If you look in the areas surrounding the main railway stations, especially Gare du Nord, Gard de l'Est and Montparnasse they are as seedy and filthy as those around the London termini.
You can find relatively clean areas in both cities as well - for example La Defense and the financial district of Docklands. They may be clean, but walking through either of them on a winter morning when the wind is blowing is not pleasurable.
It doesn't seem to have become noticably worse since 1997, I would say, so I am not sure how you can say that.
It's also carrying a lot more traffic. The departure areas in the central area terminals have improved quite a bit, although I seldom spend any time in them. The arrivals areas are all bad.
T2 is a disgrace and I try to avoid airlines that use it if I can, certainly for departures because security screening takes ages.
Quite possibly.
I don't see why. Parts of the Paris Metro have the same air of trains running through public toilets that the London Underground does.
I went through there not long ago. The memory was not enjoyable because there was a four hour layover and nowhere left to sit apart from the floor
I used to use it regularly and hated the place. Dirty, nowhere to sit, rude staff and musak blaring out from "food" (deliberate inverted commas) outlets right opposite the gates. IMO, the only decent airport in North America is Toronto. As for Europe, I'd rate Charles de Gaulle tops, though many UK flights are now in that dreadful new glass bit. It's clean but terrible glare on a bright sunlit day.
snip babble. I always enjoy seeing history rewritten, generally from the left. The decline in the UK society began at least in the 60's, when parents decided that they would prevent the schools system from imposing any discipline on their children and the governments of the day became obsessed with educational good ideas. It was actually Jim Callahan who decided that the schools needed to go back to the HMI system of the 50's, but his proposals were deemed unacceptable to the labour party( trade unions) so nothing was done. The trade unions also got involved in decreasing discipline in the society and avoiding all responsibility for their actions., Thatcher took up the challenge, but unfortunately, in education, whitehall got in the way, so what we got was the US, test 'em until they drop system imposed upon all of our schools.( An English friend writes curriculum programmes for a US school and was amazed to find that all we had done was to copy the US documents( at enormous cost) and system (which doesn't work anyway).) and no discipline. When you decide that the problem is not in the control of the children, but in the teachers inadequacy, surprise, surprise, the old and good teachers leave and the young ones give up within 3 years. This of course is followed by degrading the standards of examinations( GCSE= general certificate of substandard education), because no one must fail. You cannot reverse 40 years of decay without drastic action, this we don't get. Furthermore, when competition becomes a dirty word in schools, you don't get football at playtime, or sports day, because someone will get to feel inadequate ! How the rest of the world must be laughing.
The problem with our society is that it is motivated by envy(are you, IMM?) and unwilling to accept that it might itself be to blame. Our politicians are so far detached from the people, that depressingly, I cannot see any worthwhile future for the people the UK. We desperately need a new political approach and the Labour party bringing back communism and avoiding the real problems, because they don't want to lose power, is not going to provide it.
I also see that many Scots are now being selected as Labour candidates for English constituencies, how many Scottish constituencies have English candidates? ( I know the Welsh have had PHain inflicted upon them.)
I greatly agree, I think ( lives dangerously) IMM has a few valid points here. However, years of his beloved Tony have done nothing that I can see, apart from allowing it to become worse. I travel a fair amount in the US, and in the majority of towns that I pass through, the levels of general filth are much lower than in the UK. Their building routine maintenance can be much worse however, but they tear them down regularly.
< snip disjointed babble totally off the mark on the root cause of the big problem; which is land and housing >
Why would I? I am not exactly poor. I certainly dislike seeing a tier of out society making sure all the dominos fall in their favour. And boy don't then do well. Our society is not motivated by envy. We have a deferential society that looks up to a ruling class that rips them off mercilessly. That is a problem in forcing in change.
That's because you've only ever seen them on TV - you just *imagine* you've been to these places/done these things. Remember, we talked about this before. Just because you can imagine going somewhere or doing something, it doesn't mean you actually have.
Like all the plumbing? Reading the leaflets that Marley put out is *not* the same as actually doing some plumbing.
Would you make that comment regarding *any* section of society or just one particular one that you happen not to care for?
History shows that "forcing in change" has a habit of not working very well at all.
Societies always have a "ruling class". It may vary in style, form and background, but there always is one. There have always been the haves and have nots, the leaders and followers and there will always be these and real and apparent injustice.
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