What is the UK like to live in now?

Op keeps repeating the same thing about the UK being a shithole but does not give any information at all regarding location etc as she has been repeatedly asked.

It’s a hell scape. A fever dream that’s impossible to wake up from. The soundtrack to our lives would be police sirens but the police are so underfunded they don’t have any sirens.

I had to have a fist fight with a feral pigeon this morning over a slice of bread, just so could have breakfast. I’m sure pigeons weren’t as aggressive when I was younger. I suspect they’re riven with entitlement.

It’s like a post apocalyptic wasteland. Think Mad Max but with the internet. People fight in the rubble of what were once thriving cities over scraps of food and dirty water just to survive.

One of the worst English traits is doing ourselves down.

Objectively, on the global stage, England is a bloody lucky place to live. It doesn't get extremes of weather, not at high risk of natural disasters, is politically stable (albeit that people grumble about whichever government is in power). It's green and fertile and absolutely beautiful and a wonderful sense of history.

Yes house prices are high, food is more expensive than it was, gas and electricity are pricey and the NHS /medical system is overwhelmed and overburdened. However none of that makes it a "shit hole". We need people to work hard and have faith that things will improve. We've been through the most exceptional set of circumstances - the idiocy of Brexit followed by immense covid spending and mental health impact, compounded by Russia attacking Ukraine and disrupting food and power supplies, and now bloody Trump and his ridiculous tariffs. Of course people who emigrated to Spain are the ones who made a decision to move and they are going to be those who were most dissatisfied for whatever reason.

You can guarantee that anyone describing the UK as "like a third world country" has never lived in one and has no comprehension of their breaking privilege globally at being born in England.

The job isn't teaching is it? Because I wouldn't return to the UK for that!

I absolutely love Galicia, have friends there and it's beautiful. It would be a lot to give up. However, I've also lived abroad and returned home each time, here to stay now - so I do understand that feeling too.

We have a lovely life in the UK honestly, I recognise some of the problems people describe and there are certainly things I don't like, but I would in no sense describe it as 'like a third world country'. Where we live is safe, has great facilities, we have incredible countryside right on our doorstep but also easy access to a vibrant city. The schools are fantastic, our neighbours are lovely and there's a strong community feel. Obviously that's all going to vary massively depending on location and individual circumstances.

So some people are nice then?

Personal safety is not a worry every where, nor is the ability to get doctors and dentists appointments. Just more sweeping statements.

When between overseas jobs I'm usually in the UK for 2-3 months which is just about manageable. Twice I've been back for longer (1-1.5 years) and hated it
Unless you're earning around 40k then it's a struggle, finding somewhere to live can be difficult especially when you've been out of the UK for a while and need references etc, you'll also need a fair chunk of cash for deposits and setting up costs. Personal safety is often a worry with even the most unremarkable towns and cities not feeling particularly safe, good dentists and doctors can be hard to find with NHS dentists being very rare creatures these days.
One of tje good things....the multiculturalism we have which is lacking in many places.

I lived in Spain for 2 years so not quite as long and I can compare to a degree. I loved Spain. The weather is amazing, the food is amazing. I loved the culture. I came home for personal reasons and fully intended to return but life happened, children etc.
I still miss the weather but when living in it I got fed up of that too. Anyway my point is I'm not miserable at all living here. I don't live in an affluent area (South Wales valleys) but I find joy in where I live by exploring the hills. My hobbies bring me enrichment. I'd welcome life being cheaper but I get by. I guess it depends on whether you have enough to meet your basic needs and a bit more for fun.

You're meeting the people who didn't like it and moved. Their opinions could be valid given their circumstances but still not tell you anything. There's always people everywhere who have negative views on things you may like very much.

Eg I heard someone say they hated walks in the country the other day - whereas they are one of my favourite things to do and I have access to some very beautiful countryside.

Yeah I’ve been to third world countries and the U.K. is nothing like them,

it is worse than it was - cost of living, lack of money at government level means more potholes and less “looked after” generally.

Sorry op but I think your question is absolutely stupid

most people have not lived in other countries so have no comparison

most have limited places they have lived within the uk so cannot advise you on multiple areas of the uk, personally I did not enjoy living in fancy Dulwich but loved my time in a slummy east London council flat but it was because of my personal circumstances at the time

the uk is varied from beach villages to slum estates

do you have friends and family near your new job
what’s important to you ? Weather? Cost of living ? Out door lifestyle

my opinion on the uk is I’d rather live in Spain but that clouded by the fact I haven’t had a holiday in years !

I’ve been in your position. We moved back to what’s considered a shit area of the UK but my DC and all his fiends managed to get A’s and A stars in their local state school system A levels (all STEM) so imo it’s not a shit area. However, we had specific reasons to move back. We ran out of money doing our renovation abroad so it was a decision to sell everything in UK to finish or go back and get jobs. We decided to return to the UK. No regrets. My shit UK area has provided us with an affordable safe place to live, jobs, good transport, good state schools, good GP, good NHS treatment and a NHS dentist. However, DH and I will be moving abroad again because we love adventure. DC happy midway through a medical degree and is happy to stay in the UK and work in the NHS too even though they are told how shit the NHS is from everyone who has an opinion on it!

Move for the right reasons. I believe it is no better or worse in the UK it’s just different. I’ve lived all over the UK (in some of the desirable areas too) and in different continents. Life is what you make of it with the resources available to you.

Your question is impossible to answer as it depends on so many factors. I've always lived here and my life is fine. I live in a nice house in a nice place, with great transport links, and do the same job I've done for years.

People complain about the NHS and I do know some people who use private insurance but family and friends who've used the NHS in recent years have mostly had good experiences, in several cases, life saving (though waiting times in A&E are crazy).

Prices are up, of course - that's probably the biggest issue for many, but we are lucky to have sufficient funds for it not to be too concerning for us.

If you're only thinking of a year, I'd just go for it. It's not become a war torn, third world country.

Exactly how I feel.

We’ve probably added a good 10-15 million to the population since then - might explain some of the lack of tradesmen -rudeness in some of the more overcrowded areas. I don’t think Spain allows boats to come ashore with migrants like we do.

Did I say ALL people?

Such sweeping statements are idiotic. 68 million people live in the uk

Is that all people?

I've just returned after working 15 years overseas. People are angrier and ruder. Customer service is generally rubbish. Builders are unreliable and cancel with the flimsiest excuse or just ghost you.

Things I've noticed, but of course it's going to be area-dependent:

• food has gone up in price massively: supermarkets put prices up when inflation was high and that trend continues
• the quality of fruit and veg is often (not always) lower than it used to be, and the shelves are too often sparse, lots of items missing
• cheese is fantastically expensive, as is butter, and the range of cheese seems to have about halved after Brexit
• as someone said, lots of hollowed-out town centres. Betting shops/charity shops/a couple of sad gift shops/a little co-op or Nisa
• there's a real gap between what's for the urban hipster or wealthy population, and what's not, in terms of services. You need money to live as well as you could with a starting salary in the 90s/early 2000s
• rents are just mental, I don't even know where to start with that
• energy costs: they are fleecing us constantly
• trains: might be ok, might be fucking awful, often on the same line
• eating out is either lovely restaurant, no change from £150 for two with a couple of drinks, OR Zizzi-type places, it's hard to find something in between
• hotels are way more expensive than 10 years ago
• government is pretty poor at a local level: there's no money
• government at national level is frustrating/moral standards in government have really plummeted
• there really are a lot of small-minded people quite openly being racist/misogynistic
• there's a bit more outdoor eating than there used to be but of course the weather...

Shit mostly. DH fell and broke his hip on Tuesday. Took 5 hours for an ambulance to arrive. He ended up on a trolley in resuss as there was nowhere else to put him.

I went on a magical mystery tour on Saturday as picking up stuff I had bought online all over the county I live in.

We had the quaint village, it’s not too far from us. It is incredibly expensive to buy a house there, it’s a 15 min drive from me. My little town is perfectly fine. Then city shithole would describe the next place. Then a huge council estate, too many reform posters up in the windows for my liking and kids in balaclavas . Stereotypes abounded all round. As usual if you have you money don’t have to live in aforementioned shitholes. The quaint village and my town are fine, the estate and the city just awful.

I like living here. I loathe the heat and dislike beaches, so places like Australia and Spain are wasted on me. On the other hand, I love history, poetry, literature and architecture. I also like seasons – the smell of bonfires in October, the cold snaps in January, the countryside in the Spring, etc. The UK suits me. Cambridge or Edinburgh on a cold, bright, sunny morning in April is my idea of heaven. Lots of things about the UK piss me off (the constant cloud and drizzle, the dark Novembers and Decembers, etc), but I do find it an interesting place. I understand why some people want to leave. If you are young and you crave blue seas and hot sun, then OK, but anyone who says the UK is boring is obviously unimaginative and dim. Last weekend, for example, I went to Oxford and saw the pub where Tolkien read Lord of the Rings to C S Lewis, and the college where Oscar Wilde studied. It's things like that that make me grateful to live here. I love the way Britain's cultural history is so closely wound into the landscape. So, for example, the Yorkshire moors mean the Brontes, Heathcliff, Ted Hughes. Liverpool means the Beatles. Bath means Jane Austen. London means Dickens. When you walk around Cambridge, you can drink in the pub where the people who discovered DNA announced they'd found the "secret to life," and see the colleges where Newton and Charles Darwin and Byron and Wordsworth and Nabokov and countless others lived and studied. If you are interested in history and ideas, the UK feeds the imagination.

For me the worst thing is the overcrowding. There are just too many people jammed onto this little island. Closely linked to that is the shit housing. Because there are so many people, the demand is high, and that means developers take advantage, building horrible little rabbit hutches, squeezing them on top of one another, and then charging ridiculous prices. Too many people, crap housing, and not enough blue sky. Other than that, I like this country.

I think it’s partly the media - the bad news about immigration, shoplifting, stabbings, child Poverty has been sidelined thanks to Trump so the country seems better -also Labour have started being upbeat and positive. Also no country is immune-I just read an article about squatters taking over properties in a big way in Spain!
The U.K. has problems but so does Spain.