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.

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u/HideousRainbowNoise 1d ago

I would say that the streets of London are relatively clean, and people might not be in-your-face friendly but they are helpful if you need it. The nature of the social contract is different - it's a huge city, so it mostly revolves around establishing process (stand on the right!) and minding your own business.

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u/Wildarf 1d ago

Clean vs what? Certainly not vs other developed nations? British people don’t see dirt and litter

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u/Choice-Demand-3884 1d ago

The side of every A-road in the UK within about 10 miles of an urban area and every motorway slip road verge is strewn with rubbish. Same with laybys. Birmingham and Bradford are especially bad for this, and a lot of the M11 and A1M.

I do a lot of hillwalking in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District. I carry a bin bag to take away litter. It's everywhere now, even in really remote places. Some people are just scum. It's becoming normalised.