Page 13 | To think our towns and cities are just so run down lately, and our standard of living has decreased significantly?

PandoraSox · 08/04/2025 21:12

sharkanado · 08/04/2025 21:11

I think people are only now realising just how fucked England is.

I think many still don't get it, they think it's a blip and we can recover but we have never had the demographic issue.

Which demographic issue do you mean?

sharkanado · 08/04/2025 21:11

I think people are only now realising just how fucked England is.

I think many still don't get it, they think it's a blip and we can recover but we have never had the demographic issue.

Giggorata · 08/04/2025 21:11

Neither! (Giggle)
But they staggered along in their crap way, and weren't owned by foreign conglomerates.

Nutmuncher · 08/04/2025 21:10

The decay and degradation is very real, especially in the city centres. Manchester may have a glossy skyline filled with skyscrapers and amazing buildings but at street level it’s an absolutely embarrassing disgrace and the council whom have been in charge for years seem to be doing very little to alleviate the situation.

Filthy streets, litter everywhere, alcoholics and addicts in doorways everywhere you look, hoards of Deliveroo riders swarming pavements, wild rough people ranting and causing mayhem. It’s truly abysmal, there’s hardly any police presence so the streets feel very ropey in the daytime never mind evenings. It really does seem grimy and frankly not what you would expect from somewhere with such a lofty ambition for being the pinnacle of UK growth and development.

Livingbytheocean · 08/04/2025 21:09

Giggorata · 08/04/2025 21:08

Pre New Labour, they might have renationalised our stolen sold off industries and amenities, got some of our infrastructure back and working.
OK, it might have been in that lackadaisical and lacklustre way nationalised organisations seemed to have but at least they wouldn't have been run down and asset stripped.

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You have clearly forgotten how utterly shit our state owned services were… or too young!!!

AtIusvue · 08/04/2025 21:09

Agree with litter everywhere. Our local retail park is absolutely shocking.

Giggorata · 08/04/2025 21:08

Livingbytheocean · 08/04/2025 20:59

Okay so now we have Labour all of these problems will magically disappear….. great we will look forward to it! 😳

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Pre New Labour, they might have renationalised our stolen sold off industries and amenities, got some of our infrastructure back and working.
OK, it might have been in that lackadaisical and lacklustre way nationalised organisations seemed to have but at least they wouldn't have been run down and asset stripped.

PandoraSox · 08/04/2025 21:07

As @mistressofthedarkside said people just buy cheap shit from Shein, Temu, Amazon etc. Often so they can needlessly redecorate their homes and themselves every season. Then they complain about the demise of the high street.

Livelovebehappy · 08/04/2025 21:07

I live in Bradford. It’s a shithole. But it didn’t used to be. We have people who have moved from their own countries because their own countries were shitholes, but then just transferred that shit to here. It’s people that make places. It’s scruffy here with dirty streets, and the people are feral. I actually stood in Greggs last weekend whilst someone walked in and brazenly stood with a bin liner and started putting sandwiches from the shelves into the liner. The two ladies serving behind the counter just stood and watched. The guy just then brazenly walked out. I feel sick that this is what our country has become.

sharkanado · 08/04/2025 21:05

@Livingbytheocean how do you think labour can undo it?!

sharkanado · 08/04/2025 21:04

The costs to build & the time it takes are staggering;

"the planning documentation for the Lower Thames Crossing, a proposed tunnel under the Thames connecting Kent and Essex, runs to 360,000 pages, and the application process alone has cost £297 million. That is more than twice as muchh_ as it cost in Norway to actually build the longest road tunnel in the world.’"

User32459 · 08/04/2025 21:03

Livingbytheocean · 08/04/2025 20:59

Okay so now we have Labour all of these problems will magically disappear….. great we will look forward to it! 😳

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No. Labour are even worse.

User32459 · 08/04/2025 21:02

MidnightPatrol · 08/04/2025 20:57

Not now though - the most recent Tory governments legacy doesn’t involve low taxes, and that’s not what’s to blame for crap services.

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Truss further wrecked the economy trying to push through all tax cuts and trying to be Thatcher.

EasternStandard · 08/04/2025 21:02

Livingbytheocean · 08/04/2025 20:59

Okay so now we have Labour all of these problems will magically disappear….. great we will look forward to it! 😳

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There’s a lot of belief in Labour, well on here. As rubbish piles up. I guess we’ll see.

Jenkibubble · 08/04/2025 21:02

blahhhhg · 08/04/2025 16:42

I don't know if I'm just feeling a bit down and bitter lately but I just feel like lately our country seems to have gotten very run down. I went out into town today and couldn't help but notice how grotty and rundown everything looks. Litter everywhere, security guards everywhere - in nearly every clothing shop there is security on the door now, security wandering up and down the high street. It makes you feel really unsafe but they must be there for a reason now? Shops are dirty; filthy floors and used Starbucks cups just left off the shelf for some poor worker to clean up. Clothes for sale that are covered in makeup stains. I just found it really depressing. It's just not one town either, I've noticed it nearly everywhere I've been. I'm in my late 20s so it's not like I've had decades of life experience to draw from and I have a rose-tinted view of yesteryear, but it seems that in the last 5ish years things have really declined.

Cuts to public services
Council tax , despite going up has to be priorised for social care and mandatory services (litter / parks isn’t mandatory it seems )

CarmelaBrunella · 08/04/2025 21:00

User135644 · 08/04/2025 20:58

Truss thought she could be Thatcher 2. But Thatcher sold everything off..there's nothing left. Thatcherism died in 2008 and we've meandered since. The austerity of the 2010s followed by the pandemic has destroyed a generation at least.

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You're right, so Truss enacted her Thatcherite economic policy, but instead of paying for it by selling off nationalised companies,it required heavy borrowing. The IMF were so concerned, they issued a warning.
We're still paying for that catastrophe.

KateArnott · 08/04/2025 21:00

Yes. Where I live is the exact same, I’m sure it’s the case in city centres everywhere. It really gets me down.

IAmNotASheep · 08/04/2025 21:00

MidnightPatrol · 08/04/2025 20:56

TBF the high street doesn’t help itself.

I’ve been trying to buy a pair of trainers. Been to four shops and they didn’t have any in the style I like, in my size.

This experience is far more efficient online.

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Agree
but if we couldn’t buy online as before then ……. we’d spend our money in town like we used to.

Veronay · 08/04/2025 20:59

PandoraSox · 08/04/2025 20:57

So why are you blaming "people who don't speak a word of English/ have an active hatred of British culture can be ushered into private lets at my expense" rather than greedy landlords?

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Well those are the people who benefit, the landlords/ people with property investments benefit most though. The working population picks up the bill. Why would I be happy with that, considering I am a worker?

EasternStandard · 08/04/2025 20:59

safetychange · 08/04/2025 20:57

I think people are only now realising just how fucked England is. British exceptionalism has hidden this reality from us all for many decades but streets full of rotting rubbish and shoplifters tell a very different story.

That and knife crime

Not all areas are the same and I know some are much worse than here, we deal with dog poo and litter. Others even more

Livingbytheocean · 08/04/2025 20:59

sharkanado · 08/04/2025 20:55

The problem is Thathcherism could only work once..there's only so much council housing to sell off. Only so many public services to sell off (including water and gas). Only so much north sea oil to profit from. Low taxes destroy public services which then require high taxes to try and fix. Unions crippled helped undercut wages and now everyone is skintnor needs tax credits to pay the rent.

We're paying for it all now.

Yes

Okay so now we have Labour all of these problems will magically disappear….. great we will look forward to it! 😳

violetsorrengail · 08/04/2025 20:58

Buxton however, has always been a bit of an odd place for shops. It was quite bleak when I last visited about twenty five years ago.

MistressoftheDarkSide · 08/04/2025 20:58

realsavagelike · 08/04/2025 20:56

@MistressoftheDarkSide Dark Angel!

Thank you 😊 ancient brain remembered the Angel but not the Dark!

User135644 · 08/04/2025 20:58

CarmelaBrunella · 08/04/2025 20:54

We are indeed. Then when all the steel works, car factories, mines, energy companies and British Rail were sold off... what assets has the UK got now?
We were told that privatisation would mean competition and cheaper and more efficient services. I've never known the rail network be so bad.
In my city there was a good stock of well maintained council housing. All sold.

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Truss thought she could be Thatcher 2. But Thatcher sold everything off..there's nothing left. Thatcherism died in 2008 and we've meandered since. The austerity of the 2010s followed by the pandemic has destroyed a generation at least.

ThatTwinklyPearlSloth · 08/04/2025 20:57

I have to agree OP. In and around Manchester City centre and neighbouring town centres I feel the same. It’s very sad and seems like too big a problem to fix overnight too.