A Dutch tourist has incensed Brits and sparked a fiery row after branding the UK “grim” and claiming it “looks and feels like a poor country”.
Alison Montijin, an “educational leader”, took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam Britain following a visit.
She said in her scathing post: “We visit from NL, and it’s shocking at times. Everything’s tatty. Dysfunctional, high streets boarded up, trains and buses no shows, broken machines, signs of decay and poverty everywhere. It doesn’t have to be like that.”
The post went viral having been seen by more than 1.3 million people. She made a follow-up post in which she noted that the UK had “pockets of loveliness” but doubled-down saying that “the majority is grim”.
She added: “It is disgraceful how run-down it has been allowed to get – all political choice, all fixable.”
Not satisfied by her own slander, Alison penned a third post, saying the UK was “really bloody awful. I cannot wait for the Tories to be out of power”.
The Dutch woman’s brutal assessment generated sharp-tongued debate, with one X user striking back: “Not sure where you are have been but it’s not a reflection of the country I live in. For sure we aren’t perfect and have our problems. Having widely travelled myself I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Another chimed in: “Weird – the places where I live and spend almost all my time in the UK are some of the loveliest in the world (having travelled widely).
“By contrast, although I like Amsterdam and the approach to car traffic, I find NL one of the most consistently bland places I have been.”
A third person summed up the tweets, simply saying: “unfair”.
‘Everything has fallen apart’
However, some people thought Alison’s aggressive analysis was justified.
One user said: “Agreed, I live in the North East and our town centre looks like a run down dystopian hell. It’s amazing how quickly everything has fallen apart.”
Another user said “the countryside is beautiful beyond words – and rural pockets – but the rest is depressing and dismal. It didn’t used to be as bad”.
A third user entered the debate, agreeing with Alison: “You are right. We travel around the UK often and lots of towns are very grim, empty shops, dirty streets, and a feeling of despair. The shops that are open are vape, betting shops and pubs.”
