Returning to London after a peaceful year in the countryside, the writer steps off the train and straight into a city that looks and feels like it’s given up. At 7am—a time once reserved for delivery vans and commuters clutching coffees—she instead witnesses a string of scenes that read like a police incident log. A woman in a belted coat is not arguing with her partner, but violently shaking down an elderly client for cash. On the next corner, another woman—heels, mascara, the look of office-hour normality—waits not for a bus but for a drug drop on an L-plated moped.

 

 

This is Hyde Park estate: hotels, money, prestige. Yet the pavements tell another story. Commuters weave around crack smokers, hooded e-bike riders tearing through red lights, and homeless sleepers pressed into church doorways and “self-storage” depots that double as makeshift shelters. American tourists, jet-lagged and paying £200 a night, stagger into an urban reality they never saw in the brochure: a migrant hotel here, a prostitution corner there, and the unmistakable sense that nobody is in charge.

 

Once, the writer’s Marylebone–Kensington walk was a cherished ritual, a gentle glide through multicultural bustle, historic mansion blocks, and royal gardens. Now it’s a daily gauntlet of roadworks, shuttered pubs, stinking cannabis clouds, and the grim carnival of American Candy stores and vape shops—symbols of a city hollowed out.

 

Back home in Oxfordshire, neighbours greet her by name and remind her about bin day. In London, she finds only anonymity, chaos, decay, and the feeling that social order has not just frayed but snapped. She knows she’s lucky: she can leave. Millions cannot. And with the Mayor still insisting “London is open,” she wonders who on earth wants to walk through that open door now.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
• A single morning walk exposes shocking levels of visible disorder—drugs, prostitution, homelessness—now routine in central London.
• Once glamorous routes around Hyde Park and Kensington are described as degraded, chaotic and unsafe.
• The writer concludes that London is collapsing socially while rural life offers the community and safety the city no longer can.

 

SOURCE: Daily Mail

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Social Media said:

with the Mayor still insisting “London is open,” she wonders who on earth wants to walk through that open door now.

 

Hell has an open door policy. Heaven is a gated community with Saint Peter guarding the pearly gates 

The west is done.

Sorry was there last month...had a great time.

Even the weather was nice. Weatherspoons 79 baht a 

pint.

Import the 3rd world, become the 3rd world.

1 hour ago, blaze master said:

The west is done.

Far from it. Things are bubbling under the surface just it give some time.

1 minute ago, NorthernRyland said:

Far from it. Things are bubbling under the surface just it give some time.

 

That wont stop what's happening. 

Source: The Daily Mail.

Over dramatised nonsense. And unsubstantiated nonsense.

Yes, the UK has a homeless problem as does the US and most Western countries. The rest of this article is chat gpt-enhanced fanciful writing from the Mail, as to be expected.

A lot of people blame those on the street.  I blame society as a whole as well as the 1% whose greed sets the entire societal destruction in motion.  

Some people dont understand what "cultural enrichment" would entail. Brits wanted this, and they got it. More sent to the Cotswolds would be fair.

1 minute ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Some people dont understand what "cultural enrichment" would entail. Brits wanted this, and they got it. More sent to the Cotswolds would be fair.

So you immediately blame immigrants. Of course you do.

 

22 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

So you immediately blame immigrants. Of course you do.

 

Ok, lets blame the 36% then😅

6 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Ok, lets blame the 36% then😅

Or how about blaming successive governments?

Nah, just blame the people you can dehumanise.

It is The Daily Mail; only marginally less hysterical than The Daily Express, which will no doubt be along shortly to tell us that we are doomed!

The future of the Dis-United Kingdom of Great Britain is inevitably that of Yugoslavia and South Africa. Tribal and Clan warfare will be the order of the day. 

 

Ironically the Scots may have to rebuild Hadrian's wall to keep the southern warlords and their hordes at bay - and the hordes won't be Sassenachs. 

 

 

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

Import the 3rd world, become the 3rd world.

Did you emigrate to another country?

 

Now THIS is a hellscape.

 

 

2 hours ago, connda said:

A lot of people blame those on the street.  I blame society as a whole as well as the 1% whose greed sets the entire societal destruction in motion.  

Ahh yes, the blame game. How is it that 30 -50 years ago, when there were fewer social support programs and facilities, and there was a similar wealth disparity that these problems were not as pervasive or bad? The people on the street are there because of their own actions and/or society does not incarcerate or detain as much as it used to. Violent abusers, thieves, junkies, sociopaths often end up homeless because of themselves and no one else.No one is held accountable for their own actions and choices. It is always someone else's fault, like the "1%", never themselves.

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. Apathy is the vice that kills it. (Aristotle)

6 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

Ahh yes, the blame game. How is it that 30 -50 years ago, when there were fewer social support programs and facilities, and there was a similar wealth disparity that these problems were not as pervasive or bad? The people on the street are there because of their own actions and/or society does not incarcerate or detain as much as it used to. Violent abusers, thieves, junkies, sociopaths often end up homeless because of themselves and no one else.No one is held accountable for their own actions and choices. It is always someone else's fault, like the "1%", never themselves.

Wealth disparity of 30-50 years ago was no where near what it is today.

Social services and welfare support services have been gutted over the past 15 years.

 

 

3 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. Apathy is the vice that kills it. (Aristotle)

Let’s see you produce evidence Aristotle said that.

 

 

I'm sure some will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Russian and Arab Gulf money, which drove up housing prices to absurd levels, has a bit to do with the Caucasians I have seen living on the streets of London....but of course it's a lot easier to blame non-monied immigrants.

 

In the US MAGAs, do the same...blaming immigrants, forgetting the vast majority work and save and pay taxes, while so many MAGA Red States have high rates of SSDI, SNAP usage, welfare and opioid addiction.

 

Then, of course, the most vocal critics of "outsiders" who rail about "foreigners changing the culture", live here in Thailand. Oh, the irony!

 

 

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Let’s see you produce evidence Aristotle said that.

 

 

 

   Why not go and read Aristotle yourself , rather than choosing to remain ignorant ?

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Wealth disparity of 30-50 years ago was no where near what it is today.

Social services and welfare support services have been gutted over the past 15 years.

 

 

 

The data of western countries supports a statement that social program spending has increased over the past 40+ years, even when adjusted for inflation. Let's look at the USA which has excellent data records. Note the steady increase for Medicare and  Standard of living and aid to individuals segment.

 

 

 

 

Again if we  look at the USA as an illustration, although the upper income have increased their share of aggregate income, the lower income have remained fairly constant. It is the middle income who have seen their  share decrease.  However, middle income people are not the ones panhandling and harassing people on the street, or mugging kids and the elderly. Therefore, the claim that income inequity is responsible for the problems we see today is not a conclusion supported by the data. The data below is from the US Pew Report on Income.   It also observed that " The decline in the middle-class share is not a total sign of regression. From 1971 to 2019, the share of adults in the upper-income tier increased from 14% to 20%. Meanwhile, the share in the lower-income tier increased from 25% to 29%. On balance, there was more movement up the income ladder than down the income ladder."

 

 

 

People are not engaging in the random violence and wholescale organized shoplifting because of poverty. Rather, they are  doing it because they can get away with it with little or no consequences. People are roaming the streets of the UK armed with knives and machetes with little effort to  stop them.  Scooter gangs roam UK cities snatching phones and bags and there is little or no intervention. If citizens stop them, the courts don't punish the thugs.

 

2 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Why not go and read Aristotle yourself , rather than choosing to remain ignorant ?

I’ve read Aristotle.

 

Greek and Roman classics are a life long passion of mine.

 

That aside, when someone attributes a statement it is for them to demonstrate the validity of the attribution.

 

Oh and I’ve read Herodotus and Josephus too.

23 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

 

The data of western countries supports a statement that social program spending has increased over the past 40+ years, even when adjusted for inflation. Let's look at the USA which has excellent data records. Note the steady increase for Medicare and  Standard of living and aid to individuals segment.

 

 

 

 

Again if we  look at the USA as an illustration, although the upper income have increased their share of aggregate income, the lower income have remained fairly constant. It is the middle income who have seen their  share decrease.  However, middle income people are not the ones panhandling and harassing people on the street, or mugging kids and the elderly. Therefore, the claim that income inequity is responsible for the problems we see today is not a conclusion supported by the data. The data below is from the US Pew Report on Income.   It also observed that " The decline in the middle-class share is not a total sign of regression. From 1971 to 2019, the share of adults in the upper-income tier increased from 14% to 20%. Meanwhile, the share in the lower-income tier increased from 25% to 29%. On balance, there was more movement up the income ladder than down the income ladder."

 

 

 

People are not engaging in the random violence and wholescale organized shoplifting because of poverty. Rather, they are  doing it because they can get away with it with little or no consequences. People are roaming the streets of the UK armed with knives and machetes with little effort to  stop them.  Scooter gangs roam UK cities snatching phones and bags and there is little or no intervention. If citizens stop them, the courts don't punish the thugs.

 

Why would you look at the U.S.A. when discussing wealth disparity and social spending in the UK?

 

15 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Why would you look at the U.S.A. when discussing wealth disparity and social spending in the UK?

 

Because the data is more comprehensive. I did mention that. Also the US income disparity is more extreme.

If you wish to rely on the UK, you can see that income distribution disparity has  reduced since 1900.

 

 

Social Services spending has increased significantly in the UK over the past 75 years.

Green -health. Pensions-orange, welfare- purple,  education -turquoise, defence - blue

Know what has dropped off significantly? defence spending, it has consistently decreased

 

It is obvious that the moral fibre of the UK has rotted. Social cohesion is gone. A growing segment of the population are allowed to be lazy layabouts and to do whatever they please. They are that way, not because they are poor. It is because there are few penalties or consequences to being a thief or a thug. 

5 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

8 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. Apathy is the vice that kills it. (Aristotle)

Let’s see you produce evidence Aristotle said that.

 

Tolerance is the last virtue of a dying society. Apathy is the vice that kills it. (Anonymous) 😆 

 

Bit rude posting this without our permission......that's me and the missus after kicking the rs out of it ......clubbing in Camden Lock.

13 hours ago, JAG said:

It is The Daily Mail; only marginally less hysterical than The Daily Express, which will no doubt be along shortly to tell us that we are doomed!

 

Glad I spotted your post......saved me the effort.