Which countries specifically do you think/feel/know to be better governed than the UK?

[EffortlessDesmond]

Lots of posters pile on to threads to condemn the UK, and apart from Scandinavian countries with generally much smaller populations and larger land masses, dont actually make constructive comments. I already know that Brexit has not improved anything. So please, can someone tell me where public policy is actively improving the quality of life for the population?

Do people want to be specific about which policies they like?

I don't like the education system in Germany, very much starts segregating by ability at a young age. Germany has some crazy bureaucracy, although beaten by Belgium. Sweden blasted for housing policy recently. Denmark social housing policy also has been controversial. Netherlands has rural economic and land use planning tensions. France, omg, the French are so embarrassed about their paralysed (by strikes) country.

It's not just about politics. It's also about people

Thanks for the easy links lljkk. I didn't read to the bottom of the pages in the interest of speed but I hope I got the gist of most.

Do you feel that politics are as polarised in those countries as they are in the UK?

Politics is always and only about people @Amadeus.

@EffortlessDesmond yes 97% would- of all ages and intellectual levels. Same I found in Sweden and Netherlands. There are big differences in commercial rents and rates I believe that make it easier for independents to have a stand alone business- if I remember correctly I think the same is true in quite a few Western European countries- I don't think anywhere is perfect by a long way, they all have advantages and disadvantages but the UK is particular poor on long term planning , everything from housing policy to patching over pothole ridden roads- it is chronic short term thinking- governments and parties doing stuff to appeal to certain sections of the electorate and retain their appeal (Brexit as one example at 450 billion or Rwanda) good PR means a vote is far more fractured anyway so you tend to get more long term policies .

France ?? 😂😂

@Crikeyalmighty very well put - the biggest drawback of FPTP is that it encourages short termism. And everybody loses.

What we want, expect and hope for, for our generation, and for our children. The hurdles they face on to proper accomodation even during years of studying are insurmountable unless BOMAD can help.

I do think that a different voting system would help enormously, and that coalitions would be more moderated.

Be careful what you wish for.

May of these countries have governments of the far right e.g Sweden and Austria

SO where is the sweet spot for proportional representation?

A different point but I’m surprised Australia comes out so well. I thought women got a rough end of the deal there??

Germany: better educated population, long-term investment in industry and high quality jobs. The country is decentralised and lots of smaller cities and towns still have plenty of high quality jobs and employment.

Housing quality is far higher than in the Uk, due to higher regulations that Britain does not impose to save marginal costs.

High-tax and high quality public services. Lots of universal benefits mean generally high acceptance of high taxes. And generally people are richer than in the UK so frankly it doesn’t matter if they are also paying relatively high taxes.

as someone mentioned east Germany having problems: plenty of east Germany is doing better than large swathes of north England, quite remarkable when you consider it was under a socialist autocracy just 35 years ago.

I think that was supposed to be me?
I meant attitudes of people.

If it was not for me, ignore me 😁

@Fandabedodgy having a dodgy far right party in a coalition =|= having a far right government.

You are fully wrong about Austria - the far right Freedom Party lost its place in the coalition in 2019.

The Swedish government have a confidence and supply arrangement with the Sweden Democrats - they are not in the coalition. A bit like May and the DUP.

And honestly - I would rather have the far right out in the open and visibly screwing up than pretending to be respectable, like the extreme wing of the Tory party.

I think we're a bit over-governed in the UK - so many tiers of governance and oversight. However, I can't really think of a specific country that does 'governance' better on all levels; although many other countries have better systems of governance on specific issues but maybe not so much when you include the whole spaghetti.

And then without solid governance - you get a free for all, with the worst tendencies in charge - as ultimately humans are really quite self-serving, selfish creatures in the main.

So, much as it's popular and easy to slag off, complain about and generally feel very pissed off with UK Governance - overall, us UK people have it pretty good really.

Yeah, I get the impression that there aren't too many "non-jobs" like we have in this country. We went to a chain restaurant in Rouen a few years back. It was a Courtepaille. It was really nice and what struck me most was the fact that the employees really seemed to care about making sure we enjoyed our food. The bloke cooking the steak on the grill took so much pride and care over what he was doing, it was such a different experience to anything I've seen at any chain restaurant in England.,

Even the supermarket was better than ours here with whole sections full of local produce. I bought some standard lavender handwash from the toiletries aisle and it had proper lavender oil in it, not just fake lavender scent that you might get here. The basic supermarket chocolate ice cream had proper chocolate in it rather than just chocolate flavouring like standard supermarket chocolate does here. Lemon lolly ices had real lemon juice in. etc etc Maybe we just got lucky. Maybe that was pre-covid and things have changed now, I don't know. This was a large supermarket but in a rural area and I was really pleasantly surprised at the superior quality and range of stuff. They don't seem to care much for trends or superficial stuff. They are more about quality. That was my impression. Not a fast fashion shop in sight.

I don't remenber another post from you on this thread @Emigratingimmigrant unless you are switching usernames. I'm asking a question. Not telling anyone anything.

Oh and the local healthcare was great. My dad needed an INR blood test while we were there. Was booked easily, got a local appointment for a couple of days later, we paid a small sum, and got emailed the result next day, no messing about.

No. I am not switching

Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium...

Endless list really....

@TheHateIsNotGood oh, have you moved back here?

And have you seen how far the UK has dropped in the corruption perception rankings?

Totally agree with @pointythings

If you would like an actual debate you can't exclude Scandinavia

Moved back here pointy? Not for a few decades now, been back in JOE since 1993. What do you mean to say?

I wouldn't exclude Scandinavia but I might point out that the population and population densities in Scandinavia are so different to the UK, Netherlands and Belgium as to change the equations.