To feel helpless and hopeless with the state of the country?

[Gffbjjgfddbjkkm]

A friend from Sweden is thinking of taking a job in Bristol and moving to the UK. I was encouraging her, until I really thought about what living in this country entails:

Can't get an NHS Dentist
Can't get an NHS doctor appointment for weeks
Unqualified teachers with huge classes and very limited resources
Roads are full of potholes
Reported an attempted break-in. All I got was a telephone call from an officer who knew nothing about it. No follow up.
The environment is littered and dirty.
Shops are closing down.
High streets are just chain stores.
Food is expensive and ultra processed is normal.
Racist views expressed without reservation.
Overt sexism everywhere.
Media portrayal of ageing for women as a bad thing.
Unemployment rising.
Men telling women what it feels like to be a woman.
Rivers are dying and the seas are filthy.
Public transport is expensive and unreliable.

Maybe I should consider moving to Sweden!

lol, your examples are ridiculous, some people have no idea how fortunate they are to live in this country

Since I stopped reading newspapers I have found that I enjoy living in the UK a lot more. They brainwash you.

Couldn’t agree more that why im looking to move out as soon as possible. Based on the multitude of positive comments from a great many threads on the subject on MN, I’ve concluded the best place to go is Dubai.
Thanks MN.

I'm sorry that's how you see your part of the UK, but that is not the norm.

I live in a not very smart village in Hampshire. We have an NHS dentist and a GP surgery in the next village. My ds goes to a nice school he enjoys.

We've lived here for 14 years and suffered no crime. The next village has an independent chemist, a village butcher, hair salon, two pubs.

I've just got back from a parish council meeting, where we planned the annual pond clearance and the end of holidays litter pick.

Food is not expensive if you shop seasonally and not necessarily UPF (it's your choice what you eat).

I'm a woman in my 60s, I work full time in a local manufacturer where I haven't heard any openly expressed racism or sexism, and I wouldn't put up with it if I had.

I've carried out a survey over the last two months and found we have 80 species of birds in one little village including plenty of water birds, which wouldn't be there if the river was 'dying';.

I will allow that the roads are full of pot holes and trains are ludicrously expensive. Buses aren't too bad though.

Maybe you should consider moving within the UK. And taking a holiday, you sound depressed.

Oh God, so many of these threads. I do not recognize any of your issues. This country really isn't that bad, and not so much more so than much of the rest of Europe, and certainly not as bad as much of the rest of the world.

Lighten up.

I know lots of young Europeans, and others from further afield who study here, loved it, and who are desperate to stay.

I agree, this is the worst state of the UK in the almost 50 years I’ve been alive. And it’s only going to get worse once AI takes more jobs and climate change makes more impact.

I had no idea that teachers no longer need qualifications.

I don't agree with most of that list, how about listing some positive points

Really? Presumably you can't remember unemployment in the 80s? Toxteth. Brixton. Irish and black men getting picked up in the street and wrongfully arrested and convicted for decades. 'No blacks, no Irish, no dogs.' The crash of the late 80s and massive amounts of negative equity and families losing all their housing savings when their homes were repossessed by the banks from under them? Women were invisible in senior roles in industry and politics bar Mrs T. We had sod all recourse to the law. Rape in marriage was legal.

People need to get off the bullshit Internet. Have a look around. Or dig in and do something. Become a councillor.

I take on board one or two of your points. However
This is not the only country where racism and xenophobia is on the rise
Food prices are rising but food really isn't that expensive in comparison with many other countries
And I've not had any trouble getting a GP appointment.

What would you have to offer to Sweden or other countries if you were to emigrate?

Ah the UK bashing thread. Been a couple tonight. Like a weekly thing atm.

Dubai🤣🤣🤣

HOORAY! Another UK bashing thread! 👏 Hasn't been one for a good few hours! Enjoy your life in Sweden @Gffbjjgfddbjkkm I can't even be arsed to answer you to be honest. I am SO sick of these UK bashing threads now! Tedious! 🙄

General attitude of the population I find is the biggest negative!
Lack of community in it's truest sense, but most people are good and kind people, were just drawn apart by media/internet etc. the want for 'more' and sense of entitlement.

However these are probably issues in all countries.

Why not Iran? Nice and sunny there. Lots of nice buildings.

You can always find examples to match your list, OP.

However...... I'm 60 years old, and have lived in my city for over 40 years. I have always enjoyed living here, with no issues.
My city - and country - has incredible cultural and sporting activity and opportunities.
I see so many people volunteering and giving their time to help all sorts of organisations and charities.
We have access to wonderful coastlines and beautiful countryside.
Public transport is cheap and plentiful.
I hear surprisingly little racism, sexism and ageism - and it is usually challenged. This has improved hugely in my lifetime.
We live in a safe democracy, with a welfare state to protect us when we fall on hard times - don't undervalue that. People are free to speak their mind, and vote for the party of their choice.

Places are what we make of them - we can't blame others if we don't like them.

There are so many great places in the UK to live and visit, so much character, so many nice people, beautiful countryside. Why on earth would anyone think living in super-hot, soul-less Dubai could be better🤷‍♀️

I know I am one of the luckiest people in the world to live in the north UK. I don’t like everything and the way things are going with populist racism etc and think there are still lots of problems with public services after the 2008 financial crisis, but there’s so much good stuff too.

Whether that no dogs, blacks, Irish sign ever existed (only evidence is one sign found in the 80s probably from decades before) is disputed and maybe a myth, you certainly didn't see a sign like that in the 80s https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/infamous-no-irish-no-blacks-no-dogs-signs-may-never-have-existed-racist-xenophobic-148416 and the rest of your post is similarly wrong about a fantastic decade. I agree that things appear to be worse if you read social media etc although it could be that we're better informed than before. There is no denying the division, precarious financial situation and poor running of the country now though which anyone who is older can see is the worse its ever been.

Ask your Swedish pal about the grenades and children carrying flask bombs

Dubai..... Lol. You might as well go live in Disneyland.

I’ve got a perfectly nice life, I’ve lived in another country and I prefer it here in the UK.

My mum got cancer a couple of years ago, she was looked after brilliantly on the NHS.
My dc went to a decent secondary school, for free.
We aren’t white, we experienced terrible racism where we used to live (Australia). Same goes for sexism, it was laughably bad in Australia. See the rape laws for details.
I was at the Fringe over the weekend, packed and a lot of fun. Then Durham today. Beautiful, plenty of shopping.

I think the UK is great.
No issues with seeing a GP and I have never thought about only seeing NHS dentists.

Yes racism is certainly more openly expressed but I think Sweden would be no better.
Just construct your circle carefully and stay off social media.

From your link:

”Back in the UK, debatable claims that ‘No Irish, no blacks, no dogs’ signs were a myth have grown in number in recent years, albeit among a small minority of critics.
Arguably the best rebuttal of the ‘No proof’ theory came from Dr Tony Murray, director of the Irish Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University.
In a reply to John Draper’s letter in the Guardian, Dr Murray shot back at his claim that the much-reproduced ‘No Irish…’ photograph “emerged only in the late 1980s”.
He explained that although the picture was donated to his university in 1989, by the Irish in Britain History Group, there is “no reason to doubt” its authenticity.

And he's right – Draper’s paper-thin claim that the photograph was faked is based merely on the fact it was donated decades after it was taken.
As Dr Murray explained: “With community ventures of this kind, such items are not always formally acquisitioned and their provenance not always recorded.
“We had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the image and that the archive had received it in good faith.
He added: “I’m puzzled by what exactly Mr Draper is trying to prove. Ample evidence exists in numerous oral history interviews with both Caribbean and Irish migrants that such signs existed well into the 60s.
“Further proof can be found in the report Discrimination and the Irish Community in Britain published by the Commission for Racial Equality in 1997.
“It seems mischievous at best and malicious at worst on John Draper’s part to suggest that this photograph is a fraud and by implication that Irish people in Britain were not discriminated against in the post-war era.”
And discriminated against, they certainly were. That is not up for debate – especially not for the many thousands of Irish men and women who crossed the sea to Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War.
So there you have it – the infamous ‘No Irish, no blacks, no dogs’ signs almost certainly existed.”

So you don't like it here then OP

Hampshire's rivers are in a dire state,.the coastline even more so