Little Britain - the state of England today

My sister has lived in Spain for forty years and it's always interesting to hear about the scandals, poor government and level of racism etc She still sees the UK as a model of good government in comparison despite regularly listening to British news. I read a couple of American newspapers and am often shocked by what is written about the UK, it's often very biased so I tend to take the views of people living abroad with a pinch of salt!
However, I think our current govt is morally bankrupt and inept but IMHO they are in power and able to behave as they do because there is weak opposition. Our FPTP democracy depends on there being a strong second party that challenges and holds the govt to account. We have not had that for years and we have increasingly polarised politics both within and outside the main parties. Interestingly this mirrors what is happening in other European countries and the USA. The problems that we have in the UK are not unique

Surely there are plenty of expat sites where where people can bash Britain.

Strange that some of the very people that disagree with the OP are the very same ones that support this government and the country it has created. As for the people trying to make this country a better place they do exist but they are swimming upstream. According to the news the majority of people in the U.K. agree with cutting overseas aid. It starts from the top and the top is corrupt and uncaring.imo

Today my house has 3 bedrooms and 3 bath/shower rooms. And at the same time there are tens of thousands of families living in sub standard housing. WHY? Because you are very priveliged? Maggiemaybe I can beat you, brought up four children in our 3 bedroom house with one bathroom that contains the only toilet. I didn't realise I was living in substandard housing, I thought it was a happy family home.

How many of you have only been able to access your GP (if you have one, as we did in times gone by, who knew oneself) by video calls or Zoom or whatever?

There's this virus called Covid19 doing the rounds. All health care situations have been doing as many consultations as possible by telephone and zoom. If you needed a face to face appointment you got one. You are actually denigrating all our GPs with this blanket criticism, which has nothing to do with privatisation which I would absolutely resist.

Of course there's plenty wrong in the UK today, and yes many care about the wrongs and many of us are doing what we can to help. We don't all trumpet it from the rooftops. The derogatory tagline Little Britainl Little England/er does nothing to help, and more likely does harm as it creates resentment.

Exactly Gwyneth plus the fact that even our reduced aid is the same or similar to that of France.
France is by no means wonderful to all it’s citizens as those who are from Algerian backgrounds will attest.
By watching just negative news about England you are getting a false sense of view.You may also be looking back with rose tinted specs OP on the England you ‘knew’.
You could find equally depressing news stories about any comparable sized European country if you look for it ( or worse!)
The Little Britain insult has been done to death.....give it a rest.

Mamie

Marmadoit you said: "Other European leaders shamefully did all they could to discredit the AZ". Not sure what it has to do with the OP but still.
Whatever was said (grossly exaggerated by the British press), surely pales into insignificance besides the refusal of the UK government to accept our EU double vaccination certificates as valid for travel to the UK.
Even Astra Zeneca doesn't count if it was not administered by the NHS apparently.
Would you like to explain why that is?

I watched Macron and Markel commenting on AZ on TV so nothing to do with the British press. I've no idea why the UK is refusing dual vaccine certs.

How the hell do you expect me to answer that?!

Mamardoit

Elleee

Ex Conservative PM John Major said today regarding the cuts to international aid
'The government has blatantly broken it's word and should be ashamed of it's decision'
'This isn't Great Britain it's Little England'

This would be the same John Major who served in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet? That would be the government that sold of all the council houses and sold off the utility companies. IMO this is the root cause of our current housing crisis.

Maybe he and others should hang their heads in shame.

Someone also mentions Alistair Campbell! For goodness sake why do those who did so much damage in power get wheeled out as 'statesmen'. Him and Blair are responsible for taking us to war.

I don't see the UK (England) that I live in shown on Channel 4 News or the BBC. Most people are law abiding and more than do their bit for their own communities.

The football has been fantastic OP it's brought communities together. People of all ages, and backgrounds coming together and lots of bunting and flags. Yes what happened with the hooligans at Wembley was disgusting but it was a tiny, tiny minority. The same with the abuse aimed at certain players. Nasty sad little morons who could live in the UK but they could also live in France or anywhere else.

Art in schools? I'm more worried about the mental health of our children and young people. They need to socialise and play and catch up on the basics. Art, music and drama will play a part I'm sure. It's not only 'Little England' where this is a problem surely.

Maybe you should watch the French news channels OP surely they reflect the life you live now better than Channel 4.

So well put.

There are many people who care about others in this country and who have worked tirelessly for years voluntarily to help and support them. These are people who don’t want their pictures on the front page of newspapers and so go unnoticed and unrecognised. They do not want to be lauded by the public and are not aiming for recognition in the so called ‘Honours’ list. Yes obviously this country has it’s problems and hopefully by working together we can make this country a better place to live for everybody. However, France and other European countries are not perfect. What about the Greeks who pushed migrants back to Turkey in their boats? I notice this was not commented on.

Marmadoit you said: "Other European leaders shamefully did all they could to discredit the AZ". Not sure what it has to do with the OP but still.
Whatever was said (grossly exaggerated by the British press), surely pales into insignificance besides the refusal of the UK government to accept our EU double vaccination certificates as valid for travel to the UK.
Even Astra Zeneca doesn't count if it was not administered by the NHS apparently.
Would you like to explain why that is?

Dinahmo

MoorlandMooner I am interested in what happens in France. There's very little that I can do about it because we don't have a vote apart from the very local elections. We could not participate in the recent elections because we aren't nationals.

When we told a friend that we'd got our residency permits he asked whether we were planning to become French nationals. My answer was no because we are English and not French. I think that now we have left the EU it is possible to have dual nationality. Of course, when the UK was part of the EU dual nationality wasn't necessary.

Kandinsky I think that the police in France are more violent than those in the UK and make life extremely difficult for the refugees in the camps.

Actually France has always had dual nationality, in fact it allows up to three, by not disallowing it in law. Easily researched. Nothing to do with Brexit.

Oh and this afternoon the Tories are starting on the road to privatising the NHS.

Sorry I was mistaken about the channel 4 interview. This has move too far from the OP I admit that. But my views are as relevant as others who are equally as forceful. You are no shrinking violet yourself. That's good it's called debate.

John Major: "It seems that we can afford a “national yacht” that no-one either wants or needs, whilst cutting help to some of the most miserable and destitute people in the world.
"This is not a Conservatism that I recognise. It is the stamp of Little England, not Great Britain."

MerylStreep

It seems we’re not alone with our racism.
This from a left leaning news outlet.

www.euractiv.com/section/non-discrimination/news/france-has-a-discrimination-problem-says-national-human-rights-defender/

Unfortunately you can find racism in every country in the world. You see it in Berlin as some of my family do.

I feel obliged to say Mamardoit that the defensiveness and antipathy you show to people who are putting a different perspective to you, and the continual disparaging of anyone in public eye who you think is a waste of space, just helps support to the OPs point of view.

John Major wasn't on Channel 4, it was a statement he issued.

I'll correct that Major is a failed PM. We have had some fine MPs from all parties.

Alegrias1

Being a little Englander doesn't mean they are thick knuckle dragging racists. It means that a person doesn't value an international role for England/UK and wants to pull up the drawbridge, thinking that's the best way to serve this country. It was arch-Tory John Major who used the phrase about the aid cuts, and the fact that he is now regarded as not worth listening to by today's Tory government points to how extreme they've become.

John Major is a failed politician. They all will be because that is how politics works. He's another one who couldn't keep it in is pants too. He can say what he like to Channel 4 new. We are not stopping the aid. We will still be giving more than most countries. We have also given AZ vaccine at cost. It should have be rolled out much quicker to countries most in need. Other European leaders shamefully did all they could to discredit the AZ.

Maggiemaybe
Good post ?
In the early sixties I’d have been more than happy to have had an inside toilet ?

There are a lot of things wrong in the country at the moment, that many of us worry about and campaign against. I for one am not happy that our overseas aid ratio has been cut to roughly that of France - we’ve done a lot better than that in recent years and I think we should continue to meet the much higher targets we had before the recent cut.

Racism happens everywhere I’m afraid, but the vast majority of people here are appalled and disgusted by the torrent of online abuse received by our young black footballers. There is a huge wave of support for them and various campaigns that all right-minded people are backing. It was interesting to see on Newsnight yesterday how much of the online abuse has now been positively identified as originating from outside the UK. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be getting much publicity today, so I can’t provide a link.

The water companies’ actions are disgraceful and I hope they’re held to account - sadly it seems that too many large concerns can get away with behaving just as they wish under the current regime.

I’ve seen some shocking reports recently of the horrendous accommodation some people are living in, and wish we had a government that tackled social injustice instead of stoking it.

Though by your standards, OP, our perfectly nice little house is definitely sub-standard.

The loo was in the bathroom. in the early sixties we moved to a brand new house, with, joy o joy, a second separate loo. Today my house has 3 bedrooms and 3 bath/shower rooms. And at the same time there are tens of thousands of families living in sub standard housing. WHY?

We only have one bathroom and horror of horrors, our only toilet is in it. What’s more, we brought up our three children here, quite happily. Do you honestly see this as a problem? Are we on your list?

Being a little Englander doesn't mean they are thick knuckle dragging racists. It means that a person doesn't value an international role for England/UK and wants to pull up the drawbridge, thinking that's the best way to serve this country. It was arch-Tory John Major who used the phrase about the aid cuts, and the fact that he is now regarded as not worth listening to by today's Tory government points to how extreme they've become.

I think Dinaho was very brave to post such a topic.
I am another French resident. Just because you live in Europe
it doesn't mean you take on the national identity. Lots of English people here live their English lives as they had in England.
Unfortunately the tabloids in England portray England in its worse light, constantly attacking and blaming Europe for all its woes and it also makes England look dreadfull. I am frequently ashamed of many of the opinions expressed and although the tabloids are frequently dismissed , their popularity speaks for itself.
Immigration is a problem throughout Europe, England has
no bigger problem than any country believe me there are
many many on the streets of Paris. I live in a small community
of 6,000 and we took in 44 Syrians , they have blended in just
as I did.

I'm sure change will come but I'm afraid I can't see much sign of a credible opposition at the moment.

What will keep the tories in power and what is tremendously decisive is the, 'Little Englander' jibes. Implying every tory voter is a thick, knuckle dragging racist will not help anyone.

Many of us do what we can under normal circumstances, the last 18 months have been far from normal both in Little Britain and the rest of the planet known as Earth

Many have stopped posting about what they do to help others and how folks can do things to help due to the often posted accusations of virtual signalling

Just because good deeds and campaigning for change are not posted on GN doesn’t mean that it’s not happening.

Many people watch UK TV via satellite Freesat Marmardoit.
I don't think it was the OP's intention to compare France and the UK really; plenty wrong with France, including disadvantaged communities, poverty and endemic racism.
I do think that one thing that makes life easier is that there is simply more space; when I visit the UK (not in the last eighteen months) I am concious of the pressure of population on the infrastructure. Not the case everywhere, but significant and impacting on pollution levels and stress levels I would think. Still lots of lovely people and beautiful countryside though.
I am angered and appalled by the current government, their actions and the lack of accountability. This view is shared by my family and friends in the UK, so I don't think it is distorted by absence.
I think my grandchildren's generation are a sign of hope if they and their friends are representative, thoughtful, politically aware, looking outwards instead of inwards. I think the young footballers of the England team are a fine example of the benefits that generations of immigration have brought to the country.
Change will come.

I would never say my country right or wrong. But neither would I call my fellow citizens 'Little Englanders'.

Is all UK TV available on the continent or do people have to pay to view?