We really dont care about the UK do we?

[Skyedriver]

Muzzer79 said:

It could be argued that the US has more police around because they have more nutters, imbeciles and general idiots running around.

Just an observation.
Have you noticed how many police are around 10 Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament?

[valiant]

Zaichik said:

732NM said:

Zaichik said:

On a per capita basis no it isn’t.

It is. Tax rates are much lower in the USA. UK is one the highest taxed nations there is.

Uk has very high taxes for medium and high earners.
Not so for lower earners.
In the US mid and lower earners pay more than in the UK

Someone earning 50k usd in California will lose approx 11k in federal and state taxes where in the uk someone on the equiv 39k pounds loses only about 6.5k.
For even lower salaries the difference is greater.

You also have to factor health costs into the equation as well.

[mikey_b]

Sheepshanks said:

Zaichik said:

732NM said:

Zaichik said:

On a per capita basis no it isn’t.

It is. Tax rates are much lower in the USA. UK is one the highest taxed nations there is.

Uk has very high taxes for medium and high earners.
Not so for lower earners.
In the US mid and lower earners pay more than in the UK

Someone earning 50k usd in California will lose approx 11k in federal and state taxes where in the uk someone on the equiv 39k pounds loses only about 6.5k.
For even lower salaries the difference is greater.

….and, depending on where you live and the value of your house, annual property tax can be considerably higher than in the UK.

Indeed. Property taxes are their equivalent of council tax. Some areas charge 3% of the property value per year, and its not a permanent banding like council tax, they actually do value homes regularly and you pay the percentage on that assessment. 3% of a house valued at $600k, a fairly normal 'nice' American home, is $18k a year. Or about 5 times as much as the highest band in most of the UK.

[boxedin]

Skyedriver said:

Muzzer79 said:

It could be argued that the US has more police around because they have more nutters, imbeciles and general idiots running around.

Just an observation.
Have you noticed how many police are around 10 Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament?

Or Paula Vennells...

[NDA]

DodgyGeezer said:

aka the British don't seem to have a lot of pride in their surroundings...

I normally spend my summers in France and drive across the country every year. The absence of litter on the roads is always noticeable....

Landowners in the UK spend a lot of their time cleaning up after ramblers chuck their rubbish wherever they like. We have little civic pride compared to many countries.

[S600BSB]

Seems to be the same in much of Europe - certainly in the north. People seem to have a sense of civic pride that we just don’t for whatever reason. Shame.

[Jordan247]

Unfortunately, it seems in the UK most people don't give a stuff about anyone but themselves.

God knows how you can restore civic pride and also what caused the issue in the first place.

[devnull]

The thing that always jumps out at me when I am in Europe is generally:

• Parking is largely free. You tend to pay only in major cities, and there's usually a free car park nearby.
• Bins everywhere and ample provision to recycle it.

[LRDefender]

After 14 years of practically single Party rule where self entitlement, enrichment and dishonesty were at the very heart of that Party is it any wonder people don’t care about anything apart from themselves?

[Tango13]

leef44 said:

I used to live opposite a primary school so a lot of drop off/pick up in front of my house. You would see parents telling their kids to drop the sweet wrapper or drinks can just outside the car on the kerb before they drive off.

I hate litter on the roads and pavements where I live. Sometimes passer-by would just stuff their empty cans or wrappers in my front hedge.

My weekly Saturday morning chore would be going around the area around my house and neighbours and picking up all the litter using a picker and bucket. I would fill several buckets and empty it all in the street litter bin just across the road. So there is a bin provided but people won't bother using that.

The neighbours have lots of litter in front of their drive or flown into their front garden but they don't care. Only one other neighbour would clear up the street rubbish when they see it, the rest just don't care.

It's like a lot of people just accept that is normal.

Should've bagged it all into black bin liners, made an appointment to speak to the head about something unrelated just to get inside the school and dumped several bags of litter in their office.

[Ken_Code]

LRDefender said:

After 14 years of practically single Party rule where self entitlement, enrichment and dishonesty were at the very heart of that Party is it any wonder people don’t care about anything apart from themselves?

You may have decided to be more selfish because those in government have been, but I suspect that that’s quite rare.

[Puzzles]

Trying to be positive.. it seems worse as it’s a bank holiday weekend with nice weather, which brings more people outside.

I picked up the leftovers of a bunch of teenagers yesterday, a beautiful spot on the river bank, surely they sat there because it is so nice so why leave all your st there?!

[Pitre]

Maybe instead of trying to teach 18 year olds to be a pillar of society by compulsory national service, all junior school kids should be taught:-

1) Respect authority
2) Leave things as you find them
3) Spend what you've already earned, not what you're going to earn
4) Look after those around you
5) Don't be a .

Job done.

[Gargamel]

nickfrog said:

I wish all UK cops had a gun. Which could probably appear in the unpopular opinion thread too.

A great way to guarantee that all criminals have guns.

The UK 'law enforment" shooting of Charles De Menezes was rightly considered an incredibly high profile case.

In the US in 2023 the police shot and killed over 1000 people.

We are wise to keep out Police largely unarmed.

[Rich Boy Spanner]

There is a general malaise about the UK, and to OP's point, I agree. As for guns, we can't be far from a tipping point now where the amount of murders, the level of knife crime and carrying of knives, and the amount of illegally held firearms makes it inevitable that the police will be armed.

[Pan Pan Pan]

Pitre said:

Maybe instead of trying to teach 18 year olds to be a pillar of society by compulsory national service, all junior school kids should be taught:-

1) Respect authority
2) Leave things as you find them
3) Spend what you've already earned, not what you're going to earn
4) Look after those around you
5) Don't be a .

Job done.

Also add, that if something does not belong to you. Then DONT f*cking touch it!
And if a person is a smoker, then the other peoples property and the rest of the country is NOT your personal ash tray.

[Ecosseven]

Gargamel said:

nickfrog said:

I wish all UK cops had a gun. Which could probably appear in the unpopular opinion thread too.

A great way to guarantee that all criminals have guns.

The UK 'law enforment" shooting of Charles De Menezes was rightly considered an incredibly high profile case.

In the US in 2023 the police shot and killed over 1000 people.

We are wise to keep out Police largely unarmed.

+1. We holiday in the USA on a regular basis. Whilst it's a great holiday destination with lots of great attractions and places of interest, at no point do I wish that the UK police were armed.

[Wills2]

Drawweight said:

I’m in Japan on holiday just now.

What a contrast to the UK in terms of cleanliness, efficiency and general respect.

Of course that’s coming from an outsider so it undoubtedly has its downsides like any other country. It’s a bit unfair to generalise that one country is better than another.

Each will have it’s good and bad sides.

It is unfair to generalise however in the UK's case it's pretty clear just what an utter state we're in.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

Ecosseven said:

Gargamel said:

nickfrog said:

I wish all UK cops had a gun. Which could probably appear in the unpopular opinion thread too.

A great way to guarantee that all criminals have guns.

The UK 'law enforment" shooting of Charles De Menezes was rightly considered an incredibly high profile case.

In the US in 2023 the police shot and killed over 1000 people.

We are wise to keep out Police largely unarmed.

+1. We holiday in the USA on a regular basis. Whilst it's a great holiday destination with lots of great attractions and places of interest, at no point do I wish that the UK police were armed.

Would also be a good way to spark unrest every time the "wrong" sort of promising footballer gets shot

[bloomen]

My bit of the UK is absolutely fine. Hardly ever see litter.

As for police, Martha's Vineyard, all of 20 miles long, has 6 different police departments.

If that was the UK there'd be one on the mainland that might deign to take the ferry once a fortnight and hang around for a couple of hours.

Hard to tell whether I'd prefer a police presence that might shoot my face off for looking weird, vs no police at all.