Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I wish I could escape the UK...

244 replies

Itsokay2020 · 12/10/2021 13:45

Just that really! I used to love this country, but I feel really deflated today.

I read the headlines and it’s so depressing, I go for a walk and I just see overgrown hedgerows and weeds everywhere. Footpaths are becoming impossible to negotiate due to overgrowth. My energy supplier went bust, the new supplier are dragging their heals and have blocked our attempt to switch to a better rate with a new supplier. I can sense growing frustration amongst the ordinary folk in the street, it’s a melting pot. Shelves are more bare, made worse by panic headlines in the media. The cost of living is increasing, yet wages are stagnant. The government seems unable to get a grip on all that’s wrong - where is all the money going? Our local fields are being built upon - our beautiful village of 2,000 dwellings will soon increase to 3,000 plus. This is repeated across our part of East Anglia. Selfishly, I wonder where I’ll walk the dog, whilst also knowing that my DC won’t be able to live locally due to the cost of housing. Don’t get me started on GP’s and the lack of appointments.

For the first time, I feel fear about the future. Am considering escaping the South and moving North to reduce our cost of living and maybe enjoy a slower pace. Am I just having a down day or do you feel it too?

Will a new government make it better?

OP posts:
ssd · 12/10/2021 16:12

You've lost me saying you've lost faith in our current government.

That implies you had faith before and probably voted for them. So to me you're part of the problem.

Pythonista · 12/10/2021 16:12

Too true! grin

But I do enjoy it when people do.

That's great - I think it's generally a good balance, I wear dark glasses and headphones so I tend not Grin to be approached

Tealightsandd · 12/10/2021 16:17

We've even stopped worshipping oatcakes (although we do still sacrifice them with bacon and cheese

@pazuzu Staffordshire oatcakes are lovely! (Scottish ones taste good too) Smile

BigWoollyJumpers · 12/10/2021 16:17

Petrol back to normal here in Surrey, because everyone now has a full tank. No empty shelves that I have seen. My local farmer cuts all the hedges round here. Just in the process of doing his pre-Winter cut. The parish council deals with weeds and litter and dog poo bins. We've just had the entire lane footpaths resurfaced. Actually can't complain. Oh, no, wait, the GP is crap. But apart from that, all is well.

Firesidefox · 12/10/2021 16:20

Love the idea of all these foreign utopias. I see a lot of similar sentiment on Twitter.

Go and see how great it is.

Halfpace · 12/10/2021 16:21

@MrsTerryPratchett

I also don't understand the negative comments about emigration. It's so churlish. Plenty of countries are really positive about people moving around. Including some in the UK, like the Scots. There's a massive diaspora.

But the English (possibly welsh, I do t know) seem to have a 'fuck off if you don't like it attitude'. Why is that?

I think I only fully understood the negative (English? UK-wide?) attitude to emigration since reading the way it’s depicted on Mn. In my home country leaving is an entirely normal thing to do, and doesn’t imply criticism of the home country, but on Mn - and I’m assuming it’s reflective of a widespread attitude — it seems to be seen as selfish, an appalling thing to do to your parents, and a naive seeking after sun-soaked perfection elsewhere.
MadeItOut21 · 12/10/2021 16:21

NC as it will be outing together with prior posts. I left the UK in March, OP, for the same reasons. It started with the Brexit vote for me and it just felt like the UK went downhill from there and Covid made it worse. So I convinced DH to move with my job and, honestly, it was the best decision we ever made. Our house has 3 times the square footage we had in the UK, our commute is 5 minutes, both our wages are higher and it's sunny year round. Took DH a few months to find a job, moving was hard and we will spend £££ on regular visits to the UK to see family, but it was 100% worth it. It's really not such a daft idea and honestly everyone back home tells us how depressing it is there and we're now helping my DH's best friend move here next year too as he's had enough!! The UK looks grim right now, at least from a distance, and things really are better elsewhere.

Anon778833 · 12/10/2021 16:22

Perhaps at the heart of this, I have lost faith in our current government. They seem so very out of touch with reality. Their lack of effective action at the right time is staggering

The Tories are not out of touch - they just don't care. This is their brand of politics 'sort yourself out, we aren't going to spend money helping those who need it'.

This is why I've never voted Tory. Their indifference will certainly be most keenly felt during a pandemic and the effects of Brexit.

Pythonista · 12/10/2021 16:23

People have the attitude because so many people just whine about how crap it is. So either accept it or do something about it

Pythonista · 12/10/2021 16:25

Ooh good I was waiting to the UK to actually be code for England and how shit the English are

MadeItOut21 · 12/10/2021 16:26

Fuck off if you don't like it

Well, as said above, I did, earlier this year. But this is a terrible attitude because it prevents people from 1) recognizing that things really are going very badly in the UK and no, Europe is not having it worse or even as bad and 2) putting pressure on the politicians to fix what is wrong.

TheMagiciansNiece · 12/10/2021 16:28

There's nothing wrong with overgrown hedgerows - much better for the environment.

And as for losing faith in the government? Never, ever have faith in a Tory government.

Hope you didn't vote for Brexit.

QueenZoopla · 12/10/2021 16:29

Clicked on the thread because I felt empathy - I also feel the UK has gone down a very dark road and would love to escape ( too old, too poor & too clueless to actually do so) HOWEVER then you said you had lost faith in the current government - wait, what?! You had faith in this lots of self-serving bastards at some point? Did you vote for this bunch??? All empathy gone - if you voted for them, you helped all of us get stuck here

User135644 · 12/10/2021 16:30

I feel like the country has been destroyed by disaster capitalists, starting with the bankers in 2008.

mikedyson · 12/10/2021 16:31

@ssd

You've lost me saying you've lost faith in our current government.

That implies you had faith before and probably voted for them. So to me you're part of the problem.

I thought that - but you articulated it perfectly.
mustlovegin · 12/10/2021 16:34

destroyed by disaster capitalists, starting with the bankers in 2008

What's a 'disaster capitalist'?

The subprime crisis started in the US

Hont1986 · 12/10/2021 16:37

Why aren't the BBC covering the hedgerow problem in this country?!

Pythonista · 12/10/2021 16:38

@MadeItOut21

Fuck off if you don't like it

Well, as said above, I did, earlier this year. But this is a terrible attitude because it prevents people from 1) recognizing that things really are going very badly in the UK and no, Europe is not having it worse or even as bad and 2) putting pressure on the politicians to fix what is wrong.

If you read my entire post, you will see that I suggested other options...
Guacamole001 · 12/10/2021 16:40

Plenty of petrol and food on the shelves where I live (midlands). As for soaring gas costs I understand that is global.

MatildaIThink · 12/10/2021 16:41

@User135644

I feel like the country has been destroyed by disaster capitalists, starting with the bankers in 2008.
The UK has had problems for a long time and very few of them relate to the 2008 crash. The biggest issue in the UK is that we pay comparatively very low tax. The bottom two thirds of earners in the UK have the lowest effective rate of income taxation in the EU (the top third have the fifth highest), even pre-Covid 54% of households receive more in cash benefits than they pay in tax. Lots of people had a tantrum over the NI rise and only around 8% of people make a net contribution in any one year.

What has caused the issues is too many people think that "someone else" can pay for everything, too many people do not pay enough tax to fund the UK and most in this country have a very childish attitude towards paying tax. The problem is not "disaster capitalists", it is not "bankers", it is the majority of the population.

NannyOggsWhiskyStash · 12/10/2021 16:42

@TheMagiciansNiece

There's nothing wrong with overgrown hedgerows - much better for the environment.

And as for losing faith in the government? Never, ever have faith in a Tory government.

Hope you didn't vote for Brexit.

Totally agree. I am rather shocked that people are surprised, Tories and Brexit, no wonder the UK is in a mess, entirely of its own making. I moved away years ago, and do not regret it, very happy to still be a member of the EU. Great name btw!
lnsufficientFuns · 12/10/2021 16:43

Your priorities are all wrong If you’re wringing your hands over new housing being built and scruffy hedging tbh

User135644 · 12/10/2021 16:44

@RunningOnFumes

I understand, OP, its pretty depressing at the moment (and I am speaking as someone who can remember the 70s and 80s). We have considered moving abroad, but need to be around for aging parents, so it's no go. One of the worst things I think is what a divided and angry country we have become - I suppose the "fuck off if you dont like it" responses are one example of that!
It's always the same when the Tories are in because they play divide and rule so well. The 80s was a very divisive decade as well.
AdoptedBumpkin · 12/10/2021 16:44

I understand your feelings, but there are lots of housing developments in many parts of the North.

Ilovegreentomatoes · 12/10/2021 16:45

Can't understand the negative opinions your getting op.Im waiting till dd finishes her education here and then I'm moving abroad.
The climate, lifestyle here just depresses me as does the constant voting for a party that only cares for the rich.