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

arknor said:
When you live outside of the UK for awhile and then come back you realise how poor, run down and dirty massive parts of the country are and that peoples way of life is no where near as high quality as you'd imagine from a "wealthy country"
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One of the towns I grew up in (teenager) is now a complete dump. It's completely run-down, the town centre is no more (charity shops and gambling shops only), all the estates look like the modern-day footage of Chernobyl. Complete lack of maintenance and the place can be summed up perfectly with the word - "decay". Thirty years ago when I lived there it wasn't affluent but it was vibrant and people cared about the place.

The recent story of this country is of a widening wealth divide, and in a few years time (let's say a couple more decades) I reckon a lot of these places will be slums to rival Brazil's finest.

For a supposedly wealthy country it's telling how little we care about entire swathes of our own populace.
 
FoxEye said:
One of the towns I grew up in (teenager) is now a complete dump. It's completely run-down, the town centre is no more (charity shops and gambling shops only), all the estates look like the modern-day footage of Chernobyl. Complete lack of maintenance and the place can be summed up perfectly with the word - "decay". Thirty years ago when I lived there it wasn't affluent but it was vibrant and people cared about the place.

The recent story of this country is of a widening wealth divide, and in a few years time (let's say a couple more decades) I reckon a lot of these places will be slums to rival Brazil's finest.

For a supposedly wealthy country it's telling how little we care about entire swathes of our own populace.
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What is the name this town chernobyl favela?
 
Lysander said:
I've always been very outspoken about how much I love the weather in this country. I just don't like it when it's too hot, but it's hardly for long so that makes it even better.

And you're right - hurricanes, cyclones, monsoons, none of those. My wife in Turkey is often worried about earthquakes there. Not something we have to worry about here. [..]
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I'm the same. Also, "too hot" in the UK isn't really "too hot". "too hot" in the UK is not hot enough to kill people. In many parts of the world "too hot" is hot enough to kill people. Similarly for "too cold", although it is sometimes cold enough to kill people in some parts of the UK in some circumstances. But in many parts of the world it's cold enough to kill anyone in anything other than the right circumstances.

Then there's the degree of change. We don't routinely have huge seasonal swings in temperature or quite extreme temperatures most of the year. Many places do. Not just sparsely populated remote places, either.

There was a very small tornado in a UK city decades ago. Nobody killed, a handful of people injured (with a broken bone being the most serious injury) and some repairable property damage in a small area. It was national news for a week. In some parts of the world, tornadoes that kill people, lay waste to many square kilometres and leave towns looking like they've been under a determined bombing run happen every year. The last time a tsunami hit the UK was about 500 years ago and it was a minor one when it got here. Earthquakes here might wake a person up, if they feel it at all. The last time a volcano erupted around here was millions of years ago.

The weather in the UK is outstanding. It hardly ever kills anyone.

200sols said:
People have said to me it must be amazing to experience 4 seasons, particularly those in the Caribbean they just seemed fascinated by the idea of winter in particular.
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I remember chatting with someone who migrated here from the Caribbean back in the 50s (maybe early 60s). They landed in northern England in November. Having spent their entire life up until then in the Caribbean. Before the internet and other modern comms made it easy to get knowledge about the weather thousands of miles away. Back then even TV was a new thing, rare and expensive. So they arrived in England with very little to go on regarding the difference in weather. In northern England. In November. Their own summary of their first impression was "I didn't know it could be so cold". It was quite a shock to them. Not fun at all. They got used to it, though. It's not that cold here.
 
I came back to the uk for 2 weeks in October, and the cold in the uk (0-5C) is different to the cold where I live now (-5C) or where my in laws live in Canada (-15C). Uk cold is damp and oppressive, the relative humidity means you feel it so much more, even at higher temperatures. A dry very cold air is much more pleasant to be in than a damp sort-of-cold air.

Also people were fatter than I remember (last time I was back was pre covid) and paler. A lot of chubby kids. Possibly lockdown related.
 
Uther said:
As a single bloke with no ties I'm not sure why you're still here tbh.
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Well I don't know where to go or how to fund an alternative lifestyle that's why. I never had the bravery to up and leave as a youngster, then I had ties I couldn't break, and now I think it's probably too late.
 
FoxEye said:
Not quite sure what you're getting at, but I will say that Cornwall used to be a LibDem stronghold, until they self-destructed.

In recent years it's been a safe Tory region and that shows no signs of changing.

But let me assure you many people in Cornwall are not wealthy and I can't even begin to explain why working-class people in this region do seem to vote Tory. Maybe they put something in the water?
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Wealthy or otherwise, could it be that the good people of Cornwall have long memories, or older family members who shudder slightly at the thought of Labour getting their hands on the tiller ever again?
They may be consigned to history now, but any party that was ever associated with Keith Vaz and/or Jeremy Corbyn is a bit of a worry, and perhaps Kernow folks prefer the devil they know, rather than the devil that probably would be.
 
As an ex (and no doubt future) expat, it has always amused me to see some insecure expats constantly wanting to justify how their decision of where they are living was the best thing ever and feel the need to tell everyone. These type of expats are worse than vegans in this regard. You like where you live, great! Nobody else cares.
 
GSWAudio said:
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.
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Think that's more to do with how your parents chose to raise you tbh, rather than an issue with the UK - lived here all my life, and don't have this mindset.
 
Jean-F said:
Wealthy or otherwise, could it be that the good people of Cornwall have long memories, or older family members who shudder slightly at the thought of Labour getting their hands on the tiller ever again?
They may be consigned to history now, but any party that was ever associated with Keith Vaz and/or Jeremy Corbyn is a bit of a worry, and perhaps Kernow folks prefer the devil they know, rather than the devil that probably would be.
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I think we'd be screwed either way :D I can't imagine the current Labour lot being anything other than a disaster.

But I'm also fairly sure another 20 years of Tory rule will be similarly ruinous for the bottom 50%, and society in general, with people being encouraged to adopt a dog-eat-dog mindset and view the poor with contempt.

It really is the proverbial choice between a turd sandwich and a giant douche.
 
Moaning about the weather and whatever party is in political power....

could this be anymore British???

Move or don't. Get a grip noobs! Only person that cares is you!!!!!
 
It is easy to dismiss the UK as a decaying dump with packs of feral chavs and wobbly obese people packing high streets of charity shops, bookies, and fast food outlets.

People are literally willing to die to get here. We have incredibly generous benefits, free health care and safe streets. You can go to a job centre. You can go to A&E and you’ll be seen for free. You can walk down a street in 99.9% of the country and not be afraid of being shot.

you can get free legal representation. Free education and so on.

you can get opportunities to work in world leading companies, law firms, labs and banks. You can also go to world leading universities and schools.

Our currency is strong and our economy is robust and trusted by investors.

It is trendy not to be patriotic and cool to talk smack about the UK.

Far better deal in the UK than the vast majority of other places.
 
FoxEye said:
Isn't that the problem, tho? In this country we're taught and conditioned to care only about ourselves.
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I mean if you don't like the situation you find yourself in it's only you that can ultimately change it. Not you but you :p
 
Voltar said:
It is easy to dismiss the UK as a decaying dump with packs of feral chavs and wobbly obese people packing high streets of charity shops, bookies, and fast food outlets.

People are literally willing to die to get here. We have incredibly generous benefits, free health care and safe streets. You can go to a job centre. You can go to A&E and you’ll be seen for free. You can walk down a street in 99.9% of the country and not be afraid of being shot.

you can get free legal representation. Free education and so on.

you can get opportunities to work in world leading companies, law firms, labs and banks. You can also go to world leading universities and schools.

Our currency is strong and our economy is robust and trusted by investors.

It is trendy not to be patriotic and cool to talk smack about the UK.

Far better deal in the UK than the vast majority of other places.
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A lot of those things don't have to be mutually exclusive, tho.

We also have a lot of people who work hard and live hand-to-mouth. As well as our fair share of corruption, cronyism, entrenched privilege, inequality, unfairness, etc.

We should be critical of ourselves and not blind to our own shortcomings. And certainly consider the direction of travel. It might be fine for you today, but tomorrow?

Lastly, would you rather have blind patriotism or introspection and self-reflection? By acknowledging our faults we can start to fix them.
 
FoxEye said:
A lot of those things don't have to be mutually exclusive, tho.

We also have a lot of people who work hard and live hand-to-mouth. As well as our fair share of corruption, cronyism, entrenched privilege, inequality, unfairness, etc.

We should be critical of ourselves and not blind to our own shortcomings. And certainly consider the direction of travel. It might be fine for you today, but tomorrow?

Lastly, would you rather have blind patriotism or introspection and self-reflection? By acknowledging our faults we can start to fix them.
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You aren’t wrong.

However the extent to the issues you identify is minor relative to other places. The thread is about the UK not being what it’s cracked up to be, I think perspective is needed on that because it is a great place to live. Perfect? No.
 
I think the biggest issue in the UK is the real money you get from your paycheck and housing costs. Housing has become so expensive that its almost impossible to afford. London's average salary is 41k pounds. That is about 2.5k pounds take home. You really cant go far in London with that... Quite frankly these days you can't get far with that net anywhere in developed world given the GBP strength (lack of).

Meanwhile in Zurich, your average take home salary is 10k pounds. Teachers make 14k USD a month gross. Their housing prices are not that much higher than of central London, cost of living is higher but not x4 by any margin.

https://destinationscanner.com/average-salary-in-zurich/
 
Enkore said:
I think the biggest issue in the UK is the real money you get from your paycheck and housing costs. Housing has become so expensive that its almost impossible to afford. London's average salary is 41k pounds. That is about 2.5k pounds take home. You really cant go far in London with that... Quite frankly these days you can't get far with that net anywhere in developed world given the GBP strength (lack of).

Meanwhile in Zurich, your average take home salary is 10k pounds. Teachers make 14k USD a month gross. Their housing prices are not that much higher than of central London, cost of living is higher but not x4 by any margin.

https://destinationscanner.com/average-salary-in-zurich/
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Your figures are grossly overstated.
https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/zurich-teacher-salary-SRCH_IL.0,6_IM1144_KO7,14.htm

http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=2311&loctype=3
 
BUDFORCE said:
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.
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It's funny that you've listed a bunch of countries that have serious downsides and I wouldn't consider them to have better quality/standard of living than the UK, just different pros/cons.

I've lived in mainland Europe for a few years, plus work daily with people based in EMEA, US and APJ, and can say that I'm satisfied with the quality/standard of living which the UK offers. Plus I have a lot of family and don't want my kids to miss out on having a close relationship with their aunts/uncles/grandparents & cousins.

I suppose if your life is empty and you've run out of ideas, moving to a new country might seem like a good option to make yourself seem more interesting.
 
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