I am a geriatric millenial, so grew up late 80s/90s. Forever reading on here how much the country has changed, which nearly always reverts to a discussion on immigration. What gets left out is the subtle and important ways other things in society have changed too. Some examples:

2) Shops were nearly all closed on Sundays. Most people did not work. You did stuff together, or went somewhere, or visited family, or knocked about watching tv together. Even football on a Sunday had only recently started.

3) The internet wasn't really a thing yet for most people. Gaming wasn't really a thing yet for most people - you played computer games, yes, but they were less immersive, and often a shared activity as not everyone had a console.

4) Barely anyone had a mobile. Those who did didn't have games on it, until a little later when snake appeared on the nokia. Everyone used the hone phone, sometimes with a comically long lead. Privacy? Flirting? Forget it. Your family knew everything. And everyone.

5) You watched tv together. Even the stuff you hated. Watching Saturday night tv together was legitimate entertainment, and most of your friends and adults around you watched the same thing. Just about everyone watched the nightly news.

6) you mostly trusted people in charge. Police, doctors, teachers, anyone with a uniform really. That might be my child-memory overstating things, but your parents/grandparents generally did the same. And they generally took the adult's side over you if there was an issue

7) where you from was probably your most important (only?) 'identity'. And this was often hyper local

8) for those who grew up on a council estate... they were more socially and professionally diverse. It wasn't unusual for (eg) teachers, or social workers, or mechanics, or nurses, or arty types to be living on them.

9) most people you met were born and brought up in the place you met them. Most had not been to university. There was generally more scepticism about the need and desirability of doing so. And about education more generally I think?

10) there was a general respect for, and affinity with, the Christian faith. It was nornal for this to provide the words and images and symbolism for communal events. Nobody really questioned this much. Nearly all schools sang hymns and said prayer.

11) most people's Mam's were working at home whilst they were at school. Most people's Dad's worked outside the home. Not working was a thing that others felt fit to pass comment on (this could be hurtful). Whingeing about work was a norm and often a social event.

12) most sports were not professional, and those that were didn't have much appeal anyway. Sport was both amateurish and accessible, but also not the be all and end all. Not every kid decent at a sport was thinking about turning a pro. It was just for fun. All types played

13) nicknames were standard - everybody had one. This carriednon into adulthood. Kids could use adult's nicknames at social gatherings, but only if they weren't family, or were a teacher or policeman or whatever

14) as everyone generally consumed the same media and the same news, there were shared cultural reference points - the same politicians, tv presenters, singers, sportsmen and women, actors etc. These people slowly passing on has huge cultural resonance often not given due weight

15) There wasn't the same approbation around drinking, eating take-aways, smoking. Health and lifestyle weren't really things yet, beyond Mr Motivator. Health was when sonething went wrong, not preventative self-analysis and lifestyle choices.

16) there were very different attitudes to health and safety, especially at work. Accidents were generally just seen as a misfortune, a sort of there but for the grace of God. It often led to a life on 'benefits' but this wasn't judged negatively like 'the dole'.

17) big one - as there was high trust children had much more leeway. As an infant, you could walk home alone at lunchtime for some dinner. When out playing, you could knock on a door and ask to use the loo (😱). You could roam quite far, but only until the (street) lights came on

18) you got your clothes out of the catalogue and this was fine - most people did it. Hardly anyone went on 'shopping sprees' or 'retail therapy'. Charity shops weren't as much of a thing. Renting household items, like tvs or a hoover, was pretty normal.

Anyway pausing now as am neglecting the kids. The point I'm making is the changed world people see and say they dislike, or the old world they say they miss, is (it seems to me) less about immigration and more to do with cultural changes we all cheered and brought about together

I'm not saying immigration hasn't been transformative in some areas. I am saying that this is just one aspect of change, and the other stuff is more whoesale, and neglected. And where will you find many of those traditions preserved? Well, in immigrant households. The great irony

Great example:

Fleshing this one out a little