What do you dislike about your country's culture?

[WomenHour]

I would say the binge drinking culture of the UK

PhilSwagielka
Why are disabled people so hated?
Most of it goes back to Little Britain. People took it seriously*

Are they though? And I’ve never watched little Britton.

@Byallmeans

PhilSwagielka Why are disabled people so hated? Most of it goes back to Little Britain. People took it seriously*

Are they though? And I’ve never watched little Britton.

Yes, we are. We're lazy, scroungers, faking it, snowflakes, just making it up, need I go on?

Some English people hate other English people - it’s just another form of self flagellation.

Really interesting thread.

If your British your doomed! Doomed I tell you!

Was born in Britain and have lived here all my life.
I don't like lots of things, but mostly:

• The drinking culture
• The rising of nationalism and how the English flag has been "stolen" by the far right.
• How stupid people are made famous in the media
• How American culture has slipped into the UK

PhilSwagielka maybe that’s just your perception of what you think people think about you. I certainly don’t think that. We’re not all the same y’know.

Lack of responsibility- it’s usually someone else fault or down to others to sort things out for them.

Ireland:

Littering

Smug uncritical wokeness: the new Catholic dogma, and just as misogynistic as the old one.

People not caring about themselves; too much heavy drinking, obesity and dressing like slobs. This is a relatively recent thing. - I remember people of all backgrounds taking more pride in themselves.

Pet/Dog ownership.

Over-reliance on/addiction to coffee/tea.

Crabs in a barrel mentality/ Hatred/jealousy/envy towards anyone who's doing well in some way in any area of life. Rare to be genuinely happy for someone else because 'they're doing better' (or so people think).

Self deprecation/ Race to the bottom.

Sit-down/Formal dinners.

Competitive skinny/diet culture.

Fear of grow old(er).

*growing.

Re the dressing like slobs thing: I wear comfortable clothing. I wash regularly, I brush my hair and tie it back, I don't wear dirty clothes outside the house. I work from home. What am I supposed to wear? I hate heels because they kill my feet. I don't like make-up and never have.

@Byallmeans I'm 36, I have fibromyalgia and if I had a quid for the number of people who've told me I'm too young to have chronic pain, I'm lying/exaggerating, I should just try this cure or that cure and so on, I'd be loaded. The alt-right also have a real hatred of autistic people, though tbf you'd have to be Extremely Online to know about that.

Ok...
binge-drinking
xenophobia
jingoism
displaying unseemly amounts of flesh at the first sign on warm weather
constant f-word
new housing estates that look awful after a year
lack of pride in standards while still retaining arrogant self-belief
fast food
people eating in the streets
babies chomping on Greggs sausage rolls in their pushchairs
ignorance coupled with arrogance
the tabloids

My dd1 lives in Dubai and all this whinging is laughable. It’s a sign of how you really don’t know how good you’ve got it!

@Twillow can I ask what’s wrong with eating on the street? I did not know this was wrong I some people’s eyes.

@User563420011

Was born in Britain and have lived here all my life. I don't like lots of things, but mostly:

• The drinking culture
• The rising of nationalism and how the English flag has been "stolen" by the far right.
• How stupid people are made famous in the media
• How American culture has slipped into the UK

I hate the drinking culture too. I've been on nights out in Germany and Spain and I barely see as much fighting and people vomiting in the street as I do here. I love Manchester to bits but I dread going out here at weekends because of all the drunk twats who can't control themselves. In the UK people drink to get drunk and in one former job the boss used to pressure people into downing shots at the office Christmas party. I don't understand the appeal of being out of control. A bit merry, sure, but when you're so pissed you black out? No thanks. I've been at that point twice and it was hell the next day both times. I felt so ill. And I hate it when people act like you're boring for not wanting to drink.

@tulippa

Lack of respect for education. We have it so easy here compared to other countries and, while it isn't perfect and definitely needs some improvements especially in terms of accessibility, we completely take it for granted.

This!!

@Byallmeans

My dd1 lives in Dubai and all this whinging is laughable. It’s a sign of how you really don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I can imagine, Dubai is a hell hole run on slave labour and I can't imagine it's a picnic being a woman there.

PhilSwagielka I’m from Manchester too. You need to pick the places where you drink better. There is always bad spots but also some very lovely spots

Usually I either go the Salisbury or places in the Northern Quarter - I used to go to Jilly's but it's gone now. I don't go out as much as I used to though, nowadays when I go into town, it's mainly for gigs and if I get the bus home, that means drunk students cos it's on the Oxford Road route. Piccadilly Gardens is absolute hell, especially now that there's a huge spice problem.

Moving to Canada, I was able to feel fully Canadian within a few years and was proudly flying a Canadian flag in front of my house.

In the UK, unable to ever feel truly British, not because I don’t want to feel British, but because I feel I am not welcome to or allowed to. I feel like I don’t belong here and like I never will.

Envy of the successful and affluent.

@ExpatInBritain, that's a pretty comprehensive list! Judging by your name, you're not from Britain originally - where are you from? What is your home country like?

@allworkhomesleeprepeat
To me, eating on the street is rarely essential and certainly not pleasurable - why not just wait until you can sit down, at the very least on a park bench, if you really cannot wait until you get home? I think it smacks of greed and lack of self-discipline, and also contributes to littering in many cases.

I hate the drinking culture too. I've been on nights out in Germany and Spain and I barely see as much fighting and people vomiting in the street as I do here. I love Manchester to bits but I dread going out here at weekends because of all the drunk twats who can't control themselves. In the UK people drink to get drunk and in one former job the boss used to pressure people into downing shots at the office Christmas party. I don't understand the appeal of being out of control. A bit merry, sure, but when you're so pissed you black out? No thanks. I've been at that point twice and it was hell the next day both times. I felt so ill. And I hate it when people act like you're boring for not wanting to drink

Yes. My parents were both alcoholics- one is in recovery. I had a period of heavy drinking in my 20s but stopped cold turkey when I realised I was going down the same path. I completely embarrassed a coworker at a work party when she kept saying "don't be boring" etc (and added vodka to my coke even though I had said I wasn't drinking....) by telling her something like "Actually alcoholism runs in my family and I've made a conscious decision not to drink based on my traumatic childhood experiences"

I can imagine, Dubai is a hell hole run on slave labour and I can't imagine it's a picnic being a woman there

I enjoy going to visit her but to me there is an undercurrent of ‘don’t enjoy yourself too much’. Which scares me to death as there is actually a very big party scene.

I went for a an news years eve meal once and we all prepaid for unlimited drinks and food ect. One of our table turned up late and took a full bottle of Champaign that was already on our table to take home with him. One of our party was beside himself begging him not to take it as the whole table would be arrested for theft. I don’t think I’ve ever seen some one so scared.

We really don’t know how easy we have it

Too polite? Too friendly? Too helpful? :)(Canada)