To think we’re lucky to be in Britain?

Yes, life threatening, and was very impressed

It’s great that your country is doing well.
The UK is not, but I still very much love all the British nations.
The people are brilliant as I’m sure yours are.
Weirdness is good when you live in the UK sometimes 👍

In many countries there is no support at all for sen children though. European countries too - not just Arab nations either. Many are shamed and have zero support for their children born with profound learning disabilities. No DLA, no special schools nothing.

As OP says UK is not perfect but many are deluded as to what is available or what they are “entitled to” in other countries.

I also have no idea where anyone thinks the money is coming from to pay for all this provision? We have fewer tax payers than ever, no growth and increasingly many of the population have no incentive to work more hours or be ambitious or and “try to get on” as they culturally did a few decades ago as we all receive the same state support regardless and cannot improve lifestyle through a well paid job alone anymore and need bank of mum and dad gifts and or inheritance anyhow.

I think that's exactly the point. It's very unusual for a younger generation to have it harder than the previous, and to see life and services slowly slip to a lower standard. This makes people really angry and unable to accept it as a norm whereas another generation or people in another place would just accept and get on with it.

I don't live in the UK so can't have an opinion on it, but from an outsider perspective it seems that this is the problem, people didn't realise how incredibly lucky they were. Relatively, of course. Poverty always exists in some form. And now they no longer are so lucky, they are just like anywhere else. Plus and minuses depending on your circumstances.

I think the biggest hurdle British people face right now is pessimism. People sometime underestimate the effect of a collective optimism, the general psyche of the public is a major factor in our general well-being and MH.

World class maternity rights .... really? How so?

It's so weird that I was just thinking this today!

I was looking at my dd and thinking just how fortunate we are to have been born in Britain.

Although things really are dire, and the NHS is on its way out, we're relatively safe and have a decent amount of freedom in comparison to others ❤️

I do think it depends on where you live and how much you earn. Although I broadly agree with you @BooomShakeTheRoom . When I was considered to be low income, I was lucky enough to live in a time of low housing costs, free university and generous grants. And now things are harder, I earn enough not to worry about it. Where I live the GP is pretty good and I have a NHS dentist. The schools are decent too. We have a local whatsapp group where we share information and resources. But I know this is not the case every where.

I know the NHS has problems but we must retain it. If you've ever had a pet and been to see a vet, you'd understand what a truly private health care system would mean in terms of cost. I have used a private GP once and it was reasonable but I'm very aware that's because their main competitor is the NHS, without it private health costs would sky rocket.

I love my country, but we've done significantly better than the UK over the last few decades.

Should you be humble? No need.but boasting about your brilliance as you keep going further downhill seems a weird choice

Not sure people living through either world war would necessarily agree

So we should be walking around being ‘humble’ rather than look for good qualities?
Britain and British is far more than NHS, schooling and politics.
Do you not like your country?

Our state pension is low and the pension age is getting older and older before anybody can start claiming.

Here you go, some in London, there are others dotted around the UK as well. They are called Urgent Care Centres, you can walk in, give them your bank details and voila, no extra long wait. Life threatening emergencies would still go via NHS hospitals, and would be seen a lot quicker than via A&E.

https://www.hcahealthcare.co.uk/ucc-24

The same goes for private ambulance services, although most tend to work in partnership with the NHS and private hospitals.

My point of course is that if you have the money, you won’t have to wait. But at least if you don’t have the money, the NHS won’t turn you away.

I'm not from the UK but I studied there and lived in Scotland for many years.

Sorry, but healthcare is one of the reasons I moved FROM the UK. Just for reference, in my home country the public system is similar-ish, but we have a fantastic private one, a lot of good employers offer free private healthcare in large clinics. Basically, consultations (any dr), blood work, ultrasounds, all free, as much as you need. Our GP is always the same person (rather than a clinic) and can be easily contacted and see you the same day, or next day, tops.

When we have an issue with baby, ped replies on whatsapp in less than 2 hours.

I absolutely love the UK in so many aspects... but healthcare is definitely not one of them.

It's really weird to be boasting about how the UK is great now when it's the worst it's been for a long time.... Brexit, badly handled COVID, the shit show of Boris and Liz Truss, the years of austerity, the NHS is almost dead, schools are failing, and people are unhappier than they've ever been

The "isn't Britain brilliant" sounds like a MAGA kind of nonsense, to be honest.

Yes absolutely.
There are some issues of course, but most days u feel incredibly lucky and bar a couple of places worldwide, I wouldn't live anywhere else.

100% agree Op
I'm so happy I'm British and would never dream of moving away from our country; some other countries are ok for holidays but there's no place like home.

I think there's a fair few countries that count as very lucky

Hearing about others that are not brings it in to sharp focus

We are the second cloudiest country in the world after Ireland, but home is home. I’d be a foreigner if I lived anywhere else and, while that can be fun for a while, I’m not cut out to do that for life.

Yes, it's horrendous. But it was horrendous back in the noughties too when both my Mother and FIL suffered at their hands, constant mistakes/negligence and both died because of NHS failings. I really don't think it was that much better 20 years ago. My OH has cancer and every sodding month the oncology dept screw up his blood tests, treatments, consultations, etc - it's just a sodding fiasco - the sheer incompetence at every level is astounding.

Broadly speaking, I agree with you. But I would say healthcare and schools are poor compared to comparable countries like France and Germany.

I bet if you go to A&E in France or Germany you don't end up being treated on a trolley in a corridor for days on end.

DC1 has just graduated from a top UK university and was always telling me how much more their foreign friends covered at school, especially in maths.

Yep I have lived overseas previously (mainland Europe, North America, Oz).

All great places but also very happy to be living in the UK.

We are lucky we aren’t in a war zone, or in a developing country with no food or safe water to drink. But IMO there are also many other better countries in the world to live in! I think it’s a case of you don’t know what you’re missing if you’ve never had it…

I experienced much better healthcare when living in Canada and France. I hear that Spain also has excellent healthcare. I think most European countries have better than Britain, tbh.

Weather here is shit!!! Yes it’s temperate…temperately miserable. It’s such a cliche to moan about U.K. weather but it’s one of the main reasons we are considering moving back to France. It’s just so depressing. I did not realise how depressing until I lived abroad and then moved back here. Think of the crisp cold sunny days you could be having in a colder climate, or the long warm evenings in a warm climate. It completely affects how you live your life. It affects how communities come together in the evening, how people socialise. Everyone in England is huddled inside their homes most of the year and there isn’t the level of community socialising that exists in warmer European countries, or in Canada during the summer when we used to bump into lots of other families at the lake after work having BBQs and campfires. This in turn affects how children are raised, the kids in France / canada were often out playing on their bikes with friends into the early eve whereas now we are in the U.K. all their friends are locked inside gaming.

Fresh ingredients here taste bland compared to fresh ingredients in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Canada, Croatia, Greece, etc etc.

Free schooling about the same as in Canada and France…not as good as Scandinavian countries. I’ve heard places like Costa Rica, Singapore, Thailand have excellent schools but don’t have experience of them.

Freedom in Britain feels more restricted. Planning permission is so strict, you can’t park anywhere without having to pay, a few times a year I get fines for things that I genuinely haven’t tried to take the piss about I’ve just recieved a fine because I overlooked something. Everything is automated / computer run (canada was like stepping back to the 90s in terms of customer service - everything face to face and personable). Traffic jams everywhere, train tickets unaffordably expensive, if you want to go on a day out at the weekend or during the holidays the place you are trying to go to is either sold out or completely rammed. I live in south east so probably experiencing the worst of the UK’s overpopulation though.

so yes, I think you are being semi-unreasonable singing Britains praises so much.

I agree with you on everything except 'world class maternity rights'. Apparently,GB is rated 22 out of 24 European countries. Only Slovakia and Ireland were rated lower.

I think people who think we have a decent welfare state don't remember how things were 20 years ago. They were far better then.

What’s your comparator? Ukraine? Afghanistan? Because yes, we are very fortunate in comparison to them. With the rest of Western Europe I’m not sure we are exactly a beacon of excellence.

The county’s been in a steep decline since we chose to make ourselves internationally irrelevant in 2016. Our waterways are full of filth, our infrastructure collapsing after a decade and a half of no investment, the issues raised by disasters like Grenville still haven’t been fixed and the NHS is inches from collapse.

We have a beautiful natural environment but wildlife we are treating with too little respect.