To think it’s shocking how bad Britain has fallen apart compared to other European counties

[TheColourofspring]

I am in Spain at the moment in one of the big cities. It’s clean, modern, well maintained. Transport is cheap, food is cheap, healthcare seems to work pretty well (from talking to local). Parks are noticeably well maintained- even saw park keepers! Clean & tidy.

Pensions higher, if you lose your job you get a portion of your salary in unemployment benefits while you look for another and there are no penalties. Based on the premise that if you have paid in, you will get looked after if you are in need.

I am not saying it’s perfect- no country is but it was the same when I was in France last summer.

In Britain, everything is underfunded and close to the edge. Schools, the NHS, local authorities are all at breaking point. My local parks look shabby & there is very little maintenance. Roads have pot holes. Yesterday I read an article about pharmacies being the latest at ‘crisis’ point with major drug shortages (thanks to brexit). Queues at borders, people can’t heat or eat properly, food banks, housing is ridiculous for many people.

I think it’s just so noticeable when you go to other places just how run down Britain is.

Finding it shocking and a bit depressing - like I said, all countries have their issues but I think Britain really has been pillaged by the tories & Brexit really is a disaster.

Food is not cheaper in Europe.

Maybe it wouldn't quite be utopia for us all: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-01-07/racism-in-sweden-is-it-still-considered-a-liberal-haven?leadSource=uverify%20wall

And that as well, in my area dentists are not accepting nhs patients private is the way to go now, just took my 6 year old yesterday- white composite filling 110, emergency appointment 80, x ray 40. For routine appointments for that orivate dentist appointments are for august if you register now.

after ringing around all the local dentists only offer i got was for an nhs dentist to pull the tooth next week as an “emergency” appointment. Supposedly milk teeth are not worth fixing for the nhs even if they need to last another 6 years.

during the covid in europe dentists never shut down, they wore extra ppe but worked on as usual- britain went into complete fail mode

@Bloopsie what has happened to nhs dentistry is a model of what is happening in the nhs too- privatisation by stealth and underfunding to collapse

You can actually see how Brexit happened reading some of the replies on here. British exceptionalism at its finest

Was more a general announcement! A PSA if you like!

Completely agree OP. It's depressing. I live in London and there's an encampment of homeless people outside my local library. The school I work at has damaged desks, plaster falling off the walls, peeling paint and leaking toilets. The playground in my home town has equipment that's ancient and rusting. Roads are riddled with pot holes. Transport between parts of the UK is cripplingly expensive. I don't even try and get a GP appointment any more. Infrastructure is rubbish and people are suffering. And it's not like taxation is exactly low either once you take into account income tax, NI, council tax and VAT...

It's probably because European countries, in fact most non Western countries value community and family differently. Less about me, me, me.

'We're the shittest at everything' (in the face of the actual evidence) is just as exceptionalist a mindset as 'we're the best at everything' (in the fact of the actual evidence).

It’s not really a case of things must be bad in France because they are rioting but more a question of why the hell aren’t we rioting.

And things definitely are not working well here.

That article the bit I can read is nonsense, Malmö a is no go area for light skinned people.
Google Malmö riots, its regularly set up in flames by the “minorities “, gang fights its so bad even police and ambulance refuse to enter some parts of it.

@TheColourofspring I don’t see people saying that it’s all fine. But British people
do like to criticise their country a lot and make out that it is worse than all the others when in reality countries all
have their problems. I work for a global company and the same complaints come up
across Europe (and the US).

Our health service is completely shit, there is no denying that but that’s our own fault. We’re obsessed with the NHS and any government that tries to change it is writing their own death sentence. I’ve never voted Labour but I would seriously consider it if abolishing the NHS was one of their policies.

Plenty of dog shit here in Germany. But also (generally) a much more society-centred mindset that is part of what makes the difference.

On another thread there was a poster who wasn't from the UK but had lived there for decades, noting that people in the UK seem terrified of someone 'getting one over on' them and would rather everyone struggle than that be perceived to happen. I t6hink that mindset (not invented by Thatcherism, but certainly encouraged by it) is one of the roots of the current malaise. I can imagine the howls of protest if a system of statutory health insurance was introduced like the one we have here, where you pay a fixed percentage of your income (capped when your income gets to about 60,000 euro IIRC). Or if the UK had the sort of progressive taxes we have here. As middle earners (pretty much bang on the median for our family size) all this means a quite substantial burden in taxes and social insurance for us, and we certainly don't have the kind of disposable income we might have in the UK, but it's OK because it's our contribution to making society work (and yes, of course there are problems here too).

@Hardbackwriter but things are shit in the U.K. My kids primary school just opened a food bank as there are families unable to feed their kids. None of it is normal & yet the ‘everything is fine’ mass gaslighting still continues

If you are in a tourist area, which is the main industry the place will be maintained. I doubt everywhere is. France has massive strikes and violence over Macron increasing the pension age. Sweden has mass killings and rapes. The cost of living has gone up everywhere.

As someone who has worked in local authorities for the last 15 years I can absolutely say things are the worst I have ever known them to be.

years of austerity, followed rapidly by the challenge of covid and the loss of the European migrant workforce to the health and social care sectors have been catastrophic. Far worse than is being reported in the news.

my understanding is that things in the NHS are even worse.

Everyone is striking because things are shit and no one is willing to do the job on goodwill and claps any more.

This is my absolute favourite piece of British reverse exceptionalism. There is no chance that if people were burning cars in your street you'd be saying it's a wonderful tradition of protest and will contribute to a higher quality of life overall.

We’ve been to Malmo several times, it has alwayd been very nice and people very friendly, never seen the slighest bit of violence or racism.

@TodayInahurry ’sweden has mass killings and rapes’? Eh?

And I am here with friends who live here so I get a good picture of the reality of life here

I agree entirely.

These are the people who voted Tory and/or Brexit (many will not admit it now).

Admitting that the UK is going to hell in a handcart would also mean admitting they were not only wrong, but they were fooled by the Tories and the media.

People don't like admitting that they are fools.

From multiple countries in the Baltics and Scandinavia, since couple travel for work in Europe funny is they sent me photos of full ukranian supermarket shelves eith fresh produce 2 hour drive from the war front linewhen the shelves in my local stores were bare for veg,fruit, mineral water and eggs.l and we were told by a mp to buy turnips instead.

im not british myself either

YANBU.

I have residency in Spain and the UK and the differences are stark.

DH became ill in Spain - we went to a clean, well equipped hospital. He was admitted to a bed within 10 minutes of arriving. Treated at no cost.

Same health issue in the UK - 5 hour wait in A&E. Grotty, overcrowded, full of idiots. Treated at no cost but apparently in the UK you get what you pay for.

Spain - you need an ambulance and it’s there. They have first responders who will go and treat you and then if you’re well enough after being stabilised, you can go to A&E on your own and if not, they take you. UK - up to 12 hour waits for an ambulance for similar conditions that would fall into the first category.

Ive never seen a pothole in our area of Spain. Our UK village is full of them and when they get filled they’re battered again within a week.

UK - your car is broken into? You’ll get a crime reference number. Police don’t have the resources to come out to you. Spain - it probably wouldn’t happen because the police/guard have a really heavy presence. Crime is much lower. And you would never see a police officer on UK streets.

Schools - our local secondary school in Spain has class sizes of 15. It’s 30 in the UK. The teenagers are incredibly well behaved - no groups hanging around on streets causing trouble etc.

And that’s not even getting into how shit the weather is in the UK!

Why wouldn't you go straight to A&E for an asthma attack? Is she still a child? A 10 minute appointment with a GP of which most don't even use nebs anymore wouldn't be sufficient anyway.