Originally Posted by livinginreality

When you find Utopia,let me know and I'll move there myself (along with millions of other people!)It is NOT frowned upon to send Xmas cards,thats a ridiculous statement.We're an "everyday"working family and we don't struggle at all to live a comfortable life.Of course if you're clocked up to the hilt in credit cards/debts thats your own fault!

Originally Posted by martinw01908

As often as in the UK?. I don't think so. There is no deterrent for this type of crime, stupidly tame sentencing, no police on the street to stop it happening. And under this government it has got worse through the breakdown of the family unit and family values.

Originally Posted by Biiba

Sadly this IS my own experience. I work in Local Government and in my workplace we are now banned from putting up signs that say HAPPY CHRISTMAS or sending Christmas cards that say HAPPY CHRISTMAS on the front!!! We are told we must be more sensitive to other cultures and by displaying these signs we are apparantly 'thrusting a Christian belief' at them??? We are however allowed to put up things that say 'Happy Holidays'. The ironic thing is that a couple of my best friends are muslim and they ALWAYS send me a HAPPY CHRISTMAS type card They think it's absolutely ridiculous and find it offensive that people are told what they can and can't do. Another friend's family is Sikh and the political correctness drives her insane

Maybe it's a local government thing because a friend who works for another UK Local Government tells me it's the same in her office....

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

Yes, buying sweets in metric amounts must be really stressful

Get real.

Originally Posted by elfman

The whole "Happy Holidays" instead of "Happy Christmas" malarkey is basically standard practice throughout the USA in both the public and private sector. I mention this just in case people think that this kind of "political correctness gone mad" exists only in Britain.

Originally Posted by Mummy in the foothills

Sacramento (our capital) is installing a tremendous amount of CCTV cameras in the streets, they seem to think it'll help as they don't have many police on patrol

Originally Posted by martinw01908

breakdown of the family unit and family values.

Originally Posted by martinw01908

I have no family. It would be nice to start one in a new country though!

Originally Posted by Biiba

I agree, I think the UK tends to follow the USA with this type of thing

Talking of political correctness we were told at wok the other day that we are no longer allowed to say 'brainstorm' as it is offensive to people with epilepsy and is a term which was used in the 1920's or something to describe a seizure. My cousin (who is epileptic) couldn't get over it!!! My 2 1/2 year old niece is taught to sing 'Baa Baa Rainbow sheep' at play group instead of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool'.. Apparantly some of the parents have been really upset by this (in particularly those that are a Afro -Carribbean). Honestly sometimes it makes me wonder who thinks all of these things up? And it makes me sad too......

Originally Posted by dunroving

I have been advised that the word "unsatisfactory" should not be used to describe student work - instead, I should write "not yet satisfactory" (they didn't say whether I could add ... "and never will be").

Honestly, we're raising a generation of narcissists that believe that nothing they do is wrong ...

Originally Posted by martinw01908

They tried that in the UK, we have more camera per head of population than anywhere in the world (apparently) and is has not helped.

Originally Posted by dunroving

I have been advised that the word "unsatisfactory" should not be used to describe student work - instead, I should write "not yet satisfactory" (they didn't say whether I could add ... "and never will be").

Honestly, we're raising a generation of narcissists that believe that nothing they do is wrong ...

Originally Posted by Biiba

I've lived my whole life (39 years) in the UK. I think the UK is a beautiful country and has a lot going for it, but over the last 10 years or so these are the changes I've noticed:-

1. Political correctness has gone mad - it's unacceptable to say you're from England! Scotland, Wales and Ireland are fine but if you say you're English for some reason it rubs people up the wrong way England is always referred to as the UK and you're British...

Haven't heard this one before - what actually happens if you say you're English??

2. It's now frowned upon to send Christmas cards that say 'Happy Christmas' in case it upsets anyone not of the Christian religion!

My Mum did tell me that her local Catholic church is no longer calling it the Christmas Fayre, but now the Winter Fayre, so I think in some cases this is happening as Biiba says. Personally I would continue to call it the Christmas Fayre as I believe it is our right to maintain traditions as much as possible. I'd like to see where it is officially documented that maintaining bygone traditions is in fact wrong!!

3. The population has risen quite dramatically in towns and cities, therefore the UK is now a much busier place than it once was - the roads are very busy in general as there are more car owners than ever before.

Yep, I noticed this when last on holiday there in late 2006. The roads are busier and the standard of driving has slipped a little due to the influx of migrants. I will add though that any time spent on the roads in the UK is a far nicer experience than here in Aus, where the driving standards in & around Melbourne are pretty shocking IMO!! One of our relatives visited Melbourne last year and said it reminded him of 'Whacky Races'

4. There are security cameras everywhere! I'm sure I read somewhere that the UK has more surveillance/security cameras than almost anywhere else in the word...

This doesn't worry me - I can see why these are an essential part of security these days. I have no intention of breaking the law, so have no worries about being watched.

5. House prices have risen dramatically, but not in line with salary/income therefore it's more difficult to purchase your first home and get on the property ladder.

This is very true, but the same can be said for Aus. The UK used to be 3 times the highest salary and 1 of the 2nd salary when working out the borrowing capacity. We have almost managed to squeeze into this bracket but only because we earn pretty good salaries and also because we have moved to the outer suburbs which is over an hour's drive from Melbourne. This was the only way we could keep our borrowings to what we believed was an acceptable amount. Living close to the city was not an option for us financially, plus there is a mounting level of crime happening in & around Melbourne that is on the news every weekend.

6. Smaller villages seem safer than most main towns or cities, however housing is more expensive there, and in some villages the property prices have been driven higher by well paid commuters or people purchasing second/weekend homes. Lots of people can no longer afford properties in the villages they have been raised in

This is true - and I may be wrong but I never see a house in need of modernisation but in a great area anymore. It would be great to see a house in a good area that was cheap because it needed to be brought up to standard, but these days they seem to have been tarted up already (on the cheap) and then top prices are asked.

7. It seems to me that there is more of a class divide than there used to be - There are high flyers that earn enough to live somewhere nice, there are everyday working families that struggle to live a comfortable life, then there is a new underclass of families where they have never worked and have no intention of working as they can earn more claiming benefits than if they were working. It's quite a sad state of affairs really

Yes, this one concerns me more than any other aspect of returning to the UK and mainly because it is close to home for me. My brother & his 2 sons, plus his 2nd wife, also his ex-wife & her new husband are all on benefits. Not because of the recession, but because this is what they have always done...for over 20 years in some cases. I cannot understand why people expect to be supported by the state long-term. I see the benefit system as being somewhat of a safety net until you can get back on your feet again. Whilst I appreciate it's not that easy at the moment with the lack of opportunites, the people I'm talking about have no intention of improving their lives and becoming independent of benefits. This attitude seems to be on the increase in the UK now & I don't see how it will change when the next generation looks at it's parents and thinks "My parents didn't work, so neither will I"....very worrying! I'm not saying that everyone is like this, but it's becoming more prolific

8.In general, I find that because our lives are so busy, people are more stressed and therefore ruder (though some people are still nice )

I think this could well be true, but I'm comparing it to the Aussie way, which is very much the opposite and if anything is an exaggerated politeness. Sometimes the insincerity of the "How ya going?" questions at the supermarket can be annoying, but I think I would miss this if the alternative is merely a grunt.

9. In supermarkets and shops (not local newsagents etc) cheques are no longer accepted, and they look at you gone out if you pay by cash!!! Most people use debit or credit cards.

I never use cash/cheque, so I'm okay with this one.

10. The metric system has replaced the imperial system so you no longer buy a pound of butter or a quarter of sweets - it's 100g of sweets and 500g of butter. Road signs are still in miles though!

Not an issue as such, as you say just a change in tradition.

I love the UK but find it a much more stressful place than it used to be, and I've lived in the same house since 1991 so I've watched the places take change. If you can afford it there are still some beautiful places to live and visit but the cost of living is quite high - petrol is expensive though cars are cheaper than they used to be.

I don't think the UK is really any more dangerous, but prolific drug use increases crime and street violence so there is more crime due to more drug addicts (my husband is a police officer and tells me this all the time)

All I'm trying to say is that it's not any better or any worse but it has changed over the last 10 years or so