England Belongs To Us | Page 19 | Vital Football

England Belongs To Us

GillsBluenose said:
With you there. The origins of why it was called "The Smoke" are long gone but although I enjoy a day trip there every so often, I always feel like a shower as soon as I get home.

I know it would have helped my career and I would have earned a lot more money if I agreed to work there, but the place and the daily commute ruled it out for me.
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Likewise and if people want to see a real shithole, they should try Paris. I only really go there for the rugby every two years now and drive to Arras in the north of France and stay there and take the TGV in to Paris on the day - in and out as quickly as I can!
 
SteveTreacle said:
Likewise and if people want to see a real shithole, they should try Paris. I only really go there for the rugby every two years now and drive to Arras in the north of France and stay there and take the TGV in to Paris on the day - in and out as quickly as I can!
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You could also add Rome to the shithole list.
It’s a beautiful city but has a serious rubbish problem and the amount of graffiti on buildings is saddening.
Favourite Italian cities are Florence and Bologna. Both stunning.
Lisbon is the begging capital of Europe.
Every ten yards was someone asking for money.
 
Gilles Lingam said:
how about a teenage daughter visiting Benidorm ?
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You haven't answered my questions Giles , you've just asked one yourself !
Can Benidorm be compared to London ?
The police in Benidorm are excellent , and crime is well managed.
There's no knife crime epidemic , or grooming gangs. Apart from a few holidaymakers getting silly , there is really little to be concerned about.
 
Any mass tourism resort has dangers for teenagers of both genders. Just think of the high profile cases of sexual assault, drug and drink casualties, accidents etc, etc. All my daughters are well past their teenage years but we taught them to recognise and deal with dangers wherever they might find them. All three made some of the mistakes of youth and survived them.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Exactly. What it does show is that the percentages do not vary too much in many of those countries.

Interesting who is top, considering how it has been discovered that many of the racist social media posts against the players that missed the penalties originated from abroad. Baiting perhaps?

Racist opinions will always be held, even if restrictions on personal liberty are introduced to stop them being expressed.

I am sure, by some measures, London is the most cosmopolitan country in the western world, although other parts of the UK may be less enlightened, due to where immigrants choose to settle.

There is a problem here, but we do not need to beat ourselves up by implying that we are much worse then the civilised Europeans. It just isn't true.

Interesting what Chris says about Mandela. but if that is a skin colour issue, where did he, as a Christian, stand on Mugabe and the murder of white Zimbabwean farmers? or the practices of Idi Amin?
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all it shows is that in these internet days anyone can make up an article and a graph without any actual research and people will then use that data for argument.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Exactly. What it does show is that the percentages do not vary too much in many of those countries.

Interesting who is top, considering how it has been discovered that many of the racist social media posts against the players that missed the penalties originated from abroad. Baiting perhaps?

Racist opinions will always be held, even if restrictions on personal liberty are introduced to stop them being expressed.

I am sure, by some measures, London is the most cosmopolitan country in the western world, although other parts of the UK may be less enlightened, due to where immigrants choose to settle.

There is a problem here, but we do not need to beat ourselves up by implying that we are much worse then the civilised Europeans. It just isn't true.

Interesting what Chris says about Mandela. but if that is a skin colour issue, where did he, as a Christian, stand on Mugabe and the murder of white Zimbabwean farmers? or the practices of Idi Amin?
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Where do I stand on Mugabe and Idi Amin what you think that I would defend a mass murderer because he is Black?We are talking people who where no better than those who took slaves to the America's etc.It is for the almighty to judge them.
 
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I am chuckling to myself at all the grumpy middleaged griping about our capital city and those of Italy, France and Portugal. All fabulous places and to be strongly reccomended. I enjoyed my visit to Florence but don't be fooled it can get hairy when rush hour arrives and the predators come out to feast on the tourists. Don't believe and repeat the trashings of cities, Marseille is one of my big favourites. If a blundering old fool can find his way around these places on foot with not too many alarms then so can you. I don't restrict myself to the so called swish and safe areas because they are the same everywhere. Maidstone wasn't so great last Sunday, anywhere can kick off.
 
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shotshy said:
Ooh la la
All that shows is that some who have illiberal views don’t necessarily see that they have.
My response wasn’t meant to be a league table of racism, simply pointing out to Chris that mainland Europe isn’t the utopia that he seemed to imply.
Nearly all of Europe, including us, have right wing governments with a few a bit more right wing than we’d be comfortable with.
For some inexplicable reason, the left in the U.K. find right wing Germany and France acceptable.
Another mystery to me.
To my knowledge, Spain is the only socialist government among the larger countries and they are in bed with a few undesirables to stay in power.
In a nutshell, it ain’t that great across the stream, as Chris suggested.
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You seem to be under the impression that I believe that the European mainland doesn't have a race problem of course it does .The fact that others have a problem doesn't make what is happening here right.
 
shotshy said:
Because we are a wealthy country overall.
Only a wealthy country could afford to have food banks and free school meals.
The richest countries in Europe have the highest percentage.
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UK "richest" ?
Focus on and chasing after GDP ranking is of no help to individuals.
Surely GDP per head is a better measure of "wealth" ?

Maybe this is why so many people feel a disconnect between reports of our "richness" - and their personal experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

We find:
#1 Liechtenstein $ 139,000
#2 Luxembourg $ 122,000

#4 Ireland $ 99,000 (boosted by foreign corporates ?)

#6 Qatar $ 97,000

#11 Switzerland $ 76,000

#15 USA $ 68,000

#20 Denmark $ 61,000
#21 Netherlands $ 60,000

#26 Germany $ 57,000

#35 France $ 49,000
#36 Saudi Arabia $48,000
#37 UK $47,000
 
LancsGordoRoad said:
Well done for getting out of there :detective: not to mention, in .....
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We were on a ship Lancs.
They took care of everything (at a cost)
Two days that I’d highly recommend to anyone.
I worked in Copenhagen years ago, sweeper up at Kastrup Airport while travelling and always fancied going back with actual money in my pocket. We really enjoyed it. The Danes are actually very pro U.K. but it’s seriously expensive.
Amsterdam is just great whatever your age.
A lovely friendly city.
My absolute number one is still Florence. Very walkable, pretty safe and astonishing art around every corner.
City breaks are excellent.
Ooh! Forgot about Barcelona. Great as long as you stick to the tourist paths. Stray off and it becomes very dark.
 
Buddha said:
Truth is, it's got fuck all to do with wealth and everything to do with inequality, injustice and cap-i-ta-fuck-ill-ism.
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..... or redefining the definition of "poverty" so as to create a permanent statistical underclass.

In the UK the definition of "poverty" that is promoted is:
"Income at less than 60 per cent of the median UK household income."

Do people have to be a maths genius to realise that this means that the number "in poverty" will rarely reduce ?

IIRC this definition was coined by Brian Able-Smith - and launched at a Labour Party conference in the 1960s
Unsurprisingly Labour lapped up the chance of a shroud to wave permanently - and a stick to beat the Conservatives with.
 
valenciagill said:
Would you be happy for a teenage son visiting Deptford for example ?
How about a teenage daughter visiting Tower Hamlets ?
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I live next door to Deptford and it’s fine. Some rough looking council estates, but that would be the same the country over. I presume you’ve been a regular visitor over the last few years to back up your point?
 
timnolongerinbrisban said:
I live next door to Deptford and it’s fine. Some rough looking council estates, but that would be the same the country over. I presume you’ve been a regular visitor over the last few years to back up your point?
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Greenwich or Blackheath are nice.
Lewisham, New Cross not so
 
shotshy said:
Greenwich or Blackheath are nice.
Lewisham, New Cross not so
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I lived in Forest Hill and Sydenham for quite a few years Lewisham wasn't a bad borough to live in by and large.Never really enjoyed Lewisham itself though or New Cross.Totally agree on Rome hated the place. But not as much as the misses hated Naples mind.We had astop over after getting a ferry back to the mainland before flying home .Think we spent about 5 hours in the airport waiting as she really didn't want to leave the airport having seen a tiny part of the city.
 
Likewise, always felt un-comfy in Naples - the rest of Italy that I have been to, absolutely fantastic.
 
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