The UK… rant and give me some positives!

[FTMFML]

I used to love the UK, would have never moved but now I find myself more and more despairing this country. The weather, the politics, the NHS… I feel the list is endless.

I could never leave my family and they would never move so moving is not an option sadly.

So tell me what are the positives staying in the UK? Or what are the negatives of glorious weather, beaches, good health care of other countries?

A general election is not that far away?

I know how you feel.
I wanted to move abroad right after the Brexit vote, my husband didn't want to, I really wish I'd pushed harder but the door has closed now unfortunately. The most depressing thing about it it that we vote for this. The state of the country and public services and the poverty, this is what we have voted for and what the people wanted.

Positive about the UK though.
I think we have the best museums in the world.
Excellent theatre and arts/music scene.
Diversity of the population.
The countryside and coast (shame about shit in the sea now)
David Attenborough.

Where could you easy immigrate to, OP, that is as good or better in the domains you care about?

Umm

It’s still a relatively wealthy country with quite a lot of opportunities assuming you aren’t cut off from the mainstream of society. More opportunities to be flexible in your career than France, more opportunities full stop than in Italy or Spain.

The state education system is ok assuming (as anywhere) you can afford the worst schools. Can’t think of many places much better (you do have to remember we are brilliant at saying what’s shit about life here, lots of places aren’t - my partner is part Danish - everyone there thinks they have a great education system. They do not. It’s distinctively average.)

There’s still a lot of racism, but at least we are trying to address it to a degree. I think a lot of places are worse than the UK on this: Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Australia. you can argue the US is more aware than us, but the polarisation is a huge problem.

There’s still a lot of sexism, but it is slowly improving. France and Australia both a lot worse than UK IME.

We do value individuality and there’s quite a lot of live and let live. A lot of countries that have good social cohesion fall down on this. I’m looking at you Denmark. But also France I think.

The NHS is clearly in a terrible state. But if you don’t have megabucks for health care it’s still better here than the US. Same for being poor. I know that isn’t saying much.

It’s really fucking worrying though, I agree.

AVOID the worse schools

Where would you go? Then we can compare.

So I’ve just moved here from Australia (I’m originally from the U.K.) and I would say the positives are as follows:
The culture - it’s amazing and everywhere. London is just chockas with brilliant and often free museums and exhibits. National trust places are wonderful. Even small towns and villages have fascinating histories.
I find in general that people are warm, down to earth and have a brilliant sense of humour.
Loads of stuff to do, all packed into a fairly small space
Easy access to the millions of towns and cities of Europe
A free and generally good NHS - yes it could be much better but in general it’s very good and staffed with hard working dedicated people.
There is nothing to beat a warm summer morning or evening. Birds singing, gentle breeze.
The countryside is benign and pretty
The seasons always bring something new and interesting and normally pretty to look at.
Cities are generally safe - the London Underground is safe to use even fairly late at night. In general, most places are safe and people are honest.

Can I get back to you on that?

The people are generally really lovely

Thank you all so far, I have no idea to be honest where I would go if I went. Somewhere that has sunshine more than 2 days a year😂

Good sense of humour and typically self-deprecating
Culture
Some beautiful countryside and beaches
Great choice of different cuisines
Nice supermarkets
Drivers aren't as scary as some countries
Tube a lot nicer than the subway in NY
A leading financial centre globally
Easy to have mini-breaks in Europe
A love of queuing

In a few weeks it'll warm up and everyone will be complaining about the heat.