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

tbh I noticed the racism a bit when we were in Copenhagen but nowhere else. I suppose elsewhere people are quite reliant on seasonal tourism but don't have so many immigrant residents. It seemed a good place to me but I don't know if I would miss a more varied landscape.

Op, stop reading Daily Mail and your life will improve dramatically.

Read a few good books about other countries or your own country's history to see how incredibly, unbelievably lucky you are to live here and now.

Seriously? The cuts are teeny weeny compared to the rest of the world but please, do us all a favour and go where you feel you will get more for doing nothing

Wtf? Are you talking to me - since I wrote this - or the OP? If its me you couldnt be more wrong, I have no intention of leaving Scotland as our NHS is run completely separately thank goodness from the English NHS and is not quite facing the same situation. I hardly think working full-time as a Nurse is "doing nothing". My post referred to the stark reality of what the Tories are doing and will continue to do to the welfare state to the sick and vulnerable, seeing it already with my patients.

And thats to you NumericalMum since you quoted me.

OP, it isn't any country's job to provide a better life for you, it's your job. It might be tougher for all of us, we have to work harder for longer , but we have an excellent back stop in the welfare state.

Many countries that you might find desirable have very high taxation, on income or goods.

I have lived all over the world for all my life and I am always drawn back to England because it's my home.
Other countries might have better weather, better beaches and a better outdoor lifestyle, but it doesn't have that 'feeling at home' thing that you just can't find abroad.

It's hard to define.

One thing I do know for sure: a different country can't make you happier. All it can do is provide a framework.

also, IMO the people that do best in new countries are ones who were happy in their home country, but moved for the experience/opportunity/wanderlust etc

they ones who move to get away from something they don't like... well just find even more things to not like in the new place and tend to end up moving home

If you feel your glass is half empty in the UK, then maybe it's because you're in a glass half empty frame of mind and that will follow you wherever you move!

Twenty six other countries with a higher quality of life than the UK. Take your pick!

I think the major issue is the balance between taxes and the state. People moan about high taxes but they also moan about people sleeping rough. Personally I would take high taxes and no homeless people and a working health service. If you would rather have no services for anyone and low taxes, there are plenty of places like that.

I've ended up (through the love of a good man!) in a lower tax, lower services country and I don't like the lack of services. Free contraception is a good thing. We pay for it here. Housing Benefit is a good thing, we have a lot of street homeless people here.

I think there are many reasons to leave the uk, cutbacks and 'lying government' are strange reasons!

Presumably you'll want to move somewhere with a more honest government (uk is really not too bad with official secrets act etc) and no cutbacks? Good luck with that one! Certainly Dubai wouldn't be at the top of my list based on those criteria!!

Nowt wrong with wanting to try out life elsewhere, I live abroad myself, but figure out what it is you're looking for.

Fwiw, I thought Singapore was fab. I lived there for a couple of years, not boring at all, lots going on all the time, very safe. I liked it.

My three reasons why I live in the UK

1. there is no wildlife that can kill me
2. I am not being bombed or shot at when going about day to day life
3. if im sick I can see a doctor and get treatment.

Also if everything goes tits up I have a sleeping bag that is ok to -30 so ok all year round in UK and there is loads of land to grow apples and potatos on to feed my family.

Life does not get better than that :)

On the subject of New Zealand, a few notes:

• hideous child abuse rates
• man-on-woman assault very common and quite socially acceptable
• largely humourless populace, which is becoming increasingly Americanised
• general apathy, unwillingness to stand up for oneself or others, or fallen Cathedrals
• education system is now a heinous joke (would rather educate my daughter in the UK than in NZ, that's how bad it is!)
• media that is both craven (permanently right up the reigning PM's arse) and infantile
• crap health system, but like UK and indeed most places, it's a hell of a postcode lottery. Unless you're lucky enough to be hospitalised, you'll pay through the nose.
• earthquakes... and now nothing left to pay for it if we get another big one
• low wages, horrendously expensive cost of living
• despite the image we have of ourselves, NZers aren't that friendly. As a rule, we tend to be superficially quite chatty/inquisitive/outgoing but I know from foreign mates that we're nigh on impossible to truly befriend.
• our "lack of corruption" can be a right pain in the arse at times. Pathetic jobsworths, stupid regulations, everything takes so LONG to do. For instance, to get your driver's licence, it takes years and going through three levels of "licence." Our passports last for FIVE YEARS, and it's generally a nightmare to renew them overseas, which causes headaches for anyone with enough gumption to get out of the place
• basic services (eye testing, dentistry) are simply beyond most people's means
• isolation from the rest of the world. It is hugely expensive to go on holiday anywhere more interesting than Australia (Which is pretty much the same, but with nastier creepy crawlies and an even more effeminate masculine population).
• TV is crap, but thankfully there are far fewer channels than in the UK, so it takes a lot less time to go through them all and realise there's nothing on
• paperbacks unjustifiably expensive - $30+ (fifteen pounds) for even a basic paperback novel.

The best thing about being a NZer is that the rest of the world assumes life is great here and generally let me into their countries without problems, because they don't think of me as an asylum seeker. Ho ho ho.

We're off to Russia. Cracking place.

oldebaglady Sat 02-Feb-13 23:37:40
"also, IMO the people that do best in new countries are ones who were happy in their home country, but moved for the experience/opportunity/wanderlust etc"

This.

I felt at home in my old country and after a few years I felt at home in the UK. I was expecting it to happen, I took pains to find out what I needed to do for it to happen, what kind of conformity was expected of me for it to happen, how much of that would be compatible with my own personality.

I needed to get used to a different way of speaking, to learn to appreciate potty British humour, to become less uptight about childrearing and a whole lot less uptight about food, to accept a more sedentary, less outdoors type of lifestyle and a general fear of nature and physical danger (particularly as relating to children). I needed to embrace enough of that to fit in, but at the same time not lose myself as a person.

In Scandinavia, the price is not only the higher taxes, but a general expectation of conformity with ideals (they are small countries, and until recently highly homogenous). A directness of speaking which can come across as abrupt and a tendency for extended families to keep themselves to themselves- lovely if you're part of one, lonely if you're not. You also have to get used to a very oldfashioned way of living with the seasons- being less active in winter and hyperactive in summer. Comes naturally to Scandinavians but can be hard for anyone who expects life to be the same all year round.

And towns and built-up areas are very far from one another- which means culture and entertainment is less accessible outside of the big cities. I grew up in a market town; the only time we were able to visit the theatre (apart from holidays abroad) we had to leave before the last act to catch the last train home: I never found out which one of her two suitors the lady married!

The school system has seriously gone downhill since the introduction of the free schools and my Swedish relatives are now jealous of the education my dc are getting in their fairly ordinary comprehensive.

Other cultures will have other costs. But there is always a cost.

Totally agree, cory.

It's simply impossible to have everything. Some of the things people on here are touting as being vital to a happy, healthy and productive life are mutually exclusive.

Also, very low population density seems to be one thing most of the supposedly best places to live have in common. That's never going to happen in the UK, particularly in England.

not Russia, maltesecat! I really do want to like the place but life in Russia is seriously hard which is why masses of people leave it every year I suppose. Not sure if you will find it an improvement on NZ (widespread alcoholism, the extent and openness of prostitution, homeless dc, corruption, crime, etc). Might be interesting for a year or so but hard to imagine settling there. What are you going to do there?

I disagree that Australia has a better standard. I've lived there and recently went back. It's cleaner than the UK sure...but there are other things which are far more important in my mind and which are done badly or not at all.

Their education system is lacking. They have some shocking policies re Aboriginal people and they also keep asylum seekers in shipping containers on some Godforsaken island in the middle of nowhere...including children.

I can't cope living in a rich country in 2013 where so many attitudes belong in another century.

www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/asylum-seekers-aware-of-deterrence-value-20130130-2djo4.html

i want to find whatever island they are stranded on in The Blue Lagoon and live on there,i can grow hair to my waist and run around topless like Brooke Sheilds.

One can dream!

And get stung in the foot by some evil fish Amber or starve when the weather's bad!

Oh and have rotten teeth...and scurvy if the coconut crop fails.

I'm so glad somebody agree's with me with regards to the Australian education system. I have been genuinely shocked at the so called best performing schools, ofsted would have had them for breakfast.

I know Mosman it's shocking how much they're unaware of over there really...my friends who live over there (I have a lot) are not all ignoran abut it but one told me that schools do not teach Aboriginal history....so they don't tell the kids about the Stolen Generation etc.

Apparently they've JUST changed the law to say that teachers who CHOOSE to may teach about it.

Strange when I visited Copenhagen the slums were a tourist attraction...

in total agreement with Determinedma (i currently live in Scotland,groan !) do not be fooled with the "In Scotland everything is free" headlines , perhaps today ,yes, only those bills will have to be paid one day and that day is very fast approaching >oil revenue ? there is little ! and be aware theSNP are merely tories in kilts!.Living in Scotland is as how i would imagine living in the 18th century ,in slow motion inblack and white !

I love the way Sweden is ruled out because of its high suicide rate and then the next post suggests Japan.

Since I've lived in Japan, 30,000 people here have committed suicide every year, except last year when it was a shade under.

Maybe I should leave.

I wouldn't recommend Japan. The quality of houses is completely shit. Tiny, freezing in winter and sweltering in summer. I was warmer in my own flat in Russia than here.

It is possible to have a very good life in Dubai, although life is getting worse and less comfortable than it was.

It is possible to have a very good life in Dubai, although life is getting worse and less comfortable than it was.

I think that's everywhere ow though, there's less resources, less money and those who can control what gets filtered down to the masses will. Call it greed, protecting your own whatever.