gawddamn socks for gawdssake!!


[edit on 26-5-2010 by ipsedixit]

it's the British birthright, to complain!

Seriously though, sounds like you didn't meet very intelligent people.

reply to post by Frakkerface


I think you are right - must be the weather

Maybe some are 'losing their marbles'..IMHO it's relative to the amount of pressure we sustain living here in Blighty. We have an unbelievable amount of CCTV and now there seems to be 'Specials' ( Volunteer Police ) everywhere...However having lived abroad and journeyed around the globe I still think that the UK is a brilliant place. We do have still some freedom and the Fish and Chip shops now do Kebabs too.
I think it may be a case of what Frakkerface said ..you possibly didn't meet the right people. There are still some characters left here that haven't left for the greener grass.
As I was once told...' not where you are it's where you are at'..I think that anywhere on this globe it can seem oppressive and/or downright crap, though with light in your heart the world does change and the sun shine.

Originally posted by Frakkerface
it's the British birthright, to complain!

In support of this theory, here's a Punch cartoon from 1916;

One gloomy-looking soldier is saying to another one;

"Wot a life! No rest, no beer, no nuffin.

It's only us keeping so cheerful as pulls us through"

There is a systematic progrmme aimed at dumbing Britain down.

MSM reports nothing but bad news.

Unemployment is up.
The economy is in a mess.
Massive national debt.
Immigration is out of control.
Crime rates are up.
Gang culture is on the increase.
Youths are out of control.
Deaths in Afghanistan.
Increased homegrown terrorist activity.
Peadophilles out of control on the net.
Reduced civil liberties.
Drug addiction increasing.
Increased surveillance.
Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah.

We have a National Curriculum aimed at children learning 'facts' rather than to question and to think for themselves.

We have a Police Force that not only ebforces The Law but now dictates what The Law should be.

We have a government comprising carear politician whose only concern is personal advancement rather than national good.

We are illegally governed by the EU which has no interest whatsoever in the well being of British nationals or this country.

There is a concerted effort to change the very fabric of British society by killing the pub culture, the one place people meet and talk,and force people into their houses to watch X-Factor, Match Of The Day whilst drinking Lambrini and eating Domino's.

But then they won't question what is really going on in this once great nation of ours.

I could go on for ever, whinging and moaning.
The list seems endless.

We Brits need to shake off the blinkers, undo the shackles and wake up and see just what is going on around us then get up off our arses and do something about it instead of allowing ourselves to be socially engineered into some eunuch like pale reflection of the strong, proud people we used to be.

Sorry for the rant, it's just one of them day's today.

Ever had a look at a UK passport? British, not English, yet the Welsh, Irish, and Scots have their nationality.

reply to post by Freeborn


I have to admit mate, your spot on.. but the issues have been going on for decades, if not centuries... and will continue until some other 99p principle sparks things off again..

and it always seems to be a 99p thing with the Great British public... something we can all relate to.. like the 99p bathplug one of the MPs got on her expensis.. it becomes a principle.. and the principle becomes a cause.

The thing is no matter how much they try to dumb down or change a people.. the basic 99p principle will live on in the British public..

just my opinion... to your post

Originally posted by pikestaff
Ever had a look at a UK passport? British, not English, yet the Welsh, Irish, and Scots have their nationality.

And your point is?

Well i don't know about you guys but i feel in a specially good mood, Its Friday the suns shining and my wages didn't get hijacked by the bank,

Also Majestictwo, Sorry ya didn't get about more maybe next time, And you can really see the really good spots here in the UK,
I take it you stayed in the south of England, Probably not the most cheeriest of places at the moment with all the finance worries.
If you can come up north were we are used to getting by on nowt, you will see a different side of people: up:

reply to post by thoughtsfull


Thanks for your post and I agree with you...to a point.

In the past there always has been some '99p' issue that has angered and awoken the British population.

But with Labour openly admitting that they instigated an open door immigration policy with the specific purpose of socially engineering a change into British society culture.

With the recent MP's expenses outrage and the complete and utter farce that was the recent General Election and the pathetic charade that followed it and Cameron eventually forming this hybrid joke of a government we should be forcibly demanding change.

But no, some of us whinge and moan about the mess we are in.
Others, who can't, or won't, join the dots up just moan about the individual things.

We have become so brow beaten that we don't even see what we have become.

A friend of mine asked me yesterday 'How many of today's youngsters even understand what The Dunkirk spirit actually means?'
This was my reply
"What chance have they got when they are not taught to be proud that WE alone stood in the face of the evil that was Hitler, and because we stood together, we WON!
Now the PC Brigade try to belittle every expression of National Pride and knock out of us the very thing's that made us great!"

I could go on for ages, but what would be the point?
If people don't get the points I was trying to make then I suspect they are lost.

Theres a problem here in that its very hard to get listened to or taken seriously. If you are not rich and willing to pay for the changes you want, then the government simply do not care what you have to say and will ignore you. Remember the protests against the Iraq war?

The government have made so many petty laws that are mainly just ways to squeeze more money out of us. The PCSO's and the real police have been given so many retarded targets by people who have no idea about law enforcement, it makes things really difficult for us and them.

Since the 80's our national services have mostly all been sold off, our industries sold off, government contracts which include benefits are given to FOREIGN companies, immigration is out of control. Our government regularly steals from us, forever raising taxes and finding new ways to make money out of us.

As a result of the above, many problems have arisen. Freeborn's post lists a lot of them.

People who complain about people who complain can quite simply get #ed. If nobody kicked up a fuss we would be in a hell of a lot worse situation now.

The sad fact is too many people here are afraid to face up to reality. If you try to explain things to them they just accuse you of spreading negativity and stick their head back in the sand. Too many people DO NOT WANT to wake up. Unless something drastic happens soon then our nation as we know will be nothing but a memory. Its already a shadow of its former self.

Maybe its karma, justice or whatever. How many cultures and nations have our leaders throughout this nations history exploited for their own personal gain? What goes around, comes around.

reply to post by Firefly_


I agree with much of your post, in fact most of your post but I really do feel they (the establishement/elite) have exploited us as equally as they've exploited everyone else around the globe.. so not sure we are in for some Bad Karma on that score... tho perhaps they are

reply to post by Freeborn


you have a point... I guess I am blinkered by living in an area that has seen very little of the recent migration.. or felt the effects...

On that issue I really do hold my hand up and say I am clueless on said issues that face other parts of the country, except as an outsider looking in..

All the crappy jobs down here are not done by migrants.. there is no industry in Sussex anymore, and now it is mostly a national park, there is no hope of industry springing up *shrug*

Your part of the world is sold as the place to go... and I fear for what is happening.. but I guess if I am honest I do not understand what is really happening either.

Well I believe that we are collapsing under a burgenoing list of petty rules and regulations. These rules and regulations suck the joy out of life and reduce us to robots. We have adopted risk management to eliminaterisk which is a fundamentally flawed perspective as it means everything is wrong/evil/bad for you and society. Yet how did we every grow up as kids??? We did crazy things and sadly one in 100 had serious consequences but the remainder had real fun.

The majority of the population is law-abiding and suffers by trying to assimilate and comply with this ever increasing level of new rules.

And their is the bewilderment of us being screwed financially with little chance of the traditional happy retirment unless you are 1% of the population.

reply to post by Freeborn


I agree with you. For the last few years elections have been a bland beauty contest. I miss the old ideological arguements as there were characters.

So where will the next major scandal be with TPTB? Even the election of Blair was a scent of optimism for the country. OK we were wrong but there is no optimism around now.

reply to post by thoughtsfull


North East England is sold as the 'place to be?'

I find that amazing.

For all that I love where I come from, it is a beautiful place with fantastic people who, if you scratch under the surface, still have that typical North East attitude to life in general.
It is just getting buried under layer upon layer of blandness which is being forced upon them by the do-gooders, PC Brigade and TPTB.

There is very, very little manufacturing up here anymore and nearly evey job is advertised as minimum wage or just above.

Everything seems to be getting enveloped in the greyness, blandness and mediocricy that seems to be the aim of those that govern.

reply to post by Tiger5


You are quite correct, the increased beurocracy is also part of the insanity that is engulfing this country.

When I worked in industry I became increasingly frustrated at the red tape which I felt inhibited me in trying to drive through positive change.

And as for our politicians.
They are a sham and a disgrace.
They are colourless, humourless and passionless.

I too bought into the 'Blair dream'.
Oh how disappointed were we.

And what have we got now?

Faceless and characterless clones who are prepared to sell their most heartfelt principles for a seat at the high table which only enables them to put their nose further into the trough.

Peoples politicians who stood on principle have become a thing of the past whose mediocrity is a reflection of the mediocrity we teach and the mediocrity this country has become.

In fact, we don't live in a democracy, it is a mediocracy.

reply to post by Freeborn


I meant "sold as the place to be" in the context as London's streets are paved with gold!! And (IMHO) every Gov since the 60s has seen to the demise of the industrial North, and just about every other part of Britain.

I am really unsure if there is anything left for them to sell...