Leaving Britain?

I really hate the drunkenness, violence and general thuggery that is everywhere in Britain now.

Yesterday I found out that one of my friends needed five stitches just above his eye after he was hit over the head with a bottle. He was walking a friend home in Leeds when this happened and he was lucky he wasn’t blinded.

Just after Christmas an elderly former neighbour of mine was mugged at 6.30am near the Spar shop in Piccadilly here in Manchester. A man put his arm around her neck and robbed this little old lady.

Since then, another neighbour has been robbed at the same place in the early evening. This time a knife was held to his chest. This was the second time in recent years that this guy has been robbed at knifepoint (and it happened to me in 2000 in the afternoon).

I’ve experienced various other incidents first hand over the past few years. If you go out in the evening here there’s a high probability that something unpleasant will happen to you. Whether it’s someone trying to grab your bag or camera or a fight breaking out around you (which happened to me in the checkout queue in Sainsburys two months ago).

I don’t feel safe walking around the city centre at night. It’s a hell-hole and I really resent that because it wasn’t like this fifteen years ago. Who decided that boozing 18-30 year olds could take over our city centres and turn them into no-go areas? I can’t see things changing for the better anytime soon. This behaviour is too ingrained now.

In October it will be ten years since I came back to Manchester and, for a few months now, I’ve had the very strong feeling that it’s time to move on and maybe even leave this country for somewhere that’s a bit more civilised.

A place where you can actually go out and find somewhere that will serve you a coffee in the evening and without worrying that your face might get punched in at any moment by some drunken, drug-taking low-life.


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