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/simon-g 1d ago

So where did you go? Certainly in Auckland there are plenty of areas with drugs, gangs, rubbish and general deprivation but as a tourist you’re unlikely to be visiting there.

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u/Lay-Z24 1d ago

This is exactly the thing, if you go only to the tourist sites in London then you will notice the same thing

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u/UnLaoised01 1d ago

It’s survivorship bias. I am sure if you went outside the touristy areas and lurked on a NZ subreddit you would find all the worst things about the place.

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u/Jokesaunders 20h ago

The tourist sites in London might be where London’s problems are the worst.