To ask why you live in the UK?

[Hungryhippo12]

I will start off by saying I love the English countryside, the beaches, most of the people but I’m having a hard time deciding if it’s worth living here anymore. We’ve got the opportunity now to move abroad and I know the grass is not greener and I’ll be incredibly sad to leave but….

We pay a huge amount of tax (top tax band) and it’s not spent on tangible things we benefit from- for example I have no problem if it goes into the NHS or to people who can’t work etc but it’s not; millions of pounds gets spent on things that do not improve the lives of people in our country and then they wonder why people become resentful of paying all the taxes we do.

My children can’t just go out and play as knife crime is rife where we are , as is bullying, fighting and uploading the video etc

Everything seems disproportionately expensive as compared to earnings- for example, rent, mortgage , bills etc out disposable income is a lot smaller than say ten years ago despite earning a lot more.

I love our community, I strangely love the English weather but I’m finding things hard. There were riots in the city near where we live last week. The country just seems abit broken and a lot of unrest.

I read posts on here - especially ones about private school VAT - and people seem angry, hateful of those with more and kindness
seems to have been lost.

Is this just what England is now?

I don't move back home because of elderly mother and my partner, who's family all live here and wouldn't be keen to live so far away from them.

Much as I like it here I'd be gone in a flash if situations were to change

Cos I was born here and all my family are here? And I only speak English fluently. And, actually, it's quite a nice country compared to many. Salaries are much higher than the rest of Europe and the US is rather strange now.

Move to Scotland.

The world is on fire at the moment. England is in a bad period at the moment but everywhere is facing problems.

Because I had my son when I was very young, and I would never move him out of the country away from his dad. He's 9 at the moment. I would love to move somewhere sunny though

i am an immigrant and chose to live here. We are an international couple, DH is British and we married straight out of university so this made the most sense for a young couple as once you got your visa, its a straight route to permanent residency and housing not connected to your residency status (we bought a flat in London after 3 years).

I have grown fond of the country thought. beautiful countryside and easy/cheap to travel to all sorts of exotic locations in Europe. relatively low costs other than housing. London's vibrant multiculturalism. British humour and politeness. British people are very accepting of quirkiness so there are lots of 'characters' as a result which is very entertaining (sometimes i feel like i am in a sitcom). British civic mindedness (not many countries would have survived austerity). British dignity. Beautiful architecture.

Uk is a bit shite in terms of infrastructure and public services but the people make the difference. But then i think people are the most important thing. There are many beautiful places in the world, as well as clean feeling places to live, but if you don't feel at home, its not home.

Yeah.All the shit you get in England just with shiitier weather 😄

What on earth is wrong with North of Leeds?? Or do you mean, not “north of Leeds” but “in the North of Leeds”? Even so, where are you? Your description of knife crime being rife doesn’t fit, eg, Roundhay. The Harehills riot was a tiny area, and only of concern if you are living actually in Harehills which I’m sure you’re not.

If you’re unhappy where you are, move to the NW quarter of Leeds.

I live in suburban nw London and have never heard of knife crime in my area. There are safe neighbourhoods everywhere, but i think its a bit more expensive and you often compromise on space.

You could buy a house in parts of east london with my budget but i am happy to live in a 2 bed flat here. Appreciate its harder with little ones but tbh all western countries i can think of have a housing crisis with similar trade-offs.

@Blueblell yeah you’re probably right and it’s a good analogy!

I have an Australian cousin. Her daughter came to study in the UK, got a job after graduating and now lives here permanently. When I asked why she left Australia, the list of reasons was identical to the list of reasons people give as to why they don’t like the UK.

I’m not saying there’s nowhere better or that it’s perfect (because it very evidently isn’t) but this idea that there is, somewhere, a utopia you can move to, or that there was some kind of golden age to live in this country and it’s now awful, is a load of nonsense.

My neighbours son is a doctor. He went Austrslua He and his wife (teacher) have come back saying similar problems to UK. Neither believe in working on the private sector.

It's never occurred to me to move abroad tbh, I love my life here in the UK - in particular friends and family, but also access to heritage, nature and culture with several large cities being in easy reach. For under £100 and within say 6 hours door-to-door I could get to Paris, Barcelona, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Dublin... Within an hour and £20 there's all the museums in Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham and 10+ lovely National Trust type properties.

I live in a small city in the Midlands and we have a decent quality of life on £70k household income - old cars, Aldi food and supermarket clothes but also a nice garden (currently with blackberries being picked, a visiting squirrel and the paddling pool out), occasional meals out and a bedroom each for the children.

Climate change will affect everyone globally but as a person in a temperate climate (ie UK), and far away from the coast, in a standard brick built UK 1930s house, we will cope.

I can get an abortion if I need one, the NHS has supported me to give birth in safety if not comfort 4 times, the kids schools are ok and I've had access to maternity leave, sick leave, bereavement leave as well as a legal minimum of 20 days holiday + 8 bank holidays for almost my entire working life. The benefit system is not perfect but if my husband started hitting me I could leave and have some hope of support / protection.

I accept that being a white, aspiring lower middle class woman with a close family and good network of friends has helped me dodge some pretty big hurdles.

Primarily a big reason to stay in the UK for me is that I understand the culture, the values (though there are hairy moments 😳), the legal / education and health are systems. In the absence of any "push" factors - and pretty flimsy "pull" ones as it stands - I will never leave.

I love living in England, always have, on the outskirts of London. I think it's great here.

You don't have to live in a high crime area surely. There is very little crime where I live, it's pleasant.

You might find your taxes are used more wisely now we have a new government. The previous lot were dreadful. I live in hope.

Wherever you go there will be problems.

What I love specifically about where I live -
safe and friendly, we have amazing Saturday markets, walking distance to a beautiful beach, people are so friendly with a fantastic community, lots of free community events, well kept library, everywhere is walking distance (big one for me!!), easy to cycle around too, great schools, good public transport.
What I love about England - I actually like the climate - rarely too hot or too cold (although I’m not including this year in that, as it’s been too wet!), easy access to Europe, all the history, landscape and wildlife, beautiful countryside, the people, lots of weird quirks and traditions, pubs, my family and friends are here! I did try living abroad and these were all the things the made me desperate to come back!

Because I was born here and I love the town I live in.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I have lived in Gloucestershire, Hampshire and Somerset at various times in my life, and within half an hour travelling time to major cities. We have always lived in peaceful semi-rural areas which are beautiful. Lots of space around us.

I had a free grammar school education, enjoyed studying with the Open University at very reasonable cost which absolutely broadened my outlook hugely and helped me job wise too. My daughter had a good education in the state sector too.

The NHS delivered my two beautiful grandsons and my husband and I receive excellent care from our GP surgery. I understand all the structures and systems of the UK - it's not perfect of course. However I have huge hope now we finally have a change of Government with a public service ethos.

It's easy to talk our country down, but everywhere has its' problems. My husband converses with people from many different countries due to his voluntary work and gains this insight - many say how lovely our country is. I'm so glad to live here.

Yes I thought they had the same kind of weather as the uk #wet

I suspect the things you see in work are probably having more of an impact than you realise. I think a lot of healthcare workers live with low levels of trauma/PTSD, especially after 2020. You do sound quite down on the country. Do you think it goes deeper? Could you benefit from an antidepressant? (I only say that because I felt the same, and I did).

However, if you have the opportunity to move abroad I'd be tempted to grab it with both hands. Worst case scenario you come back. Ultimately it comes down to people though. It'll come down to whether you'd miss your family too much and how far away you're talking. I'd like to move to Canada, but Aus/NZ is too far. If something happened it takes too long to get home.

We're not, we're both HCPs but not doctors. DH is a nurse but my skills are a bit less in demand.

At this point - because I'm poor and can't leave. I intended to move to mainland Europe anyway but, if I hadn't done it and still had the funds when the Brexit campaign got under way, I'd have been outta here like a scalded cat.

My top five things about the UK always included "tolerance". 2015-16 disabused me of that.

I know two couples who moved to New Zealand, one partner of one couple was a GP and disliked the system there. They came back to UK. The other couple are both Consultants and have stayed, they prefer New Zealand.

We could have gone years ago but for family illness at the time.

You won't know unless you give it a try.
Good luck.

Honestly i left the uk several years ago and each time i visit I dislike it further. Dont get me wrong there a bits a do like

Log fires
Sunday roasts
Erm.... can't think of anything else lol

I will never return to live. The grass definitely is greener

Because it’s vastly better than my home country. Great and affordable healthcare, so much quicker moving than the private healthcare system in my home country where I’d probably be dead or have lost my house by now. Great standard of living compared to what I grew up with and very safe.

If you are a top rate taxpayer, you are doing something wrong if you aren’t living the good life! Dh and I earn well, but not that well and we have a huge house in a beautiful part of the country. No crime, we don’t even lock our doors unless we are going out for the day or going on holiday. Our kids have lovely friends in a close knit community and very little bullying, just some normal kid spats. My friends in my home country are living behind locked gates, dealing with gun violence and active shooter drills in preschool. No thank you!

I was assured before I went on holiday that it never got really cold there.

I spent some of the time freezing despite taking warm woollies and a waterproof. Cold winds and rain - even snow. It wasn't even winter!

It's a myth that only Britain has miserable, changeable weather. 🌦🌨🌬