Creeping destruction of England.
Discussion
cymtriks said:
Most things are better now than they were in the seventies.
Cars
At least MG Rover has gone out of business and BMW are building Minis properly.Cars
cymtriks said:
Food
But now we're stuck with Jamie bloomin'Oliver....cymtriks said:
Technology
My "up to 40 Mb" wonderful BT Broadband never gets above 15 Mb.... and I imagine there was once a time when banks could be trusted.
oyster said:
moparmick said:
Difference 30 yrs has made to where i personally live.
Off the top of my head.
1) Traffic calming ( None 30 yrs ago )
2) Roads in very poor condition ( See above, for where the money as gone.
3) Speed cameras ( Only hand held 30 yrs ago. )
4) Too much micromanagement, through petty laws.
5) Too many cctv cameras.
6) Too many traffic wardens.
7) Too little, free on street parking.
8) Too many houses being built in the wrong places ( peoples gardens etc )
9) Too many people.
10) Too many obese children.
Please anyone in this thread, tell me what they personally feel is better now than 30yrs ago. I'm sure there are positives.
Mick
Thirty years ago only 31% of households have more than one car. Now that figure is 53%. So if your household has more than one car, YOU are part of some of the problems you list above.Off the top of my head.
1) Traffic calming ( None 30 yrs ago )
2) Roads in very poor condition ( See above, for where the money as gone.
3) Speed cameras ( Only hand held 30 yrs ago. )
4) Too much micromanagement, through petty laws.
5) Too many cctv cameras.
6) Too many traffic wardens.
7) Too little, free on street parking.
8) Too many houses being built in the wrong places ( peoples gardens etc )
9) Too many people.
10) Too many obese children.
Please anyone in this thread, tell me what they personally feel is better now than 30yrs ago. I'm sure there are positives.
Mick
But of course none of it is your fault is it? It's them foreigners isn't it?
Is it any wonder why a lot of people only lurk on the net, it's probably for fear of people like you answering their posts.
cymtriks said:
Most things are better now than they were in the seventies.
Cars
Vastly more reliability and quality.
Even the most basic cars have kit that was reserved for the luxury market only.
Though it is fair to add that a huge amount of variety and a fair bit of passion is now missing from the market.
Food
Improved beyond all recognition.
British cuisine has had a massive resurgence in the last twenty years or so. Where did it all go wrong? Go back through the centuries and you find some rather adventurous recipes but in the seventies it must have been close to an all time low. I remember pasta being "exotic", friends mums struggling to pronounce "pizza" and pricking salami before frying it (because it was a sausage) and anything beyond meat and two veg being regarded as, shudder, "foreign".
Technology
If you want to get the real seventies feeling, switch off the microwave, the mobile, the computer, the calculator, the dvd player, the X-Box/PS3/Wii, hide the tv remote and use buttons. Remember that only well off people had video players and restrict yourself to three channels which for a lot of the time will show something called the "test card". Oh and your phone is BT, there is no alternative and they know it. Now for candle light because the electric company is on strike so what you have left won't work anyway.
And this is different in the UK, just how?Cars
Vastly more reliability and quality.
Even the most basic cars have kit that was reserved for the luxury market only.
Though it is fair to add that a huge amount of variety and a fair bit of passion is now missing from the market.
Food
Improved beyond all recognition.
British cuisine has had a massive resurgence in the last twenty years or so. Where did it all go wrong? Go back through the centuries and you find some rather adventurous recipes but in the seventies it must have been close to an all time low. I remember pasta being "exotic", friends mums struggling to pronounce "pizza" and pricking salami before frying it (because it was a sausage) and anything beyond meat and two veg being regarded as, shudder, "foreign".
Technology
If you want to get the real seventies feeling, switch off the microwave, the mobile, the computer, the calculator, the dvd player, the X-Box/PS3/Wii, hide the tv remote and use buttons. Remember that only well off people had video players and restrict yourself to three channels which for a lot of the time will show something called the "test card". Oh and your phone is BT, there is no alternative and they know it. Now for candle light because the electric company is on strike so what you have left won't work anyway.
Have other countries in Europe yet to experience the internet? Do they all still buy Fiat 124s? All of the above, apart from British cuisine, has improved everywhere else! So why is this an argument that the UK is better than it was, when everywhere else improved in the same way?
JDRoest said:
And this is different in the UK, just how?
Have other countries in Europe yet to experience the internet? Do they all still buy Fiat 124s? All of the above, apart from British cuisine, has improved everywhere else! So why is this an argument that the UK is better than it was, when everywhere else improved in the same way?
That's a non sequitur. The question was posed "Is life better now than it was in the 70's?" not "In which ways is life in the UK better now than in other countries". You're the one who insists on comparing the UK unfavourably with other countries, particularly your beloved US of A.Have other countries in Europe yet to experience the internet? Do they all still buy Fiat 124s? All of the above, apart from British cuisine, has improved everywhere else! So why is this an argument that the UK is better than it was, when everywhere else improved in the same way?
rohrl said:
That's a non sequitur. The question was posed "Is life better now than it was in the 70's?" not "In which ways is life in the UK better now than in other countries". You're the one who insists on comparing the UK unfavourably with other countries, particularly your beloved US of A.
Considering the thread is entitled "Creeping destruction of England", I think it's perfectly acceptable to couch the "better in the 70s" as a discussion being about "England" in the first place, rather than anywhere else.JDRoest said:
Considering the thread is entitled "Creeping destruction of England", I think it's perfectly acceptable to couch the "better in the 70s" as a discussion being about "England" in the first place, rather than anywhere else.
And whereas the comparison is being made between England in the 70s and present-day England without reference to the rest of Europe or anywhere else you were berating the previous poster for not comparing England with other countries which is not part of the brief.Consider Man 1 opining to Man 2 that his pint of Guinness used to taste better in the 70s than it does now. Man 2 disagrees then Man 3 pops up to berate Man 2 for not considering the relative merits of Caffreys. Man 3 (you) is clearly having a different discussion on different terms.
JDRoest said:
No, my point is that if someone doesn't like England, then there are alternatives. Note that most expats aren't looking to return to the UK anytime soon (if ever). Speaks volumes.
You've obviously got a bee in your bonnet about the UK and an evangelistic need to proclaim the benefits of emigration. Given that this is your preoccupation and not by any means the primary focus of this thread I'm just pointing out that it's not really fair to pick up another poster who is tackling the central point for not considering your side issue.Does the fact (if it is a fact) that most expats are not looking to return to the UK speak volumes? Emigrating is a major decision which few would take lightly so I assume most people think it through fully before making the move.
JDRoest said:
No, my point is that if someone doesn't like England, then there are alternatives. Note that most expats aren't looking to return to the UK anytime soon (if ever). Speaks volumes.
That's up there with pointing out women who have balls are men. What really speaks volumes is yet another smug tosser who left & can't wait for the opportunity to point out how smart they were to desert the sinking ship. moparmick said:
There are less pubs, post offices, banks, petrol stations now.
Less pubs because alternative entertainment is availble, less post offices because only Doris, 90 of Jangling-Upon-Banjos still uses them, banks because of this thing called the internet (not that I've seen much of a reduction in the number of banks) and petrol stations because cars can travel further on the same amount
Very little manufacturing industry now.
Indeed, its a pathetic 20% of our economy, unlike in industrious Germany where it is a mighty 24%
I rode motorbikes in the 70's, being fairly young, you live everyday individually, free from interference. If you got stopped for a slightly bald tyre, they would tell you to get it changed and give you a producer. Would that happen now ? I somehow doubt it.
Possibly, depends how much of a
you were being. Having bald tyres was still illegal in the glorious 70s, I'm told
If your vehicle tax ran out, you paid the back tax. Now they can crush your car. It seems that they dont give you the benefit of the doubt anymore and laws are devised in such a way, as to try and trip you up and to either fine or penalise you in some way.
That still happens, apart from the crushing bit. That only happens if the car is seized and you STILL don't pay your tax.
Maybe the rose tinted specs is a valid point.
I'd call them Daily Mail tinted specs
I love the irony though, you are posting all of this whining on a message board viewed by thousands of people from all over the world (even dirty foreigners) using either a computer more powerful than anything anyone had anywhere in the 70s or using a small handheld device that would have been considered alien technology back then - far more advanced than the sLess pubs because alternative entertainment is availble, less post offices because only Doris, 90 of Jangling-Upon-Banjos still uses them, banks because of this thing called the internet (not that I've seen much of a reduction in the number of banks) and petrol stations because cars can travel further on the same amount
Very little manufacturing industry now.
Indeed, its a pathetic 20% of our economy, unlike in industrious Germany where it is a mighty 24%
I rode motorbikes in the 70's, being fairly young, you live everyday individually, free from interference. If you got stopped for a slightly bald tyre, they would tell you to get it changed and give you a producer. Would that happen now ? I somehow doubt it.
Possibly, depends how much of a
you were being. Having bald tyres was still illegal in the glorious 70s, I'm toldIf your vehicle tax ran out, you paid the back tax. Now they can crush your car. It seems that they dont give you the benefit of the doubt anymore and laws are devised in such a way, as to try and trip you up and to either fine or penalise you in some way.
That still happens, apart from the crushing bit. That only happens if the car is seized and you STILL don't pay your tax.
Maybe the rose tinted specs is a valid point.
I'd call them Daily Mail tinted specs
t Captain Kirk had to put up with.Maybe later you are going to jump into the car that you own and go buy a curry to have with a fine French wine. Perhaps some strawberries from the other side of the world for desert?
EDLT said:
moparmick said:
There are less pubs, post offices, banks, petrol stations now.
Less pubs because alternative entertainment is availble, less post offices because only Doris, 90 of Jangling-Upon-Banjos still uses them, banks because of this thing called the internet (not that I've seen much of a reduction in the number of banks) and petrol stations because cars can travel further on the same amount
Very little manufacturing industry now.
Indeed, its a pathetic 20% of our economy, unlike in industrious Germany where it is a mighty 24%
I rode motorbikes in the 70's, being fairly young, you live everyday individually, free from interference. If you got stopped for a slightly bald tyre, they would tell you to get it changed and give you a producer. Would that happen now ? I somehow doubt it.
Possibly, depends how much of a you were being. Having bald tyres was still illegal in the glorious 70s, I'm told
If your vehicle tax ran out, you paid the back tax. Now they can crush your car. It seems that they dont give you the benefit of the doubt anymore and laws are devised in such a way, as to try and trip you up and to either fine or penalise you in some way.
That still happens, apart from the crushing bit. That only happens if the car is seized and you STILL don't pay your tax.
Maybe the rose tinted specs is a valid point.
I'd call them Daily Mail tinted specs
I love the irony though, you are posting all of this whining on a message board viewed by thousands of people from all over the world (even dirty foreigners) using either a computer more powerful than anything anyone had anywhere in the 70s or using a small handheld device that would have been considered alien technology back then - far more advanced than the sLess pubs because alternative entertainment is availble, less post offices because only Doris, 90 of Jangling-Upon-Banjos still uses them, banks because of this thing called the internet (not that I've seen much of a reduction in the number of banks) and petrol stations because cars can travel further on the same amount
Very little manufacturing industry now.
Indeed, its a pathetic 20% of our economy, unlike in industrious Germany where it is a mighty 24%
I rode motorbikes in the 70's, being fairly young, you live everyday individually, free from interference. If you got stopped for a slightly bald tyre, they would tell you to get it changed and give you a producer. Would that happen now ? I somehow doubt it.
Possibly, depends how much of a
you were being. Having bald tyres was still illegal in the glorious 70s, I'm toldIf your vehicle tax ran out, you paid the back tax. Now they can crush your car. It seems that they dont give you the benefit of the doubt anymore and laws are devised in such a way, as to try and trip you up and to either fine or penalise you in some way.
That still happens, apart from the crushing bit. That only happens if the car is seized and you STILL don't pay your tax.
Maybe the rose tinted specs is a valid point.
I'd call them Daily Mail tinted specs
t Captain Kirk had to put up with.Maybe later you are going to jump into the car that you own and go buy a curry to have with a fine French wine. Perhaps some strawberries from the other side of the world for desert?
Out of curiosity, are you old enough to remember the 70's ?
This time, try to answer without the thinly veiled insults and constant referencing to foreigners or the daily mail.
The 70's were utter wk. There is no comparison to now (other than mental lefties bankrupting the country 
)
Massive tax. Massive fuel costs. Militants destroying the heart of the country. Single glazing. Outdoor stters.
Oh, and paedos round every corner. And losers whinging about foreigners taking all the jobs.
k. There is no comparison to now (other than mental lefties bankrupting the country )Massive tax. Massive fuel costs. Militants destroying the heart of the country. Single glazing. Outdoor s
tters. Oh, and paedos round every corner. And losers whinging about foreigners taking all the jobs.
but at least having a crap by candle light is now a lifestyle choice. 
DonkeyApple said:
The 70's were utter wk. There is no comparison to now (other than mental lefties bankrupting the country )
Massive tax. Massive fuel costs. Militants destroying the heart of the country. Single glazing. Outdoor stters.
Oh, and paedos round every corner. And losers whinging about foreigners taking all the jobs.
But there were porn mags in nearly every wooded area k. There is no comparison to now (other than mental lefties bankrupting the country )Massive tax. Massive fuel costs. Militants destroying the heart of the country. Single glazing. Outdoor s
tters. Oh, and paedos round every corner. And losers whinging about foreigners taking all the jobs.
JDRoest said:
No, my point is that if someone doesn't like England, then there are alternatives. Note that most expats aren't looking to return to the UK anytime soon (if ever). Speaks volumes.
I lived in the South of France in the early 80s, and in Spain in the mid 90s. Many of the elderly in particular were desperate to go home, but couldn't because they couldn't afford the relocation costs.Some of these were due to ill health and wanting to be near family in their twilight years, whereas others had left the country when their kids left home, but suddenly wanted to go back when they had Grandchildren.
The reality was that a lot of people had moved out there expecting it to fix unhappiness in their lives, only to find that the unhappiness was internal.
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