To think a lot of the Uk looks like a state

[Novembermummy88]

Not sure if I am being dramatic or if years of austerity are really starting to show…? Lately I’ve really started to notice how filthy, run down and falling apart everywhere looks! I live in a town in the south east on the borders of the M25. Every where there are gapping pot holes (can hardly avoid the volume there are now and genuinely concerned I will lose a wheel at some point!), broken lamp posts, the volume of litter / filth on the roads seems very high and can’t remember the last time I saw a road sweeper, and things like pathways are a state, road markings worn out, SO many closed/dilapidated shops….the town just looks awful as do many of the nearby towns! Is it just the South East looking like this? Aibu?! Or have I watched too much Selling Sunsets and setting my expectations too high…???

Same here!

I do the same as you, keep the front (and back) garden tidy, clear up litter and tidy up after the bin men etc, as it bugs me to look at litter.
In fact most of the neighbours did the same when I first came to live here but now many of those neighbours have moved on and their replacements don't all have same attitude to litter as you and I, so the neighbourhood looks more run down than it used to which is a shame. On the plus side though we do have local litter picks and that helps to keep public areas looking better.

On a wider note though, I have noticed in recent years in this country is the amount of apathy felt by it's citizens and that apathy is becoming a cancer in our society.
I don't think this is helped by the constant doom and gloom in the news, the threat of war, most people feeling a lot poorer and a totally inept government who seem to have lost the plot.
Some very large changes are needed in this country to put it back on track and I can't see any of our governments of any colour having the vim and vigour to make that happen. Sad times.

The reasons people say they voted leave and what they really think are two different things. Racists will rarely admit to being racist.

@fetchacloth yes, it's sad isn't it.

The media has the British public in a horrible abusive relationship. Everything is always scary, you better be scared and because you're scared you won't get strong and demand that you are treated ok.

The Marie Antoinette worldview. If they cannot find tomatoes why do they not not eat avocados. If they cannot find Beluga caviar due to the sanctions, let them eat Exmoor Caviar.

what coat of living crisis? I put £50 of petrol into my car last year and guess what? £50 of petrol costs exactly the same this year.

Much to my surprise I now live on a reasonably new estate, although on the edge. Although people here have clearly invested a lot in buying their property a significant number don't seem to be able to cut the grass or hedges, weed the path or sweep up stones that have spread. Taking such little interest in their own property, it's clear they have no interest in the local environment in which they live. Where I grew up the gardens and streets were meticulously maintained by the residents even if renting ( late 1960s/70s). If I try and raise matters locally about basics to improve out area I'm told I don't live in the real world - the local Facebook community. I don't know what will change attitudes, it seems to be that the thought process is 'someone will do something' rather than take on that responsibility. I find the attitude quite odd.

Ethnic families often have work ethic, but they also often have family who provide the capital to buy and grow their businesses (some aren't allowed to earn interest on savings for religious reasons). They are also often not too bothered about fully complying with the law when it comes to things like tax!

When I started my accountancy practice, one of my first clients was an Asian family who had multiple businesses. There was no shortage of "uncles" who'd buy a shop for their niece to open a hair salon, or an empty shop for a nephew to open a takeaway. It was a constant battle to get them to pay tax - they'd put all kinds of expenses through their books, new cars, holidays, widescreen TVs, etc., they'd artificially split businesses to avoid VAT registration (i.e. pretend that their hair & beauty salon was two separate businesses, one doing hair and another doing nails, etc., despite it being the same niece doing both!).

One son got locked up in prison for employing illegal immigrants, not paying them minimum wage, and "keeping" them in insanitary conditions living above the shop (basically, it was slave labour). Another son got locked up for money laundering through one of his shops.

It's not easy to run a small business if you want to abide by the laws and don't have family willing to invest the money to buy/grow it!

As it’s a new build estate about 25% will be local authority housing. So that might explain things.

Come now, I’m sure this was a one-off scenario.

Re the litter, a PP above makes a good point about "uncleanable" places like motorway sliproads. When they were first built they'd have been free of litter. Then some gets dumped, or blown in. It's plastic, or bottles, or cans, it doesn't decompose so it just stays there indefinitely. Every year, there's a bit more. Even if no-one dumped litter on it ever again, what's there now will still be there for the next 10, 20, 100 years, and we'll be driving past it seeing the mess.

I also base all my views and prejudices on anecdotes. It is so much harder to do any form of active research or do any in-depth reading on the matter. In fact, it is easier to allow the Express or the Mail to tell me what to think.

Don't be so bloody ridiculous, I said nothing about the cost of living, where I live looks fine, sorry to disappoint you.

Regarding the message concerning apathy in the country, I agree - but it's also about a loss of hope and having something to look forward to. When you have government after government who just leaves the country worse every time around, you very rightly, despair. The government could do all sorts of things - specifically encourage all schools to teach about personal responsibility to be civil and kind and responsible for their environment and each other - look out for one another and encourage them to make a better world. Good manners, kindness and consideration - old-fashioned but universal values. There isn't a race or religion of schoolgoing children who wouldn't ultimately see the value of that - if properly deployed in the schools. If all the children went home to their parents with the idea that they mustn't litter, must be kind and considerate etc... behave well in both private and public - we'd be winning all round. It's not such an impossible goal, and should be part of the curriculum - to create a status quo for young people of positive attitudes, self-discipline and a willingness to bring hope to home and nation.

sydneysunset

Stop looking for someone else to blame and change your own environment if you don’t like it.

So true , I can’t fix the pot holes I can’t mend the NHS , but I can pick up litter, so that what I do , every day I take the dog for it’s walk I pick up a carrier bag fall. My street does not have any litter as I pick it all up.

if there is loads of litter on a street then dropping more seems more acceptable, if there is none then people think twice about it.

there is a nursing home near me and I realised that when the staff were leaving that they must be dropped there masks so I phoned up and asked to speck to the manager, well that problem has now stopped.

a few years ago I email local secondary school about the litter being dropped round the school apparently they now have a litter picks once a month.

go to my local beach clear up and other litter picks and other parts of the city I live.

I live in Scotland at this year they are starting a Bottle and can deposit return scheme, I’m hoping this is going to help

There's always this:

www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2014/jul/31/david-sedaris-litter-picker-rubbish-waste-vehicle-pig-pen-west-sussex

And he's not even a UK citizen!!!! Will be soon though.

I should have made it plain that I'm not objecting to Sedaris as a US citizen getting a UK rubbish truck named after him, just applauding his attitude.

We're not the only country suffering. Madrid has a huge tent city outside it - the largest in Europe. America has many tent cities. Our country spent billions on the furlough scheme during covid and now is spending billions more supporting Ukraine. We're also spending 7 million a day on housing illegal immigrants. All the fault of the Tories? You could be right but somehow i don't believe a Labour government will wear a halo and wings either

All the fault of the Tories?
It certainly is. The fuckers have wrecked the country.

Wow I’ve just come back to check this thread and amazed how many people feel similar to me that things have gone down hill. I’m so pleased that people are bothered though, it shows there is still some people that care about this country!!

I agree (as my last post on her where I mentioned no one cleared the snow from their own pathways before Christmas except me and my neighbour) that many, MANY people do not look after their own homes anymore. The house opposite me is rented and is the worst kept on the street (the majority are owned/mortgage). I suppose some people who rent may feel it’s not their responsibility to pay for windows to be cleaned, gutters to be cleared I guess…??

my original post though I was more looking at the roads, general grime on streets/leaves not cleared etc, general litter, state of fencing along public roads (not been painted/bent out of shape etc), broken/mucky street lights, things like that. The majority of which is surely down to council funding although we seem to be paying more than ever for our council tax??

personally I feel, more than ever, that the government are “against” us the people and there is no one legitimate left to vote for (don’t start me on Tories re electing leaders that none of us voted for). How do we change this?? Or are we left to keep facing parties that really don’t have this countries best interest at heart…. :(

About once a month I see local people picking up litter near us - unfortunately that area is just beyond McDonalds so people get their take away and either finish it on the way home and chuck the rubbish or sit in the laybys eating it then chucking the rubbish - I feel takeaways should be charged to cover the discarded packaging.

I agree with a lot of what you say in your original post and add-ons but this I can't agree with. It's too easy to blame immigrants @Novembermummy88 rather than demand better from our government and local authorities. Chewing gum all over the pavement is a big pet hate of mine. Councils need special equipment to get rid of the stuff which must be really costly. Why don't people wrap it up, put it in their pocket and then bin it at the next opportunity?

trinny it has been suggested on the various litter picking FB sites that fast food drive thru's should be able to print the car reg on the bag so it can be traced back if littered.

The only way to improve living standards is to raise productivity. We've had 15 years of no productivity growth or real-terms salary growth which is unprecedented in recorded economic history. What you are seeing is the result of that. As to what can be done about it, I answered that upthread:

And nothing will improve until you have a Government that invests in improving productivity. This means decent education, infrastructure, and industrial strategy for key high-margin growth sectors, and removing ridiculous bottlenecks in the tax system at £50k, £100k etc and equalises it to remove the penalisation of single adult households.

No chance this will happen because the average British citizen has no grip of even the most basic economics so there is no pressure on MPs to do so. People seem happier fighting over how they divide up the remaining crumbs or resorting to xenophobia.

Oh and obviously, rejoining the single market and customs union. But that's so obvious I didn't think it needs saying...

Unfortunately not even the opposition party can say it. And Brexit wasn’t their idea.

Without that I can’t see Labour magicking much up for massive investment.