AIBU to feel that Great Britain isn't 'Great' anymore? I think I want to move abroad!

[Whatawaytomakealiving]

I don't want to live in a country that treats people as it does. I work damned hard to serve the public, but I am so disillusioned.

Lost completely agree, I've given up on this country it just gets worse and worse.

I moved to the UK 10 years ago. I used to feel at home here much more than I ever did in my home country (Germany - the one with the really dodgy WWII record).
But know, it's not Brexit, but something had happened that has allowed knee-jerk reactions to be a genuine political position.
I am definitely considering moving back or on - it's not the country I fell in love with.

Economy in Spain is one the up.
I know people who are lucky if they get paid, all seem to be waiting staff. Average job, not an issue.

We're not super well off, DH works (DH works, I'm SAHM, 2 kids), We manage well, good school, good healthcare, good life, nice place to live, cheap rent, food costs loads less, nice people/climate... Not much to moan about.
Our life would noe be as good in the UK, that's a fact.

Bambambini,

You are a rather argumentative little thing, aren't you?

Am amused by your blatant ignorance--

All anecdotal...

but my experience of UK friends moving overseas, is that it is good jobs that take them away - good financially or that they love them. Usually both. So they tend to enjoy the countries they settle in, because they're moving into the nice areas, and can afford to enjoy what those countries offer. They simply don't see the shittier sides.

I've spent half my working life for the last 10 years in CH, though I commute, and it's not the same as being settled there. It's an amazing place and I love it. Probably more than the homeless and drunks I see on the streets there. And just like the UK, I've seen those increasing in recent years.

I'm not protective of the UK by default. I think it's a great place to live, but I don't think it's better than anywhere else just because I was born here.

Bookshop
Same here. We are locally employed, rather than expats. I am also sah parent, and we live a very modest lifestyle. Our kids are bilingual, and we have worked hard over the last decade to integrate with the locals. it is just a fact that we could not have this lifestyle in the UK. Even my parents (who miss us like crazy) tell us not to come back to the UK as the children have so many opportunities here.

It's swings and roundabouts. Where I live, you can easily get a GP appointment whenever you want, same day. However you'll pay £15-35 for it upfront. Some, not all, of that will later be reimbursed to you.

I broke a limb, had great treatment, physio etc, but it cost me £400 in terms of non-reimbursable costs. I don't think people in the UK are ready to accept that.

Anyway, you may find life suits you better in another country. But probably you'd also appreciate the UK a whole lot more than you currently do. The grass is always greener etc. Also living abroad has really taught me the meaning of 'theres no place like home'. I still see plenty of flaws in the UK but ultimately feel a much deeper sense of belonging to it than I ever did before I left.

That would be the Netherlands where 15% of the population voted for a party which is genuinely proper far right hmmm? Had a one page manifesto which included closing all mosques and banning the Koran. And that party received the second highest number of votes in a recent election? Righty ho.

I really can't understand why people get so worked up that they live in a democracy where people are free to disagree with them and sometimes the cycle of politics doesn't go in the way they want. It honestly feels like the left wing in this country would be happy to live in a totalitarian state like the USSR. Or perhaps North Korea. Just somewhere everybody is blindly brainwashed into thinking one way and there is never any dissent or difference of opinion or political change.

Things go in cycles. In 10, 20 years time the pendulum will start swinging back left again. It never moves that far from the centre in the UK. It's not even moving that far right, it just moved so much to the left in the Labour area that many left wing supporters just see the left as the centre when a majority of the general populace don't.

Don't let the door hit you on the arse as you leave.

The Nordic countries and the Netherlands particularly seem to have worked out how to construct and run society well. They espouse free market capitalism as we do but this is supported by an egalitarian state philosophy which enables so many more women to remain working and for families to not lose all their money on childcare.
This year we are ranked the 19th happiest country in the world.
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/galleries/worlds-happiest-countries/
There is so much that is incredible about Britain - National Parks, National Trails, awe inspiring coastlines, endlessly rich history...but the social structures at the moment are sending us back into Victorian times. Look at the prison overcrowding, brutality and failures of care. Likewise the NHS, social services, housing services, social care. This is life under the far right. If you're poor or vulnerable for any reason, your worth is less and you deserve everything you (don't) get.

We just hated the dull, grey, dirty, everyone's got a chip on their shoulder miserableness. Our experience, not saying that is everyone's,
We wanted a happy life, and that is not in England, I know some people love it, but it's not for us.
The place we live in so much better for kids, and we have 2 now, so that factored in.
Also inlaws in a different country WIN WIN

Yep, easy to cherry pick good bits and ignore the rest!
But the Netherlands have loads of bicycles!

Last week I took my daughter to my local (not London) art gallery where there were totally free activities themed around the main exhibition. They always do this. Then we did a free Junior Park Run, lots of volunteers making life nice for others.

I'm not saying the UK is better than anywhere else... but I don't usually have to look far to find something here that I appreciate.

By all means leave, but remember that the grass is greener where you water it. Not everyone can easily leave. If you can't, then think about what you can do in your community to make it better here.

Bookshopfrog at the inlaws!

Speaking as someone who isn't white, the UK is utopia compared to Europe. And I've travelled and worked in Europe a lot. Leaving might be better for some, but for people of colour like me, the UK will always offer a more inclusive culture out of the European countries.

Frog, we're in a bit where the kids were trilingual at 3, 4 languages at 4. can't got wrong with that :)

1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Finland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Australia

10. Sweden The top ten from the list linked to earlier. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

But what makes you think the country of your choice would welcome you?

I'd leave if I could, unfortunately DH wouldn't and I don't know where we'd go, as above. For the first time in my life I'm ashamed and embarrassed to be English.

Ellisandra Best way yo get on with them.

There is loads of free stuff do do here, it's impossible to get bored. I have challenged people and they have failed!

"Speaking as someone who isn't white, the UK is utopia compared to Europe. And I've travelled and worked in Europe a lot. Leaving might be better for some, but for people of colour like me, the UK will always offer a more inclusive culture out of the European countries."

I had a Thai friend who lived in Germany, worked there - was fluent. she found the UK much more tolerant where she wasn't mistaken for her child's nanny or a prostitute when she went out at night. Germany offered other pluses but think it through for the long term.

Things go in cycles. In 10, 20 years time the pendulum will start swinging back left again. It never moves that far from the centre in the UK. It's not even moving that far right, it just moved so much to the left in the Labour area that many left wing supporters just see the left as the centre when a majority of the general populace don't.

I have always assumed it would swing back eventually. As I said earlier though, it's been swinging more right than left for the last 37 years and it's gone further than it's been in my lifetime. There's a sense that greed is good, which wasn't there before The Thatcher/Reagan period. There was some swing back under Labour, but the neoliberal 'dream' prevailed, and with it, the increasing inequality that is a the root of much anger and unhappiness.

I also feel democracy is being lost to a right wing media and a poor electoral system that is not really representative, if that answers your comment about why people living in a democracy might not be content.

I also wonder whether actually, in itself the swing politics is a problem. Scandinavian countries often have coalition governments. It's harder for one side or the other to move things too far. The Tories spend loads of money moving everything right, then Labour spends more moving it all back again. Nothing really improves because there is no long-term strategy, other than 'we have to reverse everything'.

@Bambambini

Well I'm a plain looking Thai/Filipino woman who looks Indian, and I was spat at or racially discriminated in Germany. Was refused service several times in Munich - shopkeepers ignored me. Got spat at more than once in Berlin and Bonn.

And my colleagues experience was the same.

Just somewhere everybody is blindly brainwashed into thinking one way and there is never any dissent or difference of opinion or political change.

Oh, and this is utterly ironic, given Theresa May's current 'We're having an election because too many people are disagreeing with me and they shouldn't be' stance.

Uppity - Sorry to hear that, where do you live now?

The UK. I've lived in most European countries in my employment with my company. But the UK is still the most cosmopolitan.