Why I'm not in Britain

[imomus]

I'm not blogging anything today, but if you want to know why I'm at home in Berlin this holiday season rather than in Britain, it's pretty much explained in Welcome to Britain, a classic Click Opera rant from three years ago. (Good comments and an interesting follow-up thread on I Love Everything too.)

Has anything changed since? You tell me.

Comments

[kumakouji.livejournal.com]

Not all areas of the UK or even London are represented by shitty student flats and chavs out to nick your powerbook (although in fairness they didnt touch you so it was more your perceptions of crime than actual crime itself)... you were staying in Brixton, thats what you experienced in Brixton. You decided to then tar the entire UK with that brush, with a few exceptions.

Transport in Britain is shit. Everywhere. That's the only generalisation pretty much everyone who's had to live in Britain will agree on. Its overpriced and unreliable.

The consumerism you found so brash and vulgar is apparent everywhere in New York, Tokyo, all the major cities -- singling out the UK isn't fair.

You've pissed off a hell of a lot of people with what you've said, but honestly, I'm slightly more sympathetic of your generalisations because the aspect of London life you're describing is something I'm very well aquainted with. You managed to pick out and mangify all the most horrible aspects of British culture, and yeah they exist, but to say "this is the face of the UK" is bordering on the offensive because it's simply not correct.

Are there any born and bred Berliners who post on this blog? They must have opinions and experiences of Berlin that arent amicable.