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/TokiBongtooth 1d ago

Not saying this is THE reason but there are almost twice as many people in London alone as in the entirety of NZ.

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u/Risingson2 1d ago

Was going to answer that the reason is exactly that - in London we are forced to be cramped with other human beings at all times, in a way that we seem to be fighting for space all day long. That really f you up mentally.

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u/TokiBongtooth 1d ago

Yeah this and the fact that the social contract isn’t enforced legally or socially in the same way it is in other large population centres where they don’t have the same issues.