To ask why people flee the UK?

[seasonalsparkler]

I haven't posted in a while and have name changed. In light of recent events such as brexit, royal drama and suicidal behaviour- I can't help but to pick up on a troubling undercurrent. So I guess I am asking for anyone to shed light on why you have fled the UK or why you might consider doing so?

My husband is a Principal in a large ME British school and most of his teachers are British Muslims who feel the UK is too liberal for their beliefs and increasingly, to avoid racism.

We left (not fled) the UK 4 years ago, actually just before the Brexit vote, to mainland Europe. It was going to be temporary, but we've made it work financially and there isn't much about what's happened in the UK since then that's made us want to return. We visit often for work and family, but are quite happy with our new life in the sun, thank you! I will always love the UK, and the last few years' politics have really grieved me.

We left. Twice. The first time was for sunshine and opportunity. We came back when we had kids because of family but just found the culture so negative we didn’t want to bring our kids up there anymore.

We moved to the US and with Trump in place I’m not sure how much better it is, but Brexit and the election of Boris have added to the reasons to stay away from he UK.

• and agree with others who say they wouldn’t call it fleeing. Fleeing has connotations of needing to leave, where as we were doing fine just thought somewhere else would be better.

Realise I didn't answer the question - we left for a change and an adventure. We stayed away for the weather, the simple, comfortable lifestyle, the cost of living, the quality of the food, the space we can afford.

I left in an orderly fashion 13 years ago. I wouldn't call it fleeing :) I moved to Norway because the man that I loved and about 95% of my friends lived there already and because I completely fell in love with this city. There wasn't much to hold me in the UK bar family. These days I'm glad I left, I don't like the current lean to the right in England and how unfeeling the general populace seems to have become. I worry for those who need help and for those I care about. Still wouldn't flee though. It's hardly a 'fleeing' situation.

I’d have left if Corbyn had got in as well.

Well I'm not fleeing yet, but have been spending part of the year elsewhere and am thinking about it.

I love England but it doesn't quite love me. I do think it's just a bit too hard to get on in this country. The trains don't work, everything is so expensive, the weather is terrible. All this would be nothing if there wasn't such a persistently negative, hostile public discourse. I'm just... tired of it. I can earn literally three times my current salary if I moved permanently. It's a lot to turn down for a good cup of tea.

"we left for a change and an adventure. We stayed away for the weather, the simple, comfortable lifestyle, the cost of living, the quality of the food, the space we can afford."

Describes us perfectly. I'm not British but I lived there for more than a decade. I do miss stuff about the UK. Cosy pubs, the particular humour (what other country could have come up with Alan Partridge) and the melting pot feel of London that meant I always felt at home.

But whoever mentioned the class divide in the UK also struck a chord. I found that so depressing and I do not miss it.

I’m going to flee the Uk in around 3 years when I retire for one reason only. The shitty weather we get. I’m going to go and live in the sun as it makes me feel happy and the cost of living is lower. Can’t wait.

We moved more than 4 years ago for better pay, tax free and sunny life 😎 We live in the Middle East.

It's really great here and the lifestyle is just unbeatable. We've saved enough for a big deposit to buy a house back home (if/when we want to move back), weekends feel like a holiday due to the weather and we're avoiding Brexit (I am not British but DH is).

It is also a great base if you love traveling like we do, 6 hours to Europe and 6 hours to Asia. We want to tick off many boxes when it comes to traveling from here before considering moving back!

We do miss friends and family back home, the cosy country pubs and London in the summer, but visiting once or twice a year is enough for us 😄

Flee the UK? As far I can gather, the rest of the world is risking their lives to COME here.

But you enjoy your expat life and console yourself with the idea it's awful here and you did the right thing.

I emigrated just before the major recession in 2007/2008. I refused to pay any more tax into a system that spent money on weapons, war and a further lack of humanitarianism. I was also increasingly concerned about racism and the way social welfare was being eroded. I felt/ feel very strongly about this.

I do feel guilty that the UK educated me and I only repaid 7 years of my adult life into the system but I was very disillusioned. I am very happy in my adopted country and have citizenship. My father wishes he had left when I did.

I am fiercely interested in what happens to the UK and always will be. It’s a very complex relationship with an dual citizenship.

The MN rule is that it's OK as long as you go somewhere really boring like Scandinavia. If you somewhere luxurious where you can make money and travel, you are stupid and ignorant though not as ignorant as the armchair mums from suburbia who haven't actually travelled anywhere except a few crappo jet flights to boring places.

I left 7 years ago to marry the man I love. I wouldn't go back now. Brexit, Boris and a right leaning government mean even if I wanted to return my husband and our children would never be welcome. I know it upsets my mum a lot but then again she voted for brexit and Boris so tough

The MN rule is that it's OK as long as you go somewhere really boring like Scandinavia.

Very true.

I’m not familiar with that rule
Or the idea that Scandinavia is boring.

Hey ho.

Autumn this is a bit hyperbolic but expresses best what I feel about it.

eand.co/this-is-how-a-society-dies-35bdc3c0b854

'Fled' years ago, to escape the EU.. Took the ferry from Liverpool to the Isle of Man (not a member). Strangely life goes on, and the island is full of marvellous people who have come here to work, from all over the world.

I get the points about weather & expense but a lot of EU countries are seeing support towards the right & America has Trump & guns. My parents are immigrants as are many of my friends parents imo London is one of the most diverse & tolerant cities out there.

Scandinavia is hardly boring :o

Bertie, I’m emailing that to myself to read later, thank you.

Re the “flee” thing and regular MNers comment..and the royal drama....have we got a lizard believer here?

I’m having visions of people fleeing the UK, meeting tons of people on the way in, and the first group are waving those signs that you see on the freeway in the US.

“wrong way - turn BACK”.

I could have written your post JustaScratch. We left to live in Italy mainly as an experiment for a year. We stayed because nothing (other than my lovely family) made us want to come back. I've found the healthcare better, obviously the weather better, the food better, the pay worse but the quality of life with that pay much better (want a holiday? Drive half an hour to the seaside. Need to use a nursery? 90 euros a month full time). These things mean we are more active, eat more healthily and are therefore also slimmer. The politics are just as grim as the uk, the right is rising here, as it is all over Europe. As someone else said (and this may sound crazy) I would never move back because of the environment in the uk, i.e. the streets etc are filthy in general, at least they are in the North of England in normal towns. Litter, chewing gum, dog poo...it's grim and I really notice this now, just low level filth because no one ever gets out a brush and just cleans it. Obviously I'm not living in Calabria!

I moved to Canada but I didn't 'flee' the UK. I moved for a relationship but I had previously spent 2 years working in Canada in my 20s (now late 30s) and had considered moving back again because I had loved it so much. For me the lifestyle here is incomparable. I live in a fairly well-known, large-ish city so have all the amenities and convenience of that, but we're also just an hour's drive from the Rockies.

The cost of living here is high but for me the quality of life is so much better. We're both good earners and don't have children so can afford a nice house, travel, dogs, big cars, a camper van etc. It gets very cold here but there are over 330 days of sun per year - sunniest city in Canada - most days are sun and blue skies so it's far more pleasant than continual grey, damp and rain. We ski, snowmobile and snowshoe in the winter and hike and camp in the summer. I feel incredibly lucky to live somewhere so stunningly beautiful (although I miss M&S food!).

Flee has a particular meaning. Use it properly or not at all.