To not think the UK is as bad as everyone makes out?

[turkeypasty]

Sorry if this is an odd question but everywhere on mumsnet you see rants about how terrible everything is. I am European and could move abroad, but my son and husband (and myself) are super happy here in the UK, the primary school is lovely, we live in the North in the hills and get plenty of outdoor time... We earn ok but not massively and seem to live a good lifestyle- do you think that people just like to moan or have I got very low standards?! There seems to be issues in every country you live surely... It makes me genuinely think if I should move abroad whilst my son is still young, but then why should we if we are happy here? Just really interested in opinions!

People are saying food is expensive in UK when actually it is cheaper than EU average though we have wages considerably higher than average the proportion of income spent on food in UK is really quite low, food costs in UK are approx 25% cheaper than in France
what makes the UK overall amongst the top in terms of cost of living is housing costs. The cost of utilities, broadband and transport are very close to average.
however the relative cheapness of food doesn't offset the housing costs

It’s ok to moan about things that could and should be better, but you’re right, by global standards we’re very fortunate in lots of ways.

@ohtowinthelottery

I have to agree with you. I'm currently living outside the UK and it's the same exact problems here (just better weather)!

I agree Op! I love the UK, not in a UKIP/BNP way, but in a realistic way. I’ve lived and travelled in a fair few countries, and for things that are important to me, I feel very grateful to live where I do.

My kids are at great state schools, anytime I’ve used the NHS it’s been brilliant, my kids and I go to great sports clubs, there’s a nice community in our village, I feel safe here, I could go on!

With mine and Dh’s wages we’re better off than 98% of the world apparently (and we’re not rich), I think we lose perspective sometimes.

Speaking entirely from my own perspective, I feel people expect an awful lot.

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of rubbish around, but we generate huge amounts and somehow expect others to dispose of it.

I grew up in the 1960s and, education and health services are incomparably better than they were then. There was much less rubbish around because there was so much less packaging and less consumer goods.

Food choices were much more limited unless your Mum happened to be a genius in the kitchen.

My primary school classes were huge - well over 40 in each class and there were no classroom resources. Teaching assistants and supply teachers were unheard of. Teacher whacking pupils with a ruler when in a bad mood. No after school clubs at secondary level or much sport.

Few people had cars and travelling everywhere by bus in the winter was no joke - especially if you remember the winter of 1964.

No-one had thought of childrens' 'rights' and women needed their husbands' permission to obtain birth control. Marital rape was legal until 1991. Homosexuality was illegal until 1967. Birching was used in prison until 1962.

I don't know about other countries, but compared to the 1960s, life in 2025 is way easier, so long as you have sufficient income.

Bring back the days of the Empire.

There was much less rubbish around because there was so much less packaging and less consumer goods.
That is a fair point. I am always fuming in supermarkets about unnecessary packaging. Like I need to pay for bag to lower plastic waste, but the shop has everything in multi packs IN shitty plastic? I still don't get why it cannot be like in MANY other places and fruit, veg, bakery are free per weight, you pick yours, as many as you need and that's it. I usually shop in Asian and similar shop because I want x pieces, not whatever shop decided is correct number in packaging. Bakery does my head it. I want 3 buns you twints, not 6. Plus I like to sniff fruit, but don't see why loose has to be premium price. Should be the other way around.

I also think it's 'not too bad'. I have had many years of failing nhs though that had been very poor.

If you think the inequality is bad here try the Indian caste system although I do understand it is growing economically now.
Scandinavia sounds hreat ...they have it nailed with the low population.

Ironically I think the opposite- the UK is very "cool" across the world, but people from the UK think it's irredeemable

Happy(ish)Nhs worker here. People say the NHS is on it'd knees but what they don't see is the sttate of the art technology costing millions that improves peoples lives every day.
MRI scanners, PET cts, radiotherapy, chemo and various new drugs, pathology, amazing operations ...I could go on. All free at the point of entry and supporting a growing population of users.
I could get paid more though given my 3 years plus of training, level of responsibilty etc.
I do like the UK but the weather is pants and the population is huge. I do think we need immigrants but it has caused many to become racist and resentful which is sad.

I look at places like America or the Far East and I think actually it's pretty good in comparison

Id say we are rapidly merging into both . Knife crime/gun crime is at an all time high . Health care will need to be privatised soon enough . Added to that the Far East coming here to colonise.

its a sad state of affairs really.

do like the UK but the weather is pants and the population is huge. I do think we need immigrants but it has caused many to become racist and resentful which is sad.

it’s the msm that have caused the racism to erupt as they use scaremongering propaganda.

Indeed, msm and agitators on social media. The racist bile I see on X is quite scary.

I also think the country is really dirty. Nowhere has bins any more in case someone sets them on fire or hides a bomb in them. How fucking depressing is that! No it doesn't excuse littering, but we were stopped at a regional swiss rail station the other week and there were proper bins inc recycling every 20m or so down the platform. In Paris in the spring, in the run up to the Olympics, on a random street alongside a road (not a main tourist centre area either) I could see, in line of sight, more bins than I walk past on my usually 5k dog walk loop round mostly new-ish build housing estates at home.

But when I went to the zoo in Paris there were rats running about everywhere, Paris has a terrible rat problem.

I think people like a good moan and lots of these people have never lived elsewhere so nothing to compare it against. We've lived abroad,we came home, says it all!

I think there are many worse places to be and better places to be. But, I dint feel the uk is the best version if itself right now and I'd like that to change.

I think its fair to say I have seen a visible decline in our infrastructure in my area and a large section of the population have had a reduction in the standard of living.

It’s gone downhill a lot but I agree it could be a lot worse. We have so many luxuries that many people couldn’t even dream about, although I accept different people have different views on luxuries vs necessities. I think on here you don’t get an accurate representation of people and it’s a skewed cross section of society prone to histrionics and outrage at things or show strange inabilities to deal with even basic problems.

I agree this is absolutely not the fault of the old, but the fact is that we have a seriously inverted pyramid. It isnt something governments can easily sort out but it is something they should have done something about long ago. The ' Boomer' generation is in their 60's and above. You can track population patterns for years. Now, one in 7 hospital beds are filled with people waiting for care places and is a large reason for the lack of beds and the people being treated in corridors. Why has the elderly care sector been such a disaster for so long? Why are charges so high and pay so low? Why are care home providers allowed to profiteer from this ( I know not all) We could literally see it coming. Successive governments have tried the sticking plaster of immigration ( Blair and to a large extent Sunak after Brexit) and have concentrated on short term economic growth but aren't doing anything to invest in the long term, or even in Technology like they have had to in Japan to care for an increasingly elderly population and a shrinking working population. Someone needs to form an all party committee and put something in place once and for all, telling the Mail etc to f-off and do something without worrying about their voter base. The stumbling block is always that people want stuff but don't want to pay for it out of their own pocket.

The UK isn’t “as bad as all that” of course. Relatively speaking it’s still an affluent and reasonably well managed country where few people starve. It has a lot to love.

I think the thing is quite a few of us are old enough to have watched it decline quite fast in certain respects (primarily economically). We grew up thinking we were a mini superpower and have over time realized we are just another very average middle income country. It’s just our sense of national self esteem has taken a bruising.

It all becomes a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy after a while. I also think there's a lack of personal responsibility in some.

I think you'll get a wide range of answers OP because it's completely subjective. I was born in the UK, moved to London at 22, worked there for over 12 years then moved to Switzerland 5 years ago. Had I not left I would be none the wiser but in comparison the UK seems a terrible place to live and every time I come back to visit, the taxi driver or sales assistant or whoever I come across complain about how terrible it is and I should come back and I sense the mood has shifted. People in the UK wanted desperately for change when Labour came in and it hasn't happened. They are more fed up. Everything feels harder with high rent, high taxes, high cost of living, high student fees. Health care is poor - long waits, ambulances not showing up, transport is poor - expensive, trains delayed, roads full of potholes, lots of crime, dirty streets. No freedom to move in the EU.
By contrast in Switzerland everything works. You pay for it but at least you see where your taxes are being spent. Everything is constantly improving. People are happy, optimistic. It's safe, clean, - I don't see litter or crime, everything is well maintained. You pay for health insurance but it works, I've had a referral before and got an appointment on the same day. I've called an ambulance and it's arrived in 4 minutes. I've been to A&E, been seen and home again in an hour door to door. As long as you've worked here for 2 years if you lose your job for whatever reason you're entitled to an unemployment benefit worth 80% of your salary for 18 months whilst you look for another job. You pay low tax, around 20%. People get paid overtime. Minimum wage is approx £22 per hour. Yes cost of living is high, I noticed it when I moved 5 years ago but now its on a par with the UK. Infact my rent is cheaper here. People are healthier- supermarkets don't sell ready meals or junk food, you can't buy it. Education is one of the best in the world, max 20 kids in a class in public schools. Transport is great, on time, clean with free transport up to the age of 25 in the city. Because so many people live in appartments in the city, they invest in the parks and activities for kids. They even have 'ludotheques' where kids can borrow toys for free - a toy library. It really is wonderful here.

I totally agree with you, Switzerland works splendidly well as a country, and somehow always has!

IMO Blair was keen on immigration, because he wanted plenty of people on relatively low wages to do the jobs Brits didn’t want to do. Plus presumably he thought they’d all vote Labour.

At the same time he was very happy with the super-rich* coming to live here and whacking up property prices, especially in London.
There would be a ‘trickle down’ effect.

In his dreams!!
*and never mind if the money was dodgy.

DH is a North African immigrant and I don’t think his family members who live in the suburbs of some French cities would recognise the rosy picture presented of living in continental Europe. The living conditions and racial tensions are not great.

You can’t compare what you see on holiday or in the wealthier parts of the country with the reality of life for less advantaged members of the population. If you compare life on a council estate or equivalent in the suburbs of a large city in France, Britain or Spain I think Britain wouldn’t be worse (it may not be better but not noticeably worse).