To feel our quality of life in the UK gets lower every year?

Just like I’ve never seen knife crime in the UK, I’ve never seen gun crime in the states. I’m not denying the issue. But fortunately it hasn’t impacted my life.

All three of those states are sunny and hot. There is a lot to do outdoors. I go back at the end of the week, thank goodness.

Some really crucial things are getting worse. But a lot is far better.

People's expectations went through the roof in 1990-2010s.

I grew up in the 1970s and 80s. No central heating. No car. No phone. No social media or computers, obviously. Very rarely new clothes. My shoes got glued or had new tips put on them if I outgrew them. For your birthday, a main present would be one LP of music or a sweater or coat that you needed anyway. Without a car, we never got lifts anywhere, so we walked everywhere, in rain, hail, snow, miles to school, to friends' homes, or very late at night back from parties or clubs in our teens.

To buy basics like clothes and shampoo, I had a job after school and on Saturdays from age twelve.

NHS had far less calls on it then, because people had less access to information and much lower expectations. No one sued the hospital if someone died post surgery. It was just life.

Far fewer people owned a home or expected to. Or went to uni or expected to.
The food was bland. Racism was rife. Life expectancy was far lower. Neurodivergence was just laughed at. Dyslexics were thickos, autistic people were weirdos, ADHD sufferers were lazy or naughty. Sexism and sexual predatory behaviour was totally normal and it was never the men who were blamed but the young girls who were ridiculed as sluts. Domestic violence was not tackled by police. Rape in marriage was legal. Homosexuality was an aberration. Having children outside of marriage was such a social disgrace, that perfectly capable women were forced to give up their babies for adoption.

We came a long way. And now we are back sliding. For me, the mix of outrageous house prices and very low wages/zero hours/job insecurity these days is a moral and societal disgrace that no leaders seem to have any commitment to overturning. But a lot else is far better.

11%? Holy shit. That is a lot of developed land. Never ever to be reclaimed by nature. You do realise we don't have an unlimited amount of land right?

We should have less sodding people not more sodding houses. I hate the attitude just build more. Hideous ambition .

Interesting. I know a little about Florida but understand it's a nice sunny place..

Otoh I understand gun crime is a significant issue there, with 3200 deaths yearly (assuming the state I saw was true). Is this an issue? Obviously this will vary by area I know...

the whole of Europe is still the best place to be.

But we’re not comparing our quality of life now to 60 years ago, we are comparing it to ‘comparable’ countries.

Mainly Florida, but often Texas And South Carolina.

Can I ask which state of America you're in?

I count these as blessings, for which I am thankful not just for myself but for my precious family, friends and everyone else!

My quality of life is fantastic… when I’m in America. The space, outdoors lifestyle, natural environment and quality of health service despite the expense, are incredible. The time that I spend in America I feel healthy, active, motivated and happy.

The time I spend in the UK is miserable. It is an utterly shit country, with absolutely nothing going for it. I spend every minute I’m here waiting to go back. When I’m in the UK, I feel unhealthy, demotivated, depressed and I have a cloud of permanent brain fog hanging over me.

Off the back of another thread where I mentioned my childhood homes being bought by my parents for under 300k in the late 90s/early 2000s, and are now all selling for 700k+.

I feel like our quality of life just dwindles every year. Everything becomes more expensive. Housing is low quality, small and extortionate. The weather is awful 70% of the time. Everything feels so overcrowded with fewer green spaces and natural beauty as more housing estates go up. The roads are awful, choked with traffic and potholed. Constant roadworks here yet nothing ever seems to get solved. Customer service is a bit rubbish, nothing really works as intended. More and more rules about what you can and can’t do. People just seem stifled and stressed.

I’m sure people will rush along to say how wonderful the NHS is and similar, but I sometimes feel really envious of people living in places where (although not perfect) they have something reliable to enjoy - great weather, a nice big house, just more space and less overcrowding.

I don’t think I’m being unreasonable but I wonder if you do!

Did you feel this way in the 90s and early 2000s?

I’m surprised people thought Brexit would help control illegal immigration.

You find it totally infuriating?
I find it totally infuriating that despite allegedly taking control of our boarders we have more and more undocumented men arriving here who are (some, not all ) committing heinous rapes/assaults and murders.

Im appalled that these men are being given private health care unlike the rest of us who just have to pay for it and sit on waiting lists.
Im furious that despite offering a referendum we are in this shit because politicians haven’t executed Brexit as it should have been. None of the ones in charge believed in it which is why it was so terribly cocked up.
Every politician is in it for themselves.

Yes @Playingvideogames I think it’s awful here in so many ways. I don’t go to ‘events’ any more because there are just too many people. Everywhere is crowded. The NHS is an utter disgrace because there is no accountability for its 1.125million members of staff.
Huge swathes of people are being forced to go to university and get into massive debt in order to have a career that doesn’t need educating to degree standard.
We expect our elderly relatives to live incredibly long lives but have no intention of looking after them. State Pensions will be non exsistant by the time my daughter retires- unless you are a civil servant of course when you will get a huge pension that the rest of us have to pay for. Even if you make a huge error (looking at you lying Midlands police chief) you can retire early without damaging your financial payoff.
I despair the way the country is headed.
People wearing masks parade through London in the ‘peace marches’ which anyone with a brain can see are hate marches - nazi salutes, death to the idf, terrifying Jews, costing us a fucking fortune, police turning a blind eye but god help you if you say anything about men dressing as women, or the danger of unwanted illegal immigrants as the left turn on you screaming ‘fascist, Nazi etc and try to get you sacked.
I hate Kier Starmer crawling on his belly to the Chinese - they must be laughing their heads off at us ‘Yes of course Mr Ping you can build your huge embassy in the middle of our capital city so you can better spy on us and fuck the country up further’.
Theft, shoplifting, assaults, rapes , bloody green taxes, pandering constantly to minority groups - but fuck the rest of us. Banged up for saying something on X but not investigated for raping children if you are a Muslim. Too many MPs who care deeply about Gaza but don’t call out raping gangs here on their doorsteps.

Our quality of life gets worse every year - we are just pawns in the government’s game.

Surely you understand that’s a totally separate issue from what’s being discussed here?

I agree, I’ve travelled a lot and think we have a pretty good deal in UK. The OP sounds like a half empty person.

Yes the uk is in decline because we don’t have a culture of making stuff better, we have a culture of get as much as you can for yourself whilst you can. At the lowest income this is people claiming each and every benefit going whilst working cash in hand and at the highest income this is people inheriting billions worth of land and property and paying absolutely no tax worth mentioning on it. You get out what you put it but when millions aren’t putting in it’s inevitably going to go to shit. Until everyone is expected to pull their weight and starts pulling their weight instead of blaming everyone else for their problems the country will continue its terminal decline. People would rather blame immigrants or the ‘rich’ than make difficult changes or choices in their own lives.

I don’t mind the weather as we’re hopefully going to be less negatively impacted by climate change than other areas. We don’t have huge insects here which I appreciate as well.

But we’re not comparing our quality of life now to 60 years ago, we are comparing it to ‘comparable’ countries.