Your opnion on living in Britain

Castiel said:
Britain is one of the safest, richest, and most free countries in the world. You have rights and privileges in the UK that you will rarely find in other countries and opportunities that many others simply have no access to.
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great quote sir.

we just need to mash the benefit abusers and get house prices down and i will be a smiley man, pound for pound happy with Britain
 
englishpremier said:
Oddly having travelled extensively in Germany, France, Austria, Hungry by motorcycle no less I found their motorways much smoother, less congested, drivers with better manners (so long as you move out of the way for faster vehicles, which many people in UK don't for some reason).
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Whereas I found extreme tailgating - closer and more often than I have encountered in the UK - and in places congestion no better if not worse than many areas in the UK, made worse by the fact there is often only 2 lanes.

Never had a problem with the off ramps I liked the curves, they force you to slow down rather than approaching the junction or round about at 80mph.
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I never had a problem with them it just struck me as a daft design with no discernable advantages over the more typical sliproad layout on UK motorways.

Also remember that in many of these countries, their A roads are better (Germany, France, Austria) so these are often used as an alternative to the motorway. Meaning 2 lanes of traffic on the motorway is fine.
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Sometimes it was, often it wasn't. It certainly wasn't better than similar areas in the UK. I think what people do is drive on the M1 near London where its busy, whinge, go to Germany, drove on the ASomething from Nowhere to Nothing In Particular and then go on about how quiet it is. Not really like for like - I often drive from the bottom of the M5 right up to the M50 junction for example and providing I don't hit Bristol at rush hour I barely need to drop the cruise control out. I was constantly doing it in Germany.

But it goes against the tired old 'The UK is rubbish' mantra so I guess I better put my rose tinted specs on and tell you all how much better than the UK it was... ;)
 
Biohazard said:
I love the wildnerness in Canada.

It's like the Highlands except better in impression, especially the Rockies.

Has a very similar feel to both places, just different scales.
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Going through B.C. on the way to Whistler reminded me of nothing more than Scotland in XXL, it was strange how similar it seemed.

Biohazard said:
As for my opinion on living in Britain, meh.
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What if Scotland gets independence... ;)

Will21st said:
IAlso,it's about time the police was armed in this country,give our bobbies a fighting chance when they need one... as rare as that may be.
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From what I've heard anecdotally I don't think the police are all that keen on being armed and are happier having specialised firearms units. It might have changed from when I last heard but I'm not sure I'd want our police to be armed as a matter of course.
 
I love staying here! I don't exactly earn much but I can get by and enjoy myself. I also know that if things go **** up I have something to fall back on. NHS is good, not perfect but it's good to have it.

I drove up the A82/83 and home via the A814 and the scenery is beautiful for being not that far from the city centre.

I'm used to rain living my life in Scotland so that doesn't bother me.
 
There's not much I dislike about the UK, but I think our relationship (not uniquely I may add) is rather toxic (literally). Too many people do stupid and violent things and can't even remember it the day afterwards. It costs a fortune and causes so much social harm, IMO they should just ban it.
 
My only issue with living in this country is that they'll give a 10 bedorom home to an unemployed Lithuanian woman with 20 kids for free. But someone like me who works 9-5, who pays his taxes and has a mortgage, struggles to make ends meet.

Personally I feel I give to the system, yet others are taking, but if I ask, I'm not entitled to anything.

This is Britain.
 
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Rhaos said:
My only issue with living in this country is that they'll give a 10 bedorom home to an unemployed Lithuanian woman with 20 kids for free. But someone like me who works 9-5, who pays his taxes and has a mortgage, struggles to make ends meet.

Personally I feel I give to the system, yet others are taking, but if I ask, I'm not entitled to anything.

This is Britain.
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But you could probably do the same if you went to Lithuania - it's just that you wouldn't want to live their over the UK.

There are countries that I consider worse than the UK, but I would move there if I was able to earn a UK equivalent wage. I'm thinking Croatia (beautiful, but corrupt), Romania, Hungary etc..
 
englishpremier said:
But you could probably do the same if you went to Lithuania - it's just that you wouldn't want to live their over the UK.

There are countries that I consider worse than the UK, but I would move there if I was able to earn a UK equivalent wage. I'm thinking Croatia (beautiful, but corrupt), Romania, Hungary etc..
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Please don't speculate or assume.

You wouldn't get **** all in those countries unless you are from them.
 
[TW]Fox;22875021 said:
Why?
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One example being the simple fact that whatever your ailment you have to go and see your GP.... (except for dental problems,obviously)

In Germany you can see a specialist at any time. Doctors really look after you and try to help you best they can,try to get to the cause of the illness.
My impression here is that GP's often fob people off or give them Ibuprofen and tell them to come back if it isn't better in week.

Waiting Lists are another area of concern.

Many patients actually have two 2-4 bed rooms in hospitals. Here it seems there are merely curtains to separate so many people in one big room. The few times I've seen wards in the UK they seemed to be very impersonal and not a calming environment at all.

I also wonder what the incentive is for NHS doctors to do and try their best.It's not like they see it in their salaries.In Germany they get paid by treatment and per action they take. (Measuring heart-rate,blood pressure and so on)
Our entirely socialist system which is the NHS doesn't exactly reward excellence. There certainly is no monetary incentive to do your best.


[TW]Fox;22875021 said:
Yes that is exactly what I am saying - the German network is held by many Brits as some sort of utopia but it really isn't. The lanes are narrow, they are almost always just 2 lanes and as I said the junctions often leave much to be desired. Ours are just better laid out, wider, more logical, infact just better except for one small point..

... we have a speed limit. But it did feel totally bizarre as I barrelled down a 2 lane Motorway more reminscent of the A38 just outside of Exeter than it was of the M1 or the M5 whilst totally legally travelling at 155mph...
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Well,you certainly are the first person I've heard to praise the British Motorway system over the German Autobahn... ;)
There is actually a speed limit now on quite a few stretches of Autobahn. Didn't it feel good though to go 155 MPH? Maybe you're just not used to driving at such high speeds? :p ;)

[TW]Fox;22875021 said:
No, thats not really what I've said at all - you've gone on to assume that most of my points area areas where I think nobody at all is better than the UK. This isnt the case really - I'm sure there is at least one country, somewhere, that does anything you care to mention better than we do. The point is its a collection of things - its a list of things people moan about but which I think are really rather good here.
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Oh,I agree with you on this point. It's so easy to moan rather than appreciate. :)
[TW]Fox;22875021 said:
Yes, I'm aware that the EU has similar consumer protection laws - kinda obvious really given its the EU that shaped ours - but that doesnt stop them being another benefit of living in the UK over, say, other non European countries.
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Ok,correct,again though I would say you got to compare like for like. So why can't we have 2 years warranty?
What about stunts like shops telling people they need to contact the manufacturer? German shops wouldn't dare pull that one.
I don't think there is enough awareness on consumer rights over here,but that is just my opinion..... I could be wrong.

You know,I really enjoy living here and I think Britain has a lot of good things going for it.....

One that stands out for me in particular is the fact that you can move up in your job wherever you're from.People don't really care where you'e from as long as you get the job done.The Sky is the limit.

In most of Central Europe that culture doesn't exist,imo. If you're not from around there you'll always be the foreigner and it's a bit tough to get accepted into the culture. I've witnessed it whilst living in a few places on the continent. Britain really doesn't have that kind of prejudice,I think,and that is an asset. :)
 
The NHS is going very far downhill, not that it was one of the best services in Europe in the first place.

However it will always be a far, far better situation than that of the USA. I've received many drugs on the NHS that I simply would never have got if I lived in America. There are lots of health and medication choices that a Brit can make without taking into account the cost of medication.
 
Energize said:
I don't advocate the US healthcare system. There are tons of different options other than the NHS or every man for himself.

You are also wrong about the cost of private care, my contributions have exceeded the cost of private healthcare for me.
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Define "private healthcare". Private healthcare in the uk seems cheap because it dosen't cover acute conditions long term. I have it. It's great if you need to jump the queue on an in-growing toenail, dickie knee or bad back. Cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's, not so great. This is expect to be covered by the NHS. If you'r private health care needed to cover this is would cost you massive amounts more. And once you have one these conditions expect yourself to be uninsurable when your policy expires.

Just take a look at the ruleS for axa ppp
 
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semi-pro waster said:
Going through B.C. on the way to Whistler reminded me of nothing more than Scotland in XXL, it was strange how similar it seemed.
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I've been to Whistler and Blackcomb..

As I said to my uncle at the time, and I was a bit younger, it was like "Scotland but times a hundred...[awe struck gaze]".

In no way to belittle Scotland, but the beauty and size is just immense. Like being on top of the world almost, and I never got that feeling in the Alps.

Very similar to Scotland, except for the decent skiing conditions happy Canadians everywhere and McDonalds parked half way up/down a snow and pine covered mountain. Very bizarre, get too drunk you think the highlands have had a personallity transplant..
 
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Stretch said:
Define "private healthcare". Private healthcare in the uk seems cheap because it dosen't cover acute conditions long term. I have it. It's great if you need to jump the queue on an in-growing toenail, dickie knee or bad back. Cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's, not so great. This is expect to be covered by the NHS. If you'r private health care needed to cover this is would cost you massive amounts more. And once you have one these conditions expect yourself to be uninsurable when your policy expires.

Just take a look at the ruleS for axa ppp
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I have a neurological condition, in my case I pay a cheque to the doctor directly after every consultation, well worth the money for no waiting times, cheaper prescriptions, nice hospital environment, no stupid "NICE" treatment restrictions and appointments that last longer than 10mins.
 
The healthcare differences between the UK/US are interesting. Obviously I've experienced both. One of the reasons we moved over here is because my wife (an American) just couldn't deal with the NHS - every time she had to visit the docs it was a farce..."it's like going back in time" and "I'm not having a baby over here!" almost become her catchphrases :)

Hospitals/clinics here in the US are amazing. Compared to the UK it really is like going 50 years into the future. The facilities are mind-blowing. We had our baby over here and the maternity ward was like a 5-star hotel crossed with a Star Fleet medical center!

But (and it's a big "but") there's a reason for that - and it leaves a bad taste. It's kind of sickening to see all these hospitals constantly building multi-million dollar facilities like they have more money than they know what to do with - despite the dire economic times. While it's great when you can just walk in, flip out your insurance card, and be treated like royalty.....you can't help but imagine what it would feel like if you weren't so lucky.
 
Curio said:
But (and it's a big "but") there's a reason for that - and it leaves a bad taste. It's kind of sickening to see all these hospitals constantly building multi-million dollar facilities like they have more money than they know what to do with - despite the dire economic times. While it's great when you can just walk in, flip out your insurance card, and be treated like royalty.....you can't help but imagine what it would feel like if you weren't so lucky.
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That's the thing though, the NHS provides a baseline to EVERYONE, and the rich people can go private if they with to have better facilities. In the US, poor people get stuck with free clinics.
 
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