Do any of the more mature forum users, particularly those of around 60 and over think this country is better or worse in any respect than when they were young and for what reasons?

Yes it has got worse, it's a me,me,me world now, it's also been ruined by people taking advantage on the NHS and other free programs, I can see why the tax payers are angry and frustrated.

The football hooligans now-a-days haven't helped either, yes the old days were much better, we didn't run to the doctors for every small ailment, we couldn't wait to get a job as soon as we left school...any kind of job, it didn't matter.

And the pubs were for the grown up's that could handle their booze.

Yes, it used to be great in the old days, with all those kids with leg irons because they had Rickets.

I am just over 60 and alongside improvements in health and wealth, too many people just want a free ride through life. I speak from personal experience, they live all round me, healthy young people wandering around bored out of their heads. I just don`t understand how they continue year on year to live on benefits. In all my working life I spent just 6 weeks on the dole after being made redundant. I do know its harder now, but not impossible to find a job.

Put it this way, both my parents are gone now but I really wouldn't want them to come back and see some of the stuff that goes on these days. I can hear my mothers voice in my head saying "what's this world coming to" and it would be at least 28 years since I was able to do that. What she would make of things these days, I can't begin to imagine.

when my parents fought in the war they were told they were fighting for a better future,if they were here today and looked around they might just wonder where it is,and who's getting the benefit if it is a better place,certainly the housing has improved,the health of people now we dont have as many mines and steelworks is better in some respects,but the people nowadays dont have the same community spirit as they once had, we have beggars on the street,people sleeping in doorways,less police on the beat but it seems we have more crime,how many of us know the names of every one on our street,and their kids ?

i used to know all of them back in the fifties,and they knew me and the other kids,they watched out for us,and reported us if we did wrong,we had respect for our elders and the police,all sadly lacking now, by what i see around me today

Yes, it used to be great in the old days, with all those kids with leg irons because they had Rickets.
Blimey, where did you use to live ... kids with rickets?

It should be a far better place, and it's still a far better place than it was before WW2 as I remember from the stories I was told as a kid and from my history lessons.

However, in my, and most other older people's opinions, it's been steadily regressing for the past 20 years and we're almost back to the sort of society we had in Victorian times. Drunks rolling around in the gutter, people going into hospital and actually being made iller, child prostitution and slave labour, people begging and sleeping on the streets, people being murdered or beaten for a few pounds, children leaving school unable to read and write properly, muggers on every street corner, no go areas for the emergency services. What a world! :(

We seemed to have a halcyon period in the late 50s, 60s and early 70s and it's been downhill all the way since then. IMO.

So true Ruby we emigrated in 1974 and it was hard at first but we think we made the right decision for a better life for our children. I read the Star online and I can't believe the things happening over there. Having said that I get lots of pleasure on the Sheffield forum there are some lovely folk on here.:bigsmile:

So true Ruby we emigrated in 1974 and it was hard at first but we think we made the right decision for a better life for our children. I read the Star online and I can't believe the things happening over there. Having said that I get lots of pleasure on the Sheffield forum there are some lovely folk on here.:bigsmile:
You definitely did make the right decision and I'd advise anyone that can to make the same one! I'm constantly trying to get my kids to emigrate! Seriously!

When the £10 pom thing was going on, my father was desperate to go, but my mother was reluctant to leave her brothers and sisters, and also of the creepy crawlies (me too actually) so we didn't go in the end. I think it was a mistake looking back. My nephew has finally fulfilled his grandfather's dream and is in NZ on a contract and he loves it, never wants to have to come back to UK, hopes they'll let him stay at the end of it.

This country is just about ok now, and Sheffield's not too bad still, but it's getting worse every day and no one seems to be able to do anything about it. We can all see what's going wrong, but we're powerless. The powers that be don't seem to be able to see the wood for the trees, they certainly aren't doing anything, too busy rooting around in the trough for a few extra goodies, maybe?
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We used to come for a holiday each year before hubby retired, it's 18mths since we were last over. Believe you me I've seen the change, garbage strewn around for one thing, which always shocks me. My mam would give us a clout if we ever even thought of throwing litter on the floor. Hubby once stopped on Buchannan shop to pick up some milk, he left me in the car, I'm sure they were dealing drugs. I just don't feel safe, when you live there you know which places to avoid, but we don't anymore. My sister thinks I've got a wild imagination, so as she accepted life as it is, or does she just not see it anymore? I really don't know. Anyway Ruby if your kids did emigrate would you go too?

I certainly would Joto but I don't think other countries are as daft as we are, taking in any dross that happens to come along! I doubt if I'd be allowed in now except on holiday, but I would go like a shot if they wanted me to tag along. Although they seem quite happy here for now.

I think you're right about your sister, when you live here you gradually get innured to it and don't notice it as much. A lot of people live in cloud cuckoo land about this country and don't seem to notice that we're falling further and further behind in our general standards of behaviour, education and medical care. The past might not have been such a wonderful place materially but in mattters of general wellbeing, it was a paradise compared to now. IMO

I believe Rubydazzlers comment on the halcyon days of the 50's 60's and 70's to be spot on. I was born in 1968, but from what I have read, what I experienced at the time and what I have seen since I think this country went into serious decline in the 1970's. Kids I can remember in the 70's were far worse than they are now and I think their parents attitudes in the 60's of looser moral values and bucking the system is to blame. Am I wrong?

I believe Rubydazzlers comment on the halcyon days of the 50's 60's and 70's to be spot on. I was born in 1968, but from what I have read, what I experienced at the time and what I have seen since I think this country went into serious decline in the 1970's. Kids I can remember in the 70's were far worse than they are now and I think their parents attitudes in the 60's of looser moral values and bucking the system is to blame. Am I wrong?

No you're not wrong and Rubydazzlers comments were spot on as well. I left school in 57 and started work after a weeks holday. It was a job that I had got through writing a letter as part of an English lesson by the way. I still had to toe the line at home. Still had to be in for 10.00 and gave up my wage of £2.10/- (forgot how to write it, but £2.50 in todays) and manage with what I was given back to spend. I couldn't wait to grow up so I could please myself :hihi:yeah ok....
My children were born in the 60's and I can remember us moms then being encouraged to build confidence in our children. Unfortunately that confidence converted to arrogance somewhere along the line.
Like I said in an earlier post I'm glad my parents aren't around anymore to see it in a way and I'm equally glad that my kids don't live in the UK anymore either for much the same reasons.

I must agree that the 60's were a highpoint, and everything rapidly went down from the 70's on. Mind you, the country's been going to the dogs since them Saxons arrived.....:suspect:

The 70s were good times, though I was in my early years then!

At the age of 62 I can see that some things are worse than when I was growing up (not least, the decline in family life and community spirit) but I don't fall into the trap of thinking of "the good old days". I wouldn't want to go back to the time of food rationing, an outside toilet (shared with next door) and rudimentary heating (that is, once you had got up to a freezing house and lit the fire). I also tend to agree with rubydazzler that the 1960s was a good decade which - up to a point - seemed to provide the best of both worlds. As for emigration - well, having lived in three other countries I can't say that life in any of them was, in absolute terms, better than in the UK, but it all depends on what you want, and your chosen lifestyle.

I was born in 1950 and yes of course things have changed a lot over the years. I don't look back to 'halcyon days' because every generation brings something new and exciting. The only downside (and its a big downside) is the lack of respect. Self respect, respect for authority, respect for other people in general and respect for the environment. Materially we are all better off. How many kids go to school these days with patched up clothes, 'segs' to stop their shoes wearing out or the screw on circular heel on your shoes that you turned round as the heel wore down.......... and stick on soles...remember them?
The shops have a bigger variety of produce, in general most products are better quality, more reliable and, as a percentage of wages, cheaper too. Today would be the best of times if only folk (not just the kids) had a bit more respect, how they behave, how they treat others and how they treat the world around them.

thers nowt like ice on the windows, thats the inside. at least you could walk around
without feeling scared. they where no "no go" areas. better food now and houses.

I know we oldies can all look back on our youth and sometimes it is through rose tinted glasses,but I must agree with rubydazzler and joanl.
I was born in the forties and had a fantastic childhood we did not have any money or material things,but we had things worth more than money,we roamed all over Sheffield not a care in the world,we were always out in the fresh air,a tin can would keep us quiet for hours, or an old piece of rope.We respected our elders we would run errands for a penny.
And when we left school we left one week and were working the next.
I dont think rationing hurt anybody in fact I think some of us would be healthier going back to rationing for a few month.

We used to come for a holiday each year before hubby retired, it's 18mths since we were last over. Believe you me I've seen the change, garbage strewn around for one thing, which always shocks me. My mam would give us a clout if we ever even thought of throwing litter on the floor. Hubby once stopped on Buchannan shop to pick up some milk, he left me in the car, I'm sure they were dealing drugs. I just don't feel safe, when you live there you know which places to avoid, but we don't anymore. My sister thinks I've got a wild imagination, so as she accepted life as it is, or does she just not see it anymore? I really don't know. Anyway Ruby if your kids did emigrate would you go too?
your hubby must have stopped near Sanco,s pizza shop,it used to be a pick up/drop off point for the druggies,people daren,t say anything for fear of being knifed or beaten up,it was a rarity to hear of a burglary back in the 60,s,now its a minor incident to the authorities, i fear for the youngsters of today,and the future they are facing.

Born in 51, and have to agree it's all about respect.
Today there doesn't appear to be any for anything, whether it's people or property. It's all about me me me...and **** you.

I have a daughter moved to Cyprus and loves it. It's a totally different way of life. Much more trust in your neighbours.
The other daughter is seriously looking into moving to Australia.

Me.....as soon as retirement comes...I'm off too.

As an expat living abroad I can't comment on this except in anecdotal terms. I read the on line Star every day and am saddened by the senseless acts of violence and assorted crimes that seem the order of the day. True, there was crime when I was growing up after the war but it didn't seem so aimless and depraved as what I read now. I'm not saying this doesn't happen elsewhere. It does unfortunately, mainly in big cities. But the question that was asked on this thread was "Is this country better or worse?" From afar, I have difficulty concluding that it has got better in Sheffield. Sad.

I am not 50 years old yet but I think Sheffield and Britain in general is not as good as it was when I was a child

Cheers me up no end this thread. To be 'British' today is to wear Union Jack jockeys and be throwing up in a Spanish gutter somewhere.
Let's face it folks, it's an age thing, every older generation has looked back and said the present is a bunch of crap, it usually is, but if you're of a young generation it's the greatest. I'll just go out now and check my barbed wire and attack dogs. As the great Duke Ellington once said 'I love you madly.'