Bill Bryson (an American writer who has lived in Britain on and off for many years and who has written very affectionately about the country) was on the radio this morning talking about an anti-litter campaign that he is promoting.

I should be intrigued to know how other foreign visitors feel about litter in Britain. Does it significantly affect your enjoyment of the country? Does it discourage people from coming?

Hi, we are over from Australia and absolutely love London, and have had some great trips around England too. One thing we do cringe about though, is the litter. It really bothers us seeing people dropping rubbish and not even being embarrassed about it. That and spitting, another pet hate that we can't get use to in London. Yuk! There is littering in every country, it is just a more obvious one in some places than others. Australia has had a very successful Clean Up Australia campaigne going for many years, and there is a huge community education about littering and generally it isn't tolerated. If you throw rubbish down (even cigarette butts) in the street, you will be on the receiving end of either a telling off by whoever sees you, or a heafty fine. Education is usually the key to turning around what is common place or done just because that is what everyone always does. It's all about accepted practice.

But no, it hasn't stopped us from wanting to come!

The spitting thing is a relatively recent phenomenon and seems to have become quite a habit with some young men: I think the hawking and spitting football (soccer)players can take part of the blame for this (rugby players only seem to do it when they are spitting out a mouthful of mashed up teeth!).

It's horrible and I glare or give a loud 'Yuk!' whenever I see it!

I can remember when spitting was frequently the subject of local bye-laws, presumably on public health grounds (it was my rhetorical refuge when arguing about regulating smoking in public places).

But we have massive fines on the statute book for littering. What we don't have is the people on the ground to enforce them, where once we did have.

Remember that many or most garbage cans have been removed in central London due to terrorist threats. I believe this goes back to the IRA, and not just recent events.

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

Nicky - I think it bordering on the political (not allowed here surely?) to make the remarks you have, without tempering it with that little word SOME. I, like Panda, feel offended and I am not even British!

Granted, that we have a problem in Britain with litter but I can assure you that not ALL the culprits within our borders are either British or residents and it is only SOME of these who take their nasty habits beyond our borders. In the same vein, I would not come on a public board and say here that people from a certain European country are ALL rude and aggressive, just because this has been the common perception and stuff of cartoons in the past and we might have actually witnessed SOME being so. Cartoons, after all are, by their very nature, an exaggeration. Those of us who carefully seek out bins or take our rubbish with us, wherever we go in Europe, resent the implication that we are, to a man, a nation of litter louts (and plastic bag owners).

A reminder people, of a couple of our rules, if you don't mind,

"Postings that the moderators determine to be promoting national, ethnic, or religious stereotyping will be edited or deleted without notice."

and,

"If you are unhappy about something that was posted, click the Alert button on the post to send a message to the moderators; do not post your complaint on the board." When you do post it on the board it makes "clean-up" awfully hard.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Now - as far as litter in Britain, honestly I don't remember even noticing it. However, on my first trip, back in '83, I do remember on the back of some gum I bought was a saying about tossing your trash and it said, "Keep our country tidy" (had to go dig it out of my album) plus I took a picture of the trash bin attached to the pole that also had the saying, "Keep Beautiful Britain Tidy."

I guess both amused me since I kept the gum and took a picture of the sign.

One thing that I have noticed is that the trains and underground get clogged up with discarded free newspapers. I often have to clear a large pile off a seat. On the other hand there is now an army of cleaners at all the termini filling large plastic bags full while the train is waiting to depart.

One of my pet bugbears is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to where litter bins go. They were taken out of most (but not all) tube and railway stations, but there are occasional places where they've put back clear plastic bags - or rather, just the one, here and there. They need to have the kind they have in Paris, just a few yards apart in the main problem areas, so that no-one has any excuse.

Oh dear, I am turning into Mr. Growser. It ought not to be allowed!!

The insufficiency of litter bins was one of the things that Bill Bryson commented on. He said that Britain did not have nearly as many as the USA.

I find it interesting that there has been little reaction to this thread from non-residents. Perhaps most visitors, like Kim, scarcely notice litter. If so, I find that heartening.

There was a lot less litter in 2006 and 2007 than I remembered from 1993, when it seemed notably bad that the litter was not being picked up from the streets.