Little Britain - the state of England today

And the evidence of your claims.........?

Only English people are belligerent ( or belly-gerant....i.e. fat)
I expect, according to some.There is definitely an anti- English theme going on here.

Not at all- and you miss the point totally. They are a small minority- but they are the ones portrayed by foreign press and TV - same for football hooligans. I have spent my lifetime doing my best to explain that they are a small minority, and do NOT represent the British people. But it is getting increasingly hard to do in recent years. I will keep trying however.

Proof re idiots abusing police in Benidorm- I have seen several videos- some from 2020, some recent ones as parts of Spain called for emergency measures. I am darned if I am going to spend time looking for them. Starting a big decorating project today, so I shall leave you to it.

Proof re idiots abusing police in Benidorm- I have seen several videos- some from 2020, some recent ones as parts of Spain called for emergency measures

And still your propensity to highlight a few stupid English tourists, protesting against Covid restrictions, whilst studiously ignoring the continuing violence against the police in cities across Spain and France.

I have spent my lifetime doing my best to explain that they are a small minority

I don't believe this statement at all. I cannot recall ever seeing a post from you that supports or praises anything England, or its people, have done; I've only ever witnessed criticism, negativity and an overkeen willingness to disparage them at any opportunity. In fact, there have been a few occassions where I've considered reporting them as being racist.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I spent half my life living in East London but I never needed to explain that Ronnie and Reggie (Kray) were in the minority. I think everyone knows there are good and very few bad everywhere.
I'm assuming where the foreign press are concerned they acquire many of their alarming photos from the UK media who seek out those sensational images. They all feed each other and are hardly very discerning.

Exactly Ellianne. We saw the images of the football supporters , but I don't think anybody imagines that thousands of people in the UK stick fireworks up their backsides.
Similarly here in France there was some violence at some of the demonstrations against the vaccine pass. Outside of Paris the average attendance was 700 and most were peaceful.
There are idiots everywhere, but once you start employing nationalistic generalisations for political point-scoring you are on dangerous ground.

I don't think anybody imagines that thousands of people in the UK stick fireworks up their backsides.
Sacré bleu Mamie, I've just discovered they do it in France too. Well there's a surprise!

RING OF FIREEuro 2016: France fan arrested for hiding a flare in his bum, burning himself and two others.

??? Serve him right.

There are idiots everywhere, but once you start employing nationalistic generalisations for political point-scoring you are on dangerous ground.
Mamie and others:

I would like to make plain that my post of Mon 19-Jul-21 16:09:36 describing the French as revolting', the Spanish as uncivil, the English as ^badly behaved was tongue-in-cheek.

It refers to a minority of all nationalities and, of course, good news is rarely newsworthy and dull news is a non-starter.

Sensationalism is what sells.

Ellianne

^I don't think anybody imagines that thousands of people in the UK stick fireworks up their backsides.^
Sacré bleu Mamie, I've just discovered they do it in France too. Well there's a surprise!

*RING OF FIREEuro 2016: France fan arrested for hiding a flare in his bum, burning himself and two others.*

Good grief!

Sh*t for brains!

Chewbacca I've never quite understood why English bashing is allowed on Gransnet but any mention of any other country brings forth accusations of racism.

Is it a peculiarity of just this site?

If French people behave badly in France, or Spanish people in Spain I usually don't get angry.

If British tourists behave badly in Benidorm, if that is what they have done, I do get cross. They are visitors. If visitors come to my house I would like them to show respect. But I certainly don't feel that bad people in any country represent the majority of the people of that country.

I would like to make plain that my post of Mon 19-Jul-21 16:09:36 describing the French asrevolting, the Spanish asuncivil, the English as badly behavedwas tongue-in-cheek.
But very apt and full of meaning!

The greatest gift the British have is being able to laugh at themselves. When you get to know say French people really well as friends and they start to pull your leg about certain behaviour, you just agree and join in with them, and tout va bien.

Ah yes, I've been the victim of French pranks!

No problems with your joke Callistemon.
I don't often see overt racism, but I do see excessive nationalism sometimes getting in the way of balance and fair judgement.
Language matters and there seems to be a tendancy to describe demonstrations as riots (for example) or talk about "ongoing violence" which is a total misrepresentation of actual events and real life.

At A Level in French there is a chunk of the specification where pupils have to cover French social and political topics. Yes, the language does matter - protests, riots, demonstrations etc - and the pupils do mix up the events quite often. Some even finish a topic thinking France is full of hooligans, though they are soon put right on that perception!
Interestingly the photos in the text books are quite graphic showing violence on the streets of Paris on such occasions. As Mamie says, this is only a snapshot of real life wherever it may be.

this is only a snapshot of real life wherever it may be

Agreed Ellianne. And it becomes offensive when a country (any country), and it's people, are constantly being held up for criticism, negativity and disdain because of the actions of a minority of its populace. If the words "England/English" were replaced with China, India, Pakistan, Africa etc there would, quite rightly, be outrage that those countries were being stigmatised because of skewed and racist opinions. It's time that labelling a whole country, and it's inhabitants, for the misguided actions of a few, was called out for what it is - racist.

it becomes offensive when a country (any country), and it's people, are constantly being held up for criticism, negativity and disdain because of the actions of a minority of its populace.

I don't feel this is happening. Do you have any particular country in mind?

Greta the clue is in the thread title!
Plus many other threads we have had in the past,
Possibly originating from ex-pats or those claiming close friendship with ex-pats, bewailing the state of the U.K., the Brexit fiasco, the privations of U.K. citizens living in the EU and elsewhere to the point where the constant niggling just washes over your head.

This thread has become one that is full of foreign country bashing. And yet my original post did not offer any comparisons except for I mentioned that I live in France. At no point in the OP did I compare England with any other countries.

The France bashing started quite slowly with comments about my viewing habits from people who don't know me. It then proceeded to other attacks on me (luckily I have broad shoulders) do I integrate, what do I read etc etc etc. Some of them I answered, others I ignored.

There are very few comments about the points I mentioned - poor housing, children in care, polluting by the water companies and so on. A few people did deal with these topics - one unfortunately to put the blame on the owners of the water companies. I think that the worst might have been owned by the French but it is up to the regulators to get much tougher with the companies because it's easier for the companies to pay the enormous fines than it is to fix the problems. If the regulators can't deal with the companies then the govt should exercise its powers.

I don’t know what you expected Dinahmo
Plus you already know that France has much the same problems, maybe even worse, who knows? Most comparable countries do, it doesn’t mean bewailing the state of a country.
Just seems like more of the same....government bashing under the guise of highlighting problems that were here under all governments in the last 30 years.

This is the bit I have misunderstood then: " ...are constantly being held up for criticism, negativity and disdain because of the actions of a minority of its populace."

I thought that referred to badly behaved people, i.e. football hooligans, drunken tourists etc.

Too hot to think straight.

There are very few comments about the points I mentioned

Perhaps couching the OP in a different way may have elicited different responses?

It was, to say the very least, confrontational.

MawBe

Greta the clue is in the thread title!
Plus many other threads we have had in the past,
Possibly originating from ex-pats or those claiming close friendship with ex-pats, bewailing the state of the U.K., the Brexit fiasco, the privations of U.K. citizens living in the EU and elsewhere to the point where the constant niggling just washes over your head.

Are you saying that the only people who are truly concerned about what is happening currently in the UK are expats? I can assure you, categorically, that this is NOT the case.