In Britain, sadly “sorry” has been replaced by “f–k you, you c–t”

After being away from the UK for about fifteen years, the biggest change I’ve noticed is the almost complete disappearance of civility. Fifteen years ago, if someone’s dog attacked your children, if a cyclist ran into you when you were walking on a pavement, if someone’s kids screamed incessantly on a long-haul flight, you would generally get an apology. Today, it seems, if you even look askance at someone, however anti-social their behaviour, they’ll unleash a torrent of expletive-ridden abuse. And, if you don’t back off, that will too often be followed by threats of and actual violence.  Recently, I was unfortunately on a BA cattle class long-haul flight. Some passenger’s children were screaming for hours on end because the parents didn’t have the intelligence to plan their journey and entertain their children. Foolishly, I dared distract one of BA’s arrogant, lazy flight attendants from the enjoyable chat she was having with her colleagues and ask her at about three o’clock in the morning if she couldn’t speak to the parents. A couple of hours later, the father came back to my seat and informed me that he was going to “f–kin’ flatten my f–kin’ face when we got to London”. I went to tell one of BA’s yobbish, ladette stewardesses that I had just been threatened by another passenger, “Well it’s your own fault innit”, she replied ” you complained about his children”.

More than the weather, the dirt, the incompetent politicians, the predatory banks, it’s probably this descent into thuggish selfishness which would make one want to leave Britain for good.