It seems that more and more frequently, I find myself disliking what this country is turning into, or perhaps more accurately, I am disliking the behaviour that many display in public and how we as a country portray ourselves on the world stage. For example, there are plans to show the demolition of Glasgow's Red Road flats as part of the opening ceremony at the Commonwealth games; what is the rest of the ceremony going to consist of? Some hooded thugs beating up an elderly person on a mobility scooter in one corner, whilst there is a sketch on shop looting in the other corner maybe? Hell, we could go the whole hog and have a pile of burning Ford Fiestas in place of fireworks! As if that isn't bad enough, the state that some people get into at a race event is just embarrassing. I am no angel, and I don't think I am a prude, but surely it can't just be me who cringes at stuff like this?
It's certainly not just you FC...Those clips are cringeworthy and an absolute disgrace ... i think a few lessons in self respect are in order...
I think its because we're getting on a bit, and have forgotten some of the states we got ourselves into in our own yoof But yes, I agree. My pet hate is women coming out in public in the pyjamas. I mean come on, if you're not checking out a strange noise in the middle of the night, or letting your drunken offspring in at 3AM, you should make the effort to put some clothes on before coming out. And chavs. What on earth makes them think it is cool to be a walking Adidas advert with your tracky bottoms stuffed into your "3 pairs for a fiver" sports socks?
Don't think it's just you FC but also don't think things like this were 'newsworthy' a few years back. There have always been 'chavs' (though we just thought of them as 'common as muck') it was just never thought worthy of putting in a newspaper. I guess that though we benefit from social media, like being on GC, the downside is the cult of the reality celeb and the easy availability and distribution of pics like yours above. As for the Red Road flats They had to go, but not sure why as part of the opening ceremony
Oh, I've been 'rubbered' a few times in my past, but don't think I have been falling over drunk more than two or three times, and never at such a public event. It just seems that its almost accepted as the normal way to behave now - that, or there is just no shame/pride? As for the Red Road flats - I agree they have to go, and I would even go so far as to say that people watching as they come down is entirely understandable; I just don't get why we would want to show that to much of the world, not least at the start of a sporting competition.
When I heard about the flats being demolished as part of the opening ceremony of the Common Wealth games I did check the date, to make sure it wasn't April 1st. As to the orse rasing, that's what happens when you let the rif raf in, I'm sure it wont be like that at Ascot.
I once fell asleep in the middle of the dance floor while a rave was at its climax in 'Phase 3' (dunno if you were into the 90s rave scene, but raves were often '3 phase' or '4 phase', with phase 1 being fairly easy going, 2 warming things up a bit, then air horns and sirens would herald the arrival of phase 3 which was really just noise at 180bpm or more, with the optional phase 4 being an ambient wind down). I didn't care that people might fall/stamp on me, I was just tired and decided it was as good a place as any to have a rest. My mate woke me up by kicking me in the ribs, which annoyed me, because I was enjoying a nice sound sleep
I don't know the area in question, or the people that live there, but just hazarding a guess, maybe its lots of lazy and unhealthy people, and the symbolism is about clearing out the unpleasant past to make way for a fresh, sporty, healthy, righteous future?
They will probably replace the "flats" with "apartments", kind of poky little places with people living in attic rooms on top of other people. Might only be three or four high, but still "flats".
Don't know I'd call them lazy and unhealthy. The flats were supposed to be the answer to slum clearances - even though many people preferred their so-called slums and didn't want to be stuck at the top of the highest flats in Europe, they missed the community of the tenements. Anyway I haven't lived near there for many years so can't comment on who were living there towards the end. It was the housing that was unhealthy, rather than the people I'd say.
@clueless - if you get a chance, try and watch a 6 series comedy called "Still Game" Not only is it brilliantly funny, but it also gives a scarily accurate portrayal of some parts of Glasgow and the people therein; it is purely fictional of course, based in an area called 'Craiglang' which is blocks of flats that were hailed as being the way to modernity, when in fact they were hellholes and regarded as such by all who lived in them. It might be a bit of a challenge to keep up with some of the Scottish twang and humour, but stick with it and you will pick it up fairly quickly.
We've got the full box set of Still Game, FC. Its brilliant. Wife and I have no problems with Scottish accents, as she is half Scottish anyway, which is incredibly funny when round her grannies and she sometimes accidentally drops into a broad Scottish accent, and I've mixed with people from north of the border for much of my life, and even nearly married one Scottish Susan before she decided to get on the other bus
