To be a bit dismayed at the anti London sentiment I keep seeing here

[Tier4billion]

Not sure if it just happens to the threads I’m on, or if I’m being a bit sensitive - but reading on here at the moment you’d assume that the streets of London are something akin to scenes from 28 days later, and all of us are out throwing parties.

@PuppyMonkey I know what you mean but seeing posts that say “we shouldn’t have anyone from London in OUR hospitals” or “no one in London should ever be able to access the NHS again are pretty fucking depressing.

I understand how you feel OP. I live in Swale, which until recently had the highest covid levels in England, and there was a petition going around (put together by morons) demanding that Swale should be divorced from the rest of Kent because apparently we are all irresponsible pond life who don't follow the rules. It was really fucking hurtful. Not to mention untrue.

@Magicpaintbrush what absolute idiots.

I agree. The way London is viewed on here is not something I recognise at all!

And the people fleeing London for other areas before tier 4 came in were unlikely to be “born and bred” Londoners (neither am I btw) because they tend not to have a country residence or family elsewhere to “flee” to.

Londoners didn’t make these rules and aren’t responsible for the government. We always get told things are “London centric” but London doesn’t seem to get what it votes for! More overwhelmingly remain than Scotland and tends to vote labour but we’re also stuck with this lot!

(I know Boris has a London constituency but the city as a whole tends to be labour)

Londoners didn’t make these rules and aren’t responsible for the government. We always get told things are “London centric” but London doesn’t seem to get what it votes for! More overwhelmingly remain than Scotland and tends to vote labour but we’re also stuck with this lot!
Good point

PS I felt the same way about people having a go at “northerners” or specific cities such as Liverpool when the tiers came in. It’s always a mistake to blame areas for things when they can affect you just a few months down the line.

London had quite a low rate at the beginning of the tiers - but that was probably because so many had had the virus in the first wave. Mind you, we are known for being an anti social bunch.

My first (or second) thought when the new strain came in was, oh crap those northern cities who have just been hammered are going to get this too.

I've always thought London was quite magical, loved visiting as a child and still get a bit excited now as an adult

But it is super irritating how London centric is. The transport system is shit hot and yet billions are still spent on things like HS2 while the rest of us have to put up with shoddy and inefficient transport. Not to mention how much the rest of the country could benefit from things like free transport for children. And keeping Northeners locked down while London kept some freedoms despite higher cases was bloody ridiculous.

BUT its the government making it this way that annoys me, not Londeners themselves! No point blaming normal people who happen to live their for the failings of a government who frankly they didn't vote for.

(Although I will say I heavily rolled my eyes when there was the campaign to make London independent after the EU referendum. A lot of people inferring that they, as enlightened Londoners, shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of a vote decided by Leave voting northern plebs come on!)

It's not like us Londoners are some kind of privileged nation despite the comments about London centric policies etc. It's horrendously expensive, nothing is easy, getting from a to b a nightmare, and there's people everywhere. There's no space and we pay a fortune to live in shitholes unless we are super wealthy. It's polluted and traffic is a nightmare (currently 20mph almost everywhere now and bus lanes everywhere plus cyclists AND vans, ubers, lorries and coaches).

It's where my friends and family live and it's where my business is. I could move out but trains are incredibly unreliable. It took me 2 and a half hours to get home on the lockdown evening a few months ago and it's 5.8 miles away. When I used to get the overground it was constantly cancelled and if I was getting out of London I would have been screwed.

Furthermore half the covid rule breakers aren't from London or even the uk and it's spreading through places like Richmond thanks to older students and uni students coming him to mummy and daddy. None of us voted for no lockdown but economically the government hasn't wanted to do it because like it or not a lot of business is done here and we can't just shut up shop.

It's not a conspiracy or a great love of London by politicians. It's just being practical. And there are too many people many of whom are fuckwits so not like we can just trust people to do the right thing. Those of you who think all immigration is good and we should save the world while not having to see any consequences themselves should take some of the blame. There's a fuckload of people here and not all of us voted for that - though to be fair much of London did.

you receive far more money per head than anywhere else

Not true, Scotland & NI spend more per head. On the other hand, London pays the most per head and runs a fiscal surplus (along with the SE and East of England to a lesser extent).
These 3 areas subsidies the rest of the country which run a fiscal deficit - they get more than they pay out.

The transport system is shit hot

Have you ever been to London?!

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf

The transport system is shit hot

Have you ever been to London?!

Haha absolutely. Of the words shit hot there's only one I would keep. And it isn't 'hot'.

The tube on the whole is fairly reliable I’d say - but that’s really not the only transport. Also When I worked in town my travel card was about £1600 a year so not cheap. And if you can’t afford to pay upfront - it’s a lot more.

Coronavirus was brought recently to my rural area by a londoner traveling up with mild symptoms, then infecting family members. Now there is a fairly large local outbreak. I work in a hospital and the medics are raging about it. Pretty sure this doesnt help Londoners case at all. They are (wrongly) percieved as having a 'we are better than you/rules don't apply to us' attitude by the rest of the uk unfortunately.

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf I have and I thought it was fab!

Maybe its just compared to what I'm used to.

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf

The transport system is shit hot

Have you ever been to London?!

The transport system in London is bloody brilliant compared to large parts of the country.

@TheNinny if you’re literally talking about an individual then it seems all the more bizarre to categorise everyone else in with them.

You might as well say “oh he was called Peter so all Peters are selfish”.

Haha absolutely. Of the words shit hot there's only one I would keep. And it isn't 'hot'

But it is a transport system. London you can get away with not having a car. There is no other UK city with such an extensive transport network.

The tube, overground and bus network is far more reliable than elsewhere.

Plus you moan about the price, it’s not expensive compared to buying, insuring and running a car, or even buses in other cities are twice the price. My dd travels for free on the bus, half price tube, all day every day. My niece pays £12.50 per week just for the school bus- that’s one specific bus there, one home. Any other travel is extra.

The tube and travel is one of great pros of london.

Anti London rants are the accepted form of bigotry on MN and have been around long before Covid.

The media and politicians have taken full advantage of this sort of stereotyping and divisive behaviour.
While everyone’s busy making snarky remarks about other regions we’ve failed to notice austerity, cuts in council services, increasing numbers of people struggling to make ends meet and don’t even mention Brexit.
Most Londoners didn’t vote for the policies that have resulted in that but many are suffering because of them.

But you know, carry on having a little dig if it makes you feel better.

Northerners need to learn a few things!

1. Anyone owning a car in London, the VED collected is not spent in London to fix roads, oh no its distributed to areas outside of London. So next time your driving down roads that have been fixed its not cos you paid for them but from Londoners.

1. Do you realise that our council tax has additional charges added that contributed to that the extra gla tax that we pay. If you look at the breakdown of what your council tax money is made of you won't have this extra charge we do! Which goes towards paying for things like translort no doubt.

1. Unless you live near the tube, most in South London don't we have the same problems with trains and lateness etc. So its not all that great depending on where you live in London

1. As for hs2 can you not see the benefit that itll bring now ppl can work remotely, you could. If your living in the Midlands for example your job opportunities are now wider you could have a job in London where you commute to for 2 days a week and it'll be faster to get there so you don't lose too much out of your day

I've lived in Birmingham, Leeds and now in London and I've heard more about Londonders than I ever did about northerners.

Same happened in Bolton in September @TheNinny , apparently some man spent the summer in Spain ( can't remember which resort ) and than went on a massive pub crawl when he returned home ,our rates than went sky high and we had to have extra ,extra restrictions ,there is always going to be idiots and deniers that only think about themselves ,but they are everywhere not just London

4. As for hs2 can you not see the benefit that itll bring now ppl can work remotely, you could. If your living in the Midlands for example your job opportunities are now wider you could have a job in London where you commute to for 2 days a week and it'll be faster to get there so you don't lose too much out of your day

No. I live south Leeds. My current nearest rail station has direct services to london every half hour. So from my door to KX takes under 2 hours.

Hs2 will practically go past the end of my road. However the terminus will be north leeds. Hs2 is the same time from leeds to london as it is from my local station to london.

Only hs2 will mean a cut in local rail services. If I use hs2 i will need to travel 30-40 mins to north leeds. No public transport, so I will need to drive, park etc. Public transport, if available, will be over an hour.

Commuters will move to n/leeds, and the areas south will lose much of their commutability.

Great.

Northerners need to learn a few things!

How patronising!

It's so frustrating when people talk about HS2 widening our opportunities and making London more accessible... yeah that's great if you live in a city centre but what about those of us that don't? Local train and bus networks are still terrible in large parts of the country and cost an absolute fortune. It takes me an hour to get to Manchester, there's one train per hour and I still need to drive to the train station. I could get the tram but that still involves driving, paying for parking and would still take as long!

@SueEllenMishke it’s exactly the same here in London. We don’t all live by a tube. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to say kings cross and would involve a bus (or twenty minute walk) a train and a tube.

@sueellenmishke

Its not patronising when it's the truth. Did you know all those things? I know plenty of people met when I studied up in the Midlands didn't and dont now even when I speak to them so naw its not patronising.

Aa for free travel for school children in London you do realise Londonsrs pay for that right.

Tfl pre covid (as they have now had bailouts) was funded by the fares they collected, advertising revenue and other charges like congestion one. They had no government funding.

So if the decision is to use some of that money to offer free travel to children because that is part of the mayors policy than what is the complaint?

So its not the government paying London children to get free travel its the London commuters.

Surely you own areas can do the same.