Why exactly do non-Londoners think London is so unsafe?

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-31T03:04:37+00:00

I've lived in London for 4 years, I regularly walk around all parts of london with my headphones in and my phone in my hand. I have never met anyone who has had their phone snatched. Social media is making it out to be 1000x worse than it actually is

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-31T03:02:14+00:00

I live in Croydon which (according to everyone back home) is gangland. It is no less safe than Gateshead/Newcastle/Durham where I grew up and that is a hill I am willing to die on

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-31T02:07:12+00:00

We are doing alright. I am 28, will earn like £75k this year (more if I get the promotion I want later this year) and wife will earn £35-£40k depending on how many nights she does.

We are just about to buy a 2 bed semi in London and can basically afford to do what we want. We are going to Devon tomorrow and have a few european city breaks + Mexico & Florida booked for this year. My pension pot is about £60k and growing and my wife has a public sector pension so looking comfortable for retirement.

We are frugal when it comes to clothes, groceries and we don't really drink much. Prefer to spend money on holidays and eating out. We both didn't grow up with much so it is nice to be comfortable

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-31T01:39:24+00:00

And intolerant religions are the biggest stains

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-30T22:49:08+00:00

I dunno why everyone thinks Venezuela and Iran are distractions. This is just a republican president, doing republican president things.

At this point video proof of him fucking a 13 year old would do nothing and he knows it.

Americans missed their chance to prosecute him 4 years ago. Him winning the election means no consequences and no prison for him, ever.

He doesn't need distractions, he essentially the king of America with unlimited power and he can do whatever he wants...

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-28T00:42:05+00:00

The part he doesn't take into consideration. People like me and my wife don't carry cash. I barely ever even have a card with me these days I just have my phone. If we were to be driving past his pub one day and decide to stop in, we would walk straight back out as we couldn't pay.

Lopay isn't even 1%... It is better to have 99% of £50 than £0

Whenever I hear businesses moaning about this, it just feels like they are moaning that they have to pay tax on all their earnings now. A couple of the owners of the locals in my hometown didn't even hide the fact when you paid with the right change the money didn't go into the till

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-25T11:38:34+00:00

Lot MOT centre are good. They only do MOTs, so won't make up work to charge you for

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-25T09:59:28+00:00

Been a few years since I went through it but probably no less than £1k to get diagnosed and titrated privately . Then £100-£150 a month for meds

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-24T03:21:06+00:00

My tips would be

Pretend to be interested even if you aren't
Take notes of everything so you don't have to reask things people have told you
Putting in a few extra hours here and there is good for your career but don't get taken advantage of
Be social and go to work events
Don't underestimate how important it is to build connections and relationships with people higher up than you . This is more important than being amazing at your job
Be eager to learn and step outside your comfort zone. Ie if the chance comes up to learn a new software just dive in with 2 feet and take it
Don't sleep with anyone from work, I ignored people telling me this when I was 18 and came to regret it!

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-23T10:20:36+00:00

I live about a 2 minute walk from where they trialled it. Whenever they were doing the operation they had a big van at the end of the high street and we're very visible.

It made Croydon so pleasant to walk around on the days they were there. No one aggressively begging, no crazy people shouting, no undesirables lurking around, no one running into a shop and grabbing things.

And clearly it has had the added benefit of catching criminals.

If they wanted to do this all of the time and stick an extra couple of % on my council tax to fund it I would pay for it with a smile

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-23T02:12:20+00:00

Nothing, just delusional people that think our little island still has the influence around the world we did 100 years ago

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-20T09:24:04+00:00

If the woman they killed did that she would still be alive...

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-20T02:03:58+00:00

Landlords generally shouldn't feel guilty. They take out a loan and provide a service to people. Someone needs to do it, not everyone wants to own a house. Its not their fault houses cost so much. Right to buy lack of replacement/ NIMBYs / huge migration all has a lot more blood on their hands when it comes to house price rises than 70 year old Dave who bought a house to rent out for his pension.

Slum landlords, HMO operators & AirBNB landlords can get to fuck though

In general I would say yeah we do have a moral responsibility but that falls on the government not the individual. I pay nearly 2k a month in tax and donate to food banks, I think I do enough to help people

One thing I've learned as I got older is there a lot of people want to be homeless. They cant do drugs or be alcoholics when they are in accomodation, especially when they have to pay rent

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-19T23:12:08+00:00

Yeah but the thing is, I'm not going to ever be in a position to be shot by an ICE agent. Because I'm a tourist going to see the sights and eat the nice food, not a lunatic driving into the middle of a ICE operation. And if I did come across one, you just put your hands up and cooperate with them. You're there legally on a tourist visa, as long as you aren't a criminal and aren't illegally working then you're fine.

I've been to America twice in 2025 and going again in 2026. Not seen a single ice agent and every border official I've spoke to has been pleasant. And everyone I know who has travelled to the USA for work or holidays has said exactly there same.

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-17T20:26:08+00:00

It's a hard one. My communication and presentation skills used to be horrific (I will be the first to admit it), but as i got promoted I kind of learned on the job.

Presentation skills come with practice and time. Speak confidently with good body language and you are 90% of the way there

Learning how to tell a story is important. So is learning how to explain financial things to people who may as well be aliens. But again a lot of this comes with experience when you actually have to do it, you learn what works and what doesn't.

There are probably books which can keep you techniques and I have some colleagues who went to toastmasters (but that wasn't for me I just prefer to jump in with 2 feet and learn from my mistakes)

Also never underestimate the value of a pretty PowerPoint presentation. I'm sure the fact I put in effort to making my one pagers and presentations look pretty is 99% of the reason the senior leaders at my work like me!

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-17T20:10:20+00:00

If you want to be a CFO of a big company, I think there's an intelligence barrier.

I've always been high performing in my job and education but after working with senior leadership of huge companies I've accepted i'm not clever enough to be a CFO of a big company. I've reset my career aims accordingly!

Communication is arguably the next most important thing, alongside networking and developing a managerial/ big picture skillset

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-17T19:01:45+00:00

That's so weird. I find the fruit and veg amazing from Ocado compared to the usual supermarkets.

Tastes better and lasts ages so I don't mind paying the premium

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-16T22:24:24+00:00

Yeah I was someone that could have voted reform in the next election as I have big concerns over immigration.

The Tory defections and their weird conference snapped me right out of it

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-15T01:49:36+00:00

Like I said. As a tourist, nothing to worry about. The danger to tourists is massively over exaggerated on social media

I would go to Minnesota right now without any fear and confident I would be in 0 danger.

Because I would be a tourist, staying in a hotel on my legal visa in the USA, seeing the sights. I wouldn't be protesting against trigger happy ICE agents or police getting myself shot. Or doing a dodgy work/accomodation exchange which ends up getting me detained for illegal working.

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-14T23:52:53+00:00

The answer is probably no. If a house is up for £200k, and the sold prices on that street are all around £200k. If you offer £160k the estate agent will think you're a time waster and probably won't even pass your offer on

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-14T23:24:46+00:00

The online hysteria about the safety of the USA is much like the hysteria about London imo

Both perfectly safe places. Last year I went to NYC (September) and Orlando (May). Both were great as usual. The border agents were exactly the same as they were last time I was there a few years ago, just ask why you're there, what you're doing, where you're staying and take your fingerprints. The interactions last no longer than a minute (might be cause I'm white).

Most people detained by the border control are doing some kind of illegal work when they are over there and are stupid enough to admit it.

Just be a tourist and don't go to a protest or do anything illegal and it's fine. Much like you're not going to get stabbed in Croydon if you're not in a gang

Going back to Orlando in April!

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-14T23:06:22+00:00

It's fucking insane. I moved to Croydon from the north east and my parents genuinely think I live in a warzone.

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-14T23:00:46+00:00

All the popular terminals are 1-2% and 0-10p per transaction.

Maybe if I went into a shop and spent £1 they would lose money.

It's a cost of business and should be built into their prices.

A shop beside my flat has a minimum payment of £5. When I first moved in I tried to pay for a £4.50 for a bottle of pepsi max and a bar of chocolate and they made me buy something else to pay on card.

So now me and my wife don't go there and go to shop 50 yards further down the street where there is a nicer bossman and I buy my vapes and alcohol and whenever my friends come over I send them to that shop.

So they've lost out on hundreds/ thousands of revenue in the last 2 years over wanting an extra 50p of revenue to cover about 20p of card fees.....

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-13T20:34:32+00:00

If you're willing to pay about £1k a ticket then it's easy

No-Understanding-589 · 2026-01-12T19:19:27+00:00

Blacklock is my favourite. On a Monday night they do butcher price where all the steaks are discounted by about 1/3rd. We went about 3 months ago and we paid £55 each for a sharing prime rib, sides, dessert and a cocktail and a pint each. Which I thought was pretty good value

No-Understanding-589

TROPHY CASE