Jonathan Calvert
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ANTISOCIAL behaviour and immigration are emerging as the issues that worry Britons the most, according to a YouGov poll published by The Sunday Times today.
People are also generally gloomy about the state of the country, with the majority believing that Britain is getting worse and will not improve in the next five years.
More than half of all men surveyed, and four out of 10 women, said they would rather live abroad if given a choice.
However, there is some good news for Gordon Brown in his first year as prime minister.
Perceptions that Iraq is a worrying problem have halved since a similar poll last December when Tony Blair was leader.
There has also been a patriotic upsurge, with three-quarters of the country saying they are proud to be British.
The prime minister, who has made “Britishness” one of his key themes, will be particularly pleased that the number of Scots who share this sentiment has risen from 64% to 73% over the year.
However, the “state of the nation” poll of more than 1,500 people suggests that politicians are failing to tackle antisocial behaviour problems such as graffiti and vandalism. This was the biggest day-to-day worry among those surveyed and the sharpest rise: up from 44% last year to 59% this year.
Concerns about immigration were expressed by almost six out of 10 of those questioned. This is a key issue with Conservative voters, with three-quarters listing migrants as one of their main worries.
The threat of terrorism, worries about personal finances and crime remain an anxiety for about one in three people. Most believe that man-made global warming is threatening the planet, but only 24% listed the issue as something that was worrying them. Just 9% said Iraq was a major concern.
While there is a great deal of pessimism about the condition of Britain as a whole, people appear much more upbeat about their own lives and prospects.
When asked to reflect on whether 2007 had been a good year personally, four out of 10 people said it had. By contrast, fewer than one in 10 people thinks Britain as a whole has enjoyed a good year.
Forecasts of an economic downturn have clearly hit home with many people believing that their finances will become tighter in 2008.
Overall, though, six out of 10 people said that they were optimistic about their personal prospects in the coming year.
Indeed, most people describe themselves as happy, especially if they are aged over 55. Half the respondents said that having more money was the one thing that would make them happier, as opposed to more friends (just 8%) and a more fulfilling job (5%).
On the other hand we are most likely to be upset by rudeness, bad language, loutish behaviour and poor service.
Half the people questioned said they were fed up with call centres and 14% were irritated by the weather. In fact, one in 10 people said the climate would be the one factor that might make them emigrate.
New Zealand is the place that most would go to (20%), closely followed by Australia (19%) and then Canada (11%).
Once again Jane Tomlinson, the fundraiser who died from cancer in September, was voted person of the year.
Her heroic feats – such as cycling across America and completing a full ironman triathlon – while battling with her illness helped to raise more than £1.75m for charity.
Tomlinson polled twice as many votes as the man of the year – John Smeaton, the Glasgow airport baggage hand-ler who fought with a terrorist car bomber.
When it comes to political popularity, the personal polls remain bad for Brown (58% negative and 34% positive) and good for David Cameron, the Conservative leader (32% negative and 54% positive).
Their parties remain neck and neck. The Conservative lead is down from 13 percentage points a fortnight ago to just five points, which would give the party a similar number of seats to Labour if there were a general election.
“A significant slice of the electorate remains volatile,” said Peter Kellner, chairman of YouGov. “It’s not yet clear whether, or where, the public will settle down. The next election remains wide open.”
Kellner said that perhaps Brown’s biggest challenge would be to persuade people that the Labour government had improved life in Britain – less than a third of his own supporters, and only one in nine voters generally, believed this.
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Vandalism is definitely uniquely worse in this country than anywhere else in Europe. Everything smashable get's broken or covered in graffiti. Bus shelters, phone kiosks, even lamp posts get pulled down. This simply doesn't happen in say Germany. Obviously this affects moral. But what do you expect when the only crime the politicised police force seem to take seriously is poltical incorrect speech crime. And how all the main political parties rush to agree how wonderful the new drastically overcrowded multi-cultural Britain is and how all "reasonable" people must join with them and the press in demonising that "toxic party of thuigs" the BNP- the only party that dares speak any sense in the eyes of common people . What price democracy and a free media?
D whitts, sheffield,
Since 1979 everyone of these political surveys has shown that the only political party that could deliver what 70% of the population want has either been the National Front or latterly the British National Party.
It is lucky that half the population either don't vote or are too politically dumb to know what they really want and how to get it.
If there remains the possibility of an economic meltdown in this country, the political classes had better have their suitcases already packed.
Keith Bentham, Wigan, Lancashire
i totally agree with Mark i would to here Mr Brown stutter over that one.
If only people had voted for good old John Major in 1997 we wouldn't be in this mess.
christian Barber, staffs, UK
Who Left The Door Open?
Yobs and migrants. Sometimes the same problem. Sometimes.
There is a strange thing happening in Britain, a sort of horrible awakening out of a drunken stupour. Brits are realising that immigration is not one of those problems that will be put right by the next government.
Immigration, like global warming, once out of control maybe unfixable. Then, children, grandchildren...in fact whole cultures will be at risk.
If there is such a thing as karma then this is it. Mass immigration orchestrated by incompetent fools will destroy Britain. Period. We all know it but are afraid to say it.
But what will come next? Will it be worse? Nobody knows, but everyone is nervous. The New Labour experiment was alway high risk but went under the radar because Britain was drunk on materialism and bad debt, hangovers from the last ten years and beyond.
Are we being punished? Probably.
But just remember, a new passport is not just for Christmas, it's for life..
Joe, Berwickshire, Scotland
At the first PMQ's of the new year, perhaps Cameron or Clegg would ask Mr Bean to explain why it is, after 11 years of Labour Government, 'more than half of all men surveyed, and four out of 10 women, said they would rather live abroad if given a choice'.
What worse indictment could there be of Labour failure, and what would happen to the UK if all of them actually did move abroad?
MarkS, Leeds,
I also agree with D Case but I would add that this Government is also responsible for declining standards in our schools and almost total absence of policing of juvenile crime. The police seem to have forgotten that swearing in public, hanging around in intimidating groups and spitting on the ground are all criminal acts.
Paul , Rochester, UK
Having gone shopping over the past few days, I am horrified by the number of foreign speaking people who have no manners whatsoever. I was bumped and knocked about, with no apology and dirty looks, by several people and surprisingly they were all foreign. They may be good for the economy but they are almost savage.
Judy , Liverpool, england
I have to say that on my last visit to my native England last year I was disappointed in the rudeness of railway employees especially.
My first impression on a train from Gatwick to Reading were the chavs onboard spitting and cursing in front of OAPs on the train.
I then went from Reading to Plymouth where I thought the "glorious" ticket collector was going to punch someone for losing his wallet (with his ticket) in - the hapless chap was in a lot of distress and all the loud mouthed ticket collector was interested in was humiliating the poor man - who was obviously telling the truth..
These were just a couple of first impressions of the country I grew up in.
I now live in the US where, despite our social problems, we don't see idiotic people acting like clowns - I've lived in a really bad neighbourhood in San Francisco and not seen such "clown" behaviour.
I miss the England of old but won't be coming back - how sad...
David Saunders, Charlotte, NC USA
I think this Labour party has been absolutely appalling. I agree with D Case from Newquay, this is the worst government this country has ever had in its history, but I can't honestly say that David Cameron will be any better either. He is just interested in the money he will make out of the tax payer.
I didn't vote labour. I voted conservative the last couple of times, but I am not a lucky person and labour keeps getting in. The worst thing I have found, is that jobs are getting harder to get into and I am divorced and living with my 22 year old daughter and we are both on benefits and can we find a job - no and it is getting harder and harder. I have been unable to get into work in nearly 8 years and it looks like I will have to ramain on benefits for the rest of my life and my daughter. She has been out of work for 2 years, but we now have to compete with Polish and European people, and seeing has our education system has always been rubbish, we now don't stand a chance.
Marianne Taylor, Derby, Britain
Mr Case is right. Unfortunately a Conservative government would do nothing about it either. Not while their buddy boys at
the CBI are rubbing their hands at the availabilty of all this very cheap labour enabling their supporters to continue to make
lots of money whilst Middle/Lower England struggles.
Keith Fletcher, Chesham, England
This Labour government is responsible for all the immigration fears that worry so many of us and the perception is that this stupid Labour party will just not acknowledge our fears. This government just keep on trying to tell us that it is good for us to have too many people clogging up hospitals, schools and housing not to mention our prisons which are now bursting with lawless migrants. We have had enough but know as longs as these fools remain in power thing will just go on getting worst. This is the worst government this country has ever had in it's history.
D Case, Newquay,