Reality of the UK
 

For those considering moving back read this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-evicted.html

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Are you honestly suggesting people considering moving back to the UK read the Daily Mail and take it seriously?!? :rofl::rofl:

I haven't even looked at the article, but I would bet a large amount of money on the fact that it's some hate filled bile about immigrants or people claiming benefits. The Daily Mail is hardly a reliable source of news.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

That's terrible - looks almost as bad as the place you describe here:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...22#post9271122

As the saying goes,"Wherever you go, there you are"

Re: Reality of the UK
 

As soon as I saw "Daily Mail", any credibility in your post vanished.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

As soon as i saw LA2JHB any credibility vanished.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Oh dear 'The Daily Fail' rears its ugly head yet again!?!?!?

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I haven't read the article because I know that wherever you go there are problems. For example I have decided to leave Japan after 15 years here in total, a big investment of my life that is, yet I am still reminded daily - You are a foreigner, an alien.

Enough! At least in Blightey I won't be called a foreigner any more!

Re: Reality of the UK
 

:popcorn:

:thumbup:

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I dared to look and its about Romanian travellers setting up camp in London, urinating in public and about them begging trying to intimidate people into handing over money.

There is a delightful shot of some men taking a leak up a wall and a quote from a homeless man saying it is too dangerous to sleep on the streets with these travellers around.

:D

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I already did move back and haven't been happier in years.

But then I don't look for the negatives wherever I go. It seems that you do.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Begging and public peeing? Erm, it was mainly the English doing that when I was growing up!

I will never forget the day I decided to stop giving money to the homeless, after two guys took my money, the slagged me off calling me a zombie, a sucker etc. for paying taxes, and being controlled by the corporation.

At least some of these beggars today actually NEED it rather than scrounge on the Dole for 10 years when some could actually work.

I guess it's easy to blame foreigners. I am one now in Japan, where the media unashamedly advertise foreigners as the ones who commit the most crimes. Small detail: foreigners make up 1% of the population of Japan....

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I'd take that over people getting shot or ran over by reckless drivers on a near daily basis where I live!

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I used to think health and safety was over the top in the uk, until i moved abroad and saw dangers everywhere. I used to think that the culture of suing people was over the top until I moved abroad was defrauded and couldn't do a thing about it. I used to think that people in the UK were not particularly friendly until I moved abroad and suffered prejudice in a big way, moving back to the UK has therefore been incredibly pleasant :) Not to mention a great relief!

People are so friendly here, its great.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Yes, that's precisely what's wrong with the UK. A few homeless people being all homeless in a high-profile spot.

Not the fact that we have the second highest debt:GDP ratio in the world.

Not the fact that we have an increasing power consumption and decreasing power generation capacity.

Not the fact that we are watched on CCTV everywhere we go.

Not the fact that we have a huge welfare burden, with (for the first time ever) more people being supported by the state than the total number of workers.

No, none of the above matters, look over here, there are some homeless people.

Oh, never mind, BGT is on. All is well.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

BGT ended last week dammit!

Re: Reality of the UK
 

That must be what caused the double-dip.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

"Spooks" would have lost half its material without that.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

When you make a list like that, don't forget to also list the good things, otherwise your perspective gets skewed. ;)

All those things may be true but they're just a part of the story. One of the things I'm grateful for is that I spent so long away from Britain, because it has given me a joyful appreciation of so much that I once took for granted. Not to mention a realization that everywhere has problems and some are much worse than the ones you listed.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

You dont mean he was only showing the negatives aspects do you ? OMG :)
I must say that I am VERY pleasantly surprised since arriving back, I was told in no uncertain terms by people who hadnt been back to the UK in years but had read the Dail Mail or by people who had never been here at all that it was in fact a shithole and was rapidly going down the toilet and that I shouldnt leave Australia as it was booming and there were jobs everywhere.
Well as I say I have been very pleasantly surprised, everyone has been friendly, helpful and shock horror HAPPY. I remember so well someone posting that when they were in the UK they only saw people with baskets of shopping as obviously noone had any money, surprisingly we see almost everyone with trolleys, often full the the top.
I havent been inconvenienced by the CCTV here anymore than I was in Australia to be honest.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I have never watched BGT but I bet you must be its biggest fan.....CCTV is great if your not doing anything wrong ...now there, thats a more positive slant on it, you need to not be so "negative" you could be describing lots of other countries as well.....not mentioning countries where people don't even have running water, electricity etc...we have just had a big recession and you will have larger numbers claiming welfare as people have lost jobs...at least we do have a welfare system....it is abused by some but once again that happens in most countries where there is a welfare system and were a lot more in debt than we should be but we still keep bailing out the Euro. I'd chill up a bit if I was you then you might sound/feel a bit happier.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

This applies to not just the UK but the majority of the Western World. As for the huge welfare burden as you put it......after living in Canada and visiting the US over the border in Michigan I can honestly say I would rather live in a country that tries to look after it citizens even though it gets taken advantage of rather witness some of the things I have seen in Canada and the US. No safety net there to catch you if things go wrong in your life which believe you me can happen to anyone, no one is immune especially in this day and age.
As for BGT - lighten up its fun.
Oh and stop reading the The Daily Fail.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I don't have a TV, I just read about it on Twitter.

People who think this are frankly morons. What about having CCTV in your home? After all, most crimes are committed in houses. Surely that's ok, if you have nothing to hide.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Hello, moron here!

Your analogy doesn't hold up. Your home is your private property, not a public space. You expect privacy in your own home but you don't expect it when you're out in public. So, for example, you would have sex at home but you're unlikely to do it in the middle of town. But even though I think your argument is specious, I'll refrain from calling you a moron :D

Re: Reality of the UK
 

You believe this now because you have been conditioned to believe this over the past 30 years.

There was a time when privacy meant more than it does now.

To explore your "in public" argument further, what about having a conversation? Is it possible to have a private conversation while walking in a public park? How would you feel about this conversation being monitored?

What about your private communications? Are you comfortable with someone opening and reading your mail? No? What about your email?

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I didn't realise CCTV cameras had advanced to being able to opening letters now.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

First, your superiority has been duly noted. Stupid little me with my conditioning!

Second, your original post was about CCTV in the UK and now you have moved on to a whole range of civil liberties which you a) then (wrongly) assume I do not care about and b) fail to recognize are issues all over the world. I've been living in the US for the last 20+ years (torture, renditions, the Patriot Act etc.) so you don't need to lecture me about civil liberties.

But to answer your question, no - when I have a conversation in a public place, I never assume that no one else can hear me. And I never assume that my email is private either, since the system used to send it always belongs to someone who has access to the emails. I do agree with you that privacy used to mean more than it does now - but things have changed and that's life. It's a fool's errand to hope they will change back - and it's silly to act as though that is a problem unique to the UK when it's really global forces at work.

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Another vote here for: CCTV doesn't bother me at all. There are already 2, 10, 50, 100, a thousand people watching or able to see me in the street. What difference does one more set of eyes have - if those eyes are even looking at me? I walk past cameras in shops, past cameras in car parks etc. I have no reason to get upset by them, nor hide from them.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Its the thin end of the wedge dont you know :)

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Let me ask you this, where do you intend living where these things arent a potential issue ? Indeed where are you going to live where CCTV arent watching ?

Re: Reality of the UK
 

plus one

Re: Reality of the UK
 

The UK has it's faults, but then again so does any other country. CCTV doesn't worry me, but then again I'm not into doing illegal things. One of the great things about the UK is that there is no need to have a gun, in fact it's illegal unless it's a sporting gun and kept under lock and key, and the owner has a license, There are no shops in the UK where you can buy a hand gun, and the bullets to fire from it. The police are not armed, except in rare circumstances. We do not have to carry ID cards, but I consider that a negative, I wish we did, perhaps that would sort some of the ILEAGLE immigrants out.
We do, at least have a FREE health service, and a welfare system that does work, yes it's abused, but even in other countries people will try to abuse and free help service, like in the US, sell their food stamps. There are a lot of immigrants, but then that's true about any country, just look at the USA, amde up of large immigrant communities like the UK, and a huge illegal problem with Mexicans, Fillipino, Chinese and even Eastern Europeans. I have lived in another country, and have seen the problems associated woth a lack of a good welfare system, lose your contracted job in Spain, and you will get a few months of unemployment benefit, then nothing, which is why a huge part of the population works 'on the black' but this means no taxes paid, so no money to help the disadvantaged

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Taking photos in a public place has never been illegal. I'm more concerned about police asking people why they are taking photographs, and the occasions when cameras have been confiscated, than CCTV.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

My reality of the UK is sooo different to a lot of posters on here, sure it has it's problems but I can't think of one country in the whole world that you could call Utopia.

As for CCTV camera's I really don't care as I am not likely in this lifetime to be commiting any crimes.

Yesterday I went to Windsor and saw the troop muster of 2500 servicemen and women, the flypast by 80 aircraft and I even saw The Queen and Prince Philip drive past. 20,000 people lined the streets, everybody was chatting away to each other, young, old, children, men, women, black and white and we were all excited and happy to be there, it was a lovely feeling to actually BELONG.

I am sooo proud to be British and just LOVE this country warts and all. :wub:

Re: Reality of the UK
 

The times the police are likely to stop people taking photographs is if they were taking photos of what has already been decided as a 'potential' terror target, such as Political party HQ's inside railway stations, airports, outside military installations. The problem is that until 9/11, this would not have happened in the UK. I remember many years ago the police would get a warning that a Russian 'delegation' was to visit Lincoln, in fact they were there to try to take photos of the many top airforce bases round there, they were followed everywhere, and moved on if seen to stop anywhere near these places. Local people would often stop, and have few problems.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

well after returning to the uk over two years ago , this article interested me and also some of the replies and the seeming denials and somehow that there is inferred racism when you actually see this intimidating gathering of people .
i live in poole and i love it and my experience is and i hope to god i dont seem like a racist for saying this , but i see petty organised group crime by ermmm foreigners every weekend at a two bob car boot sale , obvioulsy white , black ,orange , green and all sorts of people do this but to be honest when i see the out and out blatent thievery going on and the stall holder pwerless to do anything due to the numbers involved ,it seriously makes you start thinking what the hell is going on in england these days .
i guess this kind of shenanigans has always gone on and i have infact seen the same thing going on in france , belgium and germany ,but would i want to leave england because of it ?of course not. i just see it as an erosion of respect and no amount of cameras and big stick enforcement is going to stop it .

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Twitter etc to me are all the same, just so not me...never watch BB, dont do Facebook, could not careless about reading about movies stars etc in papers, I care about my nearest and dearest and things that I find important....I dont even have a house alarm lol never mind CCTV and once again I have nothing to hide personally, if I did I am the type of person to do something about it, surely your not suggesting that the statistic you mentioned is just aimed at the U.K?

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Sounds a bit like parts of other countries we know as well..(my Oh is in Africa at the moment and he says its a nightmare).... I had my bag snatched in Perth, WA by an overseas person, was also threated with a knife in daylight (that was sooooo not my year lol) also in a nice area of Perth, had items in our gardens pinched again in Perth (yep we did live in a nice area) it seems life is sometimes not so great in some countries where migrants and locals are "bad un's" I think there is no escaping it to some extent, personally while we have been in the UK so far (not sure if its luck etc and I write this with my fingers crossed lol) but we have had no problems, either in the Cities or Subs. not saying it does not happen but I do think it is a lot to do with areas. My close German friend says its the same where she lives in Germany and says its not all down to migrants either....

Re: Reality of the UK
 

I also am very proud of this Country, its not perfect but I think we try more than most (sometimes to much) to fit it with everyone else, yes warts and all it really has loads to offer.

Re: Reality of the UK
 

i agree , perth isnt the crime free paradise some british programmes love to put about ..................... i guess we live in troubled times too economically and some of the people coming to british and australian shores these days have lived a far less comfortable life then we have . As long as you are happy where you thats all the matters .

Re: Reality of the UK
 

Its interesting that it seems clear that the 'reality of the UK' is actually the total opposite to what was described by the OP. Over the years I have seen many similar threads where a poster will throw in a handgrenade and run away. When we left the UK 20 odd years ago on one of our trips we were told in no uncertain terms that the country was going down the toilet, gone to the dogs, down the tubes, no future etc etc and some are still saying it. It is no more true now than it was then.