To think this hatred of London/Londoners needs to stop

[IloveCarbs]

My family is mainly traditional rural Tory voters. I moved to London as soon as I could and have lived for the rest of my life in London. On a recent visit whenever politics is discussed I'm called a trendy leftie/Corbynista/guardian reader/elitist.
It's simply not true I live in Streatham and have an average paying job. I see poverty on a daily basis and of coarse it influences my politics.

There politics are typical daily mail garbage (muslims, immigrants, e.u etc )

I don't understand why they hate London so much. We are just like everyone else just in a big city. I feel a real anti London feeling at the moment and i don't get it. It's stupid to connect Labour with London as well because half of London votes Tory. Also political elites in London are separate to ordinary Londoners.

I hate being called these stupid names by family.

Bump

What are you asking? I don't find people hate London and Londoners. Maybe just your Tory loving family who sound charming. Take it up with them.

I've lived in London and now live in the countryside and I've never experienced this at all. Some people say they'd hate to live in London. That's understandable if you aren't keen on city life, but it doesn't mean you hate London or Londoners. Is it just from your family you're getting this, OP?

I haven't heard any anti London sentiment, but I am also called a Guardian reading lefty when discussing politics. Annoys me because I actually don't subscribe to any one particulatr ideology, but I am a remainer.

And i usually read the Times if anything....

Yes from family but also with the brexit as well.

What?

Oh, meant to say that I don't live anywhere near London.

Why did you bump this less than half an hour after you posted?

If you are perceiving London/Labour hate then that's a shame but the Tory hatred on here is just as pervasive so perhaps they are feeling defensive

Your family hates London and/or Londoners? Well sorry but they sound a bit thick. A bit uneducated. I couldn't be around people like that, family or not. Time to limit contact maybe?

Your family sounds pretty stupid, sorry. I don't encounter London hatred.

But London does feel very remote to a lot of the rest of the country - the astronomical rents/house prices mean that what we consider a good salary is a pittance there, and it gives you a very different outlook on life.

Politics and the media are also very centred on London which can make other regions feel overlooked. MN is bad for that as so many MNers are in London or other big cities and say things like "but there must be several schools/supermarkets/stations within walking distance of your house" and don't seem to appreciate that many British people live in far less dense communities.

I have seen loads of posts on mumsnet about how dirty, grimy, stinky, smelly, busy, generally awful london is and how you couldn't pay some posters to live there

It gets a hell of a lot more vitriol than anywhere else in the uk. And if people were that rude about Skegness / Bolton / Bristol etc etc posters would be aghast at the rudeness. Somehow it's acceptable with london

I was born in London but now live in the north. I don't hate London or Londoners but I do hate the way politics/the media/the economy are so London-centric. Is that what you mean?

You are judging them as much as they are judging you
There politics are typical daily mail garbage (muslims, immigrants, e.u etc )

They are entitled to not think the same way you do. Maybe both of you could stop it.

If you give this kind of reaction, are you sure your family aren't just winding you up? You do seem very defensive about London 😂

Your family do sound rather ignorant and racist, unfortunately. But I've heard similar views expressed by a couple of people who sound a bit like your bunch...I put it down to their well-deserved inferiority complexes and politely explained the thought of leaving such a cosmopolitan and open minded habitat chills my blood

Do you think your family resent the fact that you have moved away and have been exposed to a different way of thinking that obviously makes you differ to them? Maybe you're the first to not just tow the family line and meekly follow their politics and beliefs? It is not uncommon when people fly the nest and realise the world is bigger than their family and hometown.

I would probably visit less, or accept that you will probably always disagree and try to keep conversation as neutral as possible.

Toe the line. Blooming phone.

"I was born in London but now live in the north. I don't hate London or Londoners but I do hate the way politics/the media/the economy are so London-centric. Is that what you mean?"

Same here. I grew up in Greater London, and worked in London when I left school. I don't miss it at all now, and prefer living in a rural area. I like visiting the place, but wouldn't want to live there.

On the other hand, I do see quite a few patronising posts on MN from Londoners who would be horrified at the idea of living outside of London.

There politics are typical daily mail garbage

I hate being called these stupid names by family

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, perhaps?

I don't think most people hate London (and I say that as one with family there too) but I do think a lot of people think the balance between it and other areas needs redressing. Many things are London-centric as others have pointed out and the fact that schools and transport get so much more funding than the rest of the country is holding the rest back

I have seen loads of posts on mumsnet about how dirty, grimy, stinky, smelly, busy, generally awful london is and how you couldn't pay some posters to live there
Maybe that's our experience of it. And you couldn't pay me to live there (or any big city for that matter).

I've lived in a few fairly poor towns and would take them any day over London. People in day to day life are a lot more friendly up here in the North. People seem to say excuse me more and not barge past you like they have somewhere big and important to be. People pass the time of day a bit more and dont seem to act like doing their job and dealing with customers is the biggest waste of time.

I have no doubt most Londoners are nice people. But as a place you don't see that.

QueenMortificado

You must have missed the 'Skegness is a dive' threads.

I have seen my home town, my DP's home town and the place where I now live absolutely slated on here so I would advise you to suck it up.

Your family sound like they would vote tory wherever they lived. My dad votes tory, he lives in central London. My uncle votes labour and he lives in a nice Surrey village.
They're not bashing London, they're bashing you. If you lived in Cornwall or Birmingham, they'd be slagging it off. Your family sound a bit toxic to be honest.

Your title is a bit deceptive, as - without clarification I assume most people think you are talking about in the media generally, or at least on MN - which, as everyone else has said, I don't see.

Your own family issues do seem - from what you've posted and the way you talk about them - to be a bit '6 of one 1/2 a dozen of the other'.