Originally Posted by Returnee

I used to go to footbal matches in the sixties and never experienced rampaging football hooliganism and the violence that has developed since.

Originally Posted by sallysimmons

I think the increase in alcohol-related illness is not what some think. There were always drunk kids in England throwing up in the town center, but normal everyday middle class folks didn't always drink wine with dinner the way they do now. I bet digging into those stats would show that the alcohol-related illness is not because of the hoodies Returnee imagines are worse now than they ever were, but because older people are finding themselves ill after decades of sipping wine with dinner.



I lived in a very sheltered little village growing up and then moved to a city for my work in the mid-80s. What a shock to see how it was after dark! I soon learned to get home before the drinking started.

Those who glorify the past seem never to remember the reality. What about 3-day weeks and rubbish piling up in the streets and football hooligans wrecking town centers week in and week out, and IRA bomb scares being a regular occurrence. Not to mention the awful food and generally low standard of living and watching Margaret Thatcher rip the heart our of northern communities. Yes the good old days indeed!

Or perhaps the yearning is for longer ago, back to the 40s when the nazis were killing jews throughout Europe and no one had enough to eat and there wasn't a national health service?

Or further back to the 19 century when there was no such thing as the dole and the vast majority of people lived in abject poverty with extraordinarily high child mortality rates?

I'd love to know which prior era is the exact one that constitutes 'the good old days.'

For me much of England is the same as it always was, with the same social problems, but there are also many improvements. In general, the average person's standard of living is much higher with young families able to afford the kind of holidays my parents could only dream of. The food is so much better there aren't even words. And the multicultural influx seems to be giving the miserable old Brits a new lease of life and energy. I was very pleasantly surprised on my recent trips back.

Originally Posted by Returnee

I used to go to footbal matches in the sixties and never experienced rampaging football hooliganism and the violence that has developed since.

Originally Posted by Returnee

I used to go to footbal matches in the sixties and never experienced rampaging football hooliganism and the violence that has developed since.

Originally Posted by Returnee

I do apologise for not being more precise regarding British football hooliganism. Football hooliganism first started in the late 1960's, and peaked in the late 1970's and mid 1980's before finally calming down following the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters. Of course all-seater stadiums and Closed Circuit Television has helped to keep hooligans at bay. UK police still have to deal with the problem of organised football gangs (Firms) like Manchester United's Red Army who take on rival football gangs.

Originally Posted by Giantaxe

Nice cut and paste from this link:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html

'I do apologise for not being more precise regarding British football hooliganism. Football hooliganism first started in the late 1960's, and peaked in the late 1970's and mid 1980's before finally calming down following the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters. Of course all-seater stadiums and Closed Circuit Television has helped to keep hooligans at bay. UK police still have to deal with the problem of organised football gangs (Firms) like Manchester United's Red Army who take on rival football gangs.'




Seriously, do you have any original thoughts of your own?

Originally Posted by Returnee

Yes, I did get the edited information, above, from a site explaining hooliganism. But, facts are facts, which I think are always important. Many people, like yourself, critisise the poster and not the message. I guess this helps to ignore, skip commenting on what has been posted.

Originally Posted by Returnee

Yes, I did get the edited information, above, from a site explaining hooliganism. But, facts are facts, which I think are always important. Many people, like yourself, criticize the poster and not the message. I guess this helps to ignore, skip commenting on what has been posted. It was also in response to sallysimmons post on the topic, so your comments are a little out of context too.

Originally Posted by Englishman43

I'm 99% sure Returnee is the editor of the Daily Mail .

Originally Posted by Bud the Wiser

I think he's a rep for Dignitas.

Originally Posted by chris955

Well admin and mods seem happy enough to have him in here.