Would you leave the UK now if you could?

[JamSandle]

I've been thinking this...with how things are going in the UK, would you leave if you could, or encourage your kids to?

I know nowhere is perfect but just curious of peoples thoughts.

I have left just over a month agi, though not because i dont love the uk as there is lots i love about it, but because the package was too good to turn down. I didnt go looking for the job it was presented to me

No I love Britain - couldn't live anywhere else. I adore the weather - love living in a mild damp climate with changing seasons.

Winter is actually my favourite season - would hate somewhere hot. Could never do Australia or even Southern Europe, would make me so miserable.

The politics etc are a bit depressing to be fair at the moment but I remember the 1970's and 80's so I know these things are cyclical. I also know things aren't perfect in other countries - eg my cousin lives in Italy and they were still making her 9 year old daughter wear a facemark in school. I'm glad the British sense of pragmatism got rid of those ages ago.

Love all our culture and history - would much rather do a damp tour round Whitby abbey than lie on a baking beach! Thats my idea of hell.

I have a few options but I never would. I remember the things I loved as a child and I still manage to enjoy many of those within my bubble. I never feel as comfortable anywhere else in the world. Recently, I saw a photography exhibition about the Queen's role in the WW2 effort and I felt so proud to have been raised here.

I adore living here! And not the only one judging by these replies.Even when abroad on holiday ,I miss those small things that make us what we are ,The English GSOH,good old fish and chips ,The history of our towns .the endless countryside within a fairly short distance . No where is the same! All Countries have problems ,there is no Utopia anywhere in the world

on a worldwide basis the UK is still one of the richest and most stable countries It is because I no longer believe this that despite my love for Britain I no longer think it is objectively one of the best places to base oneself. I can't see me leaving, but I think things have changed quite profoundly.

I guess I just keep hoping they change back.

I should say it is the stability aspect rather than the overall wealth that concerns me - but the wealth disparity is a serious problem which feeds into the instability.

It really depends on what part of the country and what your income is.

If you are top 10% and have manageable mortgage costs (based on income/inheritance), you would probably be fine. If you are top 3%, your standard of living is probably comparable with people in richer european countries including norway.

There are parts of the country that are poorer than Bulgaria, but also some of the richest i.e. City of London, inner west london, parts of north london. the UK is an extremely unequal country, it has some rich people but equally a lot of poor people.

I live somewhere that’s the opposite of this. If I lived somewhere nicer with those things I’d feel ok. We also have crap weather where I am. Unemployment is really high here too.

Unfortunately, I’m stuck. DH is retired and I just don’t earn enough to be able to sell this (we own outright) and get a bigger mortgage somewhere nicer.

I will be leaving in the next year. The future of the UK is overpopulation, appalling poverty, balkanization, increasing low level corruption and violence, especially towards women.

Some of you need to find happiness from within and stop whining about things outwith your control.

with any luck Cap’n Musk will shake up the echo chamber.

There’s a lot of privilege leaking out in this thread. “Boo Brexit. Equality for all. Except Poland. I mean POLAND for chrissake”.

the issue seems to be there’s a lot of foot-stomping going on.

but if you genuinely believe the streets are elsewhere paved with gold, go for it.

The issue is a country is clearly in a bad state if you have to be 'top 10%' to be classed as fine. That is precisely the issue - the country has lost its stability.

The UK is about to go through a period of rapid and in part self-inflicted decline - it will not be pretty.

Things could turn around, now we are outside Europe there is actually perhaps more scope to address real issues as the right can't just blame 'Europe' for their own inertia.

In a heartbeat 😢.

Where to?

Bizarre all the pps going on about the seasons. Do they think other countries don’t have seasons? One of the things I hated most about the U.K. weather was how unpredictable and unseasonal it was half the time.

also have to laugh at the pp who thinks the U.K. is stable. The rest of Europe is watching U.K. politics through its fingers.

Yes india for us...
Just waiting for kids to make their mind up...

I love Britain and I love my home. It is not about other places being paved with gold.

The UK has become very unequal and is getting progressively more unequal. This is raising serious long term issues. The extent of child poverty for example - the sheer numbers going to school hungry - these things have impacts on the country as a whole, even if I am not affected directly because my family is OK.

If my grandchildren were at school in e.g. Germany or Sweden, they would be less likely to have classmates who are malnourished. These thinsg matter, it degrades everyone's quality of life when things become more grim.

Nowhere is perfect, but the UK is going through a big gear change and not in a good way, unfortunately.

My partner is European and we've just come back from a break in his home country. Main topics of conversation with his family - rising fuel prices (about double ours for a similar house), plummeting house prices due to interest rate rises, immigration/asylum issues, rise of the right wing extremists, worries about the Ukraine War and the possibility of nuclear conflict.

Clearly they have escaped the madness of Brexit and Trussonomics but the whole Western world is in crisis at the moment - we're so interconnected.

We've lived abroad and have children living abroad and have yet to find that utopian paradise everyone thinks is out there.

No. I still love it here.

i agree with this. If your kids' classmates are malnourished, they are likely to see no benefit in staying on the straight and narrow and even if you were comfortably off, you would probably have to hire private security (this already exists on some streets near me), in addition to the private healthcare and the private schooling.

This would be unaffordable for even higher earners particularly when we are talking about hundred thousand pound cancer treatment (which would be a reality if the NHS collapses). We could become a British version of Argentina quite quickly if we don't change. I am hopeful we would change but people need to understand that this is our future if we don't change.

Nope. I have family in a few places around the globe and they’re all going through the same thing. Nowhere is perfect. But we do have a lot to be thankful for here, even though things are tough at the moment.

I’ve mentioned on a couple of other threads that we will be moving to Ireland when ds finishes school in 5 years. Never thought we would be planning that, but that’s how strongly we feel now.

One thing Britain prides itself on is stoicism. The problem with stoicism is it means you do not change course when problems emerge. I worry the UK needs a real step change but if the national psyche is still very much 'we were fine in the blitz' we won't make the changes we need to thrive. Yes we will survive, but I want to thrive.

I very much like the idea from Labour that with government investment we could lead the world in green tech jobs - we are strong enough to do that - but we do need to actually decide to do something, not just muddle along.

Yes. Am very cross with Irish ancestor for being just one generation too far back to get an Irish passport. Looking hopefully to the north if, sorry when, Scotland gets its independence. Already rummaging to prove Scottish ancestry or, alternatively, ask Scottish cousins if they will sponsor us. We promise to be good and contribute to the economy and not complain about the midges. Too much.

We're also waiting to see what happens with digital nomad visas for Spain, Portugal, and Malta.

If I could go back and talk to my 28 year old self I'd tell her not to come back from overseas. Sadly we're both too old now to qualify for shortage list posts in New Zealand or Australia and for various reasons (like, you know, guns) the USA does not appeal and nor does the Middle East (I might just have managed it in my early 30s but I'm way to outspoken now to cope with their ability to oppress women and other groups) although we do have friends in the USA who I'm sure would help us settle in.

After hearing the other day how, if you or a loved one is taken to hospital in an ambulance in the UK there is now a good chance of having to wait for hours and possibly dying outside it then yes, I would move. Nothing can get better until this government goes - I don't normally write doom laden posts but the situation can only get worse under this political party (I refuse to even say their name at this point).