Has the UK changed that much in 5 years?

[Faraway100]

As the title asks really. My husband and I currently live in Singapore and are debating whether to extend his contract here for another two years or move back to the UK.

We would love to be back near our families, however it seems like the UK is very much doom and gloom at the moment. Obviously when we come back we are in vacation mode and thoroughly enjoy ourselves but I wonder if we are a bit blind to the realities.

Has the pandemic, healthcare crisis and rising inflation fundamentally changed how the UK (specifically England) “feels” on a day to day basis? And even if we stayed abroad for another two years would anything change anyways? Hopefully someone understands what I’m getting at 😬

I can’t ask family as both sets of parents are retired and a bit insulated for everything and our friends and siblings would catch on to why we are asking right away!

If you have good health & dental cover and a good income (utilities are any high & the NHS is collapsing), 2024/5 will be a good time to buy housing in the UK. Everything else will come out in the wash.

It is bad now but the world is always full of bad news/wars etc, even in the 90s. It's just the nature of things. It's been relentless since 9/11 though.

Long-term Tory rule always cripples public services and coupled with the effects of Brexit, Covid and post-2008 austerity and UK is really grim right now, although it's not the only place to suffer some of these effects. The self-harm of Brexit is on us though.

If you are financially ok it's the same as ever. If you can afford private health care, then I'd make this a priority.

It has definitely changed for the worse.

What you will experience in the lack of public services will entirely depend on your personal circumstances and which services you need to access?

Cost of living crisis - If you’re wealthy you should be ok financially. Middle/low income earners most people are struggling financially and it’s looking to get worse with interest rates expected to continue to increase and the government failing to bring down inflation.

Education - Personally I would not be comfortable sending my child to a school that’s falling down, of which there are many.

NHS - no amount of money or private health insurance can save you if you need an ambulance (there is no private A+E or Ambulance service in the UK). And if you can’t afford insurance or to pay privately for medical care you’ll really struggle to see a NHS GP, Consultant or Dentist. Massive waiting lists.

There are loads of strikes currently happening, this isn’t just in the news it’s real but it depends if you’ll need to access those services affected?

I was a journalist for a decade 2000 to 2010 and the media, both local and national, are reporting on exactly the same things I was writing about, in exactly the same way.

I’ve also lived on the same part-private / part social housing estate for 20 years in a deprived area and it’s still litter, dog shit, people getting pissed and fighting in the street, and not giving a shit about their kids. Moaning that it’s everyone else’s fault but theirs.

The only thing that’s changed as far as I can see is social media is even more of a ballache. And people’s behaviour is generally a bit shitter.

It all comes down to

• are you healthy?
• have you got private healthcare?
• have you got plenty of cash to absorb the growing cost of utilities, petrol, food, school fees, train fares, childcare?
• Have you got enough cash for ids to go to uni?
• good mental health? Can you absorb the underlying air of ‘is this it?’ From the school leavers you look at boomers and can’t believe how tough things are

Based on my own experience I would say it's not worth coming back. We moved back in 2021 after 5 years in Singapore and I was shocked by how much the UK has degenerated. I can no longer get a doctor's appointment, there is so much homelessness due to huge rent rises and increased demand on rental properties, and more anti-social behaviour than I had witnessed previously. If you add on top of that, the awful weather for 8 months of the year and the huge difference in tax you will pay here, it's quite a hard pill to swallow. We moved back because my job was unsustainably stressful, and we thought it would be great to spend time around family, but if I'm honest, the family time hasn't really materialised in the way we thought it would - everyone has their own busy lives and I think there's an element of people being used to us not being around after 5 years away. I think we probably spent more quality time together when they were visiting us for weeks at a time.

I dream about returning to Singapore every day!

Isn't this thread depressing reading. Labour should use this as their manifesto for the next election

100% agree with this. Social media gives anyone and everyone the right to say their piece. I remember people moaning 20 years ago the same old shite, only difference from then to now is it was Bazzer down the pub you had to listen to. Now it's strangers from all over the globe putting the boot in and it's affecting mental health.

I've just visited for the first time since just before Covid. People look pinched, rough and pale and just a bit run down. Prices are higher. Lots of empty shops. Lots of broken / vandalised things in public.

Also, and this may seem a little strange, but customer service is absolutely awful. I get the impression that businesses are sweating the assets so hard now that their staff can't do a proper job.

It's been on a slide for a while though. Back in the 00s Britain seemed sleek and well-groomed. Lots of nice things to have at great prices. I noticed a slide after the GFC.

Hahaha where were you? Not at all like that in my town! Most people are tanned after our lovely June and not a single boarded up shop, nothing visibly vandalised.

As this thread shows it clearly depends where you are going to OP and how comfortably off you are. The majority of people are living normal happy lives.

It does annoy me a lot that the government don't seem capable of doing anything to reverse these declines. In some respects it's irreversible but there are things they could do or just suggest to see how the public like the idea. And things that should have been done much better in the first place.

London. God knows what it's like elsewhere seeing as London is where the money is.

Be aware OP that this a middle class website. Only have to see the threads about those earning £100k plus. It's London and home counties dominated so the experience of living in Guildford will be very different to that in Barnsley, Bolton or Oldham.
It's also changed in its political demographic. Back in the noughties when I joined it was vaguely lefty and progressive, now it's far more right wing and 'anti woke'/politically incorrect. Far more benefit bashing and snobbery. I guess if you live in the Cotswolds or Hampstead, WFH and never watch the news, you can pretend everything is tickety boo and tbh it probably is.

Agree 100% and I live in a nice part of C London. I took a walk down South Molton St this week and 80% of the shops are boarded up, probably because retailers can’t afford the leases. Oxford St is American candy heaven. It was an incredibly depressing sight. Customer service has definitely declined - when it’s shit in John Lewis, things are bad. There is a a definite sense of malaise. 3 stabbings in my area in the space of a week, more frequent sound of police helicopters overhead.