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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that the UK is not that bad?

120 replies

QuickCoralMoose · 23/11/2024 14:19

My family is moving from the US to the UK next year. (One of us is British, the other American). From a religious red state to Northern England near Newcastle. But all of our family and friends are telling us that it’s a bad decision - the UK is dangerous, stabbings in every school, no one can afford anything, we won’t be able to get appropriate medical treatment if anything is wrong etc.

Bearing in mind all the issues the US has (and we wouldn’t be able to afford a super safe area in a blue state with good schools anyway), am I wrong to think that a village in the north of England is going to be a safer environment for our kids?

We are pretty simple in my opinion. Don’t need a fancy house, drive old cars, just want a community, volunteering opportunities and safe places to walk the dog plus obviously a safe school and friends for us and the kids if that makes any difference to anyone’s answer.

OP posts:
Boomer55 · 23/11/2024 18:12

Everywhere has its andvantages and disadvantages. 🙂

BananasAllofIt · 23/11/2024 18:11

We are moving from the US to the UK next year as well. We have friends in Morpeth and it looks absolutely beautiful. You'll be fine there.

Lallydallydune · 23/11/2024 18:09

Thepeopleversuswork · 23/11/2024 17:44

I mean the UK is at a bit of a low ebb and not in its happiest place at the moment but you have to laugh (bitterly) at people in a country which has tens of mass school shootings in an average year warning you it’s dangerous…

You can't blame them

The news stations only show bad things about the UK.

All they seem to show on the news is things like the stabbings in Southport UK, that Brexit is a shitshow and the cost of living in the UK is terrible .

The news stations dont show much good things about the UK. So people get an idea that it is worse than it is.

Lallydallydune · 23/11/2024 18:04

Earthstoodhardasiron · 23/11/2024 18:03

"And are you following me or something"

Hahaha, neither. It's called recalling something you've just read!

I never bring something someone has said on a different thread to another thread

I can never understand people who do that.

I'm writing on a different thread, and a poster came there and wrote to me about something that I wrote on THIS thread.

That had nothing at all to do with the other thread. It's just odd.

I never do it to posters.

Earthstoodhardasiron · 23/11/2024 18:03

"And are you following me or something"

Hahaha, neither. It's called recalling something you've just read!

TheGoogleMum · 23/11/2024 17:59

Actually if you look at the statistics there are more stabbings in the USA and some other European countries. From a UK perspective it feels like gun violence is a real risk in the USA, I feel like our schools are safer

Lallydallydune · 23/11/2024 17:58

Earthstoodhardasiron · 23/11/2024 17:54

You've said on another thread you're in Dublin. I don't think the weather and cost of living are that much better than the UK

I visited Dublin, because my mother lives there.

I don't live in Ireland.

Why don't you ask, instead of assume.

Earthstoodhardasiron · 23/11/2024 17:54

Lallydallydune · 23/11/2024 14:58

The prices in the UK are not great either.

I went on a recent visit to the UK. I was so shocked at the prices of trains!

My flight to the UK was cheaper than the price of getting a train in the UK

You've said on another thread you're in Dublin. I don't think the weather and cost of living are that much better than the UK

WooleyMunky · 23/11/2024 17:53

Wavescrashingonthebeach · 23/11/2024 14:25

I would much rather be in the UK than the US!

The UK is infinitely better to live than the US, even before Project 2025 kicks in.

Lallydallydune · 23/11/2024 17:52

WhatTheFudges · 23/11/2024 17:49

To be honest I love the UK weather. I adore that we have seasons, the change brings me purehappiness.

Hot tea on a cold springs morning.
Picnics on the grass in the summer sunshine.
Conker hunting and the stunning colours of the leaves changing in autumn.
Winter is my fave, cosy blankets, twinkling lights and candle lit dinners, the colder and rainier outside the cosier it is.

When the rain beats down any day of the year, I love the sound of it against my windows and on the conservatory roof….just love it!

UK weather is awesome!

I'm glad you like it. I really am

I asbolutely hated the bad weather in the UK.

I wonder are some people more affected by lack of sun? You know how it makes some people extremely miserable and they get SAD lamps to help the.

I'm going to an outdoors swimming pool tomorrow in the sunshine and I can't wait.

Sun feels really deeply healing to me

HRTQueen · 23/11/2024 17:51

I don’t think the UK is that bad but it could be and should be a lot better in many areas of services and standard of living for many more people

I’m guessing your family is from an area with low crime rates but the US the crime rates are much higher and so are levels of poverty, poor physical and mental health support

I have family in the states that think we are close to becoming a communist country again (again … obviously we have different accounts of history) that the BBC is a commie broadcaster and that Rishi Sunak was placed in number 10 to appease the masses. And my family are South Asian (also fanatical Trump supporters)

WhatTheFudges · 23/11/2024 17:49

To be honest I love the UK weather. I adore that we have seasons, the change brings me purehappiness.

Hot tea on a cold springs morning.
Picnics on the grass in the summer sunshine.
Conker hunting and the stunning colours of the leaves changing in autumn.
Winter is my fave, cosy blankets, twinkling lights and candle lit dinners, the colder and rainier outside the cosier it is.

When the rain beats down any day of the year, I love the sound of it against my windows and on the conservatory roof….just love it!

UK weather is awesome!

Thepeopleversuswork · 23/11/2024 17:46

@AnotherChildFreeCatLady is correct though, the NHS is at absolute shit show at the moment. Primary care is at Third World standards. Get health insurance.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 23/11/2024 17:46

As someone who lives 50/50 between the US and UK I'd expect the occasional stabbings to bother the American much less than the frequent "can't do" and "what's the point" attitudes here

Obviously people are various, but in years spent all over the US I've not found this to anything like the same extent there

Thepeopleversuswork · 23/11/2024 17:44

I mean the UK is at a bit of a low ebb and not in its happiest place at the moment but you have to laugh (bitterly) at people in a country which has tens of mass school shootings in an average year warning you it’s dangerous…

AnotherChildFreeCatLady · 23/11/2024 17:43

Get private health insurance, the NHS is a shitshow, and be prepared for lower salaries with higher tax. Also, keep assets, stocks etc in the US so that you only pay US CGT without the UK govt ever knowing about it. Also be prepared for much smaller and less functional houses.

clareykb · 23/11/2024 17:40

Yeah Morpeth will be lovely in terms of safe places to walk, easy access to cultural stuff in Newcastle and Nice local ships and schools etc. Would not worry at all!

Boohoo76 · 23/11/2024 17:40

If you have good medical cover in the U.S., the UK will be worse in that front, particulary if you rely solely on the NHS. My American colleagues have far superior healthcare. Even though I do get BUPA cover, coverage is limited and I am constantly paying out of pocket for things. For example, I was diagnosed with a skin condition last year. BUPA paid for two appointments. I have had to pay for all my own dermatology appointments since then. The NHS wait list is two years for dermatology in my area. My skin was so bad that my dermatologist said it looked like I had been burnt. I didn’t want to leave the house. I couldn’t wait two years to be seen.

QuickCoralMoose · 23/11/2024 17:38

Thank you everyone. We’re going to Morpeth and I’m not worried about the weather. I’m ready to get out of the heat honestly. Grey and rainy sounds lovely.

OP posts:
JaneAustenshandbag · 23/11/2024 17:38

I live in a northern village that is very safe, perhaps a little dull for teens but picturesque. It depends where you live - the UK is not homogeneous.

clareykb · 23/11/2024 17:35

When you say near Newcastle OP where roughly do you mean as I think in terms of saftey any villagey type places are very similar but in terms of stuff to do varies a lot big difference between posh villages in Northumberland and the ex coal mining bits of Durham.. which can be lovely just not the same type of place

QuickCoralMoose · 23/11/2024 17:30

CulturalNomad · 23/11/2024 15:14

the UK is dangerous, stabbings in every school

I'm having a hard time believing this is a legitimate post. Sounds more like the typical goady nonsense to get an American-bashing thread going.🙄

I'm in America and there's little press coverage of the UK beyond the usual political reporting. Certainly haven't seen anything that would leave the impression that there were stabbings in every school.

On the off chance that this is a legitimate thread, then I'd say go and give it a chance. What do you have to lose? Your family may thrive - who knows?

If you have good insurance in the US then the healthcare system in the UK will likely be an adjustment. No picking up the phone to make an appt to see a specialist at your convenience, etc. OTOH, if you are uninsured (or have large deductibles) it may work out better for you financially.

Definitely a legitimate thread, and in no way meant to start a US bashing. There are pros and cons of every country but it’s my family & friends giving me their negative opinions and talking about stabbings etc not the news. Some of them are in the US too and others are in the UK, albeit not where we’re moving to.

It’s difficult when you haven’t lived somewhere for a while to get an idea of day to day life, research only tells you so much. So I really just wanted to hear some mumsnet opinions!

OP posts:
AnotherChildFreeCatLady · 23/11/2024 17:27

LifeExperience · 23/11/2024 15:49

Transwomen cops, aka men, are now allowed to strip search women. And Keir is cosying up to Blackrock.

There are worse places, of course, but the UK is going in the wrong direction.

What an incredibly idiotic comment.

Dramatic · 23/11/2024 17:20

Knife crime in the US is worse per capita than the UK and that's not even factoring in the gym crime in the US. It's lovely in the North East

clareykb · 23/11/2024 17:16

I live near Newcastle again it depends where like every where good and bad bits. Actually I think knife crime etc not soo much of a worry here than elsewhere (still, is but i dont worry about going out because of it) kids have never ever had any violence issues ar school. Ditto health and schools we have relatives in other parts of the UK where waits for things/competition for school places is much worse. I have family in the states ans whilst I love to visit I'd not want to live there was genuinely shocked with the poverty I saw in LA last year and I work in front line public sector here.