To be fed up of the constant bashing of the UK?

So boring. Tell them to move then. Gets on my nerves too but then I love where I live

Bit puzzled by this. Any large supermarket is full of a huge range of fresh produce. Do you live in a very remote area?

UK is alright. It is stunning in some parts but then most countries are stunning in some parts. It’s not something unique to the UK.

I think the standard of living is not great.

Poor public transport service that is expensive and unreliable. Poor roads.

Health service not great. No NHS dentists!

Higher education fees are high.

Things like public loos are invariably disgusting.

Instead of regarding it as bashing, perhaps take it as constructive criticism.

I'm in Tenerife at the moment (where the per capita income is well below the UK) and it is extremely noticeable how much cleaner and tidier it is and how well and recently constructed the infrastructure is. It was the same in my last 3 trips abroad (France and Portugal).

Service is excellent too.

The UK has a lot going for it but the public realm has really degenerated and service is often poor.

Yeah I tend to agree. I have lived in Europe in several countries and am from across the pond.I think the reason people ash the UK is because they remember it so much better and want it to return to this state.

There isn’t a lot to think is better in any respect and I would suggest OP maybe you don’t like being reminded or perhaps British pride feels hurt? I don’t say that to be snide but there absolutely is a British snobbery abiut being British that exists (ask any foreigner 😂).

I had an old school friend on FB who made the move to the other side of the world and was forever posting pics of his wonderful new life full of sun, beers outside by the pool, more sun, look at my wonderful new apartment, more sun sun sun. He loved his life there. Living in paradise. Pictures were full of him and his wife in the sun (at least one every other day)! Not like you lot in rainy old England was commented on several times.

Lots of friends back here also commented jealous of his new life. Me included as it looked lovely.

Next thing we know he's coming home due to it was hard to get decent affordable housing, they felt isolated, life was too expensive but the kicker was...it was too damned hot!

He's back now in our 'rainy town' and doesnt talk about it much despite getting some ribbing 😂

Maybe your friends are trying to make themselves feel better for the decisions they made by putting you and your life down.

The best way, the most positive way forward, is to accept that things really could be better in the UK - and start making the changes we need to make.

They will make a difference, even if it takes five to ten years. Ten years swing by surprisingly quickly!

I agree with your post entirely. I do think it’s a really strange phenomenon that so many people in the uk aren’t in paid employment for very long stretches of their lives. Employment to be both less and more important; something higher quality that you leave behind when you clock off.

@Drind nope, I’m in Stockholm at moment for new year - a coffee in their nicest chain ( complete with sofas and plants and very good coffee) is cheaper than Bath ( where I live) or even in Trowbridge up the road and not so upmarket . Extremely good Tapas for 2 last night in lovely area complete with blue fin tuna and huge garlic prawns £62 for 2 with a large glass of wine each - I would pay more local in UK. Very little here in Sweden now is more than UK -

I think this is one thing that people don’t get - very low taxation gives much higher costs in other ways - now many ex pats don’t notice this because they are covered by work in these territories but if you aren’t in that position of high value health covered employment then it isa real biggie - I’m in Stockholm for new year , a place I know well - reverse is true here, very high taxation but a lot covered off- it was same when we lived in Copenhagen - no council tax, no NI as such, cheap childcare, utilities were less, far more good quality social housing - uk in my opinion has the worse of all worlds- middling taxation and not that low if you add in council tax, NI etc, but not that much covered off either if average earners - the noticeable thing in Scandinavia is how many couples with children both work , far less of this let’s do 15 hours and get top ups - the expectation is unless physically unable, you work and use childcare. Therefore far less couples needing social support and far more decent social housing to keep rents at a level in line with earnings , meaning far more single parents working plenty of hours too - now not everyone will agree with this but the fact is the young people in the main seem mature, not feral and well behaved when in public too , so doesn’t seem to have done them any harm - I don’t think there is any way that is perfect and I can see the daily mail/telegraph having an apoplexy that older people had to pay 44% tax above certain ‘not high’ levels- and not using childcare or in some cases social housing - but again it’s higher state pensions to balance up - people here just seem to accept that’s what gives them a functioning g society , good services etc - I’m open minded to both ways of doing things - but as I say at the moment I think in the UK we kind of have the worst of all aspects and yes it’s official - a coffee in Espresso house in Stockholm is now cheaper than in Bath ( where I live)

I live in Switzerland. My health insurance costs about 400 a month, so 4800 a year, and my excess is 2600, plus 10% of all costs above that. Employer pays for accident insurance.
So if I have a bad year, I’m in for over CHF 7,000.
My partner pays more than me, so between us we pay CHF 1,100 per month on heath insurance, after tax.
It’s a great system, but comes at a cost.

I will add i grew up in a small town in South Wales- considered a fairly affluent town and voted one of the best places to live in Wales and whilst there are lots of lovely people and independent shops, excellent restaurants- there is a noticeable decline in the town and mainly attributed to the younger generation - groups of teenagers destroying flower displays, antisocial behaviour - groups of teens shouting abuse at the elderly, alot of burglaries, decline in customer service in shops - rudeness, swearing, people dropping litter, no pride in the country, apathy, the younger generation seem to have given up..but who can blame them. Very hard to build any wealth in the UK, expensive to rent, very expensive to buy, low wages, high tax, high tuition fees......Kids are angry. Doesn't justify their behaviour but I can understand their frustration. Even if you do what you're supposed to, get good grades, go to uni, work hard, their is no guaranteed path of success anymore and I think there were alot more opportunities years ago- more grad schemes, lower tuition fees etc.

I agree to an extent.
We’ve have a lot to be very proud of and we have done beautiful cities and countryside.
I live in a main city that has its issues and I get fed up of people bashing it because there is so much to be proud of.
My issue is the state of the economy. High cost of living and taxes, giving everything to lazy people on benefits and nothing to workers.

One of my colleagues from mainland Europe wss moaning about the UK. I got fed up of hearing it and told her she didn't have to stay. As a child of immigrants I felt I could say this. A white native to UK might have hesitated.

Grimsby? I also wondered about Switzerland and Southern Europe, but the OP explained she was being vague...

Also - positive mindset isn't enough to generate change!

If it were, I would be a size 8 and run a sub-20 minute 5k!

We all have a poor intuitive sense of compound growth - so slightly lower growth each year turns into a visible difference between countries over (say) 25 years.

We do however notice crises and collapses, so that is sometimes what it takes to provoke change.

Cymru am byth!

I’ve just finished a project in China. 3 site directors were “disappeared” in a year and their families have no idea where they are. All “arrested for fraud”

I am thankful every day I don’t live in a shit hole like that.

Yes rose coloured glasses indeed!

Well its not thats the whole point
Yea there are many deprived areas in the UK just like in most countries, but it's not most of the UK.

40 years ago was 1985...high level unemployment, miners strike used to try to topple the government, fear of nuclear war, recent race riots, instructional racism and sexism.
Ira bombing, huge levels of football hooliganism means English teams banned from European competitions, new age travellers invade market towns and battle police.
Militant almost pulls the labour party to pieces.

Worst of all east Enders starts.

Rose tinted glasses on the idea of England have always existed. Last of the summer wine, heartbeat, the darling buds of may...all paint a Rosie picture of what never was.

But the UK's brilliant. People who cue, a sense of fair play, decent honest coppers (most of the time), politicians who try to do the right thing, decent if snowed under justice system, pubs that serve 7 types of cider on draft, 6real ales and don't bother to list the largest, beautiful countryside, footpaths that give you the right to cross it, snooker, chip shops, a non League football pyramid.

Ha ha, only us British can be nauseatingly sentimental about our deteriorated country with its run down streets and town centres, ugly, poorly maintained buildings, shit public services, poverty, homelessness, fly tipping and laughable public transport system.

Sure, other countries have similar problems, but ds just returned from China and S.Korea and was amazed at how well their trains run and places are clean and efficient etc. It felt safer too. He lives in London and struggles to get into the office sometimes because the tube is delayed yet again for some reason.

Nothing in this country has been maintained - look at the state of the waterways and the recent canal collapses. Places are ugly and dirty, it gets people down, this is why they complain. Of course you can't compare it to Switzerland, but it brings it home to you just how bad things are when you see other places. It's bound to hit a nerve.

There's a strong streak of self deprecation running through British culture. It's there in our humour, and it's there in our belief its impolite to self praise. We often compliment others by way of negative comparison with ourselves.
Add to this a general feeling of negativity at the moment as services get poorer, streets become dirtier and we all pay more for less, and its not surprising that people are acting like a picturesque tourist spot abroad is the promised land.