What is broken about Britain?

scorza said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/29/social-mobility-inequality-conservative-thatcher

The authors of that article have also written an excellent book called The Spirit Level.
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Why did I know it would be yet another socialist diatribe against Thatcher and how it is all her fault? What amuses me about that article (and several of the more vocal anti Thatcher people on this board) is that, once again, they blame Thatcher, but don't actually say what it was that she did. Surely if she is single handedly responsible for the total breakdown of UK society it shouldn't be hard to point out 10 policies she enacted that caused it?

The most that one can manage was that she stole his milk and this is from someone that wasn't even born when Thatcher was in power.

Personally I would say the problems are two fold. An education system that is not free from political interference and so keeps changing to adapt to the lowest common denominator and a culture of entitlement. Everything is someone elses fault and not your own.
 
IceBus said:
We are no longer a production economy - we're a service economy. Britain used to be one of the world's greatest engineering hubs and now we don't make/sell anything that can't be bought cheaper/better elsewhere. I blame Thatcher.
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But we've developed as a nation to such an extent that we cannot afford to be a production economy. Mass production relies on low cost - and making things in the UK is now low cost because even the lowliest of workers now expects, and can have, a certain level of pay, a big TV, a car, etc etc. This means the cost of making things here is high, and its to be expected in most developed economies. Thats why the shift moves to things which can sustain higher cost labour - ie services.

Mass production needs a ready source of very cheap labour, or a large number of patriotic customers who will pay higher prices for similar quality or the same price for lower quality goods simply because of the country of origin.
 
parent's not educating their children properly
hence chavs

house prices
in my area single first time buyers are completely excluded from the market

interest rates
if im buying a house i need a 40% deposit, might take a while

lack of jobs
immigration doesnt help, country is full

booze culture
too many ppl think getting wasted is cool, it isn't
boils down to a lack of aspirations, fueled by all the above
 
Seft said:
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15452867
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yup and http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15452811

A fellow economist reader ?

I wish i had time to read it every week, i got the student subscription, best thing i ever did switching from reading the FT to the economist

blatent copyright infringement but...

"But Britons are getting even more downbeat. When Labour came to power in 1997, 40% of the population thought the country was becoming a worse place to live in. By 2007 that had risen to 60%. A year on, and a year into Gordon Brown’s spell as prime minister, the malcontents numbered 71%—and that was before the financial crash. There has been a “surge of nostalgia” for the good old days, says Ben Page, head of Ipsos-Mori, a polling firm." From the economist
 
I haven't read the Economist for years but as I recall, they used to be remarkably coy about who wrote their articles. I can't really take anonymous commentary any more seriously from the Economist than from posters on the OcUK forum ;)

Incidentally, you do realise don't you that posting links to the Economist is wasted on anyone who isn't already a subscriber?
 
Well i did wonder if anyone could view that link seen as he posted it ? i would log out but its a pain in the ass logging back in again lol.

I cant comment on what you have said really, its not something i have really took much notice of, it seems generally well written and factual when i have looked at other sources, they do seem to get a view and dig there heals in though, they seem to have been bashing Obama since the day he took office lol
 
MaX_PoWah said:
... I can't comment on what you have said really, it's not something I have really taken much notice of, it seems generally well written and factual when I have looked at other sources, they do seem to get a view and dig there heels in though, they seem to have been bashing Obama since the day he took office lol
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Ask yourself, "Who are 'they'?".


As I say, I haven't read the Economist for some years so it may be different now.
 
[TW]Fox;16550181 said:
But we've developed as a nation to such an extent that we cannot afford to be a production economy. Mass production relies on low cost - and making things in the UK is now low cost because even the lowliest of workers now expects, and can have, a certain level of pay, a big TV, a car, etc etc. This means the cost of making things here is high, and its to be expected in most developed economies. Thats why the shift moves to things which can sustain higher cost labour - ie services.

Mass production needs a ready source of very cheap labour, or a large number of patriotic customers who will pay higher prices for similar quality or the same price for lower quality goods simply because of the country of origin.
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I agree. Since British workers are expensive, the only way I think we could realistically compete in the lower-end manufacturing space would essentially be by manufacturing companies using (probably non-existent or prohibitively expensive) low maintenance machines to do all the work. Of course, even assuming that is viable, that doesn't create many jobs, so it's pointless for the government to pursue. The only way to reduce unemployment without creating bureaucracy is through strong education so that we can continue to build our economy around services and design.
 
Lack of respect from some youths (<16) thinking they are above the law with a "so what" attitude.

When I was younger, you would be ashamed of yourself if a local copper* needed to tell you off. These days, it's the coppers that worry about speakign to the youths.

*for our younger readers, a copper was the a policeman (and i mean a real policeman, not a council funded fine machine in a similar uniform).

The "copper" would probably live down the road from you in a "police house" (owned by the local force) and would almost certainly be friends with your Mum and Dad.

This police setup has almost universally been replaced by a yellow telephone fixed to the front door of a closed police station 20 miles away from where you live.
 
I wouldn't say britain is broken but the bad parts of our society are antisocial and violent youths who typically live in council estates. They litter, intimidate, rob, fight and are generally antisocial. People who need to care more about our society. This is down to bad parenting basically and a concentration of it owing to council housing being lumped together.
 
scorza said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/29/social-mobility-inequality-conservative-thatcher

The authors of that article have also written an excellent book called The Spirit Level.
Click to expand...

That article is probably the most accurate for the reasons. The massive inequality between the richest and poorest as well as the massively increased difficulty of climbing the social ladder. Blaming the fact on either the poorest or richest wont change the situation. We need a much less selfish society with 'equal opportunities' no matter how much money your parents have. It is not a simple problem and there for there isn't a simple solution.
 
I'd say the loss of "the family unit". Now by that I don't necessarily mean blood family, but communities, friends & (real) families actually functioning.

And to go with that, the skills which are required to function as that unit. Respect, tolerability and basic physical skills; cooking, being able to look after yourself, and willing to look after others.
 
Intolerance of other people. Thats what i feel is the worst part of britain.

People that hate because of colour, gender, sexuality, belief, education, class, ability or disability. These are people that drag the country down.
 
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