Are things in the UK really that bad?

[namechange10022002]

I’ve been living overseas for about seven years and I am lucky to have a very safe, easy, comfortable life here but for various reasons I really want to move back home to England. However I keep hearing about how bad the situation is over there, with the cost of living crisis, housing, energy bills, health service, etc. For example I was watching Triggernometry and the hosts were saying the next few years are going to be extremely difficult for everyone there. I was just wondering, is it really as bad as they say? If you never watched or read the news or looked at social media, would you notice the difference in your quality of life? What is the general feeling on the ground, so to speak?

I guess I just want to know if it would be a mistake to move back there.

I am amazed that some here are insulated by their wealth from the shocks the country is going through.
We are in the top 1%, kids in private education, no mortgage etc BUT I still see the collapse of country vividly.
Eg. the NHS in tatters ( my husband collapsed with pneumonia and the local hospital declared a critical incident so we couldn't take him in.)
Rail strikes are impacting us hugely
Rising mortgage costs have hit our friends and will continue to do so for months
Fuel bills are rocketing so much we and everyone I know are really being careful with heat and electric
Food costs have risen and will continue to do so

I am in awe and disbelief that people are saying life is going on my as before.

I also think it is going to get a lot worse as the rise in interest rates really bite.

ProfessionalWeirdo
Au contraire, I'd welcome any suggestions. I'm all ears...

Portugal with a D7 visa?

imin-portugal.com/blog/d7-visa-portugal/

My one glimmer of hope that no one has mentioned is climate crisis - I feel that the UK is much better placed than a lot of European countries to cope with it - living in a wet and windy country will be massively advantageous when Southern Europe is regularly seeing devastating drought and ever increasing high temperatures. The news today about melting snow and the devastating effect on ski resorts was very sobering.

I totally respect that it's of little comfort when trying to summon an ambulance, pay for food or get a GP appointment. I'm still grasping the silver lining though.

I am not amazed- if you don’t need it the state of the NHS is very easy to ignore.
I am however depressed by the people who can read post after post of bad first hand experiences and still insist it’s just media scaremongering.
If it doesn’t affect you there’s nothing wrong with saying so, but claiming that means there is therefore no problem is ridiculous and insulting.

The catch … you won’t have the right to work in Portugal, although remote working might be possible.

Pp would like to retire

I agree with this as also someone who's supposed to be affected.

The only 2 ways you can't be affected are:

1. You're doing fine right now and don't care about anyone else
2. You're wealthy enough to whisk all your family and friends off to another Country where they can access healthcare in an emergency

Yep, those are the only 2 binary possibilities. No others. Well done at trying to funnel people into your narrow world view by trying to present them with a false choice.

The catch … you won’t have the right to work in Portugal, although remote working might be possible

The link quite clearly says applicants can have a passive income like a pension, rental income or a remote work salary. The poster said she was retired.

Yes they are the only 2 binary possibilities.

@Clavinova

Portugal with a D7 visa? imin-portugal.com/blog/d7-visa-portugal/

Thank you - I hadn't heard of this. I will look into it.

Good to know. I pick a bit of Option A, a bit of Option B and some of Option C

There's no option C. Either you don't care about anyone or you've moved everyone you care of out of the Country. That's is.

So here is an example of how hard things are. I saw my GP in November with a hand tremor and she has referred me to Neurology to see a consultant regarding possible Parkinson's disease. I got a letter saying I'm on the waiting list for an initial review at an outpatient clinic.
The hospital trust website says the average waiting time is 65 WEEKS, so a year and a quarter.

Not really.

2 people have said this now with no other option

Because you're obviously trolling. Which is fine, but try to at least be funny in future

I think if you're worried about how bad the UK is then stay where you are in your cushy life and be one less person for the NHS to cater for.

Either you're
a - affected by what's going on in this Country
b - don't care about anyone else
c - can whisk everyone you care about off to another country

if there's another option I'm all ears, otherwise I'll assume you're just trolling and fall into category b

At least the number of binary options has grown by 50% vs your last proposal

Yes, it's bad, but i havent known any different. I grew up in a low income family and worked during the Blair years in a low paid job as a young single person, so didnt benefit from the economic growth years, but I expect if I had my family and was my age now in the 90's/early 00's I would have had a very good life before housing went crazy in the mid 00's.

I think the difference now is the level of corruption and the expectation that working people bail out the government's mistakes constantly. This government only want to help elites and just see the electorate as a means of funding them and their friends lifestyles. They don't do their job, which is to work for us. It's very depressing and I really lack hope for the future. 40 and still can't buy a house with an above average income. Can't get my son assessed for SN. Have to threaten to complain/chase referrals to get anything done. Paid thousands in childcare and missed the best years of my son's life as we need two FT incomes to survive. Pretty frugal too as we have to be. This was not the case for my mum's generation. Things have definitely gone backwards.

I think things have been deteriorating for decades, but this has really gathered pace since 2016.

I have said to my other son that he needs to learn languages so he can work abroad. I feel trapped in the UK and hate it. I just want to see things moving forwards.

All the people saying everything's fine with the health service because you got a same day appointment easily last week, or your kid went to A&E, got treated promptly and follow-up appointments etc, I'm not doubting your experiences, but -

When things like this break down, the breakdown tends not to be uniform? The NHS is a hugely complex organisation taking in GPs, hospitals, specialist services etc. over the whole country, some things centrally coordinated some run locally and subject to different local stresses and effects upon funding. Some services in some places have clearly become completely dysfunctional, some just barely hanging on, some still OK.

Thing is, for a service as crucial as healthcare to be judged even "OK" as a whole, the vast majority of it should be OK and departures from that a rarity. It's clear that the opposite is the case: most of it's highly problematic at best, but there are certain lucky spots where it hasn't fallen too bad, yet.

If you happen to be experiencing one of those, great. It doesn't mean by any stretch that the widespread perception of severe decline is just in peoples' imaginations.

option d: think you are too invincible to get sick.

I know someone like that, he thinks that because he exercises regularly, he is immune to illness and if he is, he is very rich and can get healthcare in another country. In his words, even if he has to undergo chemotherapy, he can come up with his brilliant ideas from his sick bed.

A lot of 'self-made' people have a very high opinion of their own abilities. Including their ability to stay healthy since health and wealth are often inextricably linked. Its not easy to get rich with poor health! This isn't to denigrate their achievements but it can be a blind spot!

No one likes to think of themselves getting sick and old, hence why rich people are often the ones who invest most heavily in their health. However there is no magic drug or exercise regimen that can protect against all illnesses.

yeah that falls under option b

It never grew at all you just misclassified it as binary by not reading my original post.