Why, asked the BBC news broadcast last night are so many Brits leaving the country? Is it the cost of living, cost of housing, law and order? Needless to say no concrete answer was forthcoming. I would suggest it’s all of those and one might add, gridlocked roads, feral youth, the plethora of speed and CCTV cameras, the appalling treatment of the elderly and the disabled, overcrowded trains, television drivel, gutter tabloid press, MRSA and other killer bugs in our hospitals, lack of NHS dentists, low standard of education, immigration and on and on.
All the above contribute to a Britain that is now so mediocre at every level it is downright depressing. I am surprised anyone is still here. Were I in a position to leave I would not hesitate but sadly my wife’s Parkinson’s precludes that we return to hotter and brighter climes. Happily for them, two of our three children enjoy lives in the tropics as did my wife and I for over twenty years. My eldest has vowed never to return to the UK to live and I do not blame him at all.
This was all summed up for me as I watched England play Germany at the new “fortress” Wembley, last night. I felt no passion, no involvement and I was bored to tears as England passed the ball backwards, sideways and occasionally forwards in such dim-witted unimaginative fashion, I lost the will to live. So lacking in flair and imagination, were they, one wonders if they or those that coach them know anything about anything! They certainly do not seem to know where the goal is. In the end I was cheering on Germany.
40 years ago, this was without a doubt the best country in the World to live in. There was a great community spirit. People by and large respected the law, were courteous and no one spied on anyone or had to carry identity cards or give DNA samples to the police (as is proposed in the future) irrespective of whether they had committed a crime or not. Local bobbies on the beat were part of the community and had their ears to the ground. We were truly free. We left our doors and windows open when we nipped down to the local shop. Remember them! We had faith in the justice system and even our politicians. The BBC reported rather than opined on the news and was respected all over the World as a beacon of truth and dependency. True our cars were lousy but the traffic flowed. Yes, we still made British cars in those days and much more beside. Now all we make is trouble. To those including Gordon Brown who say Britain will become a world leader in the new bio-technologies, etc., I say garbage. I speak to Indians who speak better English and are better educated than most young Brits. Asia is and will knock us into a cocked hat and sit on it. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that our mediocrity is or will be, a match for their drive, ambition and flair. If we woke up to day and pulled finger, it would still be too late.
Kids were generally well brought up and well behaved. Now we have kids stabbing and shooting kids. We have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the Western World. Half our 11 year olds can barely read or write which means half our twenty year olds are semi-illiterate. Many respect no-one and nothing. We have more people in prison than our continental neighbours. We used to be able to enjoy a night out on the town without being insulted, accosted or beaten up by hordes of ill-mannered drunken youths. Now most of us steer well away, prisoners in our own streets, towns and cities.
Is it any wonder 300,000 people left the UK permanently last year? How many others left that we do not know about I wonder? Government statistics are now a bad joke at which no one is laughing. Of course the BBC did not mention any of this because right now it’s not on their spin chart. It’s off the agenda. To those who are leaving or have left I say, good on you, bon voyage and the best of luck. Will the last one leaving turn out the lights.
All the above contribute to a Britain that is now so mediocre at every level it is downright depressing. I am surprised anyone is still here. Were I in a position to leave I would not hesitate but sadly my wife’s Parkinson’s precludes that we return to hotter and brighter climes. Happily for them, two of our three children enjoy lives in the tropics as did my wife and I for over twenty years. My eldest has vowed never to return to the UK to live and I do not blame him at all.
This was all summed up for me as I watched England play Germany at the new “fortress” Wembley, last night. I felt no passion, no involvement and I was bored to tears as England passed the ball backwards, sideways and occasionally forwards in such dim-witted unimaginative fashion, I lost the will to live. So lacking in flair and imagination, were they, one wonders if they or those that coach them know anything about anything! They certainly do not seem to know where the goal is. In the end I was cheering on Germany.
40 years ago, this was without a doubt the best country in the World to live in. There was a great community spirit. People by and large respected the law, were courteous and no one spied on anyone or had to carry identity cards or give DNA samples to the police (as is proposed in the future) irrespective of whether they had committed a crime or not. Local bobbies on the beat were part of the community and had their ears to the ground. We were truly free. We left our doors and windows open when we nipped down to the local shop. Remember them! We had faith in the justice system and even our politicians. The BBC reported rather than opined on the news and was respected all over the World as a beacon of truth and dependency. True our cars were lousy but the traffic flowed. Yes, we still made British cars in those days and much more beside. Now all we make is trouble. To those including Gordon Brown who say Britain will become a world leader in the new bio-technologies, etc., I say garbage. I speak to Indians who speak better English and are better educated than most young Brits. Asia is and will knock us into a cocked hat and sit on it. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that our mediocrity is or will be, a match for their drive, ambition and flair. If we woke up to day and pulled finger, it would still be too late.
Kids were generally well brought up and well behaved. Now we have kids stabbing and shooting kids. We have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the Western World. Half our 11 year olds can barely read or write which means half our twenty year olds are semi-illiterate. Many respect no-one and nothing. We have more people in prison than our continental neighbours. We used to be able to enjoy a night out on the town without being insulted, accosted or beaten up by hordes of ill-mannered drunken youths. Now most of us steer well away, prisoners in our own streets, towns and cities.
Is it any wonder 300,000 people left the UK permanently last year? How many others left that we do not know about I wonder? Government statistics are now a bad joke at which no one is laughing. Of course the BBC did not mention any of this because right now it’s not on their spin chart. It’s off the agenda. To those who are leaving or have left I say, good on you, bon voyage and the best of luck. Will the last one leaving turn out the lights.
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