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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:
Aderyn2016 · 30/04/2017 16:46

Skerry, the point of MN is to exchange views, maybe see things a different way or persuade others to. In the end, it's you that's getting riled about it - in real terms it makes no difference to me as I don't live there. So if you cba, again your prerogative but then don't complain if someone else doesn't see your pov.

sleepyowl12 · 30/04/2017 18:02

U.K. has it's pros and cons - but I don't deny on a shallow level a Mediterranean climate appeals. British summers can get me down.

sleepyowl12 · 30/04/2017 18:03

Typo, its!

sleepyowl12 · 30/04/2017 18:11

@FreeNiki, Germany has higher numbers of EU migrants than UK. Don't have figures for non eu and of course they just took in a lot of refugees.

EastMidsMummy · 30/04/2017 22:58

Germany is a great place to live and Germans aren't shy of reminding you.

theresamustgo · 30/04/2017 23:39

The UK is a horrendously unequal society and I dint think such levels of inequality exist elsewhere in Western Europe.
Shocking that it seems to be a sin to criticise this country...sign of the times....

And yes, I have lived in Berlin and spent some time in the GDR and can see that our council,estates, such as the one I live on, after decades of no maintenance look worse than they did even under the GDR dictatorship, which I am certainly no advocate of.

What I dislike most about the UK and what is for me it's crap news though is the way I. Which we are beholden to the chains, my local high streets are boring idenitkit places of coffee chains and major retailers. no personality, no interest. The Germany I know still seems to have more quirkiness which makes for an interestingly texture of life.

When I lived in Berlin in the 1990/, I loved it butI missed England because of the sub cultural scenes, music, fashion and so in. ButI don't see that really here any more. I don't see punk sparks or extraordinary mixed scenes like there were in Bristol. Young people are priced out of London. Schools are like prisons. Young people are anxious and not allowed to wander, explore, make mistakes....it's loans and a life of debt for loads of them. At least in Germany there is free HE and protected rents.

Tobolsk · 01/05/2017 00:11

Aderyn2016

I use England, UK and Britain interchangeably. It's all part of the same island.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 00:14

Wow. Such crazy mavericks.

skerrywind · 01/05/2017 06:25

It's all part of the same island.

In fact many Islands.

But you wouldn't see that from where you are standing.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 01/05/2017 06:42

Our language teaching could certainly be better, but it's a good deal. more straightforward if your mother tongue is NOT English. If you are going to learn one language there isn't any choice. If you're German or Dutch or Swedish and want a good level job, or to travel abroad, you have to learn the lingua franca.

Another thing that is often overlooked is that wherever you are in the world, people will want to,practise their English on you, which is not nearly so,likely to happen with other languages, and makes it that much harder if you are really trying to make the effort, when people are just going to answer you in English. I speak from experience here. It's happened to both me and Dh, in diverse places.

ocelot41 · 01/05/2017 06:49

I love the BBC with a passion, and I like some bits of England, as well as having close rellies there. But the way that English politics has gone makes me want to vote for Scottish independence. We have our own problems but the combo of right wing policies axing your public services and xenophobia - just ugh. Why would you vote for that? Just, why????

BeWaterMyFriend · 01/05/2017 07:45

I think one of the things the uk is brilliant at, is being 'a bit crap'. It's a long and honorable tradition. Smile

More seriously, the amount of "if you don't like it, piss off" posts in here is really worrying. Are we really that down on mild grumbles?

I can't help seeing a link with the current level of discourse where if you disagree with the gov't, you're a traitor and a saboteur - and that is not a healthy place to be.

ChocChocPorridge · 01/05/2017 08:08

The UK is a horrendously unequal society and I dint think such levels of inequality exist elsewhere in Western Europe

yeah they do. I've lived lots of places across Europe and around the world. Everywhere has good points and bad points. The UK is totally within normal parameters.

Good: Supermarkets are amazing, safety of housing and roads are very good (yes, really), schooling, some healthcare, leisure facilities are all good. Standard of life really is quite high, even for people on low incomes.

Bad: Weather, traffic, distance you have to live from work, some healthcare, cost of housing and general cost of living.

The trouble is, if you haven't lived in a place, you haven't really experienced what is good and bad, whether that shiney dentist actually does a good job, if it's always impossible to park, or the cucumbers go rotten the day after you bring them home, if the standard of heating and insulation in your home means that you're either spending a fortune, or freezing, if trying to get your ID card will be a day in a queue or your landlord will stiff you getting your deposit back and whether there's anything you can do about that.

Language-wise - the trouble is that English is the common language - I speak a smattering of a few languages, but in most countries, I'll end up speaking English with colleagues simply because that's the one language we'll all speak. It doesn't help you practise!

Gottagetmoving · 01/05/2017 08:18

I would agree. The UK is crap. It's getting crappier all the time.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 01/05/2017 08:20

But the fact that 99% of research places our children near the bottom in happiness ratings shows that we're getting some stuff very wrong in my opinion

I wonder though what the impact is on young people of all the 'there is no future' etc negativity that many seem to have. I think one of the issues with the UK is lack of optimism, which is hardly going to make anyone happy.

UrsulaPandress · 01/05/2017 08:22

It might be crap but it's my crap and I'll defend its right to be crap.

skerrywind · 01/05/2017 08:26

I love this country.

Bad weather? Look at the positive aspect that brings.

I lived in the tropics for a while.
Having cool weather means no malaria, or scorpions or cobras or any of the horrible diseases that hot weather brings.
Our streets are relatively safe, we have low gun crime, free health care and education.
This country is great.

ocelot41 · 01/05/2017 08:26

I think the degree of pressure in primary school is just silly and that UK kids need more outdoor free play

derxa · 01/05/2017 08:29

Bad weather? Yes apart from some occasional extremes we have a lovely climate. Rain isn't bad weather.

floatingfrog · 01/05/2017 08:31

Nope . I love this country and the people that live here.

I love the wait for Spring and Summer and I really don't think you can beat the UK when the weather's nice at this time of year.

Fantastic shopping. Incredible delivery services for online goods.

Excellent activites for families. Thriving arts in cities. Fantastic television.

Beautiful architecture.

I could go on...you have to look at the positives.

It is a great country and it is a bit lazy to say it's crap as there are so many opportunities available to you in the UK.

Aderyn2016 · 01/05/2017 08:51

Have just come back from the USA, where having a baby comes with a several thousand dollar bill. My relatives out there are grateful it wasn't more because their baby was sick and needed extra medical help. In this country we wouldn't need to worry about our insurance running out if our babies were ill. I think that makes us a lot less crap than some places.

Renaissance2017 · 01/05/2017 09:03

Some things in the uk are a bit crappy, but on the whole it's a great place to live. I think it depends on your perspective, and to be honest MN and social media in general tends to be a negative place.

It seems to have got worse since the referendum. However you voted, Brexit is happening so to my mind look for the positives from it. The only difference between the outcome for a pessimist and and optimist is the pessimist has a miserable time of it.

user1489179512 · 01/05/2017 09:57

There is a marked difference between the posts on the last couple of pages. Some posters appear to be pretty inarticulate and know only the word "crap" whereas others give voice to more considered reflections.

Aderyn2016 · 01/05/2017 10:02

Not seeing that user Hmm
People have talked about housing, tax, language teaching, immigration, healthcare etc throughout the thread.

travellinglighter · 01/05/2017 10:16

My only experience of living abroad was Australia and their health care system was better but I was glad to come home. I loved living there but the uk is better. I lived in Queensland, the weather was great but we had two cyclones, racism was rife, away from population centres the people were incredibly parochial. Getting anywhere took forever. Employment protection was awful. I remember sitting down with a colleague who explained to me at length how great Australia was and how shite UK was in comparison. He listed several reasons why they were better and then was completely surprised when I pointed out that everything he believed was wrong and used facts to prove it. It came down to "Well we"re better at drinking and shagging."

As for Europe. If I was going to live abroad then it's France for me despite the appalling laisez faire approach to everything. The high taxes would be an issue.

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