sick of this country, what countries provide a better life for people that live there

[redbobblehat]

i'm sick of all these cuts backs, and lies from the goverment

so sick of it i'm actually thinking for the first time, i might perher to bugger off and live elsewhere

dh thinks dubai would be a good bet, but i think as a married woman, it's wouldnt be my first choice

so where would be a good bet

Singapore?

Dallas, what the hell are bomber bugs? I've been thinking about Cyprus for a holiday but not liking the sound of them!

Another vote for Canada. Lived in Halifax,Nova Scotia for a year. Has seasons, beautiful landscapes, ski ing, sun, great healthcare and more affordable housing and friendly people. Only downsides- crap annual leave and it's expensive and takes a long time to visit anywhere outside Canada/ US, therefore not as diverse as Uk as everything is very 'Canadian'.

i'm well aware its alot better here in the uk than alot of places, however i still feel there must be somewhere where theres not such huge gaps between the have and have nots, and where its more equal

Yes what a shit place the UK is

Gorgeous countryside - being opened up for high speed railways, and more housing
Vibrant cities
Free healthcare- rapidly being dismantled and privatised
Free education- except for university level, also rapidly being privatised
Democratically elected government-arguable if you live in Scotland
Accountable police force- numbers being cut all over the place
Decent legal system
Equal rights enshrined in law-although some are more equal than others
Welfare safety net- also being dismantled
Tolerant society- unless you are an immigrant, a young mum, a traveller, on benefits or disabled...

fortunately OP, you live in a first world democracy, so you have the ability and the money to piss right off. Go for it.

me, I love the drinkable tap water, disease-free insects, climate that is not so hot and humid that I need aircon, lack of poisonous life forms, clean air, free press, open borders, wonderful history, amazing scenery, free health care, free education, lack of earthquakes and bush fires, freedom to dress as I like without getting beaten or arrested for it, freedom to worship the deity that I don't believe in (and freedom to do that) and many other things.

nowhere's perfect.

RedBobbleHat - what languages do you and your DH (and DCs?) speak fluently? Presumably that's going to make a difference to where you decide to move?

If I could go anywhere I'd go to NZ, I went there 7 years ago for 6 months & I still miss it. Obviously travelling round isn't the same as holding down a job etc, but I know a few people who have emigrated & never looked back.

Romania is nice.

I lost my link and posted too soon.

Have you seen this: "We may not like Britain, But you will love Romania"

i think it's peachy living here

Nowhere is perfect. Me and my husband work for the police - him a police officer and me police staff. We have been badly affected by the cuts. We have lost a lot of money.

Yes I do dream of living a better life in a better place. However we still don't have it too bad

The police - yes there have been cuts, yes people moan and
complain about the police - but at least our police are not like the ones in Egypt that have just been on the news.

The NHS - yes we all hear horror stories or have had bad service.

But we can see a doctor for free. Get free contraception, have free operations etc etc. We don't have to worry about our health insurance running out and treatment stopping.

Benefits - yes we moan, either about not getting enough or people getting too much. But people with disabilities that can't work get DLA, if you have a baby you get SMP. You get child benefit/tax allowance. You get free council tax. Low rent council housing

Education - yes we now have to pay for uni, but up til then education is free and compulsory. Young girls don't get shot for wanting to learn.

Pensions - well, mine and my husbands are severly affected by the cuts. But there is the old age pension. If you live in a council house you don't pay rent after 80. You don't pay tv licence after a certain
age. You get heating allowance.

So yes, the government are a bunch of shits. But we don't have it too bad.

cornwall is wonderful, a very special and beautiful county, marvellous place to bring up children if you can find suitable employment.
I know it really is part of england/UK but plenty of the locals down here consider it to be a seperate country!!
When the sun is shining and the sea is turquoise and sparkling you could truly be in n.zealand, oz, mauritius etc etc

Belgium?

Whoa there ItsAll.

I have noted with dismay that quite a few comments here have mentioned racism or "not being very accepting" as a bit of an afterthought.

However, I would say that while the UK is not perfect, it is far more accepting of ethnic and religious differences then many other countries and that includes the EU.

I work in a good and worthwhile job here in the UK, whereas some of the other countries listed upthread wouldn't employ me unless I removed my headscarf.

Also, I notice no one talking about Canada has mentioned their appalling treatment of the First Nations people, from forced relocations to the residential schools scandal and the Highway of Tears.

There also the fact that a major political party in Switzerland has adverts like this: www.google.co.uk/search?q=black+sheep+udc&hl=en&newwindow=1&tbo=d&rlz=1C1DSGQ_enGB493GB493&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Q1gNUf-zEs3K0AW49YGgBw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAA&biw=1366&bih=643

The link shows the original UDC poster alongside some responses to it

Aberdeenshire is amazing. Google quality of life ratings and it regularly comes very high up. Top in Scotland. And there are 2 jobs in Aberdeen for every unemployed person :)

NZ is great.

Except nothing is free - there's a charge to visit the GP (hospital care is free), there are "voluntary" donations for schools and we have to provide all stationery and exercise books each term.

Housing is cheap - but unless you pay for a decent house, it's also shockingly poor quality (no insulation, single glazing, damp and leaky - no wonder childhood asthma rates are so high).

The scenery is stunning but you can't eat mountains and beaches.

Don't get me wrong, I adore living here. We have a fab house which we wouldn't have been able to design & build in the uk, the boys have an amazing outdoors lifestyle (made easier by on the whole, superb weather), the local schools are all excellent and our few brushes with the health system have been far better than my experiences of the NHS.

But we also had a great life in the uk before we left. We didn't leave because we disliked where we were, we left because we liked somewhere else more. Move for negative reasons and I suspect you'll recreate the same dissatisfaction wherever you end up.

And while NZ comes pretty close to kungfu's list of Utopian characteristics, it's a long way away from all my family. Might as well be the other side of the moon as the other side of the world given how expensive flights are.

I fear some people should think about life in other countries.
Where I am from there is real corruption. Politicians are unaccountable for any of their actions and a lot of people have no running water or sanitation despite the president having a private jet.

There is real unemployment. People who genuinely want to work can't. People live in true poverty. And there is no free schooling and free healthcare is dire. Private doctors get people to have unnecessary operations (c sections, dental surgery etc) to make more money. People are really intolerant.

I love knowing my DC will grow up with the NHS, a wonderful multi cultural society around her and will accept everyone for just being themselves. As another poster said OP please leave. There are millions of us who would love to enjoy what you take for granted.

Hiya MrsTP
Yeah, baby good - thx! Feeding, feeding, feeding - all the more time for me to spend sitting at laptop...so all good, ha ha! Oldest child (13yo) giving me a few grey hairs at the moment, just glad we didn't move to Canada now when she is awash with hormones.

OP nowhere is going to be perfect. Canada is working out well for us, but we have put in hard graft, fighting the waves of homesickness, adapting to a whole new way of living. It can get a bit lonely at times, but please go on a visit to the country and research it well before selling your house and committing yourself to a job, cos it'll impact your whole family. I of course signed along the dotted line and dragged the family out here without doing any research thinking it'd be like something off the TV - not to be recommended!!!
I work full time here and the first year I arrived, I received six days annual leave for the whole year. Hth.

I was just talking with work colleagues last night on the very same topic - we were all wanting to leave the Uk ! We did live in New Zealand for almost five years ( this was ten years ago). Our first two children were born out there and it was a huge struggle . For a start there was no proper maternity pay - I got paid nothing from the day I left to when I went back six months later, then I got a small lump sum but nothing like here ! Wages were low , such that we could rarely travel or have visits home. Holiday entitlement was nothing compared to The UK and sick pay was very limited . We had to pay $60 for every trip to the GP. I don't think people always appreciate how generous our welfare system in the UK is . Having said all this the weather was good , the people lovely, the countryside beautiful and we loved it . We only came back for family reasons but would love to settle there or in Australia again, but our ages and the cost of re-location and the lack of enthusiasm from the kids is holding us back.

True, crazy I watched too much Due South. The Mounties are NOT as advertised!

I have always been a fan of trying to improve the standards of where I live rather than packing up my bags and shifting!

if you want a more egalitarian society, I think on the whole NZ offers that. However, there are private schools and there are, not perhaps to outsiders immediately noticable, "posh NZ accents" but NZers can tell. On the whole though, snobbery is more frowned on than accepted which is not to say that it is non existant. There is the normal health care available to everyone but at a price (visits to the GP and medicine you contribute to, as in Ireland I believe) and then there are providers of private health care which will get you different treatment of course.

I agree with the negative sides to life there that others have mentioned (houses, distance to Europe, cost of living and I would add pubs not as inviting for women on the whole as in the UK). I did think it a friendly enough place but there is quite a lot of violent crime (break-ins, gangs) which you might not expect for a country with such a small population and not many large urban areas. Amongst the youth, also drunk driving is a problem, minimum age for a driving license used to be 15 but I see this has been raised to 16 with a graduated system which is probably an improvement. Still, due to lack of public transport, especially nights, you get a lot of young drivers out on the roads.

It is a fairly hands on, down to earth, no nonsense sort of place and if you think that would suit you, you could have a look into it.

It's actually quite sickening that people don't realise how lucky they are to live in the UK.

It's far far from perfect, but there are people in this world that risk their lives trying to get here. That OP leaves a very nasty taste.

Open your eyes to the real poverty and corruption that goes in so much of the world, and then say you are sick of this country and fancy somewhere that provides a better life. That's the sort of comment that can only come from someone seriously undereducated about the rest of the world, and from someone who is too lazy and entitled to try and make a better life for themselves instead of expecting their government to hand it over on a silver platter.

Welfare safety net

Well for the moment.... for what its worth. Sadly the Tories seem intent on destroying it, cutting too much and too quickly all under the excuse "oh we have to"