I wish I could escape the UK...

[Itsokay2020]

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?

@sst1234

Agree. This is what the 70s must have been like in this country, as the sick man of Europe.

No, it really isn't.

I've just felt this country is a cesspit of seething hate

Most likely you are projecting

Problem for growing numbers is not the deposit. It's low incomes affecting their chance of getting accepted for a mortgage. There was a recent study on this. It's now an issue for 30-40% of would be FTB.

At least half those new builds should be social rented.

You could move, yeah. I hear Afghanistan is nice these days. Although if scruffy hedges and your lovely leafy village getting a little bit bigger is the worst of your problems you should probably just count yourself lucky instead.

At least half those new builds should be social rented

But we don't know that they will be, that's the problem.

Why keep on building if nobody will be able to afford them?

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.

Where the hell is this batshit narrative that poor people aren't paying enough tax coming from?

I have had a quick Goole but can't find any sources for these claims at all - is this some extremist capitalist think-tank or something?

As a Northerner living in East Anglia I'm a bit perplexed by the 'pace of life' thing. Any slower than East Anglia and you'd be largely immobile!

Why keep on building if nobody will be able to afford them?

I think building should stop until we take stock of the situation and understand the numbers we are talking about

mustlovegin, I don't think you understand the problem. Are you familiar with the concept of supply and demand? If we build more homes, the prices of all homes will fall, because there won't be as much competition for any individual home.

@Tilltheend99

People got what they voted for every election for 11years. It’s always a case of waiting for the county to be raised to the ground before anyone notices. The opposite of levelling up.

On a point of order - more people have always voted from something else other than this shitshow (referendum aside).

Move to France- you'd soon be back!

@mustlovegin

I've just felt this country is a cesspit of seething hate

Most likely you are projecting

TBH by far the most seething hate I see anywhere is on the likes of MN, for Boris, for any other thoroughly evil Tory, and of course for anyone who voted for Brexit, since they are obviously not only thick as pigshit, but also irredeemably racist and xenophobic.

I'm not making comparisons with Afghanistan, I'm making comparisons with first world developed nations and finding the Uk wanting, which it shouldn't be given the size of it's economy and its resources. The place looks shitty, rubbish in the streets, not weeded, parks overgrown (they got rid of park keepers and thought the local citizens would love to look after parks full of people with addiction issues/pick up needles), bin collections every two weeks and wheelie bins everywhere which look awful, pot holes in the road, the whole thing just looks downmarket and reflects the nation's psyche. Health-care substandard. People voted for Brexit because they didn't like how things were and they wanted something to change, now they were wrong in their vote (IMO) but they wanted something better (the irony being those very people will be poorer and less mobile now).

I'm comparing with other countries like Germany, France, Canada, some Eastern European countries are doing very well now and their countries don't have that tatty decaying air just in how they present visibly, let alone what's going on. Not saying it's perfect in any of them, but the UK is not at its best right now and the fact that people have to compare it to Afghanistan to feel ok about it says it all.

@FreeBritnee

Where would you like to live?if you have skills it may be possible (assuming it’s Australia. It’s always Australia).

I sometimes wonder whether the people who write these UK-knocking threads have ever lived overseas

Yes. In Australia. And it’s excellent. Still here because I had similar feelings to the OP

Everyone gets really defensive when good old England, centre of the world is criticised but tbh there are a lot of things about it which are a bit shit. There is possibly a bit of a boiled frog element where you don’t realise what is possible in life until you do something different.

Yes there are some wonderful things about England, some things about Australia which make me depressed (mainly the corrupt politicians, lack of sense in federal government and fucked up behaviour towards Indigenous people as a group but I have faith that enough of us want that to change) but overall the quality of life here is on another level and, if you have a job and don’t live in a eastern capital you can afford that quality of life. I have a couple friend who are PART TIME nurses and have 30 acres of land, horses and kids at fee paying school (very much in a not posh way- an hour out of the city in a 70s house but still not exactly a shit life) I feel much less part of the rat race- a short commute, a very clear focus on life rather than work

If I hadn’t moved here I would have gone to remote Scotland but I don’t suppose you can lie on the beach as much there . Make the change OP. It sounds like it’s time and nothing needs to hold you back.

@mustlovegin

Our local fields are being built upon - our beautiful village of 2,000 dwellings will soon increase to 3,000 plus

Any other political party would be a lot more lax with uncontrolled immigration, so the overbuilding and tax increases would be a lot worse

I go for a walk and I just see overgrown hedgerows and weeds everywhere. Footpaths are becoming impossible to negotiate due to overgrowth
This is likely due to climate change activism, not a Conservative forte.
In London there's No Mow May and for a while everything looked like a tip. I understand the need to protect pollinators, etc, but this is a step too far and is only attracting vermin.

Shelves are more bare, made worse by panic headlines in the media
This is a temporary adjustment due to Covid and (perhaps?) Brexit teething issues. It will pass. Not everyone is seeing empty shelves, mind you

I feel like that. I went to Bristol recently and green fields were being built on, it is so depressing and half the time the homes are not affordable and the infrastructure is not there

Are you familiar with the concept of supply and demand? If we build more homes, the prices of all homes will fall, because there won't be as much competition for any individual home

It's obviously not working in this case. I see plenty of new buildings in London, some areas look like Hong Kong - massive skyscrapers blocking the sun in an already sombre city. Obviously not what is needed. Some of them are empty but prices keep going up. Something is not right

@Pythonista

Ah is it time for the daily UK hate again. How time flies.

Hahaha.

so is balanced news in France, Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria

The concept of 'balanced news' is ridiculous.

People maybe leaning to the right in those countries because left-wing policies are not working.

@ProfYaffle

As a Northerner living in East Anglia I'm a bit perplexed by the 'pace of life' thing. Any slower than East Anglia and you'd be largely immobile!

Lol.

Some of these responses have me in tears.

OP, I'm, for the most part, content with life here. I've lived abroad and the grass is not always greener--however, it's clear to me that you need change. I'd visit a few cities and see where you like and go from there.

Yes. In Australia. And it’s excellent.

Apart from all the racism, yeah it's just great. I'm guessing you're white. One of my friends went there for a trip. She got racist abuse shouted at her on a few occasions. She didn't think it was excellent.

Yes. In Australia. And it’s excellent. Still here because I had similar feelings to the OP

Australia have a centre-right government since 2018.

The place is vast, beautiful and people seem down to earth

Recently returned from a holiday travelling to various parts of the UK

Yes, houses are being built everywhere, however the Government made it clear before covid that not enough had been built in the preceeding years.
The rules have also been relaxed for home extensions & improvements. Some commercial buildings have been transformed into residential properties

We met lots of lovely people on our travels

We have all stood together to get through covid

Pre covid, I travelled to different countries

In some other countries people burn their rubbish due to no rubbish collection

I've seen empty food shelves in other countries

No Free education

No NHS

The UK has a lot to be proud of

The UK has a lot to be proud of

Yes