The Household Anger Map of
Great Britain &
Northern Ireland
Home Stress Map Of UK & Northern Ireland
A City Guide To What Gets On Your Nerves
With the prospect of having to stay indoors for weeks on the horizon, we surveyed 2000 members of the public to find out what annoys them the most about the people they live with.
What do we fight about, which room sees the action and who do we sneer at the most?
From stealing the covers at bedtime and leaving the toilet seat up to being ‘crumby’ and not cleaning up after you’ve made a brew, there are loads of very surprising stress points in our homes, and we all love a fight over the telly!
This is the home stress map of GB & Northern Ireland.
Belfast Blow-outs
The birthplace of Narnia creator C.S Lewis and famous for giving us the Titanic and a big blue fish, Belfast was also the home of John Dunlop, who in 1887 invented the very first pneumatic tire and went on to make those awful pumps that were a mainstay of 20th century PE lessons.
So, who and what gets on the nerves of Belfasters, and where?
Well, of the people surveyed, 40.5% said that they fell out with their partners the most – closely followed by siblings – 28.6% and parents – 21.4% – giving weight to the idea that Mum & Dad are ‘always’ right at least eighty-per-cent of the time!
Belfast kick-offs tend to happen in the living room (38.1%) with reasons ranging from deciding what to watch on TV (40.5%) and leaving crumbs on the sofa to sitting in the best seat to watch their favorite show (both 19%).
Most Belfasters won’t get upset over teabags in the sink or leaving the lid off the toothpaste (2.4%), but will lose their temper at bad washing up (38.1%) and despair over damp towels lying round the bathroom (23.8%).
Our advice? – Perhaps do your washing up in the bath and drink your tea in the shower!
Angry Pop Culture Icon – Alex Higgins
Alex Higgins will always be a sporting legend and had a few altercations that mark him out as an angry pop culture icon. That’s not to say he wasn’t a lovely chap, but let’s just say had his moments.
From threatening to have fellow professional – and 1985 World Champion – Dennis Taylor shot and punching tournament press officers, to his harangue with a horse named Dreadnought and the two resulting black eyes, Alex Higgins was an infamous anti-hero and is our first, last and only choice for Belfast’s angry pop culture icon.
And he was some snooker player too!
Anger score – 6 out of 10
Cardiff Kick-Offs
The national capital of Wales and home to a host of the best-known landmarks in the country, Cardiff claims to have the largest concentration of castles of any city in the world – probably because – according to our survey at least – they like a bit of a barney in the valleys!
As with their cousins over the Irish Sea, husbands and wives bear the brunt of most household arguments in Cardiff with 37.0% of tiffs taking place with partners.
Parents and siblings get short shrift too, with an even split of 25.2% for each when it comes to fights around the home.
The living room (47.2%) sees most ill-tempered action here too, followed closely by the kitchen (31.5%), with TV choices (37.8%) and not washing up (30.7%) grinding Welsh gears more than anything else.
Least stressful for residents of the Welsh capital were leaving the heating on and putting the toilet roll on the wrong way (which is the right way again?) – 1.6% with just 2.4% of Cardiff residents surveyed said they hated the TV being on at bedtime.
Our advice? – Do the washing up in bed with the TV and the heating on!
Angry Pop Culture Icon – Charlotte Church
Vilified for a range of sins – including boyfriends, boozing and bad choices – Charlotte Church has been through it all, so she’s entitled to feel a little hard done to and is perfectly within her rights to be a little angry.
From calling the then secretary for health, Jeremy Hunt a “sack of turd” and referring to Donald Trump as a “Sith death eater” – marrying Star Wars & Harry Potter in a way no other person ever has – Charlotte is a “mad as hell” anger inspiration – as she confessed on a placard at an anti-Tory march.
We’ll wager she can’t stand a dirty bathroom either!
Anger score – 4 out of 10
Edinburgh Episodes
Up next on our list of angry capitals, is the jewel in the Scottish crown, Edinburgh.
Home to the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle and the John Knox house, there are plenty of things to distract residents when they’re out on the streets of their amazing capital city, but that all changes when they get back home.
‘Edinburghers’ – like their capital counterparts – seem to get most aggrieved by what they watch (or aren’t watching) on TV, with 29.2% of arguments being about which station to have on the box.
Because of those TV tantrums, the living room is again the battleground for most Scottish spats, with 36.9% of household arguments taking place there.
Switching the heating on (15.4%) and leaving crumbs on the sofa (13.8%) also high on the anger list.
Unlike the lounge, there aren’t many arguments to be had in Edinburgher bedrooms, with over a quarter of those polled stating that they just didn’t fight in there.
But toilet stains (13.8%), a dirty bathroom (18.5%) and forgetting to replace the toilet roll (13.8%) were all high on the list of Midlothian bugbears!
Our advice? – Stay in the bedroom as long as you can, you’ll be safer there!
Angry Pop Culture Icon – Graeme Souness
More famous now as the straight-talking Sky Sports football pundit, back in the late seventies and early eighties Graeme Souness was as angry a footballer as there has ever been.
Souness was well-known for being a bit of a mad man during his playing days with Liverpool FC – regularly landing one on opponents from all across Europe – and he has continued his crusade with regular bad-tempered and aggressive outbursts on Sky.
One notable exchange, when he uttered the infamous line “why you looking like that?” to ex Manchester United defender – and all-round tough nut – Nemanja Vidic – proves that old angry habits die hard for the Edinburgh hard man.
Anger score – 7 out of 10
London Lairiness
Last, but by no means the least on our angry map of UK & NI capitals, we travel to the biggest city on these shores, London.
Partners were once again the main targets of vitriol in London, with 37.8% of those polled stating that their ‘worse’ and/or ‘better’ halves bore the brunt of their anger.
The living room was again the battleground with 35% of domestic disputes taking place there – with TV Choices (32%) heading the list of domestic annoyances.
At 28.8%, kitchen spats came a close second – with dirty dishes (27.2%) and bad cooking (18%) the things that tipped people towards the edge.
Fake tan on towels (9.5%) and dirty bathroom spaces (17.1%) featured high on the list of cockney bathroom complaints and snoring at bedtime is more annoying here than in any other capital, with an impressive 16.9% of those polled saying that sleep talking and snoz-rattling really got on their nerves.
However, in London, you might get away with not repuffing cushions (4.5%), leaving the heating on all night (3.4%) and putting the loo roll on the wrong way (4.5%) – for those of you that don’t know, the right way is over and on the exterior of the roll!
Our advice? – Get a dishwasher, don’t wear fake tan and sleep in a separate room if you snore!
Angry Pop Culture Icon – Danny Dyer
Mr Dyer’s now infamous Brexit rant in which he described the UK leaving the EU as a “mad riddle” – before going on to call former PM David Cameron something we can’t say here – sets him apart as an angry cockney.
We could have gone for Lenny McLean – as at one time he was known as “the hardest man in Britain” – but we’ve never thought that Lenny was an angry guy, just an incredibly, soul-numbingly and spine-chillingly scary one.
Danny Dyer on the other hand, gets the nod simply for the wobbly he threw about Brexit and the fact that he did that Real Football Factories show a few years before taking over the Queen Vic.
His social media channels have also been a veritable goldmine of angry outbursts about everything from the state of English football to how the paparazzi won’t leave him alone.
Anger score – 5 out of 10
What About The Rest Of The UK?
So, there they are, the respective capitals of our island nations and the things that get on the nerves of residents around their homes.
Can you relate?
Does a messy kitchen bug you like the people of Cardiff, or are you more maddened by mugginess and hate having the heating on like Edinburghers?
Are you as angry about toilet stains as the average Belfastian, or does fake tan flick your switch like Londoners?
Perhaps you really don’t get miffed at all!
Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to come back here for the next round of angry city updates!
