Do emigres from the UK imagine the UK is stuck in the dark ages?

[livingunderskirt]

I have quite a few relatives who have moved overseas to places like Australia, Canada and Denmark. Something that I notice when they visit is that they seem to assume that in the UK we are stuck in the dark ages, I had one relative from Australia try to explain to me recently what an ipad is and does, when I have my own ipad. My aunt who now lives in Denmark tells me about how in Denmark they are very advanced with recycling much more so than the UK because they have special bins for paper and glass/plastic. We have all that too but at the time we had food waste recycling too and they didn't. Lots of things like that, like being surprised to learn we Malaysian, Korean, Sri Lankan restaurants locally and not just Chips or Chinese places or that we have podcasts and smart watches.

Its not a big deal it doesn't wind me up or anything but I do wonder why this is? I suppose they might assume that the UK has stayed the same since they left in the 80s or 90s. I just think it's kind of odd. I have lived overseas myself and never felt this way and I sort of expect lifestyles / tech to be similar all over the developed world at this point.

I just wondered if anyone else has noticed this?

@Puffinshop it sounds great but must point out it's much easier to be less bureaucratic and for kids to have more freedom when the country is so much smaller. U.K. population is around 66 million vs Iceland population around 380,000. There are around 9 million people in London alone.These things do make a big difference.

Yes, of course. There are lots of benefits to a small population. It's one of the reason I like living here.

There are also a few downsides.

The UK has always had a much bigger population than Iceland, though, and children used to have much more freedom. And other European children from larger countries still have that freedom, so it's also a cultural paranoia problem.

That and the UK's car-centricism which must be among the worst in Europe (Iceland is also horribly car centric but the size of the towns works in our favour there again).

@Puffinshop yes good point about changes over time. I would say, the make up of our towns and cities has changed a lot over time, people don't live as close to family. We lead more isolated lives without the same sense of community. I do think it's easier to be more relaxed about this kind of thing when you live in a smaller community where most people know each other. Anecdotally, when I compare U.K. to Germany where I also have family I don't see them as being more relaxed about kids having freedom it feels similar.
Completely agree with you about cars! It feels like London is the only place that has excellent public transport everywhere else it's so hard to get around without a car and I think that's a great shame. Think it's a disgrace and just so short sighted that Sunak just scrapped HS2. The Tories and Brexit have done a lot of damage to the U.K. in my opinion.

I'll tell my mum (70s) that when she is next using Apple Pay on her phone to pay for her shopping, she could do with a laugh

The national ID system and national register is also what makes much of the bureaucracy so smooth, not the size of the population. All the systems and services in Iceland are linked up. The UK could have national ID numbers if they wanted, but they don't want them and that's why accessing services in the UK can be so convoluted and require so many documents and evidence that just aren't needed in countries with national ID numbers.

Of course there are drawbacks, which I believe is why the UK population is overall against the idea. Weren't there concerns about government control and data safety? Same with the concerns about a cashless society I suppose. But it does make a lot of things easier.

When I was young in the 70s my Dutch relatives refused to believe you could buy food like peanut butter in the UK. My mum was also given a garlic press by a friend who didn’t think the UK used such exotic implements.

My sister who has lived in Japan for 30 years, always gets a shock about how expensive everything is and how fashion changes.

She thinks Japanese payment and banking is behind the UK. She also cannot believe how London flat rentals have now exceededTokyo in expensiveness and lack of space.

Well, my best friend, who is German, regularly pops back and forward to see family, despairs at how behind Germany is with all things digital.

Meanwhile my Italian rellies are gobsmacked by the range, variety, and cheapest of food available in Supermarkets. Anything in Italy faintly administrative is also stuck in the dark ages, requiring physical presence, patience, and hundreds of rubber stamps.

Here you can get any documentation applied for on-line, and linked up. Once you have your uploaded passport photo, you can get driving license, rail cards, tax info, etc etc all on-line, linked up and available at the push of a button.

Yeah it’s kind of crazy to think about the backlash against ID cards when they were suggested here when you think about how much tracking and sharing of personal info people now accept due to use of smartphones etc and barely any complaints. I have lived in 2 countries with single ID system and it does make things a lot more efficient.

@StamppotAndGravy I don't think British people are that attached to cash, actually. I frequently use cards and most people I know use them even more, but I won't shop anywhere that advertises themselves as "cash-free", worded of course to make it sound as if they're doing people a favour, when in reality they're limiting customer choice and knowingly discriminating against those without bank accounts, or who just prefer to use cash. Covid unfortunately gave businesses the perfect excuse to introduce such policies and some have kept them.

NL is my favourite holiday destination but not everywhere takes Visa and MasterCard, particularly of the debit card variety, which is a shame and makes taking cash a necessity. Not just in Albert Heijn but also on some public transport or in smaller shops, I've found.

As for sorting out the rest of society, yes that would be nice, but all societies have problems (I know you haven't said they don't). I can't see how forcing change on a not insignificant number of people, rather than letting that change happen more naturally, would be a good thing. That's what gets people's backs up.

There are also privacy concerns. My spending habits are dead boring and completely legal, but why should there be a record anywhere of what I've bought and where/when if I don't want there to be? It's unnecessary.

I'll tell my mum (70s) that when she is next using Apple Pay on her phone to pay for her shopping

My mum is in her mid 80s and is the same. Although she doesn’t use her laptop as much she did. She finds her iPad Pro more convenient.

The online gov seevices are great but also terrifying for immigrants.
"send us your ID" is a nightmare sentence considering my experience with them losing docs or contractor delivering visa to wrong address....

National ID systems are so much better, everything is connected and simpler, no problem with going to a different doctor and them not being able to access your medical records for instance, and you don't have to get your prescription sent to a specific pharmacy as you just show your ID at any pharmacy and they can access the prescription system and find your prescription. And then there's the ease of identifying yourself online, with online banking because your ID number is associated with your bank account so if I want a new passport I can just log into the police website with my online banking codes and get straight into my details, upload a new photo and I'm done. Driving license the same except with a different website, and then I didn't even need to upload a photo because they could take the photo from the passport system. And you never ever have to find someone from a list of professionals to countersign your photograph!!