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

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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?

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....

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.

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 .

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.

I wouldn't wipe my arse with the Daily Mail if you paid me.

The UK isn't the worst place on earth!

I couldn't give a flying whatsit if the government chooses to listen to my conversations, phone calls, or read my emails. I've got nothing to hide, and they'd soon get bored anyway.

I must be the odd one out because for all the moaning I hear about immigrants, I think the country is infinitely better for the influx of new people from different backgrounds. It's such a cosmopolitan place now, even in the smallest towns, and if you don't think that's because we opened up our doors to people from other countries, then you're not paying attention.

Of course there are some criminals among the immigrants to the UK. Lord knows there are plenty of British criminals, so there's nothing new there. But if a study was done, I'd bet a lot of money that the crime rate would be higher among homegrown Brits than among those coming into the country for a better life.

But blaming immigrants is nothing new. As someone else said, in Japan they blame white Westerners for all crime and discriminate against them quite openly. Imagine moving there and suddenly being viewed the way some Brits view Eastern Europeans or muslims. Might give a different perspective.

We've been back in the UK 4 years & 3 months and it has been a battle to survive; financially, emotionally and phsyically.

I beleive that you have to remember where ever you are is that the grass may appear greener and that your problems stay with you; better faced than run from.


We are now looking at going back to Canada for a holiday initially - but I am shocked by the cost of flights, I guess thats the global economy!

This is a wonderful post Sally, thank you.