Is the UK now giving off strong Third World vibes?

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 1:14pm #1

Maybe, it's just the media, but is anyone getting strong Third World vibes off the UK at the moment?

Everlong1 · 12-09-2023 1:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058313371/is-the-uk-now-giving-off-strong-third-world-vibes

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Third world vibes? What, like regular famines, civil wars, military coups, inter-ethnic genocide, kids having their arms cut off so that they'll make more effective beggars? I think the UK is a bit away from those scenarios yet, Brexit notwithstanding.

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 1:26pm

For example a substantial number of their coastal areas are now polluted with raw sewage.

2.1 million of their population use food banks.

tabby aspreme · 12-09-2023 1:33pm

The most third world thing about the UK, is they have a King 👑

Larbre34 · 12-09-2023 1:38pm

Third World? No.

Greece or Bulgaria or Romania or Albania? Maybe.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 2:07pm

OP, was there a particular metric you were thinking of but didn't mention?

I've been living here since 2011. While, I've been applying for various positions on the continent, I do still quite like living here despite the abysmal governments we've had since 2010. The quality of living here is quite good on the whole, though decisive action needs to be taken by Labour when they get in next year on a host of issues including the NHS, climate change, housing and inequality.

timmyntc · 12-09-2023 2:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121100841#Comment_121100841

A large number of our coastal areas and inland waterways are also polluted with raw sewage.

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 2:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101061#Comment_121101061

No metric in particular.

It just seems a constant drip feed of bad news from the UK!

For example, last night on C4 News they were talking about the huge increase in vicious dog attacks in the country. I mean you don't hear hear about that on French or German news. Vicious dogs attacks is just something you don't associate with a civilised country. And, yes, I know it makes a great media story but, as you say, decisive action needs to be taken by Labour when they get in.

OmegaGene · 12-09-2023 2:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101244#Comment_121101244

this was only in November so does that make Ireland a third world country ?

"A child has been treated for serious injuries in hospital after a dog attack in County Wexford, Ireland, on Sunday.

Nine-year-old Alejandro Miszan was playing with friends near his home when he was mauled by a pit bull."

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 2:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101244#Comment_121101244

Do you follow French and German news on a daily basis though?

There have been 14 Bully XL deaths in the past 2.5 years here. An increase sure, but there are over 68 million people here.

sameoldname · 12-09-2023 2:51pm

Calling it third world is just silly but I will say they is certainly a feeling of decay about the place. Not just in an international relations sense but I was in Hove and Brighton for the first time in over a decade there recently and even the wealthy areas seemed rundown compared to when I was there last. The A23 dual carriageway to London was also an abomination due to lack of maintenance. Now, that's a small sample size and may not be true for the rest of the country but it really stood out.

SuperBowserWorld · 12-09-2023 2:52pm

I don't consume French or German news so I don't know really what's happening locally there

The UK is more self critical since it left the EU. Which makes sense since it's more independent now. So, you are probably getting a lot of that.

Also, there are more news outlets and maybe more independent journalists there. And you also have the gutter press.

We are no different here, but we pretend everything is grand, and we do not have the range of news outlets here.

Everlong1 · 12-09-2023 2:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101244#Comment_121101244

You're having a laugh now surely. Have you been watching the Irish news lately? Crime has been out out of control for at least a decade and we have people living in tents on Grafton Street. Does that make us a third world country?

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101340#Comment_121101340

The decay thing I get but I can't imagine there aren't run down parts of France, Italy, and Germany. I used to live in Brighton & Hove and would go back tomorrow if there was more development there.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101344#Comment_121101344

What about Ireland? Surely there's a similar negative flow of news, no? Housing? HSE? Climate change? Cost of living?

The UK hasn't become more independent, the opposite is true. As for independent journalism, it's all but a myth when a few billionaires control most of the press.

Hangdogroad · 12-09-2023 3:00pm

Boris and yer wan who lasted a few weeks are certainly the kind of leaders you'd expect to find in a Third World Country.

tayto lover · 12-09-2023 3:10pm

I know many English people and many of them say that their standard of living is falling rapidly.

homer911 · 12-09-2023 3:10pm

Their national debt is going through the roof, their balance of payments is worsening, Brexit has been a disaster. NHS in crisis. Wide-ranging strikes. The very rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor. The country reeks of mis-management.

Bluefoam · 12-09-2023 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121100817#Comment_121100817

Corrupt gorvernment, food missing of supermarket shelves, extreme nationalism, skyrocketing inflation, failing agriculture and industy, national health system being sold off from under the peoples noses?

SupaCat95 · 12-09-2023 3:26pm

Been over to the UK a few times. What I cant get over is people working in pointless jobs and little or no manufacturing.

SupaCat95 · 12-09-2023 3:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101425#Comment_121101425

Lst time i was over they were complaining about fuel prices and the mortgages hadnt hit 5% yet.

Brussels Sprout · 12-09-2023 3:32pm

Is it a third world country? No, of course not.

Is it on the slide? Yes, I think it is. Brexit was obviously a monumental own goal but Boris Johnson and Liz Truss being repeatedly promoted to positions up to and including Prime Minister was something that wouldn't have happened in the past. Even now, the Home Secretary, one of the 4 major political offices, is not a serious politician. The fact that she's in her job is an indicator that the lunatic fringe of the Tory party is still very much alive.

Everyone realises that Sunak is basically just a caretaker until the inevitable election defeat. it will be very interesting to see who emerges as the next leader of that party. If it is someone like Braverman then that'll be a bad omen.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 3:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101425#Comment_121101425

I remember seeing some time ago that the poorest section of Irish society are apparently 62% better off than their British counterparts.

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 4:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101365#Comment_121101365

With Ireland the bad news is concentrated across areas like housing, health service and cost of living.

For the UK, bad news seems be permeating every sector of life (except for the Tory cronies of course).

It's quite sad in a way. Only around a decade ago, the UK wrote us a cheque to help us out. I think it should be stark reminder to everyone how quickly economies change.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 4:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101657#Comment_121101657

The cheque was a loan. It wasn't a selfless gesture.

The UK is where it is for a plethora of reasons. It's more similar to the USA than any EU state which brings advantages and disadvantages. I'm comfortable but I pay almost a grand a month for a bedroom and I'm basically trapped here.

Francis McM · 12-09-2023 4:17pm

Let us call a spade a spade. The UK is changing, just as France etc has and is changing. Look at the tens of thousands each year risking their lives or who want to risk their lives leaving France to go to the UK.

Net migration into the UK during 2022 is reported to have reached a record high of 606,000, with immigration estimated at 1.2m and emigration at 557,000. Without being racist, every time I visit certain parts of England I am reminded of people wanting to make it like Pakistan. Something like 30% of births in England / Wales are to mothers who were not even born in England / Wales.

What happens in England happens here some years later.

enricoh · 12-09-2023 4:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101525#Comment_121101525

Only for our corporation tax bonanza the last decade our dole , pensions etc would be a fair bit off what they are now. It's fairly debatable whether the bumper returns will continue.

mobydopy · 12-09-2023 4:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058313371/is-the-uk-now-giving-off-strong-third-world-vibes

Just curious, have you ever been to a third world country?

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 4:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101738#Comment_121101738

Yes, I've been to the US.

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 4:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101718#Comment_121101718

It actually scary to think what's going to happen Ireland if some of the big MNCs move out. We should not be gloating on the UK's situation at all...

dxhound2005 · 12-09-2023 4:34pm

It's in the relegation places, could be Second World next year.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 4:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101777#Comment_121101777

Why would they? It's not like Ireland is about to do something catastrophically stupid like follow the UK's example.

timmyntc · 12-09-2023 4:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101494#Comment_121101494

Maggies transition to a services based economy worked wonders for them

Until people discovered those menial low skill jobs like call centers, IT support, entry level programming etc is all done cheaper elsewhere to much the same effect as the product is a service rather than a tangible good.

They lost most of their manufacturing capacity and cant really get it back, most cars trains planes made elsewhere, ol blighty only makes a fee specialist bits now (with large corporate subsidies to keep them from leaving)

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 5:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101878#Comment_121101878

They're still leaders in science, IT, medical research, engineering and a host of other things. The problem is that the collapse of manufacturing left most places in quite a grim state. Great if you live in Oxford, Cambridge or London but not so much if you're in Derby or Sunderland.

jetsonx · 12-09-2023 5:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101847#Comment_121101847

Nothing stays still. The same forces the brought business here could be the same forces that cause business to leave here. There are loads of places in Europe that were once economically thriving only to fall on hard times because of technological, political or economical change.

TedBundysDriver · 12-09-2023 5:22pm

Out health, justice and housing systems give off 3rd world vibes OP.

Slightly Kwackers · 12-09-2023 5:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101494#Comment_121101494

The signs in shops, doctors surgeries, motorway tolls and council offices asking people not to abuse or assault the staff is a telling story.

Scotland is not as bad, but I was amused to find one of the site rules posted at both Cockenzie and Longannet power stations was a command not to assault people working on the site.

The Tories killed manufacture wanting to concentrate on services instead. Then with Brexit they killed UK services too :-)

Astartes · 12-09-2023 5:26pm

Bath is nice

mariaalice · 12-09-2023 5:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101993#Comment_121101993

No, they dont, the navel-gazing and self-absorbed view of the world is absorbed.

Strumms · 12-09-2023 5:55pm

It’s not 3rd world it’s just again struggling with going from 59.6 million people living there in 2003 to 67.7 in 2023.

8.1 million population explosion in 20 years. A 13.59 % population increase.

I have a lot of family there who were born there and it’s impossible to get timely access to healthcare without insurance. NHS has gone from one of the best public healthcare systems in the world and I think it was THE best at one point to one that is described by their healthcare watchdogs as ‘falling apart’ and in ‘crisis’….public transport is way oversubscribed too.

crime is almost out of control, some of the stuff happening there on social media is 😵. The crime rate in the United Kingdom was 75.88 per 1,000 people in 2022–2023. That overall UK crime rate saw an 8% increase from 2021. 😒

the UK is fûcked. It did what it needed to do. But probably too late.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 5:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101977#Comment_121101977

That's far too generic to be meaningful.

Padre_Pio · 12-09-2023 6:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101932#Comment_121101932

All small scale employers though.

Manufacturing is where it's at. A team of 10 people design a product, a team of 100 people manufacture that product.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 6:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102150#Comment_121102150

Not at all. GSK's facility in Stevenage for instance is the size of a large Irish town.

SupaCat95 · 12-09-2023 6:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102005#Comment_121102005

Yeah I know Margaret Thatcher changed Britain after the Falklands war but it was on a downward spiral anyways. But she got a great defense industry going. The crap they sold after the Falklands like the Harrier and plenty of ships. That is a dangerous precedent being abusive to the essential services like medical staff. Look at what is happening here, the medical staff and their families (most importantly) are quitting and going overseas.

In ireland they are now so desperate they are allowing nursing students to do their first two years of nursing college as a QQI course. That is going to be fun.

Dublinandy3 · 12-09-2023 6:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101718#Comment_121101718

Possibly if you're going to say without being racist it may be good not to start your post with a saying that is associated with racism for the a few decades.

Shank Williams · 12-09-2023 6:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101312#Comment_121101312

pitbull owners should all be put down along with the dog , no reason for them

Slightly Kwackers · 12-09-2023 7:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102199#Comment_121102199

What a lot of the Brexit bunch seemed to forget was that Britain was being manipulated by foreign manufacturers.

British industry was going down anyway and the likes of Sony, Panasonic De Lorean and loads of others were given huge grants to start production in Britain.

The Japanese made mugs of the government. I recall their TV set which was to have British made parts but was deemed "too good" for Mullard tuners. Mullard were the main supplier of electronics in the UK but their stuff never was suitable for Japanese "quality"

The tuners were prone to drift at minus forty degrees centigrade, which could of course be disturbing for viewers in the UK :-)

Mullard bit the dust!

When the gravy train stopped and the grant money was gone, so were the overseas manufacturers :-)

greencap · 12-09-2023 8:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101718#Comment_121101718

You may feel that due to UK having the 2nd largest Pakistani diaspora in the world.

You would think that when they were feeling aggrieved at their change in culture and overcrowding, that they may have chosen to dial it down a bit by reducing the numbers entering from Asia and Africa, while maintaining a relation with the EU, where approximately 1 million British live, their most important economic partner too.

Ah but no.

And so post-brexit the Europeans left, and were replaced by non-EU immigration.

Well played Brexiters.

Last I recall Sunak was organizing more visa for Indians. And the boats remain inbound. Make of that what you will.

ancapailldorcha · 12-09-2023 8:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102661#Comment_121102661

They knew what they were voting for.

greencap · 12-09-2023 9:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102674#Comment_121102674

as did the British of Pakistani and Indian extraction, no doubt.

Europeans coming over, taking their jobs.

Shauna677 · 12-09-2023 9:22pm

I go over quite often and the changes there are awful. There's a general feeling of decay and grimness about the place and one can visible see the poverty many are enduring.

pavb2 · 12-09-2023 9:24pm

Thing is the NHS has never been efficient there was a TV programme in 2007 ‘ Can Gerry Robinson fix the NHS’ where a management expert was called in to see what he could do.

His conclusion was good particularly the quote:

‘ I think what the NHS needs to learn is that actually you don’t solve problems by throwing money at it, and not every problem actually needs money to solve it. That’s the first lesson. Secondly, to get out of their heads the idea that things have to take three years to do and get into the idea that there is a series of objectives that we need to do now, and that we’ve got months, not years to do it. Those two things, I think, would have the biggest single impact on the way that the Health Service is managed.’

but I’m not sure how much if anything changed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_Gerry_Robinson_Fix_the_NHS%3F

Is the UK now giving off strong Third World vibes?

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