London is HORRIBLE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m sort of enjoying the dopes who are so insecure they’ve been mesmerized by London and assume it’s intrinsically superior. The accents!!

Probably the only time you ever left the US.

The food is objectively trash. Yes, there are a handful of good restaurants; no sh&t, it’s a global financial center with 10 million people. But many, many “nice” restaurants serve bland, boiled produce. Beans (plain) are a breakfast staple. The leading condiment by a good margin is mayonnaise. Get the hell out of here with London being a food Mecca.

NHS is trash. Granted I’m rich, but US health care and even godawful US medical insurance are models of innovation and efficiency by comparison.

Immigration has gotten to a level that is gross and dangerous. (We’re catching up on this one, admittedly.)

The tube is OK as far as public transportation goes—it’s insanely crowded and hot as hell, but you can get anywhere. But here’s the rub: I don’t want to take public transportation. And driving (or being driven) is an absolute nightmare.

Buildings and hotel rooms and offices and restrooms have all manner of outdated (but affixed!) gadgetry, plugs that don’t work, visible piping, doors and lifts and carpets that haven’t been replaced in decades, the paint on buildings is cracked, garden walls and sidewalks in varying stages of disrepair. You’ll just be walking down the street and here’s a defunct valve sticking out of the wall with signage from pre-WW2. Ho-hum.

Guess that’s “chic”?

I love a lot of things about the USA too, and of course it is perfectly okay to have preferences and to like some things more than others or even to hate London, but, as a Londoner, I really think you’ve just not experienced London properly.

[Anonymous]

I agree. It’s quite possible if one moves through the world with those kinds of worldviews and attitudes that they hadn’t felt particularly welcome. That’s no surprise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never want to hear people say how great London is or London is better than dc.

1. Housing is atrocious. We are living in a roughly 2 million pound flat in Mayfair and the plumbing is awful, the insulation/windows are awful and we are always cold (and we are used to Montana cold but homes in London are cold whereas in the us homes stay warm). Our colleagues here have homes anywhere between 500k to 6 million pounds here in various neighborhoods and they are all dumpy

2. The parks are overrated

3. People are mean

4. The tube and trains are mindblowingly expensive

5. Service is poor

6. British “professionals” have horrible work ethic without the “la dolce vita” attitude of Italians/southern euros. It’s the worst of both worlds - uptight, high expectations yet also poor work ethic/quality.

7. Food is awful

8. Social life is way too alcohol centric

There is literally nothing redeeming about this place. I’d rather live in Dallas and I think the south is 🤮 !

dc is 100x better than London

I've been to London for a couple days on a work trip and am far from a London expert (although I worked for a UK company and know Brits suck), but even I know Mayfair is centrally located in one of the world's most expensive cities. Might want to try another neighborhood.

the brit hate on here is NEXT LEVEL.
truly america is the nation of ***holes. I grew up in london and would never see the kind of vitriol in all those years as I've seen on this one thread.
take a look in the mirror. jfc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a complex relationship with London. I lived there in the 1990s and a again for a few years in the early 2000s and loved it. These days it's changed so much, some for the better and others in just different ways. The mass migration means it's really no longer a British city it was 30 years ago. The demographic changes are staggering and I don't think I've see any other place undergo the same scale of population changes. So the neighborhoods I once loved aren't the same any more, they're either colonized by the very rich and boring, like Mayfair and Kensington, or well, just not British any more.

On the other hand, it is safer and cleaner. Massive gentrification has cleaned up large parts of London but it's also meant London is extremely unaffordable.

It's always been very expensive. And it's always been a widely criticized city for lack of charm. But the museums are still excellent, if a bit woke these days. The shopping can be great. Dining out is more expensive than it's worth it but my friends still in London are excellent cooks and have access to excellent ingredients.

I don't have much of a desire to revisit London for longer than a day or two to see old friends before going elsewhere. London is the one place that makes me feel "no country for old men." But I readily recognize that for others it's still a thriving and fascinating city.

in what universe is london 'widely criticized for lack of charm'???
it is one of the most charming big cities there is.
i could understand if you said frankfurt/ dresden/ riyadh/ lagos/ akron/ birmingham/ indianapolis or the entirety of new jersey. but LONDON is widely criticized for lack of charm? plz

It's not the prettiest city. There's no shortage of travel accounts of the lack of charm or poor food or pollution in London going back centuries. Even John Adams complained about the food in London in the 18th century.

oh well if john adams complained about the food in the 18th century then we should certainly assume that nothing has changed 300 years later. that tracks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVE London. Chic, great shopping, great fun vibe. People are mean as sh*t in a very polite way. It's actually kind of weird. British food is disgusting, but there are so many other options! Love the place. Would move in a minute.

Eat Indian subcontinent food there. That is the only decent and affordable food there.

BTW - England became a developed nation because of how they looted 45 trillion dollars worth of materials from India during their colonial rule.

Without India to loot, they have become a shithole country. A small country of shopkeepers. And the poverty there is another level now. Unwashed brits with yellow teeth, unwashed clothes and dirty fingernails, unable to afford air-conditioning and eating baked beans from a can.

What do you mean Donald? I didn’t see any of that in London last year.

america has stolen billions from iraq and afghanistan alone in the past few years, up to and including 2022.

and data shows americans have worse dental health and fewer teeth than the brits - https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6543

'The oral health of US citizens is not better than the English, and there are consistently wider educational and income oral health inequalities in the US compared with England.'

This person just has so little understanding of history, public health, statistics and education that you just can't even respond.

lol, snappy comeback to the results of a survey of 20,000 people. 'i can't even'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a complex relationship with London. I lived there in the 1990s and a again for a few years in the early 2000s and loved it. These days it's changed so much, some for the better and others in just different ways. The mass migration means it's really no longer a British city it was 30 years ago. The demographic changes are staggering and I don't think I've see any other place undergo the same scale of population changes. So the neighborhoods I once loved aren't the same any more, they're either colonized by the very rich and boring, like Mayfair and Kensington, or well, just not British any more.

On the other hand, it is safer and cleaner. Massive gentrification has cleaned up large parts of London but it's also meant London is extremely unaffordable.

It's always been very expensive. And it's always been a widely criticized city for lack of charm. But the museums are still excellent, if a bit woke these days. The shopping can be great. Dining out is more expensive than it's worth it but my friends still in London are excellent cooks and have access to excellent ingredients.

I don't have much of a desire to revisit London for longer than a day or two to see old friends before going elsewhere. London is the one place that makes me feel "no country for old men." But I readily recognize that for others it's still a thriving and fascinating city.

in what universe is london 'widely criticized for lack of charm'???
it is one of the most charming big cities there is.
i could understand if you said frankfurt/ dresden/ riyadh/ lagos/ akron/ birmingham/ indianapolis or the entirety of new jersey. but LONDON is widely criticized for lack of charm? plz

It's not the prettiest city. There's no shortage of travel accounts of the lack of charm or poor food or pollution in London going back centuries. Even John Adams complained about the food in London in the 18th century.

oh well if john adams complained about the food in the 18th century then we should certainly assume that nothing has changed 300 years later. that tracks.

I don’t think London has discovered salt or seasoning for their food in those 300 years. So yup, it tracks!

[Anonymous]

Was it them figuring out you’re a povvo or the ruminator comment that got to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was it them figuring out you’re a povvo or the ruminator comment that got to you?

Time for bed, PP. get yourself a cuppa and scadaddle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVE London. Chic, great shopping, great fun vibe. People are mean as sh*t in a very polite way. It's actually kind of weird. British food is disgusting, but there are so many other options! Love the place. Would move in a minute.

Eat Indian subcontinent food there. That is the only decent and affordable food there.

BTW - England became a developed nation because of how they looted 45 trillion dollars worth of materials from India during their colonial rule.

Without India to loot, they have become a shithole country. A small country of shopkeepers. And the poverty there is another level now. Unwashed brits with yellow teeth, unwashed clothes and dirty fingernails, unable to afford air-conditioning and eating baked beans from a can.

Let me guess, you watched a YouTube video. The 45 trillion figure floating around on social media (what a joke) is based on England displacing the Indian textile industry, because England mechanized and India could no longer compete with handlooms. They did not take 45 trillion dollars worth of goods. Nor is outcompeting a country "stealing" from them.

Are you actually saying that Britain did not steal from India?! Because that is pretty well documented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was it them figuring out you’re a povvo or the ruminator comment that got to you?

Time for bed, PP. get yourself a cuppa and scadaddle

Povvo, got it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVE London. Chic, great shopping, great fun vibe. People are mean as sh*t in a very polite way. It's actually kind of weird. British food is disgusting, but there are so many other options! Love the place. Would move in a minute.

Eat Indian subcontinent food there. That is the only decent and affordable food there.

BTW - England became a developed nation because of how they looted 45 trillion dollars worth of materials from India during their colonial rule.

Without India to loot, they have become a shithole country. A small country of shopkeepers. And the poverty there is another level now. Unwashed brits with yellow teeth, unwashed clothes and dirty fingernails, unable to afford air-conditioning and eating baked beans from a can.

Let me guess, you watched a YouTube video. The 45 trillion figure floating around on social media (what a joke) is based on England displacing the Indian textile industry, because England mechanized and India could no longer compete with handlooms. They did not take 45 trillion dollars worth of goods. Nor is outcompeting a country "stealing" from them.

Are you actually saying that Britain did not steal from India?! Because that is pretty well documented.

Yawn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVE London. Chic, great shopping, great fun vibe. People are mean as sh*t in a very polite way. It's actually kind of weird. British food is disgusting, but there are so many other options! Love the place. Would move in a minute.

Eat Indian subcontinent food there. That is the only decent and affordable food there.

BTW - England became a developed nation because of how they looted 45 trillion dollars worth of materials from India during their colonial rule.

Without India to loot, they have become a shithole country. A small country of shopkeepers. And the poverty there is another level now. Unwashed brits with yellow teeth, unwashed clothes and dirty fingernails, unable to afford air-conditioning and eating baked beans from a can.

Let me guess, you watched a YouTube video. The 45 trillion figure floating around on social media (what a joke) is based on England displacing the Indian textile industry, because England mechanized and India could no longer compete with handlooms. They did not take 45 trillion dollars worth of goods. Nor is outcompeting a country "stealing" from them.

Are you actually saying that Britain did not steal from India?! Because that is pretty well documented.

Yawn

So you agree, the British Imperialists were bullies.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you’d like what I think. You also might not understand it

[Anonymous]

You are right on about the quality of British “professionals.” I work at an international company and the Brits produce high school level work. It’s so frustrating. And these are graduates of Oxford. I guess those schools accept anyone.

[Anonymous]

UK and US are both pretty backwards places these days. The passion with which people are attacking or defending each country is amusing.