The state of the UK in 2023.

[bob smith]

not thailand related but I thought it could be worth discussing.

 

Having not been back there for some time I have no idea what things are actually like on the ground.

I do, however, watch YT videos from auditors etc and they paint a pretty grim picture of the place in 2023.

 

It seems to be overrun with young feral gang types now, carrying knives in city centres such as london and manchester.

It certainly isnt the place i left, when I did law and order still had a firm grip of the country.

 

What has happened?

 

Honestly from the videos I have seen it looks like the wild west.

People out there heads on drugs in front of kids, wondering around the streets swearing, fighting..

I also follow a guy who visits the most deprived areas in the country and it's nothing but boarded up shops, homeless people, empty streets, poverty.

 

is it really that bad?

 

anyone that has been back recently & could help shed some light on the situation I would be grateful.

From what I have seen it looks like the zombie apocalypse. 

 

The UK in 2023 looks utterly depressing. 

Edited November 8, 2023 by bob smith

[Chris Daley]

When you left gangs didn't have knives?  When did you leave the Lower Paleolithic era?

[Dmaxdan]

12 minutes ago, bob smith said:

anyone that has been back recently & could shed some light on the situation I would be grateful.

From what I have seen it looks like the zombie apocalypse.

No self respecting zombie would be seen dead in the UK these days...

[JBChiangRai]

Just now, Chris Daley said:

When you left gangs didn't have knives?  When did you leave the Lower Paleolithic era?

 

Paleolithic has too many syllables for Bob

[bob smith]

6 minutes ago, Chris Daley said:

When you left gangs didn't have knives?  When did you leave the Lower Paleolithic era?

when I left the UK yobs werent running around city centres attacking members of the public for no reason.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't see a single incident of that nature in any major city in the UK when I was there.

 

Apparently now it is commonplace. 

[proton]

Was in Leicester in Sept, I was an ethnic minority in my own city and did not feel safe around the centre. Everyone under 30 seemed to be dressed in black, those electric scooters and bikes nearly crashing into people, Muslim preachers at the clock tower, no cops around, litter and empty shops. All bars and food places, even M&S and W H Smith looked like they were on their last legs. Cold and raining for the two days there, could not wait to leave, ghastly dump now.

[NotEinstein]

Was back there for 6 weeks visiting family until end August after 8 years. I didn't see any violence, although a train I was on couldn't stop at one station as the police were 'dealing with an incident'. Apart from the big move towards cashless and the big jump in eastern Europeans there, not a lot had changed.

 

To be honest, the level of violence in Thailand is way beyond the UK if watching channel 32 Thairath of an evening is anything to go by.......

 

[retarius]

I left in 1985. Hate the place. <deleted> of ar$eholes. When I lived there it was the men, now the women have joined them as well. 

[sandyf]

32 minutes ago, bob smith said:

anyone that has been back recently & could help shed some light on the situation I would be grateful.

From what I have seen it looks like the zombie apocalypse. 

 

I was there about a month ago and not everywhere as bad as you make out. No dispute there are problem areas but that is nothing new, back in the 80s there was a part of Sheffield even the police feared to tread.

The UK has certainly seen better days and I think the decline came about with the austerity program and massive underfunding. The deterrent institutions like the courts, prisons and police are all working beyond their capacity.

On Fri 15th Sept I had appointment at Liverpool office and left about 6pm. I walked back to James Street to get train to Birkenhead. The area was awash with bars & restaurants and being a nice evening they were all rammed with people out on the street enjoying themselves. Hardly an apocalypse, or even a cost of living crisis.

On the Monday morning I came off the boat and back across to Liverpool about 7am. As I walked through the city centre different picture altogether, rubbish everywhere, bodies in doorways surrounded by beer cans, even those small tents in the pedestrian thoroughfare. Not many people about which made it a bit intimidating, never know if a junkie is going to pop out of the woodwork.

Generally speaking,if you stay away from the city centres it is not too bad.

[daveAustin]

Not in my town, normal and staid as ever, but if you go looking for it you're bound to find it in any big city in the West.

[sidjameson]

From Exeter. Growing up never saw a foreign face or the desperate vagrant type.

Now there's 1000's of Indians an Chinese living here for work and study. Many east Europeans for work. Many others seeking benefits, oops I mean refugee status. The city centre has a hundred homeless/alcoholic physically, mentally morally broken types. Graffiti worse.Rubbish worse. Sense of community lower. 

The rest of Devon unchanged and quite lovely if the sun is shining.

[Nick Carter icp]

Shops are closing down because many people tend to shop and pay bills online

Much easier to shop online , rather than walking around shops