Tell me the bad things about living in the UK

[alwayscrashinginthesamecar1]

In the interests of equality, as we have had other threads for other countries, I thought I'd start this thread.

I'll start it off with

Bloody awful weather
Obsessed with class
Racist and in some places sectarian too
Filthy cities.

I spend a lot of time in the South of France and I see more racism / racial tension there. I’m not saying Britain is free from it though.
I could do without the short dark days of winter , and pissing rain in the summer hols.
I love the swearing , and British (well Northern England) sense of humour.

I'm not from the U.K. but I lived there for quite a number of years and have to say I really enjoyed my time there. There are wonderful opportunities to be had career wise and I love the British high street!

That said, the thing that stood out to me was the lack of social cohesion/shared identity. For all the claims of diversity, I was somewhat shocked to see how the areas I lived in were segregated by race. Not all areas are like that of course, but it really stood out to me at the time as it's not like that where I'm from at all.

I feel on the class thing lots of people have to be obsessed with it because we have an elite who rule the country. Just look at the schools and uni's they all go to. And we live in quite a devided society in terms of income and social mobility. Which I also think comes from the elite of valuing certain behaviour and background. So lots of people have to think about this to get on in certain walks of life. So day to day I don't know many people who are actually bothered about class in an outward signifiers of wealth way. But that could be just me as we have a good income but choose to live in a small house etc.

All around a great country, I wouldn't want to move elsewhere because it's a lovely place with lovely people and its safe.

My bugbears are:
House prices
Weather
Massive gap between the rich and poor (but that's the same everywhere, not a UK problem)

The weather.
Class system is extremely entrenched, second only probably to India.
NHS is untouchable despite being ripe for improvement.
People are very entitled and a lot of people want something for nothing.
Cities are so so grotty except in a few expensive areas - 95% is dirty and poorly maintained.
The train system has gone down the drain and is overpriced and unreliable.
The politics is tedious and uninspiring.

But we have the rule of law, great free education, world leading universities, stunning countryside (thanks to the bad weather..), free healthcare, social support systems, and broadly I think most people really do care about others. We also speak the global language which makes travel and employment easier. I also love irony and sarcasm which are very British traits. I’d love to move somewhere with sunnier weather but ideally I’d transplant the country!

Difficulty for people to get a foot on the housing ladder, especially in cities.

The only bad thing I think about this county compared to others is the tiny housing!

I say this as someone who is property hunting (perfect house fell through )

The way the nights draw in from late August onwards and you notice it’s dark at 7.30pm. Horrendous. I hate the short, dark, miserable days.

Litter. Everywhere. It may be the “same in other countries” but it didn’t use to be like that here.Its a relatively recent thing.

Crap housing mostly down to design. If they built homes that had useable rooms (a kitchen you can put a table in so you have more than one room downstairs people can do stuff in ) a garden or proper balcony and car parking you would see families live there years. Rather than Lilliputian sized two bed “family“ homes that only work for couples.
And flats plonked anywhere just to make money. Again too small to be actually useful as housing.

I spend a lot of time in the South of France and I see more racism / racial tension there.

South of France was particularly bad in my memory - one of the towns near me refused to register the births of non-white babies so the families were forced to move to the city where they registered for schools. Places consistently refused to give permission for mosques or halal/kosher food places and were vocal that it was to the discourage non Christians from settling in the area. Intentionally using bureaucracy with the stated aim of keeping others out. Possibly it happens everywhere but they were so blatant and unashamed of it.

Quite ote expensive, too leniant on bad behaviour, but on the whole, the UK is a great st place to live on my opinion. Of course there are bad areas and nicer areas, bad people and nice people, but that's just people and you'll find that anywhere in the world.

I find some of the people in the U.K. are resistant or unwilling to work to their full capacity because of the benefits system and “entitlement”

There is also a dependency on the nhs and loads
Of people refuse to pay for any sort of private care. Not to mention the new nhs obsession.

The things you mentioned are common in loads of cities.

@TweeterandtheMonkeyman the south of France is notorious for racism, but Tbh I think you will find that every country has racism issue. It's sad but unfortunately a lot of people are quite stupid.

Oh yes I forgot the housing. Tiny little boxes squished together with other people's tiny little boxes and paying crazy sums for the pleasure - that was grim!

The bedrooms which if you put a single bed in you will not be able to fully open the door... That would not fly where I am from...

I don't get the class obsession. Is it a southern thing?
I live in west yorkshire and nobody talks about class.
Sure you get snobs and inverted snobs, but it's not about traditional class striuctures.

A few of the good things:

We have no volcanoes, we don't have earthquakes, tsunamis, monster tornadoes, monsoons, ten feet of snow for months on end or plagues of locusts eating all our crops.

We don't live in a despotic military dictatorship which sends soldiers out to round up and shoot anyone who voices an opinion other than the party line.

We have clean water, power, an efficient sewerage system, a temperate climate, shops with an unlimited supply of reasonably cheap food in them, free healthcare when we get sick and free education.

We have freedom of speech.

We have a lot to be thankful for, when you really think about it.

It's a divided country in a complicated situation with a self serving government.

@caperberries The judginess

Oh the irony

Nothing. It's fucking great and I feel incredibly grateful to be living here

There’s a lot I love about the UK. It’s where I was born and brought up and had my children. I love the summer (when it’s a good one), I really don’t think you can beat a gorgeous British summer.
I love how green it is and how much diversity there is in the landscapes. I love my friends and my family and the sense of humour- no one understands sarcasm the way the Brits do.
I love the proximity to Europe and how easy it is to travel to a different culture within a couple of hours.

The things I really don’t like are
The class system - it really is still a thing
The rise of overt racism. Brexit seems to have legitimised it and people don’t seem to worry about what they say anymore.
Expensive and unreliable public transport
Low wages which have to supplemented by the taxpayer because why would big companies pay a living wage when there are shareholders who need their profits..
Potholed, crowded roads
The government and the seeming willingness of the public to pull their forelocks when they’re being shafted and lied to
The number of taxes on everything
The NHS cuts. It has the potential to be one of the best health services in the world, but the politicising of it means so much money is wasted. People talk about it needing overhauling, but don’t seem to realise that happens every time there’s a change of government, complete with rebranding and restructuring.
I hate how dirty it’s become. I notice it every time I land back in the country. The airports are the dirtiest I go through, the roads are filthy and litter strewn, plastic hanging in the trees and rubbish along the motorways and major roads. It’s very sad to see.
The mainstream media - I couldn’t believe the hype around Covid when I arrived back in February. Yes, it’s scary, but there is a way of reporting these things without either terrifying people, or seemingly revelling in it all.
I don’t like the long dark winters and feeling like I’m looking through the lid of a Tupperware box when I look at the sky in November through to March (although I do love bright, cold sunny days). They sap my energy and make my legs feel like lead.
Brexit was the catalyst for us leaving again and I really can’t see us coming back, mostly because of the political situation. I do treasure my twice yearly trips back to see the people and places I love though. My ideal would be six months here and six months there, but three months there is good.

Seriously crowded

I'm assuming those writing long lists of all the things they hate about the UK will be moving to another country as soon as lockdown finishes? Can't imagine why you would want to stay. Bon yoyage.

Oh I've just asked for a thread about this, having been on both the American and Australian ones. I think the problem is, it's mostly British posters in Britain responding.

But here goes, seen from the outside.

You obsession with class
Your traditional food
You seek drama/are easily offended
Your politicians seem incompetent, you moan about them, yet still wrote for them
Your perception of how important Britain is on the world scene (re. Brexit) is a best nationalistic at worst it's megalomania .

And sorry, I'm really quite fond of you .