How do you feel about this for Germany?

[kmo0416]

As a British person, how does it make you feel to know that Germany has a large economy than Britain and is more powerful than Britain?

Are you jealous or resentful or not?

Or the women's team.
The rivalry between Scotland and Germany men is never as bad, probably because they know they'll thrash us and our fans are ace.

It's what a lack of investment in the country for the last 20/30 years looks like. I can't see how we can ever catch up now. Lots of countries have maintained an industry base which we let go and have kept up investment in their infrastructure.

You just need to travel to see how further ahead lots of us countries are. It's quite depressing.

They've also sold their country out to open borders, so im not jealous of them.

I watched a documentary the other day, about, you guessed it, lack of investment in German infrastructure. There are schools which are literally falling apart, trains are consistently unreliable, roads poorly maintained - does nobody remember the Dresden bridge collapse? This is a reliable source:
www.dw.com/en/germanys-ailing-infrastructure-in-need-of-renovation/video-72025960

Zero resentment. Glad when I visit to benefit of things such as good reliable local public transport.

I am German, I live in the UK since 2000 so I think I am fairly good to see both sides.

Not sure why the OP picked Germany, you mean because of the war we shouldn't be a prosperous nation?

Germany has it's issues, it's absolutely not easy and wonderful. Our train system is crap, education has problems, we have unfortunately a far-right party in parliament. In a way the country still is divided even 30+ years after unification because a lot of old problems have never been solved properly and it will take at least one more generation.

But - our set up is different, we are still a manufacturing country plus service, finance so there is more evening out when one sector is having issues.
Our growth for this year is forecast at max 0.5%, hardly something to shout about.

The EU is what helps, there is no issue exporting/importing. Costs can be lower as there are no tariffs or custom, you get movement of workers and that is needed everywhere and I am not just talking about seasonal fruitpicker but proper trained specialists.

What helds Britain back is the mindset of "we are better", "we were the Empire", "we need to be independent".

Strange thread. Why would we feel jealous or resentful?

And why are you asking only about Germany and not about the other economies which are bigger than our own?

Thanks for this. I live in the UK but have an interest in Germany, and agree overall with your comments. Please know that many of us, especially in Scotland, wanted to remain in the EU and still wish to cooperate and work together where we can.

This thread is a bit bonkers. But I don’t consider Germany to be a) a rival or b) in a great place. Politically it is in a bit of a mess, with a significant portion of politicians sympathetic to Russia, economically it is in real trouble as a large manufacturing country - China is eating its lunch after decades of foolish JVs, and their beloved car manufacturers have missed the boat on the electric transition. They screwed up by shutting down their nuclear power generation. Their trains are considerably worse than ours and their bureaucracy has to be experienced to be believed.

So I would say we are very much in the same boat 😂

England was fucked over by Brexit.
I don't hate other countries, I do despise the people who were so stupid and bigoted they believed Farage and Boris over the experts

I think there’s a learning opportunity here. They’re geographically close to us, and similar culturally and environmentally. Population is 16% larger, but demographics, life expectancy etc are similar. So what are they doing that is working well? What is holding us back? Why can’t we make some brave decisions and do the same?

Yes, we should be going back to coal-fired power plants to get all out of electricity, like they have. It’s the only sensible thing to do when you have a massive population. Good on them.

Not to mention the bread...

I'm very fond of Germany and glad it's doing well. Wouldn't occur to me to be jealous of another country, what would be the point of that?

Laughing at the typical MN faux confusion over “I really don’t understand why you’ve chosen Germany”.

Right now I’m quite pleased we haven’t committed to being dependant on Russia for our gas.

European cooperation, railways and public infrastructure, healthcare, tertiary education, support for a range of second cities.

Have you taken a look at the link I posted above?

Yes. But relative to the UK, it seems to be ahead in these areas. Being curt as literally on a plane taking off, to Germany!

Not sure where you get this information

over half the energy comes nowadays from renewable sources, coal will be stopped by 2038.

Germany invested in solar power for private homes over 20 years ago with very cheap state funded subsidies.

Yes, Russian Gas was an issue and it’s acknowledged that things have to change.

Think it's a great positive that our teens have options fairly close to home to emigrate to a more secure, growing economy.

I can honestly say I have never given this any consideration and after posting in this thread I probably never will again. I don't feel anything about it.

You need to be more specific. As pp have pointed out, there are other larger economies than Britain so why particularly focus on Germany? I’m intrigued.

Good for them I say. Seems like a great country and I’d love to visit.

It's really not.
Both countries are suffering from lack of investment. There's also a big wealth gap between super rich and super poor.
Anyway, enjoy Deutschland. 🇩🇪

Pretty much like parts of the UK then ? And yes gullible people were sold the lie that it was the fault of the EU rather than successive government hence Brexit.

As pps have said the trains are less efficient than they were. But the bread and cakes are amazing. Controversially....better than in France.