To think that the UK is not that bad?

[QuickCoralMoose]

My family is moving from the US to the UK next year. (One of us is British, the other American). From a religious red state to Northern England near Newcastle. But all of our family and friends are telling us that it’s a bad decision - the UK is dangerous, stabbings in every school, no one can afford anything, we won’t be able to get appropriate medical treatment if anything is wrong etc.

Bearing in mind all the issues the US has (and we wouldn’t be able to afford a super safe area in a blue state with good schools anyway), am I wrong to think that a village in the north of England is going to be a safer environment for our kids?

We are pretty simple in my opinion. Don’t need a fancy house, drive old cars, just want a community, volunteering opportunities and safe places to walk the dog plus obviously a safe school and friends for us and the kids if that makes any difference to anyone’s answer.

I live in a northern village that is very safe, perhaps a little dull for teens but picturesque. It depends where you live - the UK is not homogeneous.

Thank you everyone. We’re going to Morpeth and I’m not worried about the weather. I’m ready to get out of the heat honestly. Grey and rainy sounds lovely.

If you have good medical cover in the U.S., the UK will be worse in that front, particulary if you rely solely on the NHS. My American colleagues have far superior healthcare. Even though I do get BUPA cover, coverage is limited and I am constantly paying out of pocket for things. For example, I was diagnosed with a skin condition last year. BUPA paid for two appointments. I have had to pay for all my own dermatology appointments since then. The NHS wait list is two years for dermatology in my area. My skin was so bad that my dermatologist said it looked like I had been burnt. I didn’t want to leave the house. I couldn’t wait two years to be seen.

Yeah Morpeth will be lovely in terms of safe places to walk, easy access to cultural stuff in Newcastle and Nice local ships and schools etc. Would not worry at all!

Get private health insurance, the NHS is a shitshow, and be prepared for lower salaries with higher tax. Also, keep assets, stocks etc in the US so that you only pay US CGT without the UK govt ever knowing about it. Also be prepared for much smaller and less functional houses.

I mean the UK is at a bit of a low ebb and not in its happiest place at the moment but you have to laugh (bitterly) at people in a country which has tens of mass school shootings in an average year warning you it’s dangerous…

As someone who lives 50/50 between the US and UK I'd expect the occasional stabbings to bother the American much less than the frequent "can't do" and "what's the point" attitudes here

Obviously people are various, but in years spent all over the US I've not found this to anything like the same extent there

@AnotherChildFreeCatLady is correct though, the NHS is at absolute shit show at the moment. Primary care is at Third World standards. Get health insurance.

To be honest I love the UK weather. I adore that we have seasons, the change brings me purehappiness.

Hot tea on a cold springs morning.
Picnics on the grass in the summer sunshine.
Conker hunting and the stunning colours of the leaves changing in autumn.
Winter is my fave, cosy blankets, twinkling lights and candle lit dinners, the colder and rainier outside the cosier it is.

When the rain beats down any day of the year, I love the sound of it against my windows and on the conservatory roof….just love it!

UK weather is awesome!

I don’t think the UK is that bad but it could be and should be a lot better in many areas of services and standard of living for many more people

I’m guessing your family is from an area with low crime rates but the US the crime rates are much higher and so are levels of poverty, poor physical and mental health support

I have family in the states that think we are close to becoming a communist country again (again … obviously we have different accounts of history) that the BBC is a commie broadcaster and that Rishi Sunak was placed in number 10 to appease the masses. And my family are South Asian (also fanatical Trump supporters)

I'm glad you like it. I really am

I asbolutely hated the bad weather in the UK.

I wonder are some people more affected by lack of sun? You know how it makes some people extremely miserable and they get SAD lamps to help the.

I'm going to an outdoors swimming pool tomorrow in the sunshine and I can't wait.

Sun feels really deeply healing to me

The UK is infinitely better to live than the US, even before Project 2025 kicks in.

You've said on another thread you're in Dublin. I don't think the weather and cost of living are that much better than the UK

I visited Dublin, because my mother lives there.

I don't live in Ireland.

Why don't you ask, instead of assume.

Actually if you look at the statistics there are more stabbings in the USA and some other European countries. From a UK perspective it feels like gun violence is a real risk in the USA, I feel like our schools are safer

"And are you following me or something"

Hahaha, neither. It's called recalling something you've just read!

I never bring something someone has said on a different thread to another thread

I can never understand people who do that.

I'm writing on a different thread, and a poster came there and wrote to me about something that I wrote on THIS thread.

That had nothing at all to do with the other thread. It's just odd.

I never do it to posters.

You can't blame them

The news stations only show bad things about the UK.

All they seem to show on the news is things like the stabbings in Southport UK, that Brexit is a shitshow and the cost of living in the UK is terrible .

The news stations dont show much good things about the UK. So people get an idea that it is worse than it is.

We are moving from the US to the UK next year as well. We have friends in Morpeth and it looks absolutely beautiful. You'll be fine there.

Everywhere has its andvantages and disadvantages. 🙂

The problem with the uk is it is miserabla and lack of disposable income if you haven't got a higher earning job. But it isn't unsafe as in the OP.

I come from the uk. It is great to visit in the summer but I will never return.

In live in London and I'm jealous that my DD who's at Durham Uni got snow last night (probably melted now). I love the UK (I'm British but was brought up in the US). I think it's safer and beautiful and full of history and culture and history and hustle and bustle and wouldn't live anywhere rise.

I would advise you check the reddit sub - 'AmericanExpatsUK' to get a feel of what you may expect.

I was born in another EU country but I have lived in the UK for 30 years and became a British national.

I love it here and would not live anywhere else, including my native France.

I much prefer our rainy climate to having to live in places where climate change is bringing higher/uncomfortable temperatures in the spring and summer months.

I also think that when you look at what is happening in the USA with Trump and women losing the ability to access abortion, it makes you realise that the UK might be flawed but it is a lot better than many other countries!

Yeah, that's silly.