Joris Luyendijk
When I moved to London from Amsterdam five years ago I struggled to find my feet in English culture, wondering time and again why people here are so bitter and cynical, and so prone to escapism. The widespread binge drinking and gambling addiction came as a real shock to this European, as did the English tabloids. Take a look at any of them and you basically find every negative human emotion catered for: paranoia, selfishness, outrage, voyeurism, victimhood, sadistic Schadenfreude, envy and, most of all, pure, naked hatred.