Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

I don’t doubt your statistic that 54% are net recipients. But that’s not the same as ‘contributing nothing’. It just means ‘receive more than they contribute’. It might be £1 more. Is that not right? Or am I missing something?

I’m not sure how your statistic is calculated, but I suspect it’s Tax Paid compared to Benefits Received. Is that right? In which case would a person working full time on minimum wage be in that 54% if they had a child living with them in their household who was in state school? Or would it just be if they received in direct financial benefits more than the £3,391 a minimum wage salary contributes in tax? Or is it more complicated than that?

FWIW I think the problem is inequality more than anything. You say that ‘You won’t have a good standard of living if I take 50% of your wealth and give it to the family next door’. Well, aside from the fact that wealth (as distinct from income) is very much under-taxed, I don’t agree with your statement in principle if, as is often the case, the wealthy have more than a good standard of living. If some of the 46% (say the top 10%) have a solid gold lap of luxury six star hotel standard of living, surely they could still have a great standard of living even if you took away 50% of their wealth (which, by the way, nobody is suggesting)? And wouldn’t that be fair if it meant that some of the 54% went from ‘shit standard of living’ to ‘slightly better standard of living?’

Oh dear. Things are not getting better at all.

14 years of austerity.
17 years since the financial meltdown.
Labour only in for 9 months.
Labour front loading public spending.
Billions being spent on the NHS.
Waiting lists already coming down.

It is getting better. You just can't see it yet.

We're not quite there yet...

In general Polish and Romanians have good levels of education and superior language skills. Families also worked elsewhere in EU and then invested their money back home taking back bilingual kids. Service jobs employing multi-lingual people at very reasonable costs make that attractive to companies in other countries. Living in previously shit circumstances encouraged people to move, to work harder, to improve themselves, maybe to live in an HMO and save every penny. And then to come back and invest in their own communities. I went to Pristina (Kosovo) last year and there are some cocktail bars that wouldn't look out of place in Paris or London.

On MN every day I read of people who can't answer their own phone unless they know who it is, or speak to a friend without drama, or answer the door....There's a lesson there somewhere...

Are you saying the UK is the best place in the world to live? Have you ever been outside of it?

But you will be a migrant elsewhere

are you just expecting another country to welcome you with open arms?

the absolute hypocrisy

@BatchCookBabe I feel guilty about that every day.
We didn’t leave the U.K. by choice - my husband is military and we got posted.
We are now 5,500 miles away from my parents and I feel guilty every day that we took their grandchildren away from them 😔😔
They can afford to visit once a year, which I am incredibly grateful for and there is always happy tears all round at the airport…but then when they have to leave? It honestly feels like my stomach has fallen out of my arse, and seeing my children cry and be so sad knowing it will be a year before they see their grandparents again breaks my heart.
And then there’s the other aspects of homesickness you don’t expect initially, especially in a westernised, English-speaking country. I miss random foods from home, I miss pub culture, I miss British sports events, I miss British humour and banter with strangers - I still do not feel at home here and I don’t think I ever truly will.

🤫 Don't tell anyone!

Enjoying life in the UK, quite obviously.

People who complain most about the UK are looking for a reason to moan about immigration. Then tell you why they want to emigrate themselves. Or that their kids already have. They are entitled to, you see. Because. 🙄

Maybe I am. I am still so angry about Brexit that it makes me like that!

Go for it. Crap weather here too - move somewhere sunny!

You would encourage them to go, like the clever Jews did, from Nazi Austria and Germany before 1939, when they saw that their countries were going to shit and encouraged their children to run to England (the great Anita Brookner's parents), when they themselves had to stay/had no means of running away.

You will have poverty if your corporations are paying wages below the real costs of living.

@theDudesmummy 🙄 pedantic.

I have family all over the world and there are few places that aren't having similar issues. Where do you see yourself going ?

U ok hun?

Brits will be begging for food and selling Big Issue in Romania?

That's different though - Brits are welcomed everywhere! 🙄

Is all of the Middle East a powder keg? The uae? Qatar? Kuwait? Oman? All powder kegs? I know a good number of people that have moved to the uae and for the most part it is cheaper than here.

and what’s wrong with Canada?

I have just been staying with friends in NZ and most of the families I know there have at least one if not several of their children living and working abroad. Several came to UK, one to Australia, One to Dubai, One Hong Kong. It is a beautiful country but a lot of young people there feel remote from rest of world and move away.

UK is now despised by its own people because its own people remember what it used to be like, so no wonder they despise it now. Equally, UK is a magnet for 1000s of people as you say, because they come from hellholes, compared to which the UK is a land of miracles, especially since those coming have priority over our own in terms of accommodation and benefits - compare them to our homeless and you will see the difference.

By 2030, half of all 18 year olds IN THE WORLD will be from Sub Saharan Africa

In the UK, 500,000 kids leave school every year
but
Around 750,000 people qualify for the state pension each year
as the UK ages