That her words about the UK really depressed me?

[NaturalScone]

Talking to a Swedish colleague this afternoon, not had much of a chance to in the past and we ended up discussing the news.
She mentioned how peculiar our politics were, how we have such a massive wealth divide (as we all know) with little encouragement for people from all walks of life and backgrounds to have equal opportunities. By this she meant how Uni education is funded over there so nobody is in debt, which means many more young people are able to chase professional careers, without massive debt.
Also, the work ethic, how people in Northern Europe are encouraged to prioritise health and wellbeing as well as work, and how well housing, health, etc work over there.

I stupidly mentioned Boris J and she said he would likely already be sacked or various offences. I also didn't know that many European monarchs had to either self fund (?) or had most of their palaces belonging to the public.

Are we going backwards here? It left me feeling pretty depressed. I see people on here all the time saying we are so lucky here, but I think the bar is set really low compared to much of Europe. And now we are less connected to Europe, many people here only judge our standards by the US, as if the EU is somehow 'foreign'.
It all sounds a bit scary if I think about it, we do seem so easily led by a one-party representational media/press (right). And whilst I am not generally partisan, I do feel weirdly uncomfortable. She even said the tories were set to abolish channel 4 and soon the BBC because they were too neutral. I find that fairly terrifying and wonder where we re headed. I previously considered Brexit an issue of immigration, but to be honest I now wonder if that was a red herring and the true motivation was to get us clear of having to take on EU worker's rights and values.

I usually look for the positives in what we've got, because it feels better than admitting things are that bad, but now I just don't know. And not much I can do about it either!
Something does feel harsher and more divided nowadays, and politicians are able to do anything without fear of reprisal. The UK press is incredibly dire! Do other people see this?

And yet, she chooses to live here?

I'm no fan of Boris, or the Tories. I think there is a multitude of things wrong with the UK. I think there are plenty of issues.

But I couldn't get depressed about having someone Swedish point out all the terrible things about this country. Sweden has its own issues. As do most places.

Did she also say that Swedes pay one of the highest levels of tax in the world? 32% basic rate income tax?

I’ve lived all over the world including Sweden. Is she living here?

Your Swedish colleague is correct. I lived in Norway for a while and have spent a lot of time working overseas. If you’ve not experienced any alternatives, it is possible that you’d think this is as good as it gets. The UK has descended into a terrible mess. If it weren’t for elderly parents I’d be off again in a heartbeat because the UK electorate in general don’t get it, and aspirations on a society level are really low.

And much better public services, rates of happiness and lower levels of inequality.

I agree with you OP. Saying that other countries have their own issues doesn't really help, does it? Not everywhere is equally bad - some countries are far better run than others. The UK is going downhill at incredible speed. Preventing demonstrations and diluting the right to bring a judicial review claim are just 2 examples. I suspect that what is happening is basically a small number of people looting the country and then scarpering. There is no longer any sense of people governing with a view to the general good of the population.

aspirations on a society level are really low.

Can you give examples, and what do you think could change it? Find this sentence really interesting. I've only lived in the UK and US.

To be honest, I struggle to understand why you are giving so much head space to a single individuals views on the UK, just because she is from Sweden. She obviously does not think the UK is so bad if she is living here working. It seems your post is another MN bashing UK thread, they seem pretty popular on here. Worth asking if she can recommend some where to live in Sweden and move 🤔

Rioting in multiple swedish cities over the weekend, because they haven't, banned an anti Islamist hate rabblerouser. This isn't an anti Swedish or anti any country post, just pointing out that Nirvana doesn't exist. These kinds of threads always paint a pi ture of Britain I just don't see. I live in a tourist area and what I saw last weekend were happy families enjoying quality time together,

I know many Swedes, living in various not Sweden places, and they all say the same thing about the place they live vs Sweden.

Worth paying for the higher standard of living and better public services, IMO.

‘There is no longer any sense of people governing with a view to the general good of the population’ I absolutely agree with this. I increasingly don’t know what our government is for.who does it actually benefit? And as to Sweden’s basic rate of income tax, it funds good services. Here, you might have some more money in your pocket at the end of the month, but what does it get you? If we actually realised how very much better standards of living were in eg Northern European countries we’d be flabbergasted.

University is funded in Scotland for anyone who wishes to go and it has been for a long time.

Swedes are quite smug about how great their country is but having lived there it has its downsides. The number of alcoholics is astronomical, they take lots of immigrants but racism is seen as much more acceptable than here, you have to literally pass a till and pay before the door to A&E is unlocked for you, they are quite an insular race. Yep they get lots right but also get lots wrong.

I see this too, OP. The UK is in a terrible state :(

And yet thousands risk their lives every year to come and live here. Weird.

Oh there are issues everywhere and interesting she chooses to live here and not Sweden. Did you ask her why?

I can remember talking to a woman from somewhere in Eastern Europe who was absolutely horrified by our NHS that we are all so proud of. She said that it was rubbish, pretty much. That in her country, if something was wrong with you and you were admitted to hospital (for which the threshold is considerably lower) you would not leave until the doctors knew what was wrong with you. You wouldn't be referred for this test in a month or that clinic in three months. They'd all be done while you were in hospital and they'd find out what was wrong. And she said physio was post injury or surgery rehab, not something they just impose on people with painful joints or muscles, they find out why the painful joints and muscles are happening instead of palming them off onto some other department.

I often think the NHS is sort of like Poundland. Quite a lot of good stuff in there but lots more rubbish and really, if you paid a bit more, you'd get far better lasting quality. Yes, we've paid for it through NI but there's no denying the private treatment options are better and if the NHS was really world class healthcare, nobody would be able to say private healthcare beats it.

Boris is British trump…this can’t be news to you surely

@Poppetlove

University is funded in Scotland for anyone who wishes to go and it has been for a long time.

Not if you're English

As I always say, we get what we vote for and have nobody else to blame except ourselves.

In my DC class in the SE, there are 3 children out of 30 who aren't bi- or even tri-lingual. It's a mix of parents from Europe as well as Asia and ROW. This is the norm in lots of places. The cultural diversity this brings is fantastic and so normalised at a young age but my point is, why have all those parents moved to the UK, away from family?

I am no Tory fan and no one can deny there are plenty of issues, but it's complex and most of your post is based on one perspective and their own values.

One of my dearest friends is Swedish, now living abroad. The Scandinavian system has its own problems and it wouldn't work equally well everywhere. Until fairly recently, they've been extremely homogenous. I'll be curious to see how they fare in the next 30 or 40 years. Even now, not all Swedes are perfectly happy with how things run there. Some of them think their own government is full of incompetents, for instance, and they feel the government is overstepping in some areas while turning a willfully blind eye in others.

Any time someone criticises the country they have taken great pains to immigrate to, I take what they have to say with a grain of salt.

I have got to agree with her TBH. I moved to another European country in 2018 partly down to Brexit misery. And honestly the UK is a very run down country in comparison.

Health care is the issue that stands out to me most right now, it's so bad that at this point I'd rather have a private health system than an underfunded NHS - yes, I know that's the attitude the Tories have been hoping people will eventually adopt after years of chiselling away at the NHS, but it's true. It's not fit for purpose at all. Elsewhere in the developed world, it's unheard of to wait hours for an ambulance, a year for an operation, or never being able to see a GP in person (and if you do manage it, only being blessed with 5 minutes of their time).

It's literally so dirty with rubbish everywhere in my UK home town now, nothing is maintained or kept clean anymore compared to about 20 years ago, due to all the council funding cuts I presume.

Public transport is crap. The roads are crap. Healthcare, crap. Education, huge class sizes - worst in Europe. Among the worst in Europe for obesity. Widespread poverty with kids living in mouldy damp homes. The list just goes on and on.

Of course I miss the UK sometimes and there are a few positive things I truly cherish about my home country but I just find it so sad that we settle for such low standards, and keep voting for the party that has dragged the UK down in this way.

Come the GE in 2 years time, Labour will get the keys to No 10 and they can then put their money where their mouth is and sort out the problems that we have in the UK 😳😳😳😳😳

Hmmm, we shall see 😳