just got back from london..how can tourist walk there and go shopping for fancy stuff, and pick up english culture, visit momuments and return home happely, after seeing people clining onto their lifes living under bridges begging strangers for money (even if it are crackheads..).. that city is just poisoned trough and trough, just the big breach between the huge egotripping rich and the poor sickens me, and once again proves how unfair our capitalistic system is..now can anyone explain whats so fun at a city trip? it just made me sad and realise alot of stuff.
Yeah, America, any part of Europe, Asia, The far east... I know, stay at home. Where do you live, anyway? Eden? There are some really nice places in London and some fantastic projects to help the poor, homeless and destitute. http://www.centrepoint.org.uk/ It isn't all bad.
Yea, i know, i've been in kathmandu tho, was alot different, even tho the majority was terribly poor most people seemed happy there, a whole other athmosphere then the bigger european city. but it sometimes really pisses me off, like in brussels there are dozens of homeless people living in deserted tunnels that were constructed for the metro, even tho in the winter those people can go sleep at a homeless thingy, there is never enough space, and every winter people die from the cold. belgium is known for its high social assurance stuff, but that only counts if you have a home, for the moment you don't have a home you don't get any support at all, besides some projects, wich are far from sufficient, they just completely fall out of society. Why the hell isn't the government doing something constructive about it? how big of an investment could it be to make the lives of those few people better? i was really pissed off when i came back from london, i know that its everywhere like this, paris is even worse (even tho it seems more natural there).. but instead of investing so much money in border protection..and terrorist paranoia the uk should really do something about all those homeless people, its just madness.
They do try. The National Rough Sleeping Estimate for 2008 published in September 2008 shows there are 483 people sleeping rough on the streets of England on any single night. This represents a 74 per cent reduction in rough sleeping since 1998. The Government has set out a vision to work with partners to end rough sleeping by 2012. http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/homelessness/ Now, that is not many, really. You also have to remember some people just don't want help. I watched a programme a few years ago, where people lived rough for a few days...saddened by the experience, some guy wanted to help. He made arrangements to help take some other guy off the streets, bought clothes, food and lined him up with a possible job - the whole nine yards. The guys vanished into thin air. Some people either don't want help, or can't handle it.
London can be a beautiful, vibrant place.But there is sthg utterly ugly about it too. The "London attitude" can be a really bad, obnoxious vibe. It seems to have grown with the worst of British feudal and American "principles". Its got ghettoes, American style crime.The idea of community there is ridiculous. Its simply take it, because someone else took theirs.Morality doesn't exist.You either inherit it, scam in, rob it, deal for it.Or make yourself, or because of daddy fixing you up with the job u were never good enough to get. I hated it living there a few years ago.Now I sort of understand it more. But for most people, London is a big struggle.For some, its got great atractions. I always find its the type of place u need regular breaks from.Very claustrophobic for a place so big IMO. What hits me most about London is the lack of class loyalty and values.And the fact that huge swathes of the place are owned by people who haven't got the brains to pick up litter for a living.But live in a 6 million mansion they inherited. London never *really* changes.
That is not what i was saying. But folks shocked at what they see in France or England, would not be prepared for what they see in America, just my opinion, it is worse. But, more than anything, I was being sarcastic. Paris is worse than England, I agree with the OP. But I blame the people more in this instance than lack of support or government. Most of the destitute in Paris are illegal immigrants. You come to the country illegally, I don't think you deserve the support. There are so many illegal African immigrants who hassle locals and tourists in the city. Paris is worse, but it is different than many other areas. Most of the natural born and legal citizens live great lives, it is almost impossible not to at least live an average life if you are a national citizen of the country, with all the support available too. But for illegal immigrants, it is an extremely difficult place to live sometimes. Especially in Paris, when you look at some of those suburbs and shanty towns on the out skirts. I have been to Africa and live in Asia now. I agree with a lot of what the OP is saying. People don't make as much money, and have a basic life, but seem more happy, to me. There is that underlying sense of despair in England/USA.
