Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to feel the UK is really a bit crap?

401 replies

clogdance · 29/04/2017 21:08

We have a German exchange child staying with us. He has been learning English at school for 2 years, and is apparently not top of the class in it. He spent supper talking to me about the rights and wrongs of vegetarianism and veganism.
He also mentioned that he lives in an old house but that new houses in Germany are larger and more solidly built. Just like here then Hmm.
His family are very very pleased that they unlike us are staying in the EU. And that they, unlike us, are welcoming a very large number of Syrian refugees.
Being English feels pretty depressing.

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 29/04/2017 21:20

It's crap how we are so crap at languages in the UK. The weather is unreliable, so you can't rely on good weather for outdoor events etc even in the summer.

It's expensive and a rip off a lot of the time. I don't like how we are so dominated by chains and food is generally shite and expensive at any sort of attraction or out and about.

There are good points though. We have beautiful countryside. We can get a wide variety of food if you know where to look. We can get mostly decent healthcare without having to pay a fortune for it - people in the US are routinely bankrupted by healthcare bills or live in fear of losing their job and hence their health insurance.

BabyHamster · 29/04/2017 21:23

I've lived in quite a few countries and I think YABU.

Every country has its bad points and things it doesn't do so well. Germany is most certainly included in that!!

Obsidian77 · 29/04/2017 21:26

As opposed to where? It's not perfect but I think you are being pretty U.

TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 29/04/2017 21:26

It's going to be crapper after Brexit....

Floralnomad · 29/04/2017 21:26

My dh was only telling me this week about a colleague in Germany who has a sick relative and the trouble they are having trying to find a consultant who will take them on , nowhere is perfect .

SpreadYourHappiness · 29/04/2017 21:26

YABVU. Germany is already regretting taking such a large number of Syrian refugees.

AntigoneJones · 29/04/2017 21:27

I think its fine, it would just be nice if our teens got the same opportunities for travel and language learning that the German children do.

Bringmesunshite · 29/04/2017 21:28

Get a time machine and go back to the 70s. It was really shit then. I think we are much better now, even if we have rubbish aspects.

Original poster
clogdance · 29/04/2017 21:28

As I understand it Germany also has a better healthcare system, and people with children get far more financial support than we do here, so are much better off.
I feel generally that the UK is heading down. Will be accelerated by Brexit.
And with the problems over healthcare and inequality in the US, why do those in charge of this country appear to want to emulate it?

OP posts:
Xmasbaby11 · 29/04/2017 21:29

Actually yanbu. I've lived in 10 countries and can see lots of positives in the UK. I think its a more permissive society than many Europeans ones. When I first moved back, I did notice the negatives a lot though.

PerfectPeachy · 29/04/2017 21:29

I've lived in five other countries for long periods of time and I think YABU. I love the U.K.

firstnightwemet · 29/04/2017 21:30

We're bad at languages because so many other countries speak English. Major films, tv series and music is in English.

It doesn't excuse things but it's easy to see why there's no real drive to learn a second language.

Leaving the EU I can't comment on. I chose Stay but none of us know in the long term what will happen and whether it will be predominantly a bad or good decision.

We have welcomed in many refugees and we give so much money in foreign aid.

I'm tired of being told England is a shit country. I'm sure if many of us were living in countries at war we wouldn't say such flippant remarks as your title OP.

Original poster
clogdance · 29/04/2017 21:33

I'm not saying it's a terrible place to live. Just that some other European countries seem to be doing a lot better than we are.

OP posts:
CheeseQueen · 29/04/2017 21:33

If you feel it's crap, you're always free to leave.
I'm born and bred here, and bloody love it.
What's not to like?

Easy to access free healthcare for everyone
Freedom for women
Equal rights
Beautiful scenery and land (Cotswolds, Lake District, Peak District, Yorkshire Dales)

the list goes on

Chickenkatsu · 29/04/2017 21:35

YANBU. Germany is one of the least racist countries in the world too. Good health care and benefit system with fast economic growth.

AntigoneJones · 29/04/2017 21:35

..and just think, in the last 70 years or so, there has been no genocide based on skin and eye colour...:)

Huldra · 29/04/2017 21:37

So Young Person comes to visit and regurgitates what his parents have told him and what he's heard in the media. Kids and adults from the UK can do that too Grin

His parents are glad they are staying in the EU. Some Germans aren't. Some people in the UK are thrilled to be leaving, a huge number arent.
He lives in a big old house, isn't he lucky.
It's German government policy on refuges, some Germans agree and some don't. Many in the UK are appalled by our policies the government backtracking. Others think the government is right.

In the UK we're all different, like Germans.

Hassled · 29/04/2017 21:38

I think I'd miss the sense of humour - that ability to take the piss out of anyone and anything (and yourself). But I do worry - 10 years ago I'd have said the UK was largely a very tolerant, open-minded country. I don't think that's the case anymore.

Original poster
clogdance · 29/04/2017 21:39

I would have been a lot free-er to leave pre-Brexit.
We have an increasingly unequal society, antagonism between different communities (rich/poor, educated/uneducated, right-wing/left-wing), massive housing problems, badly built homes, no real manufacturing base, the north of our country wants to cut itself loose altogether, a very right-wing government, an obsession with wealth, a failing health service, etc etc.

OP posts:
AntigoneJones · 29/04/2017 21:39

" 10 years ago I'd have said the UK was largely a very tolerant, open-minded country. "

well if you had said that 10 years ago, you would have been mistaken, or naïve, tbh.

Salmotrutta · 29/04/2017 21:41

CheeseQueen - health care is not free - we all pay for it.

But as I understand it Germans pay a lot of tax for their healthcare.

So said an old German colleague of mine that I knew from my previous career.

Mind you, another German ex-colleague said she loved Britain because we didn't have the anal rules and regulations that they have in Germany - e.g. when you can cut your grass/what noise level is acceptable etc.

So, all in all I suppose it's swings and roundabouts.

OP - there are downsides wherever you live.

Toffeelatteplease · 29/04/2017 21:42

We really don't have the exposure to other languages that other countries have to English.

I'll take English attitude to wheelchairs, and disability over many other European countries attitudes

Renaissance2017 · 29/04/2017 21:42

Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.

Original poster
clogdance · 29/04/2017 21:42

Huldra -what he was saying was that modern houses in Germany are big and well built. (Not tiny thin walled little boxes like we have here.)
And yes some Germans are against taking in so many refugees. But imagine taking in one million, and at least some of your population feeling that it's no big deal, just what needs to be done.

OP posts:
User1635974 · 29/04/2017 21:44

So you've clearly never lived outside the UK then...and are basing your views on the relative abilities of one German exchange pupil???

You don't know you're born; try living in a 2nd or 3rd world country for a while. You'll soon understand why people are risking their lives to get to the UK.

YABU (not to mention ignorant and entitled).