Alll I here about England form English people. They all tell me it gone to the dog. It now almost a police state. Crime is out of control and people are being stab everywhere. I believe non of it. So what has change I haven't been back in 10 years. I intend to go for a holiday and see my family and have a good explore of my homeland. Tell me it's not gone to the dogs. What has change in England why is everyone so concern about safety.

England has not gone to the dogs. Neither have Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

Its fairly obvious whoever you are talking to has a very deluded idea of life in the UK. Try reading some of the threads on here instead of believing the garbage you are being fed.

From talking with my family on a recent visit its seems some things have changed in my 10 plus year absence from the UK

Trafic cameras are now everywhere...a nasty shock to those used to less invasive enforcement north american style. Survelanace cameras too are now the norm... I suppose you get used to it, but its a constant reminder of the fact that there is a criminal element about.

The biggest change seems to be the sense of entitlement to benefits people have. Could just be a "daily mail" thing, but my dad expresses the sentiment that national service would sort a few of societies ills out and that everything is now legislated to death as a health and safety risk.

From a personal perspecitive I find UK property prices to be extrordinarilty high for what you get, even in the "cheaper" areas. It was bad enough when I left, but even in the current recession prices seem way out of whack with average pay levels.

The reality is probably somewhere between what is posted in the various "going to" forums and the "moving back" one

There is nothing wrong with rural England or Wales. I came to PEI, after I retired, to live near my daughter & her family, not because there was anything I couldn't live with in England. I've been here 18 months and we have settled in nicely but, if my daughter had not settled here, I would never have left, except of course for the odd holiday in the Med.

England & Wales are beautiful & both are safe to live in. Stop reading the papers.

Traffic cameras have nothing to do with catching criminals, they are there purely to make money. Survelance cameras are a great security feature, that just move criminals on to a different area.

As for a constant reminder that there are criminals about. There are criminals everywhere in the world.

What did surprise me last week was the lack of attention given to the trouble after the Lakers victory. Police cars turned over, firecrackers thrown into crowds with young children, stores and buses vandalized. If that had been in the UK it would have been headline news countrywide, in LA it was dismissed as a few people getting over excited.

Its all about the spin the press put on, and too many Daily Mail readers taking everything as gospel.

Agreed.

this is something I've noticed before - it seems to me that crowd trouble like this is not that rare here. For example: Lakers fans have done this kind of thing before, also Oakland Raiders fans have rioted in the recent past, and the aftermath of big college football games often seem to end with riot police being deployed. But mention this to Americans who seem keen to ask you about football hooliganism in Britain and you get blank looks.

I work with someone who's OH is in the police not around downtown though, all leave was cancelled for that day for all precincts, so they were obviously expecting trouble. Clearly not a new thing

Nothing new with regards to sense of entitlement from what i can see.
30 years back and even longer there was a strong sense of take what you can get and screw the system in London at any rate.
Old duffers back then would also state that a spell in the armed forces would sort out the wayward young(punks,etc) More likely a case of......
More things change ..more they stay the same.

Seems that in the US they do not want to give any validation to such behaviour in the hope that to ignore it will make it go away.....or at least not to encourage it.

You will be pleased to learn that educational standards and in particular child and adult literacy have improved.

They are. The usual formula is that people can afford a house that costs three times their annual income. I don't know what it is in the UK now, but it's way over that. The logical consequence is that prices still have a long way to go down, but logic doesn't always rule.

We're certainly not going to be in a hurry to buy. When we've sorted out where we want to be, we'll buy if we find the perfect place. But we won't expect to make money on it. The advantage of owning will entilerly be the freedom to make it what we want it to be.

After a year of renting an interesting but nutty apartment, I'm looking forward to that!

Bev.

I believe Plato said much the same thing. I looked it up.

"What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They
ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions.
Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

I've said it before here. I was one of the people in the '60s that older people said were dragging the country to hell. And yes, we were a pain. I remember one wild, free-spirited night when we decided it would be fun to string across a four lane street to stop the traffic. Heaven knows why.

Someone should have run us down. We could have given someone a heart attack. Never threw up in the street though. Well once. In Spain. They shouldn't have let us go wine tasting.

Our kids are much better behave than we are. I think.

It's just the way it is, except that when times get tough people look for scapegoats.

Bev

Doesn't help much if you are dyslexic though, eh, Kate ?! Like the OP!