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

I have seen supermarket workers with body cameras a few times recently. Which is a sign of the times.

My local Tesco has riot bars around the spirits and cigarettes, the staff behind a plastic sheet and they push the items though a slot.

I live in quite an affluent area, it makes everything feel a lot more dodgy. Presumably there’s a need for it.

Low taxation. Right to buy. Unions crippled.
Boom time for many people, utter devastation for others.

So much down to people. Litter? Put it in bins or take it home. Same with take away wrappers, cups. People just throw this stuff on the floor or it comes out of overflowing bins. Theft is rife hence the security and it's not villains just doing it but any chancers who thinks/knows they won't get caught. Council funding for clean streets has been cut and people wanted to shop online so your shops closed. Vape shops are clearly popular and barber shops and dessert places poss money laundering. People don't care and it shows. My neighbour works as a steward at events. It was boxing the other night. People are carried out, ejected for fighting, doors eg toilets smashed and cocaine is liberally dusted in the toilets/sinks. Somehow that is seen as a good night out

Could be worse. You could be in Birmingham.

Exactly. I think some people have led sheltered lives.

Blame online shopping and WFH, it's these underlying factors that contribute to a lack of community, less people going out, engaged in their surroundings, interactions with other people etc

You don’t want the townies all moving to the countryside. Because they don’t want the countryside they will change it too 🥲

Yep. This is where austerity leads. It is a shame Labour are repeating Tory mistakes.

I think there is a big difference in terms of cities/towns - rural life. The country seem to have held on to a more traditional life as it was. We don’t see decay just rolling fields. Poverty still exists but is somehow softened with plentiful resources and a calming environment.

If you are fed up with urban life, then move out, it’s not all awful everywhere. There is another life beyond the endurance you are living with. It’s idyllic here. Sorry,

14 years of the Tories. It was the same after Thatcher. I don't know why anyone kept voting for them.

@Newgirls there are plenty of run down areas in Folkestone!

Ah, yes. It is all the fault of the foreigners.

The late 70s/early 80s were pretty bad, and it feels a bit like that time did to me. I think black people might have been held to blame for the state of the UK back then. And single mothers. Oh, and Kurdish refugees.

There is always some sort of scapegoat held up for the thickies to blame. It works, sadly.

You forgot nail bars.

We'll see more young people emigrate. Nothing here for you if you're not born into wealth.

Totally agree but it's more than 5 years
I'm late 30s (knock knock 40) and I remember once every couple of months me and my mum would get "dressed up", not fancy but just nice clothes, make an effort. We'd hit the city, do some shopping, have a lovely lunch somewhere and a coffee, bit more wandering/shopping and head home having had a lovely day.
Since those times. I've lived in/near; Leicester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, Hull, Leeds. They're all shit holes now, Sheffield maybe the lesser but then it's smaller so maybe less to see. It's sad. If I go into "town" now it's normally because I hit the wrong click and collect location 🤣🤣
Shops gone, shops run down, homeless everywhere, rubbish everywhere, buses don't run efficiently, people are rude. On and on. It's a sorry state really.

In my younger days, things seemed so promising - we'd have shorter working weeks, better housing, better healthcare... What on earth happened?

We haven't really had any growth for years

Ha, yes, see also my town, hugely expanding University sea side town with pockets of affluent resudential areas. Student accommodation everywhere, AirBnBs, etc etc.

Most dystopian experience was a couple of years ago. Had to pass through the town centre which is now devoid of proper department stores, M&S etc, and Smiths has just gone. Down the pedestrianised thoroughfare and in the square were loads of little market stalls outside the many boarded up shops, and it really gave me the vibe if that Jessica Alba series in the 90s? The one where society is trying to rebuild itself after a global EMP event.

Recently we got a branch of the Ivy, much to the hysterical delight of the local rag. It is a couple of hundred feet from a well patronised Wetherspoons. The pedestrianised square is populated by skaters and assorted God Squads most of the time. The Evangelicals and the JWs seem to have an uneasy truce but swerving the leafletting can be problematic.

It is in equal parts surreal and depressing. Online people wail when independent shops fold (I had one and speak from bitter experience) but would rather shop online. In fact, I personally had visitors to my shop photograph my stock and find similar cheaper online in front of my face. It was suggested I also buy my stock from big platforms like the one that rhymes with Emu. They couldn't grasp I had to make a living and cover overheads plus buy stock etc, so couldn'tsell it as cheaply as they could buy it direct online. I gave up, nearly ten grand in debt because no amount of manifestation or toxic positivity over-rides cold hard, economic reality.

No idea where things are going, but I'm glad I'm out of the selling of widgets game.

As to the rest of it, the general air of decay, weekly rapes and stabbings etc - I'm too old for this shot, and I'm only 56. Meh.

YANBU.

I agree. I live abroad and when I come back it is mostly shitty and rundown. I love coming back to the uk. But it has taken a battering in the last decade or two.

Although there are nice spots that are clean with independent shops and cafes. But that is where the money is.

A dad spat in the playground the other day. Another chap was vaping. Gross

Also too many slum landlords. Especially hmo ones.

You can always tell when they get a new tenant as the entire house gets dumped on the street. Funnily enough though the council can never pin Point who to fine hmmm 🤔

And disgusting spitting on the street.

Everywhere is grubby, run down and depressing.

Potholes, litter and crowds.

And no one queues for the bus anymore.

I agree and I'm glad to hear the same from a young person - I'm in my 60s and thought maybe I was just being a grumpy old woman. Everywhere seems dirty, so many closed shops, homeless people on the streets... It's so depressing. In my younger days, things seemed so promising - we'd have shorter working weeks, better housing, better healthcare... What on earth happened?

That’s embarrassing for you. If people live longer then there are more people alive and therefore the population is increased. HTH 😊

Yes, many people with existing investments have benefited immensely from the industry of housing people who have very little to offer society. The previous governemts were more than happy to funnel this money for them, considering a lot of them also had investments.
What makes me laugh is that the present government are now panicking about young people not going into work. Why the fuck would they go into work with nothing to gain? Beggar's belief.