Uk Sucks

[Michael]

Where are you moving to?

detached for £100k must be backwaters of New Zealand!

[nohpc]

detached for £100k must be backwaters of New Zealand!

I don't think there are many places in the world where you can live somewhere nice and have a good job with good income and get a 4 bedroom house for 75 grand. New Zealand is more expensive than the UK in my experience. Partly due to higher interest rates making repayments higher. Of course if you want to live in the the bumhole of new zealand you can get something decent for your money.

[expatowner]

I don't think there are many places in the world where you can live somewhere nice and have a good job with good income and get a 4 bedroom house for 75 grand. New Zealand is more expensive than the UK in my experience. Partly due to higher interest rates making repayments higher. Of course if you want to live in the the bumhole of new zealand you can get something decent for your money.

Must be somewhere like Thailand then?

Edited March 2, 2007 by expatowner

[bear call spread]

to all those thinking about leaving this great country - all i have to say to you (with my years of experience abroad).....

the grass is not always greener, and you will miss the UK.

[234SALE]

to all those thinking about leaving this great country - all i have to say to you (with my years of experience abroad).....

the grass is not always greener, and you will miss the UK.

I am coming back after 3 years of Dubai

Made some cash, the Uk is the best place to spend it.

[ex-MEWer]

I don't think there are many places in the world where you can live somewhere nice and have a good job with good income and get a 4 bedroom house for 75 grand. New Zealand is more expensive than the UK in my experience. Partly due to higher interest rates making repayments higher. Of course if you want to live in the the bumhole of new zealand you can get something decent for your money.

NZ is fine if you're a hairy chested bloke, but it stinks for women. The attitudes towards women outside of the three main cities is, how best to put it, somewhat less enlightened than Europe. I've many female friends who were quite shocked and returned to the UK. It's a fairly robust place for blokes too - shrinking violets may not prosper.

Edited March 2, 2007 by ex-MEWer

[ex-MEWer]

Britain is great for the wealthy and canny who can avoid the chavs - but not so good for the poor, old or ill.

That's no different from anywhere in the world. Do you think everyone in the USA lives the American dream? Do you think all the people in the West Indies have nice comfortable beach houses, or everyone in Rio lives on the Copacobana? Are all people in South Africa in the wealthy Joburg suburbs? Of course not.

The question is how attainable is a "good" lifestyle, whatever that means to you, in different countries. I'd suggest it's getting harder and harder in the UK in comparision with other countries. But that doesn't mean it's not possible.

[Te Mata]

NZ is fine if you're a hairy chested bloke, but it stinks for women. The attitudes towards women outside of the three main cities is, how best to put it, somewhat less enlightened than Europe. I've many female friends who were quite shocked and returned to the UK. It's a fairly robust place for blokes too - shrinking violets may not prosper.

...and Kiwi blokes are outright chivalrous compared to the average ocker.

[ex-MEWer]

...and Kiwi blokes are outright chivalrous compared to the average ocker.

Precisely. Men were more chivalrous towards women in 1950's in the UK but in return they had to "know their place". And behind closed doors .....

[Charlie Don't Surf]

The thought of growing old in the UK is not one I relish.

After spending the best part of 4 years living in Portugal I noticed you see old people out and about, sitting on benches together and chatting. Living in granny annexes and being a revered family member.

What happens in the UK - stuff em in an old folks home and hope they get MRSA before thy spend all your inheritance. If they aren't in a home they are probably too scared to go out of the front door and rightfully so - as long as I can remember kids have had an utter contempt for old people and very little is done to change this.

Everyday, I try and find a new fact that shows how grim the UK is so I can quote it to my missus. Hopefully she will agree to emmigrate sometime soon - otherwise I might just have to go by myself and hope she has the good sense to follow!

[Oliver Sutton]

That's no different from anywhere in the world.

Yes it is. In Scandinavia, Germany, France etc ordinary people have a far better quality of life.

In Sweden old people are ten time less likeley to die of cold than in this country due to the better quality of housing and better pensions. And it gets a bit colder there than over here.

[ex-MEWer]

Yes it is. In Scandinavia, Germany, France etc ordinary people have a far better quality of life.

That's very subjective. For a start, define ordinary.

Please note no way am I trying to say the UK is perfect. I'm merely trying to add some perspective.

[MarkG]

I don't think there are many places in the world where you can live somewhere nice and have a good job with good income and get a 4 bedroom house for 75 grand.

Canada, and yes, there are 'good jobs' in the area, with at least one company doing the same kind of work I do here in the UK... I suspect their biggest problem is finding experienced people to do the jobs who want to live there. But, in any case, with savings and only a small mortgage I can work pretty much anywhere that pays half-decently and not need to worry.

However, you also ignore another point: for an increasing number of jobs, location is now irrelevant because they can be done over the Internet. In the last few months I've been looking increasingly seriously at how to make that work.

At the 75k level we would probably have to settle for 'only' a 3-bed detached house: oh, the horror. My main concern right now is that the US stock market crashes hard and knocks down the Canadian economy so I end up buying at the local house price peak. But with a low price and no negative equity to worry about, that's not such a big deal... losing 30k on a decent house would suck, but not as much as losing 100k on a crap flat here in the UK.

[MarkG]

The thought of growing old in the UK is not one I relish.

Personally the thought of growing old in the UK among gangs of feral kids scares the crap out of me. And anyone who thinks that living in an expensive area will save them from the chavs is deluding themselves.

At least in Canada I can always buy a hut in the woods where I'll only have to worry about mountain lions and grizzly bears.

[Oliver Sutton]

That's very subjective. For a start, define ordinary.

By ordinary, i mean not rich. In Finland no one worries about fees for their kids education - it's all paid for. And they've got the education best system in the world by any measurement.

I love the UK - the culture, music, comedy, real ale, eating out, football, etc, but I think a lot of people don't realise how better off their European equivalents

are in the really important areas, housing, education, health care, transport.

[Guest X-QUORK]

By ordinary, i mean not rich. In Finland no one worries about fees for their kids education - it's all paid for. And they've got the education best system in the world by any measurement.

I love the UK - the culture, music, comedy, real ale, eating out, football, etc, but I think a lot of people don't realise how better off their European equivalents

are in the really important areas, housing, education, health care, transport.

The problem being that Brits are tax-averse. All those European countries you highlight have huge tax burdens by British standards, not something most people are willing to accept, even Labour supporters.

I agree with an earlier post that pointed out the downside of the generally higher standard of living in Europe is a sort of blandness, a lack of spirit and humour which we take for granted in the UK.

I'm not sure that spirit makes up for all the bad stuff, but quite often one needs to leave this country for a while to really appreciate the positive aspects of life in the UK.

Life's what you make of it, regardless of location.

[MarkG]

The problem being that Brits are tax-averse.

Tax as a percentage of GDP in the UK is barely lower than the rest of Europe these days... and they get much, much more for it. Wasn't there a news report recently that we'd almost reached the same tax levels as Germany?

And, of course, that doesn't include Brown's borrowing or the 'hidden' borrowing through PFI.

[Oliver Sutton]

The problem being that Brits are tax-averse. All those European countries you highlight have huge tax burdens by British standards, not something most people are willing to accept, even Labour supporters.

You're right. People don't see that it's not how much tax you pay that's important but what you get for it.

We pay more tax under New Labour but public services haven't improved communsurately. That's with a huge budget deficit as well. All means testing should be stoped as well IMHO.

For non-rich people tax increased hugely under Thatcher as well but they managed to con people into thinking they were a low tax regime by conmtinually freezing allowances and cutting the top rate.

[Guest Yeahbutnocrash]

And to top it all off the UK (and Australia) beat the US for per capita crime

Yeah but that may be due to the INFLUENCE of US culture

I'd also add to the list all the PC culture means people can be made to feel awkward by making a simple relaxed comment about something. For example we have always joked about names and accents in this country as well as religion - Some people we have in this country seem to think that's racist - Well, so long as you aren't being malicious it's known as freedom of speech

Regarding Football players being foreign that is a shame in some ways - A couple of years ago when I heard a couple of English Chelsea fans chanting Crespo's name I wanted to chant Terry back at them!

But I have to say that the league is better for having a fair number of foreign playes. The game had become pretty dull a few years ago before the foreign influx. There seemed to be a lot of fit and physical players around but not so many really skillful players - Even Gazza was playing abroad then!

Maybe there is a case for putting a limit on the number of foreign players in a team

Hopefully the top English players will benefit by having to play consistently at such a high standard

[tenroom]

Personally the thought of growing old in the UK among gangs of feral kids scares the crap out of me. And anyone who thinks that living in an expensive area will save them from the chavs is deluding themselves.

Well having read some of the vitriolic comments by some of the younger priced-out FTBs toward the soon-to-be-retiring baby boomer generation, I tend to share your apprehension.

On an unrelated point, whilst on my daily cycle from Notting Hill to the City yesterday, I counted no less than 109 CCTV cameras.

[mfp123]

The cities are filthy

High unemployment

Shit weather

Narrow streets

Tony Bliar is Bush's puppet

Good football league but the best players are foreigners

Horrible food

The locals are poor and smell and have poor education

Lots of drunks

Lots of smokers

Lots of racists

Lots of druggies

The women are fat and slutty

The guys are obnoxious morons and like to get into fights

Most of them don't take care of their teeth

Tiny little houses poorly built houses that cost an insane amount of cash

Sh1t weather

To much tax on everything

Northern Towns are worse places to live than most 3rd world countries

Gun crime is getting worse

Kids carry knives

Parks are full of dogsh1t and the grass is never cut

It's cold half the year and rains to much

It's full of paedophiles and rapists

Growing hate from "within" terrorist activity growing

Most of the beaches have turds and tampons

No moral values anymore

The motorways are a joke

traffic everywhere

Big brother state

Cameras everywhere including "speed cameras"

A lot of the architecture is eastern block looking

Still thinks it's important

Bland new build houses with no character what happened to building houses that last hundreds of years and look "English"

The place looks like some old ass hooker.

Great Britain? More like Distinctly Average Britain - needs a name change

i bet you change your tune when its a hot sunny day in the summer , suddenly all your problems seem to evaporate, youll realise lifes not all that bad and that people around the world are probably are in a much worse position than you.

if its hot and sunny with clear skies rather than grey shitty weather we all have a different outlook on life. simple but true.

Edited March 2, 2007 by mfp123

[steve99]

That's very subjective. For a start, define ordinary.

Please note no way am I trying to say the UK is perfect. I'm merely trying to add some perspective.

Good definition would be those on state pension.

[Orbital]

lol, if thats your view on the world no wonder you are depressed - sadly you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Have a think about it.

I disagree with most of what has been posted, I think the UK is great, but perhaps im just lucky. tbh most people these days are snobby spoilt brats who live in a TV fantasy world and cant quite accept that reality is kinda tough. Well you keep looking for your Eutopia. Good luck...

[MarkG]

I think the UK is great, but perhaps im just lucky.

I'm sure anywhere looks great when you live under a bridge.

[George]

Been all over the UK and its depressing for the most part. I can't find one decent city at all! Could be way better country, bit sick of the property retards to! Yesterday at evening college some noob tried to describe in French how she wants to be the "next property millionaire" its a fricking disease.

Places looking at:

Dubai (will be like 5th element when finished)

Montreal (awesome restaurants and nightlife)

South of France somewhere

OZ

New Zealand

Mexico Playa del carmen

All these places ranked higher for quality of life than blighty.