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!

They are in a very nice part and are happy there, it's very different to much of the uk. They wouldn't live in many other places in the uk and wouldn't return to where we're originally from.

Have you clarified what your family in England think of the country @Chippednailtoepolish ?

I was asking that poster in terms of the two countries

How do you know it’s different fom much of the uk?

I am in SE. Outskirts of London and honestly…. Town after town after village after village… all fairly affluent, good schools, lots of green spaces etc

The left are racist? Do they clap their hands and celebrate every time a woman or child of foreign heritage dies in a tragedy? Do they get turned on by thoughts of bullets going through the heads of immigrant men, women.and children? Do they go on scumbag rampages and trash places and they and burn innocent families to death in their homes over some stupid bit of propaganda!

I look at how gullible the far right are! They'll believe anything and never ask for evidence! The same picture of a burning church has done the rounds for years, it's had about ten different locations and about ten different races of perpetrators! They'll soak up any old lie! Look at your statement about the volume of violent crime from illegal immigrants - what crime? Yes there's been some but I see you lot trying to crack on that there's hundreds of those sorts of crimes a day! It's the far right that have ruined this country! If they hadn't felt a racist need to vote for Brexit, we wouldn't have lost all our EU workforce and the Tories they oved so much wouldn't have gone on TV and invited the wider world to apply for those jobs! The far right are completely to blame for the immigration crisis!

This country does feel fucked, it's full of racism, it's full of homophobia and trans phobia! Every other kid has a list of syndromes so mummy can have pip so in future years more workforce will be lost because people growing up being told they are disabled by their mothers won't want to work as adults! They say the disability benefit claim bill goes up by millions a year - who is funding all that in the future! You'll certainly need more immigration!

My partner and I definitely want our of this country when we hit retirement, our country is a joke, it encourages people not to work and has pushed minimum wage up to being close to many skilled occupations! I'm glad my partner and I never had kids in this racist, benefit begging country.

I think the world and its economy is a tad bit fucked at the moment.

But it a global phenomenon and yes, there are a few economies that are managing better than we are, and many that aren’t. France, Spain and Germany are all struggling with immigration, strikes over pensions and a shit load of other stuff. They are also closer to Russia and Iran if that gets really nasty.

Happier to muddle through here, in my own country, knowing this phase shall pass. It may take a decade, but I remember the 70s, the bread strikes, the power cuts, the queues outside the bakers. I remember my mum’s best friend breaking down with her brother was killed in the Falklands in 1982. I remember not having a TV and then having our first black n white one and the constant twiddling of the arial to get a half decent picture (and going to pay the weekly rental on a Thursday morning), I remember traipsing to the garage to fill a 1Gallon can with paraffin and the smell of the heater when I got home. I remember when angel delight and bread n butter was a treat when friends came for tea.When we dressed in coats to go to bed in the winter due to no central heating, the ice forming in sheets on the inside of your windows, weekly baths because the house was too fucking cold to get naked too often and a ‘shower’ was an attachment on the bath taps.

And I am not even sixty and my kids are still in uni (or about to start). I’m not really old and as a child we weren’t really even poor. That life was pretty normal.

And the stresses, worries and uncertainty? I’d rather manage them within THIS normal right now, in the knowledge it will pass. It did in the 70’s, it will again. And if it doesn’t, I’d rather get through it here than in another country that has its own political, economic and social problems. None of which are better, just different.

No country is perfect, but this country is mine.

Thank you, all valid points and things I have been thinking about. Things don't seem as relaxed in this sense at all anymore

Spain 🤦‍♀️

The line separating British waters and international waters is considered a legal maritime border.

The illegal immigrants don't seem to know or care that either, but it is nonetheless a (very porous) border.

The UK is one of the biggest arms dealers to the Middle East and Israel, so maybe look in your own back yard for hideous money grabbing first.

😂😝

So…. If you’d move to be close to them, why not trust their experience and view (which I share).

Why are you asking mumsnetters when your own close family - who you presumably trust implicitly given you want to move to be near them, are very happy here

Writing an entire continent off as hideous is pretty judgemental.

We really don’t need more people with these attitudes in the UK.

It's Cornwall. It's different from a lot of the uk i'd say?

Why wait until retirement? You won’t have to pay for all these children with lists of syndromes then. It’s good to see where you have drawn the line, trans, immigrants, etc fine. Children with a medical diagnosis not fine. And they say the left are tolerant yet you are here slating children.

Of course she can always come back to the UK at any time, no matter how much the shit has hit the fan. That's what being a British citizen means.

And once she's here, how would anyone know that she had lived abroad unless she told them

Stop being so spiteful.

Only come back if you can afford private healthcare and private school.
Having said that, there is no private emergency care and it is unscheduled care that's especially f*cked. There are no private A&E departments.
If I was younger without ties I'd be off.
And my reasons have nothing to do with immigration and everything to do with intolerance, bigotry and an economy that's basically stuffed.
Stay where you are if I were you.

UK productivity has been flat for 20 years. By default we are becoming a high tax economy.

Demographic profile is appalling in 2030s we will have more people claiming pensions than paying into them!

Massive amounts of low wage immigration has increased financial burden on taxpayers as they don't pay enough tax.

UK cost of energy is twice that of USA and multiple of prices in parts of Asia. Infrastructure development costs are double that of the EU and take twice as long.

We import 30% of our electricity on sub sea cables and make less electricity today than we made in 1970 but we are supposed to electrify heat and cars.

UK higher education is indebted and sector faces major challenges. Multiple nobel prize winners have left UK universities in the past decade.

Connecting major hyperscaler size Data Centres for AI is 5 year wait for a grid connection and we have a water shortage to cool them. We have water shortages which stop the construction of new housing. We stopped building new road capacity because new roads mean more car usage (ignoring the economic activity new roads facilitate).

I’ve lived in a few countries and been back in the UK for 10 years. I’m a dual national so could move back to an EU country anytime. Probably will when I retire for the sunshine.

But tbh I like it here - I live in London, have good income and a nice house. My children go to a state school which is excellent and we have plenty of green spaces, amenities and public transport nearby. Doesn’t seem any different to me to when I grew up in the UK many years ago.

Economically I have some concerns but they’re the same as most western democracies tbh. I don’t identify with your concerns about crime, it’s considerably safer now than when I first moved to London 20 years ago

Could you tell me exactly what your concerns are about coming back to the UK? It’s easier for us to help if we know what’s worrying you.

If there’s anything you want clarity on — safety, cost of living, schools, healthcare — just ask and we’ll go through it together.

Just so you know, the UK is safe. Crime levels are stable, public services are still functioning, and day‑to‑day life is normal. A lot of the dramatic stories people repeat abroad don’t match the actual data. If you have specific worries, tell us and we’ll address them properly.

Like all experiences in life, it will completely depend on where you choose to live in the UK.

London - crime has been falling there for years and elsewhere in the country!

If you can afford to live in a nice suburb rather than a tower block in an inner city area, you will be fine!

I live technically in a City that had lots of very negative press attention a year ago, but I live in a nice suburb and we definitely didn’t have the issues portrayed on social media and in the news… which thrives on exaggerating issues as click bait!

My children go to great schools, crime is low, we have lots of great community groups, I am member of a few of them.

Immigration is massively over stated in the media, again it’s click bait fear that brings in revenue.

Of you have a good education and experience it’s not all that difficult to find a job!

Just remember that no one prints articles about great communities, well behaved children and families helping their neighbours…so if you are living outside the UK you will be seeing a very distorted view of every day life!

We pay less tax than most European countries, and we have the NHS, free education, most schools have wrap around childcare which is helpful when working.

And you’d move there?

I’m hundreds of miles from Cornwall, 40 mins from London. And very happy (and much much better earning potential and job prospects here!)

They are happy because of where they are and hope things don't change, they would not be happy in many areas and know how fortunate they are and do say the country has changed a lot

Sea borders