I have picked upon England since I am not as aware of what is going on in the other countries of the Union with regard to the state of the nation.
I've been sitting in my home in France, with tempests outside, watching the Channel 4 News. It was so depressing.
90,000 families living in sub-standard temporary accommodation.
Racism
Water companies deliberately releasing sewage into rivers and sea, despite all the rules and regs and heavy fines.
Cuts to overseas aid - by one of the richest nations.
30,000 children in care moved last year away from their local area, schools, support networks etc, often without prior warning (not on Channel 4)
Cuts in the arts lessons in schools.
Football
We came to France, bought a plot of land and built a house. I guess we were lucky to do so. It was an adventure, something to stop us getting bogged down in our retirement. At the time we didn't intend to stay here but now I'm not so sure. The England that I loved has disappeared.
In the early fifties we moved to Dorset. Parents under 30 with 3 children. We got a council house, possibly because of my Father's job - I don't know. In those days we had one bath a week and didn't have individual towels. 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?
The govt is picking on subjects like Voter ID. statues and BLM because they know that it will stir up a large proportion of the population. But they're not as important as other things that are happening, like the slow but sure privatisation of the NHS. 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?
The water companies are privately owned so they don't give a toss. Southern Water has been fined £90 million - so much but yet not enough to prevent them from continuing to release sewage into the sea. Channel had a map showing where there were releases along the south coast today. At least a dozen. it's lucky it's raining and there are heavy seas so people won't be swimming there any time soon.
The behaviour of football fans towards supporters of the opposition. Forcing their way into the stands reserved for the Danes and being abusive. Pulling a Danish mother's hair and calling her a whore and spitting at people.
I care about these things and yet I don't live in the UK at the moment. Why aren't you all caring about the wrongs? And, if you do, why aren't you doing something about it?
You can tell me that it's always been like this but I've been on this earth for 74 years and it's about times things changed.
Good grief MissA, I hadn't seen the groups of drunken, belligerent idiots abusing and swearing at French police. They're mocking Covid restrictions and emergency lockdown and extending the pandemic for everyone. Those images will be shown all over the world. Just a minority, of course, but a significant one- giving the whole country such a terrible image.
giving the whole country such a terrible image.
It's interesting, isn't it, the perception we gain from watching the news of another country.
We might be excused for thinking the French are always rioting, gilets jaunes were at every junction, protestors throwing stones and rocks at police, dreadful squalid refugee camps , tear gas being used by heavy handed police, migrants in camps accusing French police of rights abuses etc, anti-vaxxers protesting across France.
Yet someone living peacefully in a rural French village or town would be astonished at the image portrayed in the news media.
Different perceptions.
Good news isn't newsworthy.
There are so many videos of the riots in France.
It's difficult to know which ones to post.
I did say there were riots.
Just a minority, of course, but a significant one- giving the whole country such a terrible image.
Like the French football hooligans clashing with the Spanish - a minority again of course.
French, Spanish, Russians, Poles, Serbs, Swiss, S American countries, Italian Ultras etc - it's not confined to one country and seems to be on the rise again.
I'm afraid that it is endemic.
No Meryl, do you have a link or point me in the right direction?
Chewbacca
Have you seen the video of the french police clapping the lockdown protesters ?
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s prime minister on Saturday condemned a series of violent protests in cities across the country against restrictions imposed to curb the surge of COVID-19 after a six-month state of emergency came into effect this week.
Riot police shot blank bullets to try to disperse scores of protesters who were setting fire to rubbish bins in Madrid’s main thoroughfare Gran Via.
Meanwhile, demonstrators pelted police with rocks and other projectiles in Barcelona in a second night of disturbances in Spain’s second-largest city.
In the northern Spanish city of Logroño, about 150 people attacked police with stones, set fire to containers and looted shops, police reported. Riot police were drafted in to quell disturbances in Haro, in the wine-growing region of La Rioja.
Sadly COVIDiots aren't just an English thing: PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - More than a hundred thousand people marched across France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to force vaccination of health workers and require a COVID-19 free certificate to enter places such as restaurants and cinemas.
Macron this week announced sweeping measures to fight a rapid surge in coronavirus infections, which protesters say infringe the freedom of choice of those who do not want the vaccination.
The interior ministry said 137 marches took place across the country, gathering nearly 114,000 people, of which 18,000 were in Paris. Marches also included "yellow vest" protesters seeking to revive the anti-government movement curbed by coronavirus lockdowns.
Absolutely- so so wrong.
As for Little Britain, videos of the behaviour after Wembley have been seen all over the world. And now groups of drunken, belligerent idiots abusing and swearing at Police and others in Benidorm- mocking Covid restrictions and emergency lockdown (and many of them not youngsters either) showed again all over the world and Press. Just a minority, of course, but a significant one- giving the whole country such a terrible image.
Makes me so sad- and angry too.
People at their lowest ebb, people having to care for them having to pay exorbitant charges for parking is just plain wrong.
It’s a side issue I know, but when my daughter worked in the nearby hospital she not only had to pay for parking, at exorbitant daily rates, but if she finished a shift late (which she often did due to an emergency) she would also have to pay a fine for overstaying!
Our newer hospitals tend not to be in town centres but I agree, older hospitals are often on town centre sites with limited parking, then build extensions out into the grounds, meaning even less parking.
In France many of the CHU (main hospitals) are not in town centres like in the UK. They even have their own exits of major roundabouts and have plenty of land for free parking around them. That is the beauty of living in a country with 3 times the space of the UK.
But know the hospital car parking she told me is for free. That's a big issue f or us hospital patients in the uk. WHich presume are run by private companies not the nhs.
*joysutty - just to clarify, I think that it is only in England and, I believe, NI hospitals charge for parking.
In Wales and Scotland it is free.
There does arise the problem then of people parking then going off shopping etc.
Uh oh.
MawBe
I don’t like the way this thread is going.
I absolutely agree.
I am out of this.
MawBe Lucca this is not going to end well…
It's interesting the criteria that we use to decide who we want to be in a country. My preference would be anyone who talks about their fellow human beings in such a way, well I would be quite happy if someone organised for them to live elsewhere.
MawBe
As I said
I agree
mokryna I thought in France most people pay a mutuelle for health? Cotisations are quite high too for the self employed.
As I said
Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.
I don’t like the way this thread is going.
@Keffie12. Well said. There is a lot for us to get done in the uk before the "underclass" is treated fairly. We should not be giving any foreign aid except for foreign disasters. Life is very basic for many who work hard and they have no hope of inhabiting a modest home of their own, and there is no chance of a council house either
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