So bored of 'we left our life in the UK' influencers

Not an influencer, but we moved to Belgium in 2019 as my husband got a job here. There are many positives, we prefer the weather (it is sunnier despite being in northern europe), the schools, and the healthcare system. The big negatives are the taxes (crazy), employment regulations (too long to explain here but complicated and very pro-employer) and bureaucracy. We miss a lot of things about the UK. Mainly cultural, it’s hard to explain but just the British sense of humor, manners and so on. I miss pubs and British food, even finding good cheddar cheese is hard lol. Luckily we do live in an area where nearly everyone speaks English, but I dread making phone calls and so on as my Dutch and French are basic. We did NOT live in a nice area in the UK, so I wouldn’t want to move back there and I think that played a big part in our decision. I have lived in many places as an adult, in the US and England, they all have positives and negatives. You’re absolutely right, portraying the UK as all negative and Europe as all positive is boring. It all depends on what’s important and relevant for you and your family.

If you’re “so bored” of them then don’t look at their posts. Isn’t that obvious?

That’s because it is though.

Im not in the UK but have noticed the same from influencers from my country. My biggest problem with them is most of their content seems to be slagging off the country they came from and saying how great Australia, Spain, France...wherever is in comparison. Smacks of trying too hard to convince everyone they are doing better than everyone at home. It's smug and unnecessary.

It just annoys me. No country is perfect and my country is actually not that bad but you'd think it was hell the way some of them go on. Also I'd die of boredom sitting on a beach everyday.

Twas ever thus. Remember that TV programme - A Place In The Sun?

Real Estate programme about people moving to sunnier climates. They'd be out there house shopping with the intent of selling up lock-stock-and-barrel in the UK.

When the programme did its "how are they getting on" visit the result was always the same:

"We're still arguing and the pool didn't bring us closer together."

yeah no shit 🙄

It does make me laugh when it's the same people who wang on about immigrants.

the weather was lovely etc they said the bureaucracy was terrible, the school system was appalling

This is exactly my experience of Spain. Not to mention the terrible burden the mahoosive influx of tourists are every summer. I completely understand why over tourism is being protested against now. Which added to the lack of the locals being prepared to accept our family when we lived there. Because we were just an extension of the tourists albeit living and working there. Spain in particular really doesn't want us Brits there not even as permanent, tax paying residents. There is active hostility towards us and that was a very large part of our decision to come home again.

Anyone else raising an eyebrow at "indigenous"? Just me?

I think influencers get paid to present the upsides of whatever they're contracted to.

I don't love our politics here but on the whole Britain is all right. And it's stunningly beautiful in parts. I can think of a lot of things that are better than in the 80s and 90s, when I was a young thing and spent some time living abroad. (But not enough to run into bureaucracy!)

I longingly look at photographs of benbecula ❤️

Once my kids are done with uni, they’ve said they’re not looking to stay in the UK so there’ll be nothing keeping me here. I may keep a little place here but would love to buy a little bolthold on a tiny Greek island (not the big touristy ones!) where the pace of life is slow, people are friendly and as long as there’s internet, I’ll be fine! My kids said home is wherever I am and wherever that is, they’ll come and visit regularly…there’s a lot of positives in the UK but at the same time, there’s a lot that has changed and not for the better sadly…

You're spot on about Brexit. It's really impoverished the country and will remain the elephant in the room until the right wing whose fault it is are prepared to admit that. I suspect hell will gave frozen over...

Same about climate change. I'm lucky enough to have an EU passport but Europe will be unbearably hot in summer, the UK is slowly turning into a hot country, never mind anywhere else.

Completely not true!

I’m bored of all influencers

Everywhere has problems. I prefer the UK's problems to say, what friends in South Africa put up with. Yet they love their country and would never leave to come live here. There is a lot of turmoil globally and a lot of European economies are slowing right now, the far right is on the rise but this too shall pass. Then there are cultural barriers. I would love to try living in the Nordics but they tend to be quite reserved societies so I think it would be lonely and a bit isolating for us. I still love the UK, I love the countryside and the history, I like small talk with strangers on public transport, I love the NHS and I love the weather, even though it gets a bit to hot for my liking these days with climate change (and we live in Scotland). I think its great if people move abroad, try something new and love it, but that doesn't make the UK a hell hole. Vote Farage in, though, and that might change.

I think people need to realise a lot of things about media - both print and online - nearly all of it has an agenda and we have far more media owners keen to see Farage and his bunch of weirdos on a white charger riding on or even the Tory’s than we do raving about anything centreist or left of centre. That’s because it would simply become dog eat dog and people with lots and lots of cash will once again be able to buy up cheap assets and do nice little deals with not much scrutiny , look how they suck up to people like the Bamfords - I’ve noticed all the things coming up on Google about tax and pensioners paying tax on savings etc from the ‘local’ online sites - these sites are all owned by the same people and keep pushing the ‘labour’ is doing this narrative, to get people frothing - many of these things and rules were already in place under the Tory’s, it’s just Labour have put more people in at HMRC and it’s being tightened up , but hey let’s make out it’s new - when it comes to benefits of any kind many of these people want things ‘tightened up’ but it seems if it comes down to anything that might affect them personally , suddenly they don’t want it tightened up!!! It’s like inheritance tax, yes other places have more generous limits than we have here but many of them also have much higher taxation in general ( not all but a lot) - if you want to go somewhere like US that has middling level tax but high allowances then factor in all the other not so great aspects, same with somewhere like Dubai. As someone once said on another thread it seems a lot of Brits want Dubai level of taxes but Scandinavian public services. It comes down to the fact that so much comes down to costs in the UK , particularly housing, childcare, council tax etc and my own view is I think it is actually the hardest for people in the middle income brackets in not cheap areas

It’s certainly bright and sunny.

And Isn’t that ironic.

They are probably trying to publicize their consultancy services for people moving to the EU - services that weren't necessary before Brexit.

You aren't really in their target demographic because you have an EU passport, and seem currently too privileged to care about the UK going to hell in a handcart.

Yes the beaches are simply wall to wall with bikini clad lap-toppers. Can’t get to my jet ski for love nor money.

Literally no one is pointing Saudi Arabia as a “haven”.
One post on MN last week does not a trend make.

It's not only the "right wing" press. It's the press in general. The left-wing press also sows division, fear and anger - just about different stuff. Tragically, those three words are how the media makes money these days...

I was once told by an FT journalist (a fairly neutral paper compared to most and owned by a Japanese co-operative) than he was increasingly pushed for "impact, not insight".

if they are influencers then dont follow them, if there are friends etc then unfollow or hide them