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

[blahhhhg]

I don't know if I'm just feeling a bit down and bitter lately but I just feel like lately our country seems to have gotten very run down. I went out into town today and couldn't help but notice how grotty and rundown everything looks. Litter everywhere, security guards everywhere - in nearly every clothing shop there is security on the door now, security wandering up and down the high street. It makes you feel really unsafe but they must be there for a reason now? Shops are dirty; filthy floors and used Starbucks cups just left off the shelf for some poor worker to clean up. Clothes for sale that are covered in makeup stains. I just found it really depressing. It's just not one town either, I've noticed it nearly everywhere I've been. I'm in my late 20s so it's not like I've had decades of life experience to draw from and I have a rose-tinted view of yesteryear, but it seems that in the last 5ish years things have really declined.

Because I'm pretty sure people aren't having enough children to fill the houses once they're available

Why are so many families stuck in flats or small houses and unable to move up the ladder? because of immigrants...

Well I think it’s really a tale of 2 cities here- certain places whilst still having some empty shops and not as pristine as they once were and with a fair sprinkling of homelessness still look relatively ok and feel very pleasant on a nice day — looking at my city of Bath, Cheltenham ( went last weekend) , Oxford, Winchester Exeter , Cambridge etc, some of Greater London - But a visit to my midlands original home town of Mansfield last year , first in 22 years, shocked me to the core- good grief, the centre is like Armageddon , all the many lovely old pubs virtually gone, a whole street off the main square virtually all boarded up , the lovely old indoor food market, gone , far far fewer people about. Just totally crap — weirdly though bits round the edges a mile out were much improved, a decent retail park, several actual restaurants that looked pretty ok ( can’t remember one when I lived there) some pretty nice new developments scattered about , new bus station and train now reinstated. In fact if I never ever went into town it would be relatively ok - and I’m sure there probably are worse places out there - you really can’t blame immigration either here, it is massively white working class with a scattering of better paid professionals often in public service - I felt bloody sorry for the locals and it’s not hard to see why they think everything is shit and gravitate to anything they think would make a difference like Farage - even though I think they are very wrong- the problem I. The areas is you simply haven’t got enough people paying substantial amounts of council tax in full and yet more social problems than ever - lots of pensioners too with little in the way of hefty assets as houses are cheap and hence need covering off for care at earlier stages. It’s a very complex issue and why I dont agree with how local authority funding or social care is funded - and yes I blame the Tory’s for these aspects as it’s now very hard to turn around - the way it’s funded now means that shittier places get shitter because they have more issues to fund .

@User135644 Of course we could have worked in the care homes and all the other jobs immigrants do. Instead we brought others in to do it whilst we have millions of people not working, including many school leavers.

I live in an East Midlands town that's been in decline since the pits closed on the eighties, and it's getting progressively worse. I work all over the country and it's really noticeable that many places all over the UK are looking like my town now, whereas before where I live felt like an outlier. I'm consoling myself with the fact that at least housing is cheap here - I'd be furious if I was paying a massive mortgage to live somewhere so run down.
Interestingly it seems some of the larger villages are fighting back - nearby we have things like grocery stores, refill places, nice bistros etc all opening and doing ok. I guess business is moving to where the rents make taking the risk of setting up is worthwhile.
I don't know what the answer is though, I'm as guilty as anyone for online shopping. Even if I do try to shop locally either the opening hours are too short, it availability is limited on sizes etc.

This country has gone to hell.
I was born in the 60s and I am glad I am on this end of my life, instead of the beginning.

Agree. That’s not the same as being full though

Not building enough houses for who? Because since no one's able to afford having kids, we shouldn't need more.

May or may not, but we don't have the infrastructure for ever increasing population, i.e. housing, schools, GP surgeries, hospitals, etc etc. In lots of places the utility supplies are also creaking as ever more houses are built without the infrastructure being improved to accommodate

We don't have the infrastructure to cope with the ageing population? what do people suggest?

Most areas are seeing school closures because there aren't the children to fill them
all. We already have more over 65 yr olds than under 15s.

Right to die 😉

We have had austerity as Govt policy since 2010. Things will recover. Just give it time.

Not building enough houses for who? Because since no one's able to afford having kids, we shouldn't need more.

But there are kids who born years ago who are still kids..,

You also don't seem able to grasp that people are living longer which increased the population.

Right to die

It's coming

M&S left Bedford too.

We have had austerity as Govt policy since 2010. Things will recover. Just give it time.

The issue is we never recovered from
the 08 crash. Low interest rates masked a lot though. The can was kicked down the road and unfortunately we have run out of road. Add the aging population, huge intergenerational inequality and we are fucked. Taxes are only ever going to go up
and so is the cost of things.

Living longer doesn't increase the population, unless once I turn 80 I magically transform into 2 people? Are you a bit thick?

@sharkanado infrastructure is not the same as staffing infrastructure. We now have GPs who cannot find work. What we need is people to take far more responsibility for themselves. That’s difficult of course because we live much longer than in the good old 1960s and are used to having what we want when we want it.

Living longer doesn't increase the population, unless once I turn 80 I magically transform into 2 people? Are you a bit thick?

🤔

Seriously...

Of course it does. The population pyramid increases at the top due to people living longer, but keeps filling at the lower ages due to births/immigration.

Agreed and it’s thoroughly depressing. Dog mess is absolutely everywhere along with litter. Why can’t people clean up after themselves and have respect for their surroundings? The roads are in a shocking state, pot holes, rough and uneven, no line markings. You know it’s bad when there are pot holes on motorways!

Modern highway men posing as car parking companies, everywhere you turn, you risk a fine form conmen. No one is accountable for anything.

Since Brexit there is a lot less cash flowing into the country, less structural funding, regional funding, social cohesion funding, research funding etc…

I travel a lot in Europe and the contrast is getting starker and starker. Most towns and cities on the continent have lovely town centres, unblemished pavements and roads, beautiful and preserved architecture, power washing of facades… or to mention the bustling town centres with quality food shops and so on. The UK would need massive investment to begin to catch up.

I’m sorry to say that where I live now, there is litter everywhere and it wasn’t like this a decade ago.

@TizerorFizz we don't have enough of the right housing for the older population or the transport systems though?

What we need is people to take far more responsibility for themselves.

But socioeconomic factors play into this.

That’s difficult of course because we live much longer than in the good old 1960s and are used to having what we want when we want it.

And unfortunately healthy life expectancy hasn't increased in years.

Yeh dog poo here and litter. Granted the high st nearby is ok but this stuff is so depressing.

Cost of Living Crisis means that more people have turned to shoplifting.

Streets are full of crap because Councils are more interested in spending the Council Tax on increasing fat cat salaries. My Council has 30+ earning more than 100K pa. and very dirty streets.

Disrespect. People are disillusioned. The young have been screwed over into a lifetime of debt and poverty, the government has overspent; Thames Water increased their bills by £200 despite millions and millions of pounds made and shared in profits to shareholders last year; Tesco clubcard prices, ie This pack of ham cost £2.99 with a Tesco Clubcard, without one it costs £35.49; Noise pollution - a bus full of 20 people, 6 on phone calls shouting over each other, 2 watching football matches on their phones with their speakers on; someone playing misogynistic rap loudly 'bitch suck my dick', a crying baby as his mother is too busy with her phone. People being rude & obnoxious and then stating they have a ADHD, PTSD or just BS as an excuse; Nepo Babies living their best lives; My BBC TV Licence being spent on Huw Edward's dirty pics of young boys wanking; the list goes on and on...