Anyone else never feel safe in the UK?

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, madmen said:

With 77000 robberies in a year. It's only a matter of time

https://www.statista.com/statistics/303349/robberies-in-england-and-wales-y-on-y/

How many robberies against westerner in Thailand? Very very few in fact even one can fill 10 pages of thai bashing

 

Why do you think that most Thai houses have bars on the windows?

[NoshowJones]

2 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

let's be honest, the uk is a very safe place to live/visit. as in most countries, thailand included, there are areas of cities/neighbourhoods that it would be inadvisable to visit at certain times.

 

sure, the uk is an expensive country, but then so are all the top economically performing countries.

 

the NHS is a wonderful organisation that guarantees a first class health service for free. the social security system supports millions of those less well off, there is support and help for the dis-advantages and disabled, and, last but not least, when i reach pensionable age i will receive a generous pension for the rest of my days.

 

sure the uk is not perfect but there are worse places to be a citizen of.

Where? Darkest Africa?

[Johnyo]

Lets be honest the UK sucks big time in many ways
 
-High train fares/Extremely high cost of rent
-Crap weather
-Long winded job applications
 
Another thing about the UK, whenever I'm walking at night and I have to walk past another man or group of people, My guard is always up and always am thinking "are theses guys going to try and mug me"? It must be a lot worse for women if they are alone also
 
I never feel like that here In Thailand, maybe it is stupidly to think like that though as you can be attacked anywhere.........but in the UK , most people you walk by, you get the feeling, if given the chance they would attack you
 
 

Child poverty, homelessness, growing xenophobic population, social injustice are just a few of the other reasons why it sucks.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[poohy]

All depends where live or where you are, obviously inner city areas the world over have problems.

 

Never felt threatened when i am home, although on way back from pub last time i did get accosted by local drunk (a guy i went to school with) so i bought him a can of lager and me a can of cider and we had a chat about old times.

In the peoples republic of Dudley there is  certainly rough pubs and emptying out time can see a bit of argy bargy but no different from when i was kid 40 years ago.

 

All i all no problems Same as having to deal with hoards of soi dogs after lights go out in the countryside here!

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, samsensam said:

and, last but not least, when i reach pensionable age i will receive a generous pension for the rest of my days.

You paid 20% of your salary to get that pension, and it will be crippled if you decide to live in Thailand after retirement.

Not to mention it's the 'least generous' pension in the EU, if not the western world.

 

Back to OP,

No, I never felt at risk in the UK, but then I'm usually at home by 10pm.

Edited December 17, 2018 by BritManToo

[nontabury]

1 hour ago, robertson468 said:

Used to do my socialising in the lovely City of York.  Day time was great and many things to do around the City and people by and large quite pleasant.  House Prices, food and beer are horrendous prices.  Spoke to my Friend last week who also does his socialising in UK.  Bought 2 pints of beer in a pub and offered £10 for the beer.  The Bar tender looked at him like he had lost his marbles and he had to stump up over another £1.  Even at the exchange rate of 40=£1 that is equal to 440 baht for two beers - that IS very expensive!  Also, at night felt just a little bit intimidated with the "huddie youth" roaming the streets and woud keep a wary eye on them.  I also find many of the people very over weight, dress quite dull and by and large look quite unhappy with their lot.  Yes cars in the UK are less expensive, but how often to you buy one of them?  I find many things in Thailand are much less expensive, including clothes, food, train journeys, bus trips and there is no Local Government Tax, but hey ho, that might be in the pipe line.  No sorry, Thailand for me is a much better live style and is a good jumping off point to visit the many fascinating Countries in Asia.

Food is far much cheaper in the U.K. However if you do eat out,it then becomes expensive. Regarding the price of beer. Yesterday while waiting for my wife and children to come out of the theatre, I went into an up market pub,and purchased a pint of Worthingtons, £2 .45, so not much more than 100bht, and I repeat this was for a pint.

The rest of your post I agree with,especially the number of overweight people, and you could have also mentioned the number of ugly and badly dressed females, now they are scary.

[Andrew Dwyer]

With the UK it all down to location.
I’ve just come back from a 3 week trip there and felt no danger whatsoever in my hometown day or night , but stray into the wrong areas in a city 5 miles away late at night ??... definitely to be avoided.

[BritManToo]

53 minutes ago, nontabury said:

Food is far much cheaper in the U.K

Tesco

chicken breasts, UK 3.80/kg, Thailand 117bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.

pork loin steaks, UK 7.41/kg, Thailand 195bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.

Pepsi, UK 1.25/2l, Thailand 38bht/2l, Thailand 27% cheaper

(I used 40bht = 1gbp in the comparison)

 

What food (locally available, not imports) is cheaper in the UK & Thailand?

Edited December 17, 2018 by BritManToo

[StevieAus]

5 hours ago, helloagain said:

I came back from uk 3 days ago. Well food is so cheap 685g daddies sauce 41 baht or £1. Bisto u cant get here for months so so cheap and its double size. Mini cooper s 28000 to £30000 here 3 to 3.5m baht £70000 up. I bought back a doe mixer with stand argos £76 at central over £200. Crap weather i agree but here too hot. Massage here 1000 baht uk 4000 baht 55555 no i did not my wifes 14th visit. Here crap beer and i go once in 3 weeks cos i dont want to sit next to a loser trying to kill himself to get cancer. Uk lovely bitter ale so we went everyday and enjoyed whitebate and a log fire without the chain smokers. But my life is here and has been for 15 years after retiring at 50. I feel safer in uk. Here 6th in the world for death on roads. Too many have guns here. Too aggressive here even retirees too quick to push and shove. 

So the question I would ask is why are you living here if it’s so bad.

Re the cost of the Mini Cooper the difference is because of the import duty on anything not made here particularly cars.

Bad idea?

At least it protects the industries and jobs here

We went down that road in Australia all the manufacturing has gone overseas and the jobs with it

From what I read the UK isn’t too far behind.

[BritManToo]

6 hours ago, helloagain said:

Well food is so cheap 685g daddies sauce 41 baht or £1. Bisto u cant get here for months so so cheap and its double size.

Foreign imports are always more expensive.

Try comparing products locally produced in both countries.

 

Bisto is available in Rimping (at a price), Tesco Onion gravy powder is available in the big Tesco Lotus for 40bht/200gm tub (25% more expensive than the UK).

Edited December 17, 2018 by BritManToo

[madmen]

Been a long time since I read about two ladyboys mugging a mug back in his room. In the UK I'm thinking regular guys do their mugging right on the street. I always felt fairly safe while touring the UK, it is the tourist and expats I fear in Thailand.

What scares you?

[RichardColeman]

Leafy Buckinghamshire county ? No problems - mind you, not really full of immigrants in my part - yet

[Grusa]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Why do you think that most Thai houses have bars on the windows?

I used to think this......until a monkey got into my house! I now realise what the bars are for, nothing to do with crime!

[allanos]

My son owns a property in Brixton, London, and I have stayed there on visits.  When exiting the tube, drug pushers are totally in your face, in full view of a couple of bobbies standing close by.  Brixton is definitely more black than white, but at the times I have been out on the streets I have never felt threatened.  The spate of London knife crime appears to be mostly black on black; similar to gun crime in Chicago, it seems.  To the poster who decried the lack of funding by the Tory party to the NHS, I suggest he does some research.  They have outspent the Labour party by a country mile, and this in the face of overwhelming immigrant numbers year on year availing of the said service.  Do your homework!

[Nyezhov]

4 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Why do you think that most Thai houses have bars on the windows?

I always was curious about that, especially on like the 7th floor

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I always was curious about that, especially on like the 7th floor

I thought it was to keep the ghosts out.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, Grusa said:

I used to think this......until a monkey got into my house! I now realise what the bars are for, nothing to do with crime!

 

I'd guess that far more people than monkeys break into houses. I lived in Bangkok for well over a decade before moving to Issan and most if not all houses had bars. Never saw one monkey there though. Up in Nakhon Nowhere though, we did have a visitor but he stayed outside.

[Grusa]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

I'd guess that far more people than monkeys break into houses. I lived in Bangkok for well over a decade before moving to Issan and most if not all houses had bars. Never saw one monkey there though. Up in Nakhon Nowhere though, we did have a visitor but he stayed outside.

My guess is you are not entirely correct. A lot of these houses are more than a few years old, and no monkey in its right mind would hang around in BKK as it is now, what with traffic, pollution etc.

Take a look at Lopburi and other less developed cities. Monkeys everywhere. We get them in Ban Amphur and Na Jomtien.

Not many thieves have the agility to scale multiple floors of rotting buildings. All monkeys do..and the intelligence to open biscuit tins, etc.

 

Also, I am  not talking about breaking in, necessarily. merely "accessing the property". A monkey on your terrace can ruin the laundry....

Edited December 17, 2018 by Grusa
spellchecker madness

[Enoon]

4 hours ago, Benroon said:

Be on your phone and walk past a group of non indigenous people in Tottenham and let us know how you get on ...

 

When did anyone ever want, at any time in living memory, to go to Tottenham.....Tottenham?,  and meet the locals?

 

For Tottenham read: "all the places in the UK that nobody ever wanted to visit, but anyone with any brains or sense always wanted to get away from".

 

My place of origin (but not my place of upbringing, my parents had brains and sense) was one of those long before the first curry house opened there.

 

 

 

 

[joecoolfrog]

I find threads like this point more to the OP needing self justification than anything else.

I always remember a loud mouthed idiot in Karon beach complaining bitterly , mainly to confused Thai girls, that back home was just a s..t hole.

When pressed as to why exactly , his response was " It's full of foreigners"

I was keen to understand if he was (being a guest in Thailand) aware of the irony implicit in his statement.

However circumstances , my girlfriend kicking me, prevented further discourse on the subject.

Shortly afterwards he was asked to leave following an altercation regarding his bill , apparently he considered 80 baht for a beer to be an outrageous rip off.

His parting shot , you guessed it , " This bar is a s..t hole anyway " !

[roo860]

Tesco
chicken breasts, UK 3.80/kg, Thailand 117bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.
pork loin steaks, UK 7.41/kg, Thailand 195bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.
Pepsi, UK 1.25/2l, Thailand 38bht/2l, Thailand 27% cheaper
(I used 40bht = 1gbp in the comparison)
 
What food (locally available, not imports) is cheaper in the UK & Thailand?

Both chicken and pork both staples here, produced on masse, and eaten on masse in Thailand, the same with rice, so surely going to be cheaper here. The cost of rearing both meats here is considerably lower than UK?

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[rickudon]

I feel safe while in the UK - most of the time. I do mainly stay in either rural locations or outer London suburbs. Haven't had a problem for 30 plus years. I did a long time ago live in Birmingham and that was rather different .... once was on the wrong end of a gun and would sometimes carry a knife for protection (never had to pull it out, you just used to open your coat enough for your potential attackers to see it, and the red sea would part for you). I worked evenings so was frequently walking home in the early hours of the morning, hence the problems.

 

Burglary in the UK IS an issue - happened 4 times in my life. Muggings used to be more common 30-40 years ago - less common now as few carry much cash, stealing a debit card not very useful without the PIN. Safety In Thailand have never personally had a problem except for a road rage driver, but know of about one murder a year in the places i might be, (including a few 100 metres from our home) and many more road casualties.

 

Food - overall, cheaper in the UK. Yes in Thailand meat and eggs cheaper, and SOME vegetables and Fruit. But practically all processed food much cheaper in UK (tins, frozen veg, ice cream in plastic cartons, milk, cream, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, crisps, biscuits, chocolate, cakes, bread, cereals, tea, coffee) and when you are catering for just one, ready meals are cheaper than Thailand. I can eat for a week on 20 GBP in the UK if i need too without much effort with plenty of variety, hard to do that in Thailand unless you want to eat rice soup, som tam and Pad thai every day.

 

Drinks - in UK wine half the price and better quality, and i have NEVER paid 10 GBP for 2 pints of beer in a pub, even in London - beer may be cheaper in Thailand but it is like calling Lao Khao whisky - no comparison.  If you buy your beer from a shop, price similar. Fruit juices cheaper. Soft drinks - if you avoid the famous named brands, cheaper as well.

 

Healthcare - the NHS beats Thailand unless you can afford the price of first class Thai hospitals.

 

Electrical goods - often cheaper in the UK and better quality. Four years ago laptops were cheaper in Thailand, now sometimes 20% cheaper in UK.

 

Thailand's 2 big attractions - rent is cheap, and women available (although often cost you an arm and a leg in the long run). 

 

Wish i could have the best of both worlds whenever i wanted.

 

 

[scoupeo]

Not so difficult to understand why we are all living here, right ?

[Aussieroaming]

I was in Poole last month and the wild pensioners had me on edge LOL. Actually lovely place for a break.

[HauptmannUK]

On 12/18/2018 at 4:40 PM, Benroon said:

 

 

and the NHS basketcase beating Thailand ? That's a huge debate right there !

No debate at all.  The private Thai hospitals are fast and good for minor and straightforward procedures.  For somewhat unusual and complex stuff the NHS provides access to specialists and equipment far beyond anything you will find in Thailand.  Thai private hospitals are also getting expensive. I recently wanted to have a multiparametric MRI scan using a 3T machine. I was surprised to find the price in Bangkok about the same as at a private hospital in London. I guess the capital cost of the equipment and the maintenance are the same in both countries.

[sanemax]

On 12/18/2018 at 9:33 PM, rickudon said:

I can eat for a week on 20 GBP in the UK if i need too without much effort with plenty of variety

3 quid a day on food in the U.K. ?

Give a breakdown of those expenses 

[MaksimMislavsky]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 12:05 PM, BritManToo said:

chicken breasts, UK 3.80/kg, Thailand 117bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.

pork loin steaks, UK 7.41/kg, Thailand 195bht/kg, Thailand 20% cheaper.

Pepsi, UK 1.25/2l, Thailand 38bht/2l, Thailand 27% cheaper

(I used 40bht = 1gbp in the comparison)

I expected much greater difference, like a few hundred percent. Probably it is so if look at rents

[bojo]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

3 quid a day on food in the U.K. ?

Give a breakdown of those expenses 

It's incredibly cheap to eat in the UK if you cook from scratch at home and you live in close proximity to the likes of Aldi and Lidl. Other supermarkets can be between 10 and 30% more expensive depending.

Long grain rice is 45p a Kilo, that makes a 100g (dry weight) portion 4.5 pence.

Pasta is approx 50p per 500g, that makes a 100g portion 10p.

A 550g tin of potatoes (drained weight) is 19p. Eggs are 8p each. Frozen vegetables mixed are about 80p a kilo. Frozen chips are less than a £1 for a huge bag/enough for 6 portions. Greek yogurt is 69p for 500ml.

Cheddar is about 4,50 a kilo and invariably under that. Apples are 4 for a £1. Bananas 13p each. Decent ham is 1.70 for 400g/ 10 good slices. Milk 90p for 2 litres. Pork £2 a kilo/3 layer pork under that. Tinned tomatoes and baked beans under 30p a tin.

If you make a tray of beef lasagna, a 450g portion costs the same as a cottage pie portion= 65p. Add veg and you have a decent healthy home cooked meal for under £1. if you have toast for breakfast with eggs, it will cost 30p including butter. Cereals with milk about 40p large bowl. Jacket potato with beans and cheese, well under £1. Home made chilli con carne (400g) on rice (100g dry weight) with some chips for £1. You could cook a chicken (small at 2.19) and make 6 decent sized chicken sandwiches with mayo and full salad for less than 80p each, with chips/home made saute potatoes £1 and so on.......

It's quite easy to eat 3 good meals and some fruit/biscuits etc for about £3. Of course you can spend loads more, just depends on what you want to spend your money on in life.

if you take into account the exchange rate and with the pound as it is, the disparity is currently exaggerated of course......

[rickudon]

Well Bojo pretty much answered how you can live on 20 GBP a week in the UK.  Some of my costs when living there (for a couple of months a year).

 

Cereals about one pound a box (i vary what i buy) and it lasts for over a week. Milk 2-3 pints a week, about 75p for 2 pints. Loaf of wholemeal bread. under one pound, lasts a week (actually share with brother and wife about 2 loafs a week).  have some toast in the morning with a bit of cheese, or jam, or an egg.

Lunch a sandwich with cheese, tuna or ham, or soup and bread, or something similar, cost per day well under 50p. Tea and coffee - cost about 50p a week. fruit juice, about a litre a week, under a pound. Evening usually a frozen meal from Iceland or Aldi, one pound. Some fresh fruit. Also spend about two pounds a week on biscuits or cake. Do occasionally cook from scratch. I reckon that would be about 20 GBP a week. I could shop at Waitrose and buy top of the range stuff, and it would cost a lot lot more. Use Aldi, Sainsbury's or Iceland.

 

My local pubs (London/surrey border suburb) all under 5 GBP a pint. If Weatherspoons, sometimes under 4 GBP. There may be some shitty lager that is more expensive, but drink real beer.... 

[jayboy]

On 12/17/2018 at 9:38 AM, SunsetT said:

This is because the Conservative party have cut police funding, as well as the NHS and Social Care to the bone. I thought a few years back that, on the whole, the British people are law abiding but sooner or later they are going to realise that there are almost zero police out there and that they can literally 'get away with murder'. That is exactly what is happening now.

 

Also Brexit will exacerbate this by handing absolute power back to the rich own-nest-feathering British public schoolboy ruling class who dont give a sh** about the ordinary majority of people in the UK who will be made even poorer by Brexit.

It's laughable how some get things mixed up. This fellow doesn't seem to understand that the ruling class in the UK ( Big business, the City and financial services, most of the media, BBC, the universities, well-off London, the Home Counties, most MPs etc) are solid Remainers.