The UK isn't what it's made out to be

[wire-screw]

Eveything is relative...are you above or below £37,701 a year?

Way below.

I mean its not like you called the UK a....

You’d make a good journalist! You missed off the (for me).

 

[bayo000]

I'm sure being wealthy in the Med is nice, being a poverty stricken local probably not so much.

Replace Med with UK or pretty much any other country for that matter and your point is still valid.

I grew up abroad and moved around a bit in my early 20s. I'd deffo recommend to anyone to go and live abroad for a while, shame Brexit made it much harder.

 

[Nasher]

This should be on large signs in Calais.

 

[malachi]

Replace Med with UK or pretty much any other country for that matter and your point is still valid.

I grew up abroad and moved around a bit in my early 20s. I'd deffo recommend to anyone to go and live abroad for a while, shame Brexit made it much harder.

Its only made it harder for unskilled workers. The 50 year old who has worked in a factory since leaving school at the age of 16 cant just up and move to places like Tenerife anymore. But if you work in a STEM field, not as hard.

Living in the UK, I didn't care about the weather, only money. As its money what pays the bills, not the weather. So I moved to where the money is.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I think the UK is a good place to live, better than most countries, probably. The best? Definitely not.

Canada, most of Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, North America, some European countries, South Korea, Japan..... could be considered to have a better quality/standard of living then the UK. I'm sure there are others also, it depends what you want out of life.

I think the other thing about the UK is things have declined here pretty sharply over the last 15 years or so.


UK has issues, weather is terrible, and we don't enjoy a lot of freedoms other countries do because of our laws/red tape. It's over populated, expensive I could go on.

 

[willhub]

I live in Manchester, and I don't think I'd want to live anywhere else in the UK, maybe a bit further up the hills on the outskirts, but it's probably one of the best areas to live, an up and coming city and around 20 minutes by bicycle to amazingg scenery.

But that's it I feel the cost of living is insane, expenses (bills/rent) increasing quicker than wages closing that MDI gap.

People as well, just feels we're an ever increasing hostile nation.

I'm a cyclists too, country is horrendous for cycling , the hate is ever increasing, people hate on cyclists just because other people do, sheeple, total sheeple.

 

[Semple]

I'm sure being wealthy in the Med is nice, being a poverty stricken local probably not so much.

Pretty much this. I'm sure if the OP hadn't had such an upbringing in the UK which provided a good education and leading eventually into a well paid career they'd have written something different.

 

[Nasher]

Its only made it harder for unskilled workers. The 50 year old who has worked in a factory since leaving school at the age of 16 cant just up and move to places like Tenerife anymore. But if you work in a STEM field, not as hard.

Living in the UK, I didn't care about the weather, only money. As its money what pays the bills, not the weather. So I moved to where the money is.

There is always a demand for STEM workers. A few years back there was almost a free pass for techs to move to NZ.

 

[VincentHanna]

If I was a multi-millionaire, I would not choose to live in the UK. I'd probably live in Barbados or St Lucia.

But my business is based here and it wouldn't easily translate to other parts of the World.

I don't mind Spring/Summer/Autumn but Winter in the UK is rubbish.

 

[Mason-]

I'm a little anxious about posting this as it may seem like a provocative and / or obvious post but it is intended as genuine and is subtle in its message. I'm not trying to have a go at the UK or anyones way of life.

It is possible to have a great, happy and well rounded life in the UK - many people do. However, while being brought up in the UK, without knowing it I was very subtly indoctrinated with the idea that the UK is the best option for living and other countries were for holidays or had something wrong with them. This message was never explicit and I think is left over from the empire days.

Having lived in a southern Mediterranean country for over a year now (where the number of times it has rained is almost countable on one hand). I now realise (for me) the UK can be an over priced, hyped, dreary and miserable place to live.

I lived with a mix of good countryside and Zone 1 London for the past 10 years I lived in the UK. I worked in tech with a healthy salary and some good people around me including friends and family so it's not like I had poor living conditions etc.

All this to say, keep in mind there are a million ways to live your life. Working until your 70 in the cold and wet is only a small percentage of the viable ways! There are economically viable ways of a more fulfilling life. FYI!

All the best!

Net migration to this country has been positive for a long time. More people disagree with you than not. Also I’d like to point out that the wealth you accumulated here due to the opportunities here enabled your lifestyle where you are now. If you were born there, studied the same subject, did the same job you did (if it’s an option) would you have the lifestyle you do now? I doubt it.

The things people take for granted that previous generations have given us, water coming out of your tap, your sewage flushing away, the roads and pavements you walk on, the legal system, the democratic system, the police, healthcare, education, the political stability. These aren’t all things we’ve had for hundreds of years they’re relatively new and they’re all provided for you mostly free of charge. All the struggle for those things is ignored and taken for granted. Most of the problems people whine and complain about are relatively minuscule problems in the history of humanity, never before have so many had it so good. Humanity’s struggles are not relative. Your personal struggles are relative.

The UK is objectively and subjectively one of the best places to live in the world. To say it’s the best is folly because people care more about their subjective opinions than objective statistics. But you’d be a fool to say it’s not one of the best places to live in the world.

Also this is just ignoring the fact that you having the option to choose where you live comes from an enormous position of privilege.

 

[dave28]

Depends on so many factors. You obviously have a few quid so your experience will be much much different.

Try living on the poorer side of town where you are and then come back and say that its great out there after you get beat up to a pulp.

 

[explicit4u]

Everyone knows the UK is good for the grind but it's full of bad vibes.

*At least england is, not sure about the others.

 

[malachi]

Net migration to this country has been positive for a long time. More people disagree with you than not. Also I’d like to point out that the wealth you accumulated here due to the opportunities here enabled your lifestyle where you are now. If you were born there, studied the same subject, did the same job you did (if it’s an option) would you have the lifestyle you do now? I doubt it.

The things people take for granted that previous generations have given us, water coming out of your tap, your sewage flushing away, the roads and pavements you walk on, the legal system, the democratic system, the police, healthcare, education, the political stability. These aren’t all things we’ve had for hundreds of years they’re relatively new and they’re all provided for you mostly free of charge. All the struggle for those things is ignored and taken for granted. Most of the problems people whine and complain about are relatively minuscule problems in the history of humanity, never before have so many had it so good. Humanity’s struggles are not relative. Your personal struggles are relative.

The UK is objectively and subjectively one of the best places to live in the world. To say it’s the best is folly because people care more about their subjective opinions than objective statistics. But you’d be a fool to say it’s not one of the best places to live in the world.

Also this is just ignoring the fact that you having the option to choose where you live comes from an enormous position of privilege.

Very valid point.

 

[bayo000]

Its only made it harder for unskilled workers. The 50 year old who has worked in a factory since leaving school at the age of 16 cant just up and move to places like Tenerife anymore. But if you work in a STEM field, not as hard.

Yeah if you have the skills it's still pretty easy, though there are a few more hoops and expenses you have to jump through now. My comment was aimed towards the young ones in their late teens/ early twenties to be able to experience something different for a bit, even if it's just a hospitality type of job for few months or a year.

 

[Lysander]

over priced

Yes, God, yes. Especially London, it's terribly expensive.

hyped

It's like the whole Dick Whittington of the streets of London being paved with gold. There are people from Syria who came to this country and then wished they went back. That said, the standard of living is WAY better here than in such places. It's just that a lot of people didn't get what they expected.

dreary and miserable place to live.

I take it you mean the weather? Well, I happen to like it. And it's great for fertility, the Vikings thought so too [hence they settled here, grrr]!

In spite of all that, these are niggles. The quality of life here, when you compare it to other countries, is some of the best in the world. Sure, we're not Switzerland or Norway. But this is one of the best countries in the world to live in, hands down.

With regards to the "empire" thing, we have a great history. Some of it we can be proud of, some not. The important thing to do is not to wish for a harking back to "those days" but to take the best of them and move forward.

 

[wire-screw]

Pretty much this. I'm sure if the OP hadn't had such an upbringing in the UK which provided a good education and leading eventually into a well paid career they'd have written something different.

Again, this is bordering on the racist and is extremely ignorant. Do you really think the UK education system is that good? Do you really think people have a poor upbringing in Europe and the UK is so good it's not possible for people in other countries to succeed to the same level as in the UK? When living and working in London in engineering departments the majority of people there were foreign, most of which are from Europe. Not only are they able to perform well in their own country, they perform better than a lot of UK natives in while using a second language.

Depends on so many factors. You obviously have a few quid so your experience will be much much different.

Try living on the poorer side of town where you are and then come back and say that its great out there after you get beat up to a pulp.

I live on the poor side of town and it's just fine, thanks.

 

[Chojin]

UK has good consumer choice and tax benefits (e.g. ISA allowance). Weather isn't great but that has always been the case. It's an easy country to just exist and tick along, but there's always that feeling of needing to go somewhere else to feel like you are living, even if only for a holiday abroad.

For me the culture was great in the 90s, around the Brit pop era, but took a nose dive after that.

 

[Josh]

Don't be poor and live somewhere hot.

Got it cheers

 

[inferno]

I lived abroad for a long time. Sure the weather is bad here, that’s not the fault of the country. It’s difficult to make a lot of money here unless you are really well educated but most people can live a retry decent life and generally the government is going to look after you. Having travelled around the world I can tell you that are a lot worse places to be.

Some parts of the med are bordering on looking 3rd world. The weather is nice though.

My friend is from Malta, lovely place, very quiet and peaceful. Their PM blew up a journalist investigating corruption.

 

[gailjon]

Ruddy pointless thread IMHO.