The worst street in the world?

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Arokhs Twin
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The worst street in the world?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

I was looking through youtube the other day and came across a movie based on the characters "The Fat Slags" from the viz comic (a rude but yet funny adult comic that's been going for years) the movie is known as the worst UK movie ever made so I had to watch it just for laughs. There's no porn in it but it's crude, rude and aside from the opening scenes it's not funny.

I had to post about this as in the opening scene it shows a decrepit street which is a typical stereotype of an average street in most northern England cities. It's what southerners think of the north. Even the music gives it away; it's a nod to / piss-take of the Hovis bread advert if anyone remembers that...
Well I live near one of the (ex) industrial northern cities; Bradford, which if you looked it up on Wikipedia seems like a nice place to live. Well it isn't and this movie just made me laugh as it just looks like some of the streets I had to visit when I was a TV engineer. Thankfully the village where I live is nice but it's only 5 miles from the hell hole that is Bradford.

Here's a link to the movie. Just the first 5 mins or so is worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4SX8mWpHv4&t=46s

And if you can't be bothered to watch the movie here's the scene I'm talking about.
Shit Street.jpg
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Re: The worst street in the world?

Post by Mechanist »

That'd make a decent setpiece for a movie based on the Fallout games :D

No way it would ever get that bad in Poland, though: with all that scrap lying around, it's like the streets are paved with gold :twisted:
The homeless people would be in heaven - free scrap ( = money), AND lots of abandoned buildings to squat in :)

I remember an instance when the crew of a major Polish TV station was filming a PSA-type clip, involving (deliberately) colliding a freight locomotive with an empty, old (but completely intact) passenger car standing squarely perpendicular to the track.
The collision was at a modest speed, 40-60km/h IIRC (somewhat typical of level crossing collisions in Poland), and the car was a Fiat 125p, renowned for its rather sturdy construction :D.

The instant the cameras stopped rolling, local scavengers (not the waste disposal crew hired for the job!) immediately jumped out of hiding, and started dismantling the smashed car for scrap to sell... and virtually NOTHING remained when they were done! No one complained about it though, because the car was a total loss after that crash, it has had its registration revoked already, and someone had to remove it from the tracks anyway.

And as for the streets - we still have plenty of truly nasty ones, just not in the way you depicted.
No, those are far worse - in that to an outsider, they look reasonably normal, but an outsider walking there has a very high chance of getting mugged and/or stabbed, even in broad daylight.
One of my family's friends was murdered in cold blood on one of such streets :( - in the early afternoon, over some silly sum of money (on the order of $10, IIRC). And he was a local, not an outsider! It wasn't even in some shady alleyway, but right in the middle of the street. And of course there were no witnesses.
Even the police want nothing to do with these locations, and will flat out refuse to respond to any calls involving such streets unless a very serious crime is involved (ie. murder).

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Re: The worst street in the world?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

Mechanist wrote: Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:59 pm That'd make a decent setpiece for a movie based on the Fallout games :D

And as for the streets - we still have plenty of truly nasty ones, just not in the way you depicted.
No, those are far worse - in that to an outsider, they look reasonably normal, but an outsider walking there has a very high chance of getting mugged and/or stabbed, even in broad daylight.
One of my family's friends was murdered in cold blood on one of such streets :( - in the early afternoon, over some silly sum of money (on the order of $10, IIRC). And he was a local, not an outsider!
Even the police want nothing to do with these locations, and will flat out refuse to respond to any calls involving such streets unless a very serious crime is involved (ie. murder).
Uh, sorry to hear that but what you have described is pretty much Bradford and Huddersfield. Drug gang warfare is rife in both cities; in fact in the local paper there was a article that said there were only 4 drive by shootings in Huddersfield last month. Wait? What? There's usually more!?

That street in the film is actually in London which is kinda ironic. It had been abandoned for a while and was demolished for new housing / regeneration.
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Re: The worst street in the world?

Post by Mechanist »

Nah, the major Polish mafia hangs out mainly around Warsaw. And they generally seem to stick to the policy of "more bribing, less shooting", which seems to be working out very well for them.

There is a local mafia here as well, of course, but it's on a somewhat smaller scale. Still, they appear to be doing a decent job of maintaining a semblance of order on their turf, so there aren't really any major "drug gang wars"; they certainly fare a lot better than what the cops are pretending to do :| .
One of my friends got an eyeball smashed up by said mafia, for owing them a considerable amount of money; even the repo-men aren't that effective.

Gun laws in Poland are rather strict, which also helps with the wanton violence, even if only slightly.

(...) there were only 4 drive by shootings in Huddersfield last month. Wait? What? There's usually more!?
Uh, that sure sounds like a "fun" place to live...

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Re: The worst street in the world?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

It's getting worse - Bradford is the UK crime capital outside of London but Huddersfield used to be decent. In the last 5 years or so it's getting to be a right shit hole. Things came to a head when the police shot and killed a drug dealer when he aimed his gun at them when they got tipped off he was on his way to a drive by shooting. As he didn't actually shoot first the police got 'done' for it.

Gun laws are very strict here as well but there's plenty of illegal weapons around. The police confiscate loads of guns & knives every month. Acid attacks are becoming more common as criminals have easy access to industrial strength drain cleaner which can be bought at most DIY stores.
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Re: The worst street in the world?

Post by Mechanist »

Arokhs Twin wrote: Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:47 pm Gun laws are very strict here as well but there's plenty of illegal weapons around.
Ah, but you can't hope to deprive the mafia of guns by banning them; not any more than it is possible to inflate a fishing net!
What strict gun control laws are good for, is for preventing random Joes from shooting each other up over some inconsequential crap.

Also, it might seem counterintuitive - but centralized, well-organized crime is far safer to unrelated bystanders, than the carnage which results when there isn't anyone around to maintain order with an iron fist.

Arokhs Twin wrote: Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:47 pmAcid attacks are becoming more common as criminals have easy access to industrial strength drain cleaner which can be bought at most DIY stores.
Drain clog remover is usually sodium hydroxide (a strong base), which is even more nasty for organic matter than conc. sulfuric acid ("toilet bowl cleaner").

Just wait until they start using hydrofluoric acid :shock: (available in welding supply stores in the form of a gelled paste) - not only it's a lethal poison with effectively no cure in such circumstances, but it causes time-delayed burns (many minutes to a few hours of delay; no apparent effect at first), and the initial contact is painless due to the pain receptors being instantly decommisioned.
Also it soaks through the skin like water through a dry sponge, so wiping/rinsing is rather ineffective at best.
It makes conc. sulfuric acid seem harmless in comparison :shock:

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