AIBU to think that the UK is no longer an attractive place to live

[Elloduckie]

NC here for this one. DH to be and I are getting married next year and we were looking to set up and be based here. But with everything going on, the UK does not seem that attractive to live.

Currently London based, we want/need to be somewhere that is diverse, have no patience bigotry etc. Though living in London doesn't make you immune from that!!

But to raise kids and work, it just doesn't seem like the UK is the place to be anymore. Does anyone else feel like this?
Thing is, we would we move to? Both are very mobile career wise and speak a few languages so that will not be an issue. Money wise should be fine too. Its literally a question of where else is good, diverse to raise kids and not colder than the UK (ruling out the Scandinavian countries).

Suggestions please..

I've lived in a fair few UK cities and none come close to London If I'm honest.

In your opinion though.

We have too. We wouldn't go back to London.

As someone said earlier in the thread, many people seem to romanticise living abroad/moving abroad, but the truth is that for the vast majority of people, it will be no better, (and for some people, considerably worse

It depends why you are moving.

If I go to Spain I find my arthritis clears up straight away. I want to live in a hot country because otherwise I am in pain.
So for me the grass is greener anywhere 1500 miles south of the UK
I can set up a business pretty much anywhere

I too have lived in many towns and cities in the UK.

I think the reason people either love it or hate it I think depends where you live.

I live on the outskirts of London and you are more likely to see horses walking down the road than cars.
Single track lanes with passing spaces. Local Farm shop and a rural idyll apart from the noise of the motorway in the distance.
There are fields and trails but 30 minutes on a Saturday morning I can be in Oxford street.

I have also lived elsewhere in London and it has been a crap hole.

London is a series of “villages” Some are nice, some are not.
You can’t say you lived in London and hated it. What you mean is you lived in Clapham/Barnes/Islington and hated it.

@Aquilla You said that Sweden doesn’t pay its NATO bill which is true. This is because they’re not a member of NATO.

This morning in a beautiful town in Kent, Uk...
Walked to our lovely high street through beautifully maintained park open to the public for free, had a hot chocolate with the children at a cosy independent coffee shop
Walked to drop off my son at football. One of the dads there will drop him back - we live within half mile of all my children’s Friends
DD and I went to farmers market to pick up some bits.

Popped in to Sainsbury’s on walk home to get the paper. Let my phone on one of the counters, didn’t realise until home, rang up, yes it’s been handed in, so popped back to get it.

No driving necessary. Beautiful environment. Local businesses flourishing. Lost phone but handed in. Surrounded by friends helping each other out.

Quite honestly I think this is the most wonderful country in the world to live in. But I think I have a rather special experience given where I live.

Oh and many french and Americans here.
They have married brits they met whilst working in London and then moved here once had children. As was case for us (my ex husband is not British)

Yes, I live somewhere like that too Kikipost. We're half an hour on the train from London, I can be walking down Oxford Street in about 45 mins from leaving my front door, but we live in a lovely small city, countryside all around, good schools, good shops, places to eat/drink, very international community, lots of ex-Londoners and mixed-nationality marriages/families. Suits us much better than living in London.

Oh yes and we are 45 mins from London. The most wonderful city on earth in my opinion

So all in all, I can’t imagine better and, if there is, I’m not interested because my children and I are so very happy here

London is the most multicultural city in the world.

However I agree with much of what you've said. Based on what you've said I would recommend New Zealand. It's no way near as culturally diverse as the UK, as nowhere really is, but it ticks all of your other boxes I think.

You said that Sweden doesn’t pay its NATO bill which is true. This is because they’re not a member of NATO. No, they are not a full member of the Alliance, but they are a Partner for Peace nation and they are very involved with NATO.

newnameforthis7
Personally, I wouldn't live in America in a million years. I actually feel sorry for anyone who lives there. Got to be the worst country to live in the western world. (For SO many reasons.) I'd rather live in a shed under a motorway bridge.

I couldn't agree more. It's my choice to live in a civilized country and I don't believe any country which has the death penalty can be classified as such, not to mention guns, shoot-happy police and far too many religious nutcases.

@elonmask

The UK is one of the most diverse countries in the world. And yet, we are not good enough at it. No one haranagues the Japanese as small minded island dwelling xenophobes, but us - despite our already very diverse country (white British not a majority in the capital city) well, we're easy targets.

EXACTLY this! ^ Every other country is allowed to want to keep their country as they want it, and to not want mass immigration, but when anyone in the UK even suggests anything similar, they are 'bigoted,' 'small-minded,' 'little Englanders,' and 'Daily Mail Readers,' and let's not forget 'thick and racist' and 'obviously voted for Brexit.'

Such bullshit. It's this attitude (from some) that is part of the reason the LEAVE side won in the Brexit vote.

The sooner we are out of the EU the better.

@SilverySurfer
I couldn't agree more. It's my choice to live in a civilized country and I don't believe any country which has the death penalty can be classified as such, not to mention guns, shoot-happy police and far too many religious nutcases.

Yep, this too. Sooooo many reasons to not live in America, that it would take me half an hour to list them all! You have covered a few. Hell would freeze over before I'd ever live in America.

It's also utter bollocks that London is the best city in the UK. Utter bollocks. You can tell the people who have never ventured out of the south east of England on here!

I will never ever EVER leave the UK, but if others don't like it here, they are free to leave. As a number of posters have said though, be very careful, the grass is not always greener on the other side. And as has been said, there is racism and bigotry in EVERY country, and you are deluded if think it will be any different/any better anywhere else.

Some people need to learn which side their bread is buttered.

if others don't like it here, they are free to leave. - how are they free to leave? We won't have the "freedom" to leave to go anywhere else to live/work.

And as has been said, there is racism and bigotry in EVERY country, and you are deluded if think it will be any different/any better anywhere else.

Oh don’t be so daft.
You honestly can’t see that countries differ in their approach to race / gender / age etc?

Deluded or naive. I am not sure which you are ' kikipost' Both probably.

The UK is one of the most diverse countries in the world. And yet, we are not good enough at it. No one haranagues the Japanese as small minded island dwelling xenophobes, but us - despite our already very diverse country (white British not a majority in the capital city) well, we're easy targets.

Absolutely. Can the 'Britain is Racist' people explain this?

We live in London and we're mostly happy here, but I certainly don't like how much the wealth divide has grown in the past ten years or so and I am alarmed at the rates of homelessness.

I love where I live in my part of the UK

Crimes rates here are low. I could leave my front door open all day.
I live surrounded by ancient woodland, 20 minutes from unspoilt coastline, 20 minutes to a global capital city. 20 minutes to mountains, 20 minutes to an international airport.

We have great free education- including free University education.
free healthcare, low unemployment rates.

I really couldn't imagine finding a better place to live.

( It's just a few miles from where JK Rowling lives and presumably she could choose anywhere in the world to live)

It's also utter bollocks that London is the best city in the UK.

Ah, now I'm going to have to fight you on this one - London IS the best city, no contest. Fisticuffs at dawn?

But I agree with the rest of your post. I think you missed xenophobic, stupid and thick as pigshit which I have been called on here. Nice people we share this forum with lol.

This is the second largest party in the Netherlands [Geert Wilders' PVV or Freedom Party]

While this is technically true (it is the party holding the second-largest number of seats), you have to realise that the Dutch parliamentary system works very differently to the UK's in some ways so the PVV is not as popular as the above might suggest. The vote is very fragmented, it's not a system with two or three major parties like, say, the UK and Australia.

The PVV only holds 20 of 150 seats in the lower house! Not nothing, but it won just 13.06% of the total vote (says Wikipedia: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweede_Kamerverkiezingen_2017). By contrast, UKIP won 12.6% in 2015 (says Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party).

Before the last election, all the major parties made it very clear that they wouldn't enter into a coalition with the PVV.

I'm not suggesting that the Netherlands is a liberal utopia, far from it, I'm simply pointing out that the PVV is small and dangerous rather than big and dangerous with a broad base of support.

Diverse does not always equal better! I've lived in Switzerland but will always come back to the UK as nothing compares to living in the land of your birth.
Even if it's cold, damp and going to sh!t because of the dreaded B word!

I agree as a nation of around 60 million we're pretty diverse. In 2011, 7.5 million people living in England and Wales (13%of the total population) were born outside the UK.

2.5% of our population is Indian. 1.8%% black african. 1.1% black carribean. O.7% chinese. Need i go on.

Japan 98.5% of people are from japan and Japanese descent. And they've a population double ours so should be more diverse.

Britain and the uk are for from perfect, but what i loveis healthcare free at the point of use, a state education system that while not perfect but provides good education to the population, good weather (we don't really experience extreme weather events), no school shootings in years, religious freedom, benefits system to help the needy not for them to starve with no help.

SilverySurfer

You say that the US has the death penalty, it does not. Only some states do.

Not read all PP but I've always dreamed of a small island in Scotland or the Netherlands.

Although this might be too remote for you focusing on education for the kids.

I do however agree with you about eng not being attractive atm.