Cranky Yankee
|
I just spent two weeks in Salisbury and London (I live in California) and was surprised at the changes. England is starting to look more like America....and not in a good way. It's hard to find English people in England. London anyway and that's sad. |
|
Paddy B
 |
If London is not your first home (as it is mine) it is, or can be, everyone’s second home. And it is this multi-cultural element that really does make us different. The football ground that I most frequently visit is “White Hart Lane”, the home of Tottenham Hotspur. It is not the easiest of grounds to get to and I usually get the tube to “Seven Sisters” and walk – that takes about half an hour and involves passing Jamaican fruit sellers, Halal butchers, Jewish bagel makers, Thai cafes, Cypriot grocers and many many more. If Tottenham is home to peoples from all around the world it is no more so than most of the London districts. That this multi cultural city works without too many problems and that it remains a magnet for travellers and for those (especially the young) looking to improve their life is part of its history and part of its present.
As Ralph McTell wrote in his song “The Streets of London” “Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London, I’ll show you something to make you change your mind”. And that something is not the Beefeaters in the Tower, the grand buildings or the parks and the boulevards. It is the people. |
|
Carrie S
 |
There is much higher publiclity nowadays on stabbings and shootings whereas int he 90's it was all about drug taking and HIV which you don't hear about much these days.
As for good things, the new buses which allow disabled people and people with pushchairs to get on have changed people's lives. The fact that most people have broadband changes the way they travel in that they can look up their routes and tube maps and get e-mail alerts about station closures makes a big difference. The faster Eurostar makes business commuting to the continent easier. Docklands still looks like it's still being built but it's a lot better than it was in the 90's. |
|
D-Boy
|
More immigration, more stabbings, more of the same! |
|
ginsters92
 |
don't let the reports of the increase in violent crime .etc put you off visiting. its still a lovely city. |
|
Shari
 |
We have a London Mayor as well as the Lord Mayor of London now. The London Mayor taxes us.
Oyster cards came along too. The tube fares in 99 were going up and up and up and public transport was becoming too pricey. It's still extortianately expensive to use it without an Oyster card but with one it's pretty reasonable.
The main difference is that in the 90s Londoners knew about the risks of terrorism and suspect packages and were used to being bombed. Now the tourists know not to leave bags laying around and to report suspicious behaviour too. An Aussie friend I met in 99 told me if she found a backpack at a tube station she'd pick it up and take it to lost property. A Londoner wouldn't touch the thing with a 10 foot barge pole.
Tourists take terrorism more seriously now than they did in the 90s.
Oh and the whole south bank of the Thames has been done up and is really nice to walk along now. |
|
poodge28
 |
-Reduction in overall crime (but an increase in violent crime especially among the youth)
-Congestion charge
-New millenium buildings (bridge, dome etc...)
-New Transport system (basically just looks more flashy but still not that great) |
|
Nat
|
Electronic travelcards; the Oyster card. |
|
lazytramp789
|
oyster card |
|
jory
|
Its not really a part of England anymore. It amorphous with very little that is genuine. It's very difficult to meet Londoners born, but very easy to meet Londoners who have "settled".
The Asian communities insular lifestyle has caught on, and now all immigrant communities tend to live in the same area as their countrymen. This has led to an informal segregation.
These segregated communities are "protected" by street gangs with the inevitable rise in teenage murder.
The new methods of rubbish collection have led to really, really dirty streets.
Manners have disappeared, with even the great British queue becoming a rarity.
The tap water is offensive in taste but clear in appearance.
Street markets are poor and sparsely inhabited.
Public transport is more efficient but more unwelcoming.
Everything is expensive and rising, but the quality of goods is poor.
The stringent fines for falling foul of "administrative" traffic laws, cost approx ÂŁ50 a month.
All in all, London is struggling to maintain it's identity. Yes there is the tourist version, and then there's the economic version, but the real London, the entity that underpins the whole thing, is neglected, stifled and sinking fast. |
|
Vorsprung
|
teenager criminals... stabbing just anyone they want....
traffic....
ill manners....
racism in a civlised and descrete way.... |
|
Angeliz
 |
Crime, higher taxes, cost of living,bad manners. I could go on & on, there has been a lot of changes & most for the worse. |
|
Gent
|
Londoners now resent immigration rather than wholeheartedly encouraging it.
Fear of violence (stabbings and muggings) on the streets.
Many gangs now with established territories.
People no longer have pride in cleaner streets so much dirtier now.
Fewer playing fields and sports facilities for children.
If you get on a bus now you will find that English is a minority language.
There are now Starbucks in most high streets.
Political apathy.
Many native Londoners leaving due to immigration pressures and a change in the British "way of life". |
|
up2you7
|
Soho is more gay than it was then and also we have much less independently owned shops than we did in the 90's (more chains).The savoy is closed until 2009 for refurbishment. Sorry.No breakfast there at the moment, try the wolesley for breakfast instead, very good. |
|
honky
|
it feels like its not english anymore
think of london and think of crime |
|
Angel
|
PM,
We now have the worst PM ever in Gordon Brown. |
|
Moscow
|
It has become the world's dustbin where all the rubbish no-one else wants turns up and brings their prejudice, intolerance and 3rd world standards of lack of respect, responsibility and disdain for authority and the rule of law.
Hundreds of years of gradually improving standards have been wiped out in the blink of a misguided Gov't policy and dragged London back into the Dark Ages.
The rest of the country is following. |
|
Lucyy.
|
Crinimal Rates Sadly And Tourism |
|
Eat aEtheism EMANUEL
|
we invented attacking people and filming it |
|
Matt H
|
cars are newer |
|
Fragile Rock
|
In the 90's, if you were traveling on the tube and looked at someone, there was always the danger they might shout at you. Things have changed now. You could get stabbed instead!!! |
|
Sangmo
 |
Very little, really. You can still get a very nice breakfast at the Savoy. Change since the 1890s, 1790s, 1690s ... would be interesting to think about though. |
|
fostering John parrot
|
people getting shot alot more and of coz the black squirrel, i have no idea where these mother fu c k ers came from, it's like evolution just occurred in a blink of an eye. |
|
michelle c
|
The Labour Government: higher taxes, more unuions, more people on welfare, stabbings - knife & gun crime, uncrontrolable 3rd world immigration, anything else you'd like me to list...? |
|
RICHARD S
|
London is not a nice place - but it does not represent the rest of the UK - Edinburgh is a beautiful city, although expensive, Manchester is ugly but nice people - get off the plane at Heathrow and get a domestic flight to Edinburgh and then travel back to Heathrow by train stopping off in Newcastle, Manchester and Blackpool (the UKs answer to Atlantic City but (believe this) even tackier - leave 2 days to do the sights in London - most of that will spent in line ! |
|
The Knowledge
|
More Illigal Immigrants. |
|
liz t
|
youth talk respect for reasons to kill etc when alot of them probably have never looked up the word respect in a dictionary they assume it means to do something to shock and scare their peers cuz their parents are too dam ignorant to teach them stuff they aint a clue about so yeah the nineties produced alot of thick ignorant parents although i must add not all |
|
Liva
|
The royal family and the London skyline. |
|
madnob
|
It would be easier to tell you what has not changed. |
|
marmias
|
Accommodation prices rocketed |
|
Frankie Honey
|
music, culture has chenged with all the immigrants bringing something new to the economy and the wonderful food they eat! |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Travel
Forum 
United Kingdom 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
