Dh says the U.K is f***** and he never wants to go back

[Chippednailtoepolish]

These were his words this morning.

We live abroad in a place where a lot of people are coming to live, escaping the uk and America.
He says with everything on the news, the way it's going and what the people coming to where we are tell him, that we'd be mad to return.
Is he being realistic? I want to return to be with family desperately and have a strange feeling that I need to do it soon

Would we be mad to return at this time? If yes, then when!

Yes but the demands for higher taxes just keep coming as people change their behaviour. There are 96 separate taxes here

🤣

Statistics are calculated by the ONS not the government. It’s independent.

Really, OP? You can't understand how people of vastly different backgrounds, incomes, experiences, needs, political beliefs etc, might have different takes on the same, hugely varied place?? Come on now, noone can be that obtuse, surely.

🤣🤣🤣

I visited Blackpool as a kid and LOVED IT! Had a Harry Ramsden’s, they put the sausages and mash and gravy inside a giant Yorkshire! Good times.

We used to have economic growth though. If the economy had grown since 2007 in the way it had in the 30 years before the median wage (from which to pay taxes) be £16k higher and the government would be £97bn a year ticher. That growth didn’t happen and we feel poorer because we are much, much poorer. And the government has given up on growth as it involves things the public don’t like (like building houses and factories and laboratories etc near them) and things are rapidly getting worse.

Sure.

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo!

Depends what you consider fucked and what your priorities are really.
I think the whole world is fucked by greed and capitalism and that's inescapable anywhere in the world. Plus, being close to family is very important for me so everywhere else has a huge negative against it.
To your specific concerns, I live in London safety isn't an issue for the average person or any worse than anywhere else. Immigration isn't an issue in the way your husband means.
My recent ex is Portuguese, he bought a house which he is renovating over there two years ago, so is frequently back and forth, he says the way of life is slower in Portugal but that it will be the same quickly. I haven't spent enough time there to know, plus his house is rural so slower living anyway.

Where are you in the World OP?
We can then compare it with the UK for you.

We live in a fucked up world. Plenty of issues in UK. Lets put it this way, i have two children who if they told me tomorrow they were emigrating i would fully understand.

If your husband thinks the UK is fucked i wouldnt dissagree with him

If I won the lottery I would still live here. I’d have a holiday home in my favourite abroad country but my main residence would still be here. I might have missed it, but did you say where you are as that could make a difference about how reasonable or unreasonable it is.

I lived overseas in a European country. We moved back for a range of reasons that were valid at the time but are less relevant now. I deeply regret moving back, not because of safety fears, NHS, taxes or any of those issues. I regret moving back because of the British mentality and how that manifests politically, in many of the people and how it impedes our ability to progress.

There is no innovation here, there is no agility. There is plenty of nostalgia (and even that isn't what it used to be 😁), there is a lack of agility, the country has no balls and the is too much arrogance.

My DS is a recent graduate and is working in his first job in his chosen career. He is planning to move overseas and we are right behind him on that. He is clever, enthusiastic and motivated; this place will drain him of all that.

Go and visit it now and report back. It should be exactly the same as you remember it 👍

Nothing to show for it? NHS? Schools? Bins? Roads? Parks? National parks?

Also 65% of adults pay tax.

She said Spain and Portugal.

Can’t comment on Portugal but lived in Spain and it has a lot of issues to be honest. However, I love their attitude towards the rest of the world and how they put two fingers up to others like America and don’t give a fuck. They’re good people.

Depends on your circumstances I gueas. We are high earning PAYE workers, so wealthy but not super rich. I don’t love the huge tax burden placed on our shoulders, and the proposed “mansion” tax etc. However I do live in a lovely part of the country. Private healthcare and schooling. Lots of nice restaurants, cafes and bars on the door step. Access to the arts in abundance, whether it’s museums, galleries, theatres. Lots of green spaces. It feels safe. The England I read of in this thread is thankfully not my experience at all. If it was, id be gone on a heartbeat. (Im not from the UK).
But I suppose to make sure that everyone else experiences the England I do, is to tax people like me even more. Which I’m not particularly keen on. But for now, even the high tax burden is worth it.

Ooh yes please, I would love to go visit again. Will you be paying?

HMRC currently estimates 39.1 million Income Taxpayers in 2025–26, but the government explicitly says it doesn’t publish the number of adults who aren’t liable for Income Tax.
And importantly, not all Income Taxpayers are contributing anything like the same amount.

For 2025–26, HMRC estimates:

• 30.8m basic-rate/saver taxpayers — about 79% of Income Taxpayers
• 7.08m higher-rate taxpayers
• 1.23m additional-rate taxpayers

So only about 8.3 million people are higher- or additional-rate taxpayers, while the vast majority of taxpayers are basic-rate taxpayers.

But here’s the really interesting bit: the tax burden is much more concentrated than the taxpayer numbers suggest. Someone earning £15,000 and someone earning £150,000 are both counted as “Income Taxpayers”, but the latter contributes vastly more.

For example, HMRC’s latest tables show that the top 10% of Income Taxpayers account for a very large share of all Income Tax liability.

So if what you’re getting at is:
“Is it actually a relatively small proportion of the population who carry a disproportionately large share of the Income Tax burden?”

Yes. Absolutely!

Are you in Portugal? that's currently where loads of Americans and Brits live.

Well my household pays for everything else so I can understand you asking. Send the invoice.

Blackpool? It’s horrible. I wouldn’t go back for free 🫣

There is almost certainly less crime in the UK now, than there was when you left. Crime rates have been coming down consistently for years.

Your dh has a very narrow view of the world.