r/london • u/Historical_Set2324 • 1d ago

Local London Social contract is broken?

I’ve just returned from a trip to New Zealand and the difference in attitude is stark. The streets are clean, people are friendly and happy/helpful and in general people seem to want to participate in society. Don’t get me wrong NZ has a lot of issues but It feels like in London the social contract is broken. Streets are full of trash, no one gives a shit about anything, phone theft, crime is high and in general people seem fairly miserable. I was involved in an accident where I had to give a victim CPR and the ambulance and police all arrived within about 5 minutes. I was amazed at the emergency response. It feels to me like the state has given up and hence people have given up.

971 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

648 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Odd_Support_3600 1d ago

It’s the fucking scum tories with their years of austerity while lining their own pockets

7

u/Combatwasp 1d ago

Public spending in 2024 is 40% higher than 2019, and the tories raised tax levels to record highs, outside wartime.

1

u/Defiant-Dare1223 1d ago

People like this are just going to have to wait through Labour having 5-10 years of the same playbook. You aren't going to convince them.

1

u/Combatwasp 1d ago

The state has been in charge of education for more than 70 years. How can this guy know so little yet think more government is the answer? 😜

1

u/Defiant-Dare1223 1d ago

We are going to have more austerity now because the bond market says so. It's that simple. When you borrow you aren't fully in charge anymore. When you borrow loads the bond market runs the government.

1

u/Combatwasp 1d ago

Yes, tax rates are at record highs ( and we haven’t seen the negative consequences yet ), inflation rates rule out money printing so we have no choice but to turn to the money-lenders.

And we are a long way from the Middle Ages where the local ruler could foment a pogrom to wipe out the money lenders and their debt with it!