Strange comments about the U.K.

[Lessando]

I often just read threads without posting. But I read one thread on here recently that made me think, and I wanted to start a new thread about it.

There was a thread on here a while ago, it was titled "Do you feel lucky in life".

About one hundred posters came on and wrote a similiar thing, they all wrote

"Oh yes I am so lucky to have been born in the U.K." and they wrote things like

"I won the lottery of life by being born in the UK"

I was surprised at the fawning over the top comments, because they are in stark contrast to how I have experienced living in other countries. Living conditions in many other countries seem to me to be a lot better than living conditions in the UK.

I have lived in other countries and right now I am living in the UK for a year . Don't get me wrong , there are things that are nice about the UK.

What I really wanted to discuss is why do some people in the UK seem to think it is the best country in the world.
But, if you go outside of the UK, a lot of media outlets talk about the UK in a very negative way. Do people know this happesn?

So many other countries are doing better economically than the UK is. Living conditions are better. The last EU country that i lived in, i barely saw a homeless person.

In my current city in the UK, homeless people come up to me and ask me for money all the time. Every single day.

I lived in an EU country last year. The media outside of the UK always reports negatively about the UK. They usually say that the UK is a very bad place to live, especially after Brexit.

Im not really saying if I personally think the UK is good or bad, obviously I am just one person.

I more wanted to discuss the discrepancy between many people in the UK thinking it is the best country in the world and they are lucky to live there, and the media outside the UK who report that the UK is a terrible place to live in.
Any thoughts on it?

That's really fascinating, @blackbird77 thanks.

There is a lot of publicity in the UK and abroad (and on here) about the UK being ruined, living by Sharia law, women unable to go outside for fear of attack, no freedom of speech, a government that kills pensioners, has two tier police etc etc. This is fed by X, Trump etc.
This is not the UK I know. Those jailed after the riots were for tweets inciting violence and most pleaded guilty. This is the rhetoric spread by those that want to see UK fail.

You aren't doing yourself any favours@Lessandoby not linking to some of the negative press coverage of the UK if that is the main part of your argument. It's up to you to provide evidence to support your position. Telling people to google for themselves isn't really the way this sort of discussion works.

As I wrote above, I can see both the negative and the positive side of life in the UK. I roll my eyes at the knee-jerk declaration that the UK is the best country in the world (often stated by people with no experience living elsewhere). Some things are great, others not so great. For instance, I'm still surprised that people continue to believe that the NHS is a brilliant system when healthcare in other countries is considerably better IMO.

I’ve never been to Paris so can’t comment on that.

Lots of nonsense! Are you American?
Do you no anything about Scottish culture? You sound a bit ignorant.

It’s pretty bad. Worse than London, certainly.

My parents aren't from the UK originally. When they first moved to the UK, they received a note welcoming them and explaining how to access healthcare. They weren't even citizens at that point. When my elder brother became ill, an NHS doctor made house calls to care for him. My parents were amazed. Such service would have been unthinkable in their country of origin. Of course, this was many years ago. But at that time, I don't think many people were moaning about the NHS.

I just think its strange how if you go outside of the UK , a lot of people say that the UK is an absolutely terrible place to live, and that they feel sorry for the people who live there.

Are these people who've actually ever lived in the UK?

Just awful, I couldn't believe it.

Well I wont be visiting 😅

I’m from the UK but have lived in 5 other countries. They all have their pros and cons but I do think having Western European or North American citizenship is pretty desirable.

Could be Switzerland. They house them all quick smart in hostels because they have a hell of a lot of cash. But even then there must be some in rural areas.

Sorry this is derailing the thread!!

This has been reported on before in the Critic I think but the CSEW is not the same as crime data. It's a victimisation survey (it asks people if they have been a victim of crime and how they feel about it) and isn't the same as raw police data. The CSEW doesn't record any crimes against businesses such as shoplifting and doesn't record any crimes with an offensive weapon (e.g gun or knife). It also only includes houses of single occupancy so people living in HMOs are not included at all in the data, even though they are likely to be poorer and live in a more crime prone area. Plus it's methodology naturally under-reports things like rape or sexual assault because of the nature of the crime. I'm not sure if that FT article uses other data sets but if it is evidencing it's arguments using the CSEW alone it is very poorly informed. See the raw stats on rape for example (image attached).

FWIW police numbers also aren't perfect data either. The ONS has put out info on it too (I'm not talking out my arse!) you might find it interesting :)

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/methodologies/exploringdivergingtrendsbetweenthecrimesurveyforenglandandwalesandpolicerecordedcrime

@Terrribletwos do i know anything about Scottish culture?!?!
My husband is from Inverness…..my children are exceptionally Scottish…..they spik Scots as weel……an ye widnae believe they wear the kilt….jist on the richt kin o days, ken…..
well….i’ve lived in Scotland for 40 + years so maybe i do…..and I speak Gaelic as well….as they say here you are amaideach, gorach…….stad-phuing! ….nonsense you say?! 😂😂😂😂 oh my days….i can’t stop laughing….blow me…never been called ignorant before either……😂😂😂😂

I’ve seen the Uk homelessness in London and the midlands and it honestly doesn’t compare to what I’ve seen in Vancouver, San Francisco, LA etc etc. Or in other countries. I know the Uk has homeless people but it’s jarring to see how severe it is in other countries. I’d rather be homeless in the Uk with hostels, benefits and free healthcare as needed.

@Terrribletwos deffo not American……I wrote with humour dear…..that’s what the U.K. is known for…..if it’s nonsense….so be it! I love your post!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😬😬😬😬

Oh I see! Thank you for the info.

Yes sadly rape and sexual assault is increasing. As of course are online crimes. I think a lot of the visible crimes we are seeing on the high street are due to a massive breakdown in civic duty, public disorder, social norms and accountability. Back in the day people used to keep dangerous dogs on leashes or knew there would be both societal stigma and a prosecution for being a shoplift or hurling abuse at a poor bus driver but it so prevalent now all accountability has gone. Makes me so sad.

@Terrribletwos or was it the haggis comment that got up your sphincter?

I agree fully!!! Britain is in a sorry old state.

Why are they sorry for those that live in the uk?

I have travelled extensively and heard nothing but good about the uk.

I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I like the climate, the people, the acceptance (in the main), even the food. I love British food. The NHS obviously.

This. People moan about the public transport in the UK and assume that "Europe" (well known to be a monolith rather than 46 other countries) has universally better transport. I have seldom taken a long-distance journey through Germany without being significantly disrupted. Deutsche Bahn is a national embarrassment, infrastructure is seriously lacking in maintenance. Just like the UK.

The UK may have some bad drivers, but it is still one of the safest countries in the world. I complain about the UK's active travel infrastructure a lot, and it is certainly not as good as in places like the Netherlands. But I met an American cyclist (from Oklahoma) who had cycled from Scotland to North Wales and told me that he found the drivers very considerate compared with what he's used to back home. I certainly consider myself lucky not to be stuck in car-dependant sprawl in North America. While Romania is beautiful I found the traffic noise and speeds in Bucharest to be very oppressive. Public transport and walkability in Malta is crap, despite being a small island city state - it took two hours to do an eight mile journey by bus because the congestion was so awful.

The NHS may be on its knees thanks to an aging population, but no one is going to end up bankrupt or homeless because of the cost of treatment.

No, we're not the best country to live in. But we're certainly in the top 20.

The majority of posts you’ve replied to are those asking you to get on and reply to questions you’ve been asked.

You’ve answered very few if any of them.

I’ve done a quick google of international news on knife crime. The UK comes up (obviously, I’m searching from the UK) along with France, Germany and the US on page one of that search.

Which tells me that several counties have problems with knife crime, not just the UK.

Well there are issues here in the UK though I'm not qualified to compare those to other wealthy, first world countries having only holidayed outside UK.

There is no widespread brainwashing going on though. British culture, or English at least, is to be self deprecating and to moan about pretty much everything, so no one is telling us how lucky we are. However I don't think people who don't live here / have lived here but don't like it should feel sorry for us - how patronising! We don't need their approval.

If you grow up here, the feeling of being satisfied with life and at home here goes way beyond assessing how well the services run, how much crime there is, cost of living etc. And depends on what you value as an individual. I expect that's the same for citizens of many other countries too.

As an incomer with limited experience of the UK, your knowledge and understanding of the UK must also be very superficial.

Yes, I do feel lucky to live here and have no desire to live elsewhere. Travel yes, live no. Regardless of how 'awful' the UK might be considered by some, who by definition, don't see it as a good place to be. Who cares what they think?

"I won the lottery of life by being born in the UK"

This was probably said sarcastically. We like a sardonic sense of humour, us Brits.

I think it’s true