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Sadly, I think that there will be civil uprising sometime within the next 5 years. Too many things are going to the dogs in this country and eventually something will erupt. This is a view that I am hearing more and more people come out with.
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Go here if you want a very jaundiced reminder.
www.chris-longhurst.com/cometobritain.html
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I'll keep this short or I'll get in trouble for non-motor related postings but the above is all correct. There are two things I am constantly hearing:
1. The whole country is one big pressure cooker and it WILL explode soon.
2. EVERYONE hates this dump and no one is trying to improve it, their just trying to leave.
Me, I'm off to Spain as soon as I can sort some stuff out (maybe by December).
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I hear what you're saying, Thommo, but what's the good of moaning about it - we are all contributing to the problem. Why not start to make things better, instead of blaming Them all the time?
One could clear off somewhere else, I suppose - the grass is always greener.
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Andrew that is my whole point. All the people I know agree that the country is rotten to the core but they (and me) do not try to change it for the better as we perceive the task as now impossible. And so we just wish to leave...
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Thommo, you are right.
I am English born and bred, but since I've experienced working abroad for extened periods (mainly Germany) I have come to realise how truly dreadful thinks have become in the UK and what a lot of propaganda we are fed about how 'great' things in the UK are. Coming back home I get off the plane and step into general filth and congestion. Not to mention high crime and ill-mannered, aggressive people.
News in my local paper this week is that from the autumn our domestic rubbish collection will be once every two weeks!! (In Germany they collect it every 2 days).
I have been offered permanent work abroad, but unfortunately have not been able to take up the offers for family reasons.
Britain has become a 'nation of strangers' - lots of isolated communities with their own agendas. Sooner or later there is going to be trouble in the big cities.
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Aprilia - I totally agree. In recent years I've had the fortune to both work and holiday quite regularly in Europe, mainly France. Each time i come back to the UK I am struck firstly by the general impoliteness and off-handedness of the British and then by the shocking state of our roads in terms of condition, litter, filth and not least congestion and poor driving standards. I am appalled by the quality of our road-side restaurants, the prices and quality within compared to Europe. There is not a single aspect of UK life and culture that is the equal of its European equivalent AFAIAC. It's quite worrying as I have two young kids and wonder what kind of a Britain they will inherit. I remember staying in a small French town where there was a public sports track with potted plants and flowers decorating it. It was beautiful. Back home the council renovated our local swings and play park. Within a week it was ruined by vandals and full of chip wrappers and empty cans again. Where did the UK go wrong and how to put it right again?Baz
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"There is not a single aspect of UK life and culture that is the equal of its European equivalent AFAIAC"
This statement, and most of the discussion above, is firmly in the peculiar British tradition of abject self-denigration that seems to have prevailed for all of my lifetime, and indeed most of the post-war period. It's demonstrably untrue, a ridiculous generalisation, and yet it's accepted as axiomatic. Why?
French driving standards are not superior to ours; very much the reverse, as accident and death rates prove. Rural France is not (in general) prettier or better kept than rural England. We have many beautiful historic towns and villages, as does France. Most British people are friendly and polite, albeit in a reserved way. All cities (Paris is certainly no exception) have to tackle the problems of urban crime and decay.
Firmly back on motoring & transport issues, a good deal of the difference between the South-East of England and much of France is due to the sheer population density of the former. Improving the condition of existing infrastructure does not equate to greatly increasing capacity - and capacity is the key factor.
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Believe it or not, I am finding Bulgaria attractive for many reasons.
There is the hazard of horse/donkey carts to contend with on the roads though.
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As an island nation, imports are our life blood, and encourage competition with our home based manufacturers. If we were not open to the superbly engineered products from Japan, for example, we may well be driving around in the latest jazzed up Morris Marina. Unfortunately I think that the "imports" that most of us are desperately concerned about, don`t enter our country on four wheels !!!!
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Oh no, you can jazz up a Morris Marina as much as you like, but it'd still be as bad as an Ital!
More on the subject, my good lady and I are off to New Zealand for three months for the very resons you've all been discussing. We have been twice before and it's friendly, cleaner, more pleasant, wonderful scenery, there's a lot less traffic, it's cheaper, the weather's better, everyone has time for you, crime rates are very low, and there are loads of enjoyable empty roads to use especially in the South Island. Britain in the 50's is a very good description.I have no doubt we'll want to go back as soon as we return to England.
I get fed up of those in charge over here, my Father runs a Haulage firm in Birmingham and the red tape and costs of fuel are crippling. The Cowboys who run without operators licence's, tax and insurance while using red diesel aren't touched while the law abiding companies get clamped on by the authorities, red tape and legislation. I agree that we may see something that lights the touch blue touchpaper again in the near future, but what will cause it we'll have to wait and see.
Paul.
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Liverpaul
NZ is a great place - spent a bit of time there myself. Good food, nice people and very reasonable living costs.
Take care on the road though, they are quite dangerous. Distances are much greater than yoou think and its easy to speed. I remember driving south from Christchurch, out on a main road across the Canterbury plain. With little traffic and a good car (Toyota Camry) I was up to over 90mph without realising it! It is only when you come to a curve that you realise how fast you're going. NZ drivers can also be surprisingly impatient at times.
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Burnout - I tend to agree with you, and I hope we are right. As I have said before, people usually believe what they want to believe, whether or not it is accurate. The problems start when enough of them (a critical mass) believe the same gloom-laden things, and begin to care less about 'society'. I think there must be something of this among teenage schoolkids which makes a large proportion of them go for drugs, and all the other nasty habits we keep getting told about. Once a trend like this has built up enough steam it's a hell of a job to reverse it.
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Yes the country is getting worse in all the ways mentioned above and the website shown via the link above puts it over precisely.
One major problem is, is that everyone seems to want a new law to restrict "that pesky other person".
However, New(?) Labour's 650(!) plus additional laws that they have introduced since they've been in power have not exactly helped our quality of life. But each law was agreed by someone because it didn't actually affect them. Take speed humps. Many people want one on THEIR road but hate driving over them elsewhere. Ditto speed cameras and so on. We are largelt a grumpy nation of control freaks - just take a drive and see what I mean. Everyone's a good driver, but look at how most of them get in each other's way - an indication of the way of life generally.
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I agree with the above sentiments about rip off britain, but we motorist are really have to get together to demonstrate that we are not being taken for a ride, just wondering if speed humps can damage car suspensions is it possible to pursue legal action...
This govt only has itself to blame, power corrupts, without going over the traffic are we being consulted to what our taxes are being spent on?
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