To feel our quality of life in the UK gets lower every year?

[Playingvideogames]

Off the back of another thread where I mentioned my childhood homes being bought by my parents for under 300k in the late 90s/early 2000s, and are now all selling for 700k+.

I feel like our quality of life just dwindles every year. Everything becomes more expensive. Housing is low quality, small and extortionate. The weather is awful 70% of the time. Everything feels so overcrowded with fewer green spaces and natural beauty as more housing estates go up. The roads are awful, choked with traffic and potholed. Constant roadworks here yet nothing ever seems to get solved. Customer service is a bit rubbish, nothing really works as intended. More and more rules about what you can and can’t do. People just seem stifled and stressed.

I’m sure people will rush along to say how wonderful the NHS is and similar, but I sometimes feel really envious of people living in places where (although not perfect) they have something reliable to enjoy - great weather, a nice big house, just more space and less overcrowding.

I don’t think I’m being unreasonable but I wonder if you do!

Who would know if you don't go round making PDA. I've no idea when walking down the road the sexual orientation of the people I pass In fact many of these countries are not find of public affection anyway gay or strainght

This is a bit disingenuous though imo. Same sex activity is illegal in UAE. If a male guardian initiates prosecution, someone could be jailed. This is not the case for straight relationships : no need to downplay homophobia.

There are so many foreign expats as opposed to Muslim Emiratis that these laws aren't enforced very often, among other reasons. Life is pretty restrictive for most Muslim Emiratis but expats are generally not affected by these kinds of laws.

https://www.dubaicityguide.com/site/features/3561/customs-and-norms-for-public-behaviour?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Small correction, it wouldn't be legal to drink in a park according to this. The other places, yes

It's not exactly accurate to say being gay is tolerated : consensual gay or lesbian sex is illegal. If a male guardian reports you, you can be jailed. But because 90% of UAE are expats, this doesn't usually happen.

If you were in Dubai, remember some women are very much NOT safe behind closed doors.

Here's an excellent BBC program about Ugandan women brutally trafficked for the Porta Potty parties. Slavic women often, too.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/n12t256jg/eye-investigations-death-in-dubai&ved=2ahUKEwjjosWA7MKSAxVbXkEAHaP0LnoQFnoECCwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2TauuVqiiNccLNHZDS6EQS

UAE doesn't ban alcohol but it is more restrictive than the West. Alcohol is allowed in licensed bars, restaurants, hotels, and (with permits) for personal consumption. Public drunkenness or drinking outside licensed places is illegal and can lead to penalties. One emirate, Sharjah, bans alcohol sale and consumption completely except under special licenses.

Do you think it's just that gay people are banned from having consensual sex in the UAE?

So its safer for outwardly affectionate gay people in london

Yes the Death in Dubai documentary/podcast is shocking, not somewhere i want to go

Definitely not me either...! The kafala migrant system is also very disturbing, there have been some improvements but it's still quite exploitative.

Not all women at the top are safe either : the women of the royal family lead pretty disturbing lives,,at least some do. This podcast is good on them.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.newyorker.com/the-runaway-princesses&ved=2ahUKEwin-MDy8cKSAxW2VUEAHaMOOewQFnoECA8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2DRw5ySs6XVR1mSlQatUqd

When you say 'the female of the family drove daily' , is this post-2018 when it was legal? Or before? Because expats could sometimes drive using foreign licences during the ban era. That doesn't mean driving wasn't banned for non-expat women.

Saudi Arabia is a pretty restrictive country, driving or not. For one thing,,religious freedom is poor. Public worship by Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. is prohibited. No official churches, synagogues, temples, or other non-Muslim houses of worship are allowed.

Yes it it is so overcrowded

who thought it was a good idea to have so much immigration in the first place

It is actually. Have you forgotten that Marcus boy who was nailed for having heterosexual sex

Maybe on that. Not necessarily on being robbed or stabbed

Come on, that was terrible but you are not comparing like for like.

Gay sex is illegal in Dubai completely. Heterosexual sex is illegal if one person is under 18 (girl was 17 in Marcus Fakana's case) and/or the partners are not married. It is not illegal completely.

I don't think any country bans heterosexual sex completely 🤣 It would pose difficulties for birth rate ..besides, Islam is clear that sex between husband & wife is fine

Possibly missing the critical thinking part.

More people = more pressure on existing infrastructure and services.

UK population
1980 56 million
1990 57.2 million (a 1.2 million increase)
2000 58.9 (a 1.7 million increase)
2010 62.8 million ( a 3.9 million increase)
2020 67.1 million (4.3 million increase)
2025 70 million (2.9 million increase in 5 years)

Of course traffic and number of cars is an easy way to recognise the pressure more people bring but it's also on less noticeable things like say the supply of water where the last new reservoir was built in 1992. More people is why stuff doesn't seem to work as well as it used to.

Is that fair, in your view?

The UAE argument sounds similar to the argument of evangelicals in US 'gay people can be gay, they just can't have partnership/adoption rights etc'

Should they be obliged to? How do you think it is for gay, non-expat Emiratis?

Non-expat Emiratis may be only 10% roughly of the population, but the impact of the harsh laws on them (& poor migrant workers) is often overlooked as these laws mostly don't affect expats, as you've outlined.

Well actually nobody should be displaying big displays of affection in a public place. It's just yuk

So dscrimination and presecution is fine as long as it's for religious reasons?

Quite!