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We are overly London-centric in the UK. It's important to remember that it's just one city, and it's completely different to the rest of the country in almost e

by tobbob 4y ago

We are overly London-centric in the UK. It's important to remember that it's just one city, and it's completely different to the rest of the country in almost every way.

mmarq 4y ago
In the rest of the UK, you’d get a lower salary than in central Italy and possibly East Germany (I haven’t checked the latter). Inner London is different from the rest of the country because it’s the only part that looks like Western Europe. Starting in Putney, the UK is a giant periphery, with kilometres of houses and nothing to do apart from getting the train to Inner London. There’s more stuff to do in my grandmother’s village than in the entirety of West London after Hammersmith. At least, in that 1200 people village, there are 2 fully operational churches (one 1000 year old), a football field, 2-3 restaurants/cafes and a castle. Outside of inner London the density of foreigners drops dramatically, which in Brexit England tends to be a problem. Why would anybody in their right mind go to Nowhereshire instead of going, say, to Berlin or Milan or even Perugia?
- forgotusername6 4y ago
  What an insane take. You obviously haven't visited anywhere outside London.
  - mmarq 4y ago
    I’ve actually visited half the country, when I worked as a consultant. Weather in the north is horrid, much worse than in London, food is appalling in ways that can’t be described, pubs are all the same replica of a Wetherspoon or of a Young’s. It could be that coming from central Italy I have very high expectations, maybe some form of Stendhal syndrome in reverse. But I haven’t had the same feeling when travelling in Germany or France. The UK outside of inner London is a distinctly ugly and boring place. Now it’s also the place in Western Europe with the worse supply chain disruptions and shortages.
    - codeduck 4y ago
      You may have visited half the country, but it doesn't seem like you saw any of it.
    - benbristow 4y ago
      > Weather in the north is horrid, much worse than in London, food is appalling in ways that can’t be described, pubs are all the same replica of a Wetherspoon or of a Young’s Perhaps you were going to a Spoons or whatever Young's is by accident. Brilliant food all around the North - maybe check OpenTable or Google Maps and find some proper restaurants/street food vendors. I live near Glasgow and there's some excellent food in the area. Yes, the weather isn't as good as London/the South. You learn to love it unless you're spoiled with the sun all the time.
      - mmarq 4y ago
        I don’t mean to be dismissive, but if you come from southern/central Italy (or Spain or Greece, etc…), your idea of good food is significantly different from that of the English.
        benbristow 4y ago
        I have to wonder why you're even here if you're just going to insult/dismiss all of our cities/towns and the tastes of our people as a whole without putting in any effort. p.s. we know Wetherspoons is microwave crap, but it's cheap and comes with a free beer. :)
        mmarq 4y ago
        Saying that Manchester is uglier than Florence and that Italian food is better than English food are not insults, but a factual statements. I’m in Inner London because I have a very high paying job, that allowed me to buy a nice flat in a nice area and that allows me to fly to Europe even 5 times a month with my entire family, if I want. But I was very close from leaving the UK a few years ago, when it became evident that my 100K£ salary wasn’t enough to enjoy the same lifestyle of a friend of mine that lives in Berlin with an entry level s/w development job and 2 children.
- codeduck 4y ago
  this reads like it was written by someone who has never stepped outside zone 2.
  - mmarq 4y ago
    Not that there’s much to see outside of zone 2, but I’ve actually spent 3-4 years travelling across the UK and it was very very different from travelling across Europe, and not in a good way.
    - airpoint 4y ago
      I’m laughing at the replies to your comments lol. Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha.
      - mmarq 4y ago
        > I’m laughing at the replies to your comments lol. I’m here to spread the truth that everybody knows, I’m here to teach them. > Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha. The UK is many interesting things, but it’s certainly not a beautiful place, especially outside of London. I prefer Inner London to my home town, by not for the beauty, that would be a no-contest. I understand that if somebody never actually visited Spain or Italy or France, they may have no idea of what a beautiful city is.
- benbristow 4y ago
  Take a trip to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds or Sheffield (preferably after the train strikes at the moment are over) and get back to us. Might change your mind about 'Nowhereshire'.
  - mmarq 4y ago
    I haven’t been in Scotland, but I’ve been told Edinburgh is a very nice city. I visited England and Wales for work and I went to Belfast a few times. I visited all the English cities in your list and they aren’t in the same league of random central Italian towns. They were so ugly and anonymous that I’d demand a premium of 50K to move there from London.
    - benbristow 4y ago
      Edinburgh is very nice but Glasgow is the livelier of the two. From your comments though, doesn't sound like the UK (other than London) is for you unfortunately. No hard feelings.
- _trackno5 4y ago
  I was reading through your comments and was thinking "This guy is definitely Italian" and well guess I was right. Typical attitude: Thinking Italy is this amazing place and that everything else is trash.
  - yakak 4y ago
    In fairness, if I were fortunate enough to live in Berlin, Italy I would hate everywhere else too.
  - mmarq 4y ago
    Oh, no, I see what you are doing, but I mentioned Germany, France, Spain and Greece. I come from central Italy and that’s the part of the world I know best. I’m saying that the UK outside Inner London doesn’t look European, but it’s a gigantic periphery. Here’s a list of random places I visited in Europe that would be the most beautiful place in the UK if teleported there: - Berlin - Paris - Krakow - Hamburg - Madrid - Barcelona - Palma - Aix-en-Provence - Avignon - Vienna - Random Greek island - Istanbul List of places that would be the second most beautiful thing after Inner London: - Frankfurt - Cologne - Warsaw - Kassel I can provide more if you need.

by tobbob 4y ago

We are overly London-centric in the UK. It's important to remember that it's just one city, and it's completely different to the rest of the country in almost every way.

mmarq 4y ago

In the rest of the UK, you’d get a lower salary than in central Italy and possibly East Germany (I haven’t checked the latter). Inner London is different from the rest of the country because it’s the only part that looks like Western Europe. Starting in Putney, the UK is a giant periphery, with kilometres of houses and nothing to do apart from getting the train to Inner London. There’s more stuff to do in my grandmother’s village than in the entirety of West London after Hammersmith. At least, in that 1200 people village, there are 2 fully operational churches (one 1000 year old), a football field, 2-3 restaurants/cafes and a castle. Outside of inner London the density of foreigners drops dramatically, which in Brexit England tends to be a problem. Why would anybody in their right mind go to Nowhereshire instead of going, say, to Berlin or Milan or even Perugia?

forgotusername6 4y ago
What an insane take. You obviously haven't visited anywhere outside London.
- mmarq 4y ago
  I’ve actually visited half the country, when I worked as a consultant. Weather in the north is horrid, much worse than in London, food is appalling in ways that can’t be described, pubs are all the same replica of a Wetherspoon or of a Young’s. It could be that coming from central Italy I have very high expectations, maybe some form of Stendhal syndrome in reverse. But I haven’t had the same feeling when travelling in Germany or France. The UK outside of inner London is a distinctly ugly and boring place. Now it’s also the place in Western Europe with the worse supply chain disruptions and shortages.
  - codeduck 4y ago
    You may have visited half the country, but it doesn't seem like you saw any of it.
  - benbristow 4y ago
    > Weather in the north is horrid, much worse than in London, food is appalling in ways that can’t be described, pubs are all the same replica of a Wetherspoon or of a Young’s Perhaps you were going to a Spoons or whatever Young's is by accident. Brilliant food all around the North - maybe check OpenTable or Google Maps and find some proper restaurants/street food vendors. I live near Glasgow and there's some excellent food in the area. Yes, the weather isn't as good as London/the South. You learn to love it unless you're spoiled with the sun all the time.
    - mmarq 4y ago
      I don’t mean to be dismissive, but if you come from southern/central Italy (or Spain or Greece, etc…), your idea of good food is significantly different from that of the English.
      - benbristow 4y ago
        I have to wonder why you're even here if you're just going to insult/dismiss all of our cities/towns and the tastes of our people as a whole without putting in any effort. p.s. we know Wetherspoons is microwave crap, but it's cheap and comes with a free beer. :)
        mmarq 4y ago
        Saying that Manchester is uglier than Florence and that Italian food is better than English food are not insults, but a factual statements. I’m in Inner London because I have a very high paying job, that allowed me to buy a nice flat in a nice area and that allows me to fly to Europe even 5 times a month with my entire family, if I want. But I was very close from leaving the UK a few years ago, when it became evident that my 100K£ salary wasn’t enough to enjoy the same lifestyle of a friend of mine that lives in Berlin with an entry level s/w development job and 2 children.
codeduck 4y ago
this reads like it was written by someone who has never stepped outside zone 2.
- mmarq 4y ago
  Not that there’s much to see outside of zone 2, but I’ve actually spent 3-4 years travelling across the UK and it was very very different from travelling across Europe, and not in a good way.
  - airpoint 4y ago
    I’m laughing at the replies to your comments lol. Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha.
    - mmarq 4y ago
      > I’m laughing at the replies to your comments lol. I’m here to spread the truth that everybody knows, I’m here to teach them. > Didn’t you know that while all your statements might be subjectively correct, it’s only the Brits themselves allowed to moan about how much their country sucks, haha. The UK is many interesting things, but it’s certainly not a beautiful place, especially outside of London. I prefer Inner London to my home town, by not for the beauty, that would be a no-contest. I understand that if somebody never actually visited Spain or Italy or France, they may have no idea of what a beautiful city is.
benbristow 4y ago
Take a trip to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds or Sheffield (preferably after the train strikes at the moment are over) and get back to us. Might change your mind about 'Nowhereshire'.
- mmarq 4y ago
  I haven’t been in Scotland, but I’ve been told Edinburgh is a very nice city. I visited England and Wales for work and I went to Belfast a few times. I visited all the English cities in your list and they aren’t in the same league of random central Italian towns. They were so ugly and anonymous that I’d demand a premium of 50K to move there from London.
  - benbristow 4y ago
    Edinburgh is very nice but Glasgow is the livelier of the two. From your comments though, doesn't sound like the UK (other than London) is for you unfortunately. No hard feelings.
_trackno5 4y ago
I was reading through your comments and was thinking "This guy is definitely Italian" and well guess I was right. Typical attitude: Thinking Italy is this amazing place and that everything else is trash.
- yakak 4y ago
  In fairness, if I were fortunate enough to live in Berlin, Italy I would hate everywhere else too.
- mmarq 4y ago
  Oh, no, I see what you are doing, but I mentioned Germany, France, Spain and Greece. I come from central Italy and that’s the part of the world I know best. I’m saying that the UK outside Inner London doesn’t look European, but it’s a gigantic periphery. Here’s a list of random places I visited in Europe that would be the most beautiful place in the UK if teleported there: - Berlin - Paris - Krakow - Hamburg - Madrid - Barcelona - Palma - Aix-en-Provence - Avignon - Vienna - Random Greek island - Istanbul List of places that would be the second most beautiful thing after Inner London: - Frankfurt - Cologne - Warsaw - Kassel I can provide more if you need.