julius smith

talk about the old england, mike! when there was a copper on almost every street, you could leave your front door open and pop down to the corner shop, bread cost a shilling, and probably a pinta much the same. political correctness was unheard of, you basically said what you thought. and my favourite cars of that time...cortina 1600e, capri, zephyr/zodiac! and most kids were reasonably well behaved, virtually no trouble unlike these days from hoodies and what not, unless you mixed with the wrong people esp in the east of london! that was the real england, the likes of what you and me remember, but we'll never, ever see that again, mate! them were the days......

steve666

Oops, fingers got a life of their own... I apologise for the last part, not PC.

montreal mike

I agree with your sentiments!

Now in all fairness the whole globe has changed a helluva lot in the last 40/50 years so the UK can't stay the same forever.

Canada has changed also. And not always for the better. But I still consider it to be a very civilized place to live. Without dwelling on the obvious I just have to go 60 miles south to compare.

I recall as a youngster in the early fifties that the UK was safe. You are so right. There was the friendly policeman walking the beat or on his bicycle. And we NEVER locked our house. There was no reason to. We can not go back in time as what's done is done. But there seems to be a lot of violence, social unrest, racism, and crime about. I also look daily at the UK section of the BBC site and, honestly, some of the stories I read are really disturbing at times.

Much as I am still fond of England I really am glad we came over when we did. I was last back in England in 1999 but nowadays most of my older relatives are gone to their graves (I am 63 and no spring chicken) so it is likely I will never go back to visit as really I have no good reason to.

I do however have fond memories. And always will.

montreal mike

The good news is that most children are naturally (what I will call) colour blind. The bad news is they all grow up to be adults and then some start to notice colour but in a completely negative light.

YYZlover

And most of the color blindness is taken out of them by their parents.

montreal mike

I am having some trouble with your para.

Are you saying the UK is suffering violence at least to an extent because of crimes committed by blacks or are you simply saying there is far too much crime, period. In other words how big a factor, if any, is race or ethnicity in all this?

montreal mike

Yes and that is an even better way of putting it.

montreal mike

Being the eldest can turn out to be somewhat of a curse. So can being the youngest.

My mum was one of 12 kids. The youngest Aunt Alice was some 20 years younger than the first born. At age 22 her mum, my grannie, was close to 65 and frail. So Alice felt it her duty to take care of her. Surely her brothers and sisters had something to do with it. The others were happy they didn't have the job and they simply got on with their lives.

My Gran died at a ripe old age. It was 85 at which point Alice was no spring chicken, had once turned down an offer of marriage, and ended up a spinster, no hubby, no kids. It was sad.

Lesson to be learnt here. Julius you have only one life; you only go around once. So make the best of it.

daft batty

graciously offered steve, and accepted, hopefully just as graciously

steve666

As gracious as the leading female ballet dancer in Swan Lake. Second act.
Can't remember the second act so lets hope I got that right

julius smith

quite right, mike. the world has indeed changed, and for the worse, seems like. everything and everyone has to be politically correct, or you get ostracised. the uk has become a kinda melting pot, not of its own accord--rather it has been forced to become a melting pot by the powers in control. in some places, the huge concentrations of newcomers, whoever they may be, somalian, ethopian, bosnian, croation or whatever, have caused existing welfare infrastructure to almost burst at the seams. there is wholesale robbery, and other petty crime going on, with the law seemingly helpless to act. the island has finite resources, and sure, immigration is a good thing sometimes, especially if the native population are too lazy or just wont do the menial jobs, so someone from abroad can do them, but there are many other factors which go against wholesale immigration. we cant even control our own yobboes and hoodies etc yet, let alone any mafioso from overseas. point i am making is that the real england seemed to be just right, everything was dealt with, whether it upset a few or not. but the values england stood for in those days seems to have been eroded out of all proportion. its now everybody for himself and damn the next man, way it see it. yes, you are probably right in saying that even canada has changed, but going by my time there, not as much as whats happened here.

weener

can't believe i have started such a long discussuion!!

Rich_007

Is this you
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/6379299.stm

Seriously though, we know that many good peeps are leaving the UK for distant shores. The UK has it's own manifest destiny to degrade and self-combust, it's an unstoppable downward degenerative force now.

It's social and economic restructuring, way past the experimentation phase of B.Liar's early years. This 'social experimentation' was known and understood by some, but the masses were too interested in Beckham and busy eating their full English breakfasts with chips and staring goggle eyed as Katie Price ballooned like a rotting whale carcass, to care less.

England will get what England deserves, don't blame the politicians, the people allowed it to happen. This is the result of laziness and apathy.

Rich.

Gezza

The 1st such experiment was in Russia in 1917, when the Bolshevics told their following that everyone would become rich and happy after Capitalism. Just as soon as their worlds 1st Peoples Democracy and Freedom are established. "Their prosperity ... will totally eclipse America's". They burned Churches or converted them for warehouses,confiscated all private land and goods. Within 3 years Russian agriculture collapsed. In various parts of the country people were selling body parts of their deceased relatives ....for food! (quoted from a U.K. secondary school history book. Most probably now..."moderated"! )
The point I am making is that there has never been a bad government in worlds history who would give its people warnings against it's own program of economic or political reforms.

montreal mike

What you observe is, in my view, very valid.

Even though I no longer live in the UK I myself am no great advocate of the so called 'great melting pot', where magically because of something called multiculturalism or multi-ethnicity everyone gets along just fine and we all live as one big happy family. I know that in reality it doesn’t work. Why should it?

Instead one ends up with ghettoes and it indeed folly to assume at all newcomers will seamlessly integrate into society.

I am not against immigration. I am one myself. But I do have a problem with bureaucrats and politicians who are bloody shortsighted and fail to plan properly. Decisions taken today will affect the next generation.

What I say here is just as applicable to Canada as it is to the UK.

I recall working in Hamburg, West Germany on a special assignment in 1972. I speak German fluently. There were many Turks in evidence, ostensibly do the dirty work that more affluent white Germans would not do. There was a certain arrogance in the air as I remember when I spoke to the locals they naively claimed these people (called ‘guest workers’) when no longer needed would simply be sent home.

Now look at West Germany today? They also have social problems because of heavy immigration. I am not against Turks or any other nationality (as I believe we are all creatures of The Lord and we are entitled to try to better ourselves) but why allow people into a country unless they fill a legitimate need? Why bring in people if they can’t even speak the lingo, if they can’t find decent work and thus become a burden on society? Why lower the standard of living for the rest?

My gut feel is that the UK, as well other European nations, will have to impose a virtual moratorium on immigration and thus become very selective as to who gets let in.

After all there is just so much that a nation can support.

Canada has the same type of issues but on a far smaller level. I hope it stays that way.