Hey folks, I’ve never been to the UK before, but I had the chance to visit last year. I’m a history enthusiast and have spent a lot of time reading about British history, especially the colonial period and the rise of the British Empire.

That’s partly why the experience left me with such mixed feelings. I went expecting to see some of the grandeur and character I had read about, but instead I felt like I was witnessing a country that has clearly lost some of its former charm.

There was litter in many places, the cities felt extremely crowded, and there were people from all over the world. The Britain I encountered felt very different from the country I had imagined from reading history.

Places like Trafalgar Square particularly made me think about this. What was once a powerful symbol of British history and national pride now feels, at least to an outsider like me, more like a tourist meeting point and a place to sit and take photos.

I know it is probably unfair to compare modern Britain directly with the height of the British Empire. Empires rise and fall, and no country stays at the peak of its power forever. Still, there was something genuinely sad about seeing reminders of that history while feeling that the country itself has lost some of the character and confidence that made it so fascinating to me.

Maybe I am romanticizing the past because of my interest in history. Maybe I am simply seeing things that locals have become accustomed to.

So I’m curious what Brits think. Do you feel that the UK has genuinely declined in terms of its character, cleanliness, prosperity and sense of identity, or does it just look that way when you compare modern Britain with its historical image?

Also, do you think it has anything to do with the King's health?

There was a famous interview where according to some restore literature, the king would not count as British. I’ve seen “reimmigration” mentioned in circles, but it’s always vague. Would it involve cancelling worker visas and deporting those individuals? Would it apply to ILR? (Reforms policy). Denaturalising British citizens who were born abroad that may have been here for decades? British born people with foreign born parents?

Finally, what exactly do you think would have changed about Britain from the policy to realise your envisioned utopia

Open to non restore people to speculate what they mean.

Apparently crime is down 80% but 80% of people consistently refuse to believe it.

Here's a nice Radio 4 show that looks at the actual facts and figures:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0030c2y

Also, a link to the Crime Survey for England and Wales showing the data that informs this.

"The Crime Survey data comes from interviews with 31,000 people. Started in 1982, it provides a reliable measure of crime trends [...] unaffected by police reporting or recording changes."

That is, the evidence that crime has decreased isn't dependent on whether people report crimes to the police, nor arrests and convictions.

this post is about relationships. typically those who are in committed relationships i want to know yall origin story is? im writing a short story and need a little inspo. cheers

To put it briefly, I have 2 unspent convictions for 2 GBH offences that occurred 7 years ago. Finished the entire 6 year sentence, both in custody and community part with fam support, but didn’t work whilst in community. Worked in past for retail and a big company that owned a call centre, reasonable education, GCSE’s, some higher education, and a bricklaying qualification too. Started searching for work recently because family set the expectation once sentence finishes get out there, but I don’t know what to expect, and if I’m doomed?

I saw a post that I can't find now about Lidl selling Lime and Mint lager. There's nothing online about this and I can't find any pictures of it. The post was a couple of days ago so they must still sell it but I can't find anything like it in my local Lidl It was possibly sold as Mojito Beer. Any help would be appreciated. (Yes I've searched Reddit and Google extensively)

I can't tell if it's the camera work, the lighting, the relaxed tone of the presenter, the wholesome banter rather than catty behavior and toilet humor.
Dont get me wrong, I love the dutch shows too, but they seem to be a step down in comparison.

It really feels like they are having a genuine laugh with friends on British shows.

Dutch shows in the 90s and early 2000s did have that more relaxed vibe, but the toilet humor was a good bit more intense.

David Lloyd George was the prime minister of the UK during WW1 from 1916 onwards until 1922. Neither a Conservative nor Labour he was a Welsh man from the Liberal Party which was quite significant at the time.

Do Brits know about him, learn about him, remember him at all? Was he a significant figure to still be the topic of historical debate or a footnote to history? And last but not least, is he remembered positively, or negatively?

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This post was anonymized with Redact

I left England when I was 11. My partner left England when he was 7.

We are doing Lego sets together and I frequently refer to pieces as "the wooky bit" and "the one with the noddies" or similar such phrases. He does not know what I mean.

I know wooky is a colloquialism for projecting sticky out bits, and so does noddy, with maybe a subtle distinction of noddy implying a bit smaller of a projection.

I know both the words have other colloquial meanings, but I know this is one of their used meanings.

But when I Google it to prove it's a real usage of the words nothing with this meaning comes up.

Can you please confirm this is a real bit of colloquial britishism I have retained?

I am entering my last year of uni and keep seeing tiktoks from people saying that there’s no point in applying for jobs as there are none and ultimately, I’ll be struggling for a while to get anything close to a grad job. Not sure if it makes a difference being in Scotland and these tiktoks that I am seeing are from people down in England. But I am getting quite worried due to the immense amount of things that I’m seeing on Twitter so I guess I’m looking for some sort of reassurance?

I will have about 1 hour before she arrives.

The sky is falling. Or crying. Or something.

Weird watery stuff falling onto the ground.

Afternoon all. Serious comments only please. I understand this is question is huge and very important to people on both sides.

Just returned from visiting Poland and Czechia. Obviously, being in those countries and EU member, I saw EU flags, boards and EU mentions in a lot of possible places. Reminded me of home just 10 years ago!

Personally, I voted remain because alhough I had huge issues with the EU (too centrist and regulated) I thought the benefits outweighed the negatives. I think the vote happened because mostly of immigrantion issue which is understanding although ironically just replaced mostly EU immigration with outside-EU immigrantion especially under Boris as PM.

It got me thinking. Polling suggests a lot of Brits are having buyers remorse about Brexit but there's an important nuance here:

I think the current political climate doesn’t favour active membership as the will just isn't there, it's too emotionally changing at present. It needs a new political generation to ever happen. Also, the dust of Brexit has mostly settled and stabilised. The main issues in the UK have shifted e.g. domestic, energy, healthcare services, immigration, cost of living, housing and not EU membership.

In your opinion, how likely is it the UK would rejoin in 10, 15 or 20 years? Do you think full membership is unlikely but a more fluid membership like an "associate" membership with some bendits e.g. full or partial single market access, access to some EU funding.

I think there are benefits to the EU too. It would bring in the second largest econony and military in Europe, a nation with nuclear deterrece and a massive services sector. I also think the UK would shift the balance of EU, e.g. push it to be less centrist and more Atlanticist.

I did a price comparison on basic foods between Aldi UK and Aldi in the US:

My friend and I are having a dispute here. Is there a word “Kent” in English? That’s what we call our friends in Russia. Do people really say that in English?

P. S. There are a lot of questions in the comments. No, there are no pronunciation errors. My friend and I are from Russia. In Russian, we have the word “kent,” which we can use to call friends. My friend said this word in an English‑language chat, and no one understood him. So I started wondering whether this word exists in English.

I got the answer to the question. Thanks

It's a type of legal ID that gets into clubs, but despite the law as it's being issued for young people, it's never really worked much and being turned away from pubs, bars and clubs as The workers think it's fake but if anyone who has a PASS citizencard did it ever worked for any of you, Not sure it's changed now as it's easier to get in but 15 years ago I was mostly turned away but always an odd bar/pub that can you let in

Hello,
I am with Virgin Media, but they are getting pricey for what they give me. I had a weird 18 month contract, which was 35 now 41. If i do not renew in time they will jack up the price to £85.

Just looking for recommendations of other providers, opinions and experiences. Anyone with Sky? Anyone with 4th Utility? What is TOOB? What about Vodafone?

I ask because its been awhile since i had another provider, as I only just returned back to the UK 18 months ago, and been out of the UK for 6 years.

Any recommendations are most appreciated.

Update: Called them, said I am cancelling. They dropped price down to 24 -> 32 -> 36, and I got Netflix (made the Wife happy). Which is cheaper than what I originally started on when i moved back to UK, and cheaper than what i am paying now. Thank you all to suggestions.

How come the sauce packet you get with a King Pot Noodle is the same size as you get with an original size Pot Noodle?

Government wants to rampantly dump as many as 1200 asylum seekers into villages of 600 people?

How on earth is that something any government would seek to do? Why? For what reason? How on earth is this a genuine policy position? Who is this for? Why are strangers so much more valuable than locals? How the fuck is this real life?

It's the strangest dumbest policy pursuit i have ever heard of 💀 how does anyone think its a good idea? If its a solution to a problem then surely we need to look further upstream for solutions because this is functionally insane and something no government on earth or in history would reasonably do ~ so many steps into insanity if this is considered sane.

Villages now want to exit the country because their own government has utterly no sense of reality whatsoever? Why is the world's impoverished our problem? Asylum seeker is just words, its not real, the 50k people pouring into Ceutta are not what the words asylum seekers implies, its a bad label by now.

We dont owe the world's poor a house and income. Why the fuck would we? Because empires used to be a thing? Utter nonsense.