London and Sheffield...two different worlds

[Sheffy2008 10]

Nice emotion..well done!

 

He was referring to your accusation that Sheffield city centre is 'fast' becomming cosmopolitan.

 

When you learn what 'cosmpopolitan' means, you'll understand why the poster wrote ''.

 

He was right.

[TeaFan 10]

When I moved to Sheffield from London, I was genuinely surprised to see white people doing menial jobs.

[Sheffy2008 10]

When I moved to Sheffield from London, I was genuinely surprised to see white people doing menial jobs.

 

There are no menial jobs in London.

 

Everyone wears suits, drives a porsche, is a multimillionaire and the streets are made of gold.

 

When I moved from London to Sheffield despite being an agnostic I thank God everyday (apart from missing the delicious Veggie samosas from Chandni Chowk, Southall!)

[Sheffy2008 10]

Racist is what an individual percieves to be racist.

 

 

Okidoki, you are racist as I percieve it.

[oybon 10]

Here in SW4 (Clapham Stockwell, Brixton)

 

1) Crime is there, but it is not bad. Sure there is the odd shooting, 7 killed within 5 minuites walking distance of my front door in the last 2 years, and the odd mugging.

 

BUT

 

When I lived in Manchester, based on pure population stats (circa 2004) I was 128 * more likely to be stabbed, and even more likely to be a victim of crime. Basically not being black and around 20, living in this area is as safe as Sheffield. And significantly the only time I have called the police (for something as little as a drunk going through the bins) The police were outside the door in under a minute.

 

2) I hate shopping but... Sheffield a shopping Heaven. ********. You can fit the whole of the city centers shops into Selfridges.

 

3) Transport.

 

This is the biggest problem of all. London has transport, it may break, it may have its problems, but it is there and relatively cheap.

 

Sheffield's transport is almost universally crap and overpriced. Linked to that is the largest group of arrogant and educationally subnormal drivers in the country (It's a tram gate, not brain surgery). The only good bit being the overpriced and essentially unfinished tram

 

Currently in London with an oyster card (only idiots and tourists don't have them) all off peak bus fares are 90p, and the cheapest tube fare is £1.50.

 

That can equate to 90p for a 10 mile + journey. The only equivalent distance I can find for Sheffield is Stocksbridge - City. How much is that then?

 

Sheffield could fix this simply enough by adopting a quick-payment system, and many other simple things. Actually using the railway line between the city and stocksbridge and other railway lines would be a big boost too.

 

4) Integration

 

London is more integrated. You can't win on this argument as long as large areas of Sheffield are essentially white. Arguing levels of integration when the minorities are so minor is pointless.

 

For reference, in my house there are 3 English and a Greek. Next door there are 10 polish, and next to them 4 English, the other way there is a large Afro-Caribbean family and the white Irish and family vicar the other side of them. Repeat similar for the whole area.

 

London is divided more on economic levels than anything else.

 

 

 

But in the end Sheffield and London are very different, and in our lifespans Sheffield will never reach the population density of London and thus have the services. It all depends what you want, but comparing like for like is unfair.

 

And for reference, I really like Sheffield, it has nice people excellent views and many other good features. It is just run by people who have no concept of a cohesive integrated long term plan.

[MissChatter 10]

I like the fact that after midnight in london you can still get a late service that run until the early hours, in sheffield its a taxi after midnight, could do with a tram service running untill about 2am. ideal world. i can wish

 

I go 2/3 times a month to london, (though not central london) there is no way I could afford to live their the cost of living it high.

 

But there is so much more going on, losts of different markets varied entertainment and eating places, culture, etc etc.

[Dimitri 11 10]

Here in SW4 (Clapham Stockwell, Brixton)

 

1) Crime is there, but it is not bad. Sure there is the odd shooting, 7 killed within 5 minuites walking distance of my front door in the last 2 years, and the odd mugging.

 

BUT

 

When I lived in Manchester, based on pure population stats (circa 2004) I was 128 * more likely to be stabbed, and even more likely to be a victim of crime. Basically not being black and around 20, living in this area is as safe as Sheffield. And significantly the only time I have called the police (for something as little as a drunk going through the bins) The police were outside the door in under a minute.

 

2) I hate shopping but... Sheffield a shopping Heaven. ********. You can fit the whole of the city centers shops into Selfridges.

 

3) Transport.

 

This is the biggest problem of all. London has transport, it may break, it may have its problems, but it is there and relatively cheap.

 

Sheffield's transport is almost universally crap and overpriced. Linked to that is the largest group of arrogant and educationally subnormal drivers in the country (It's a tram gate, not brain surgery). The only good bit being the overpriced and essentially unfinished tram

 

Currently in London with an oyster card (only idiots and tourists don't have them) all off peak bus fares are 90p, and the cheapest tube fare is £1.50.

 

That can equate to 90p for a 10 mile + journey. The only equivalent distance I can find for Sheffield is Stocksbridge - City. How much is that then?

 

Sheffield could fix this simply enough by adopting a quick-payment system, and many other simple things. Actually using the railway line between the city and stocksbridge and other railway lines would be a big boost too.

 

4) Integration

 

London is more integrated. You can't win on this argument as long as large areas of Sheffield are essentially white. Arguing levels of integration when the minorities are so minor is pointless.

 

For reference, in my house there are 3 English and a Greek. Next door there are 10 polish, and next to them 4 English, the other way there is a large Afro-Caribbean family and the white Irish and family vicar the other side of them. Repeat similar for the whole area.

 

London is divided more on economic levels than anything else.

 

 

 

But in the end Sheffield and London are very different, and in our lifespans Sheffield will never reach the population density of London and thus have the services. It all depends what you want, but comparing like for like is unfair.

 

And for reference, I really like Sheffield, it has nice people excellent views and many other good features. It is just run by people who have no concept of a cohesive integrated long term plan.

 

I have no doubt whatsoever that you are NOT 128 times more likely to be stabbed in Manchester than in London. Crime may be worse in Manchester than London, I don't know but it is definitely not worse in Sheffield. Sheffield is the safest big city in England.

 

I agree that Sheffield and London are 2 distinctly different cities and will appeal to different people. I will be glad if Sheffield doesn't reach the population density of London as although services may be better there are drawbacks to the overcrowding as well. I prefer a spacious, quieter city but am not critical of anyone who prefers it the other way round. London has a population approx. 14 times bigger than Sheffield so there is always going to be more to do.

 

The transport system in Sheffield needs improving but it is not exactly 3rd world as some posters seem to be suggesting.

 

I disagree that you can't win on the integrated argument just because London's minority population is bigger. If a city has a population split of 50% white and 50% ethnic and all the whites live in the north of the city and all the ethnics in the south of the city then it isn't integrated - a high ethnic population doesn't necessarily mean a high level of integration. However I am not saying Sheffield is a more integrated city than London as I wouldn't really know having not lived in London. Sheffield's ethnic population is spread out though and on the whole Sheffield is not a particularly racist city - there are parts of Sheffield mainly white (it is an 88% white city so this isn't a surprise) but aren't some of the outer boroughs of London mainly white as well? I am not sure where the theory that Sheffield is a massively racially divided city has come from. It may be more so in the future but it isn't now.

[dj4321gsr 10]

Of course it is 2 different worlds. I could say the same for Birmingham and Sheffield or Manchester and Sheffield or even Newcastle and Sheffield. Sheffield is a big village.

It has lost its city identity as it is still under developed.

The only industry Sheffield has is students and nothing else.

I have to say though Sheffield is begining to be more multi cultural but you could that so is Rotherham and even Barnsley.

[dj4321gsr 10]

Imyk2 does have a point,

Sheffield multi cultural community does have a problem integrating, where as London, its a lot more liberal.

I think a lot of forumers has misunderstood the term racist and deem it some old fashioned KKK cross burning thing and lynching thing.

A black or white person has more chance of becoming part of a muslim family in London than being in a muslim family in the north. Down south I think people in general are a lot more liberal within communities because they are more used to one another.

In Sheffield there are a lot of traditional and stereotypical perceptions from experiences that I used to deal from in the 80's, which is disgraceful.

Also there are more opportunities for people of colour in London, hence there are more black professionals. I only know a handful of black professionals working in Sheffield. Its a disgrace. There are not much opportunities for black people post graduates hence most study down south where in London they can easily get good jobs.

I do know that once; statistically Sheffield had the highest unemployment among ethnic minorities in the country. Hopefully this has now changed, but on observation I doubt it.

[dj4321gsr 10]

Okidoki, you are racist as I percieve it.

 

on what grounds are you saying this person is a racist.

[BDP100 10]

i spent 8 years living and working in london - had a great time, it's definitely one of the major cities in the world (and i've been to a few). but i think for what it is, it's best for tourists and young professionals wanting to climb the ladder and make some money.

 

having moved to sheffield 2 years ago - i don't really miss london much (i've done my time!). you can't really compare the two, neither can you compare london to l**ds/manchester/newcastle etc.

 

sheffield is a great place with bags of character and deffo a better quality of life (there are a few down points, but everywhere has).

 

so it's sheffield all the way for me (for the time being anyway!)

[Dimitri 11 10]

Imyk2 does have a point,

Sheffield multi cultural community does have a problem integrating, where as London, its a lot more liberal.

I think a lot of forumers has misunderstood the term racist and deem it some old fashioned KKK cross burning thing and lynching thing.

A black or white person has more chance of becoming part of a muslim family in London than being in a muslim family in the north. Down south I think people in general are a lot more liberal within communities because they are more used to one another.

In Sheffield there are a lot of traditional and stereotypical perceptions from experiences that I used to deal from in the 80's, which is disgraceful.

Also there are more opportunities for people of colour in London, hence there are more black professionals. I only know a handful of black professionals working in Sheffield. Its a disgrace. There are not much opportunities for black people post graduates hence most study down south where in London they can easily get good jobs.

I do know that once; statistically Sheffield had the highest unemployment among ethnic minorities in the country. Hopefully this has now changed, but on observation I doubt it.

 

Imky2 has a chip on her shoulder and she makes claims that she doesn't back up when challenged. She has a negative view of Sheffield which is fair enough but so far I haven't read anything she has posted that isn't an exaggeration or sensationalism. Her arguments are one sided and I will answer your other post about her being racist as I would percieve her as possibly being so.

 

I understand what racism means and know that discrimination of any kind based on race is racism It could be serving a white customer first in a shop or it could be a gang of blacks/asians beating up a white boy because of race or vice versa.

 

Do you have any figures for the % of black professionals in Sheffield as you not necessarily knowing many doesn't meant there aren't any. Do you have any for the number of students going to London instead of staying in Sheffield as well. I am surprised that Sheffield is being portrayed as almost a totally white racist city especially the comments about Sheffield having a tiny ethnic population or the ethnics in the city being 'new'. Sheffield has a large ethnic population and has had a sizeable ethnic population since the

'60s.

 

Racism doesn't have to be a white vs ethnic problem. I haven't lived in London so admit that my comments are based on stories but aren't there a lot of problems between different communities in London - Black Africans and Black Caribbeans, friction between different Asian communities etc. I don't deny Sheffield is a completely racially harmonious city but I doubt London is either. As per my other thread a large ethnic population does not automatically guarantee integration.