scoobynutta555

A sensible post, what a shock!

davegtt

Erm, the US has had increase petrol prices too recently, didnt see you start a thread recently saying how pleased you are that fuel is coming down in recent months....

scoobynutta555

What utter rubbish.

KiwiGTI

Now that's utter rubbish. Why is it then that some of the richest and most technologically advanced nations have societies that have not lost the notions of respect, family, low crime rates, good manners and good work ethics? ie: Japan, Singapore etc.

scoobynutta555

Do a search on this matter and it has been done to death several times. I won't explain as I'm fed up of arguing the toss on the same boring subject.

Suffice to say, I'm sufficiently enlightened not to grope around with myopic and ignorant hankerings for some sort of Golden Age that never existed.

My comment does not in the slightest imply that I am happy with current society.

davegtt

Maybe you just live in a **** part of the UK.... Every country has its social problems in certain places. You think the Japanesse are happy about boy racers doing 200mph through tunnels etc with other traffic, they have no respect for the laws etc etc....

scoobynutta555

Your isolated 'examples' of a collapse in societies' values do indeed point out a missing link in your chainmail of morality.

I suggest you delve into the history of previous arrests in whatever age you deem to be better than this one and compare the offences highlighted against offences of the day here.

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Les, Hutton d, Kiwi are right.
It is not rose tinted spectacles. And the past was by no means perfect.
But Hutton d is spot on.
I expect many of the people arguing on here that things are not much worse today are fairly young.

Steve

warrenm2

crime figures per head of population have ROCKETED since after the war. That is fact

_RIP_

Or fairly stupid, or crims, blaggers and scum

scoobynutta555

As previously mentioned before there are many factors at work when explaining crime figures.

-More young men in the general population due to lack of wars, and conscription
-drugs
-Massive rise in material things of value to steal
-previously legal activities now illegal

Using your poimtless example of an 18 year old vomiting in a street, do you seriously think that is a new thing? Beggars belief

As I have mentioned, this subject has been done to death on this BBS.

Getting back on topic, nobody has explained to me why the phrase " Uk worse than 20 years ago- Official" is linked to a survey where over 50% of the respondees say the UK is a better place to live or no worse or no better

And find it strange the main fears of the UK public are terrorism rather than the state of the NHS and crime etc. Says to me that the poll is sqewed by whoever commissioned it.

lozgti

I enjoyed the time when there weren't umpteen films on at the pictures,perhaps just a few.I end up never going now.Same with television.For all the choice,it hasn't improved tv viewing for me.I watch less.

Five hundred BMW's in their range doesn't excite me,I find it annoying.In fact most 'advances in technology' seem to be consumer based.More exciting but unneccessary gadgets to buy for this wealthy society.

At the schools I went to,perhaps a few of the pupils might have been unruly.But it was the talk of the school,not the norm for a majority of pupils.There was respect ,however much some would like us to assume it was a dream.And yes,there was a healthy respect for the police.I don't think that exists anymore.

Society is rude, greedy,arrogant,materialistic.If people think that is good fine.I think it is very sad

Leslie

G C Collier,

The greater wealth you talk about is all based on credit, both from the IMF and from the banks. It all has to be paid back, with interest!

Les

ade748

I am so glad I've left the country.

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

I heard that 360,000 people are leaving Britain every year(can anyone confirm this) And from most of the recent expats I have met in Europe it isn´t the toe rags that are leaving it is the decent folk.

Am back on Tuesday for a bit and I am looking forward to a few pints and a proper Sunday lunch

GCollier

Les, that's simply not true. The GDP of the UK has grown massively over the past 20 years. In real terms it's almost doubled.

No one is forcing you to subscribe to Sky or buy hundreds of gadgets. With our greater wealth comes greater choice. If "materialism" isn't for you then spend your money travelling and seeing the world instead, cut down the amount you work, devote time and money to charity. These sorts of options simply weren't realistic in the not too distant past.

I would agree that some trends are worrying, such as kids carrying knives in some areas. But things weren't as rosy 20 years as you might think - in the town I grew up I remember people getting into trouble for bringing bike chains and screwdrivers into school, organised fights between kids from different schools and lack of respect and violence towards teachers in some of the worse schools.

I'm 36 now and have lived in various parts of the country including London for about 10 years. I've never been mugged, vomited on etc, nor have I ever witnessed this happening. Do I feel any less safe than I did 20 years ago - no.

I'm not saying they can't. But when you ask yourself if things were better 20 years ago you have to look at the whole package. On balance I would maintain that on the whole things were significantly worse 20 years ago.

The societies you pick may show superficial good manners, but are not without their own significant problems in other areas.

Gary.

DavidBrown

You can spin it all you like, but the essential things in life (health, education) are down the pan compared to the previous government. Despite loads of money being thrown into the NHS it's being wasted and hospitals are closing wards, sacking staff. Exams are now preposterously easy and therefore meaningless.

Leslie

Gary,

I wonder why Flash has been borrowing ever greater amounts from the IMF in recent months.

Les

Akuma

I do not agree that Japan has 'superficial good manners' at all. It's a fantastic country that has very low crime rates (Yes there is crime but nothing like the UK!)

Have you spent time in Japan?

Ted Maul

what is the attitude in Japan for:

homosexuality
women's rights (workplace especially)
religious tolerance

I am interested, because I imagine Japan to be a great place to live except for this idea that they are very backward on the above issues.

warrenm2

^^ is Japan an Islamic country?

DCI Gene Hunt

Why do you ask...... are you really Haley Cropper off Coronation Street by any chance?

lozgti

You gotta smile

warrenm2

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...S&attr=Britain

Akuma

Japan is very liberal with regards to homosexuality (it's not in-your-face, so to speak, but it's not an issue)

Women's rights are no different to the UK (Hubby's workplace is 50/50 on the shop floor - and hubby cites the women as his best technicians)

Many religions live happily in Japan, Buddhist, Shinto, Christian etc. However, I have never seen any Indian/Pakistanis. You don't see them here, there are no mosques. (Maybe there are in Tokyo or other Cities, but we're on the other side of Japan)

I think the days of submissive women in Kimonos has long gone! Japan is very easy going. Yes, they're very traditonal & have strong family values but they're modern and forward thinking.

There are still pockets of the traditional life, Geisha's still exist. In the older generation, the women are still submissive.

It's a difficult country to explain!! You need to see it & spend time to understand it all.

There are other's on the forum who have spent time in Japan (in different areas) and they may well have other views of Japan though.

It is a wonderful country - if it wasn't, we wouldn't have come back for a second time!

I apologise for being off topic!

Akuma

Errrr, NO!

Shinto & Buddhist mainly (80+%) and usually both at the same time.

Normal to live & marry as Shinto and die as Buddhist.