To think the UK can't be all bad?

[Condensedmilkaddict]

I live in a town where there are lot of English migrants.
To hear them talk you would think that the UK exists in lawlessness, that your government is inept, your health service woeful and the country full of anarchic immigrants.
It makes me sad to hear this because my family is from England. I was the first one born here.
So...AIBU to think there are some great things about the UK too?
What are they?

TEA! How could I forget TEA?!

Sounds like a group of people justifying their decision to resettle elsewhere and over compensating; happens in expat communities all over the world.

tbh whinging is a national sport in the UK, the people you mention probably run down the UK less than the people who are still living here!

no country is perfect by any means and it's all subjective but on balance I'm happy here

I'm english but could live in either Canada or Australia (and have done for brief 6 month periods) but would never do so permanently; I love it here and despite the UK's many faults wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

TV
Sunday papers
Music
BBC
Shops
Art galleries/museums
Architecture
Pretty seaside towns
Yes to cricket - ditto Wimbledon and football
Parks
NHS
Afternoon tea
Gardens - I love that we have gardens!
Are all good

Not good:
Weather - it really does suck (apart from summer). I cannot get used to winter, rain and grey skies despite being born and bred here!
Having said all that I could happily live in many European cities.

food -Uk supermarkets offer a wide, wonderful and high quality range of foods with a reasonable level of service. you can eat Indian, Chinese or Italian almost anywhere in the UK, as well as enjoying Fish & Chips - never had anything like as good as soggy chip shop chips (fries just don't cut it ) English sausages are superb (meaty, juicy, flavoursome) and bread is just ...yummy.
The English pub offers excellent beers and ciders, (whereas all the way round the world you tend to get the same few brands as draught, in the UK, there is a huge range of choice)

If you require emergnecy treatment, no one is going to take your insurance details first..

and most UK citizens are very law abiding

I can't imagine living anywhere but the UK. I remember the one and only time I went to Spain I was genuinely horrified at the brown and lifeless countryside - I really need a green landscape! The UK is the home of cream teas, rugby, snowdrops, daffodils, the BBC, brilliant literature, fabulous architecture and a wonderful sense of history everywhere you go. I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Incidentally, I did love Belgium when me and DH visited for our friends' wedding - everyone we spoke to in Brussels and Leuven was very friendly, and the general feel was very welcoming. If I was forced to move away from the UK, Belgium would be on the top of my list

Oh, and of course the NHS goes without saying - I am amused by how horrified some Americans seem to be by the very idea of a free health service! It is one of the very best things about living here. The thought of charging people to have their lives saved is abhorrent.

I love the weather too - we don't have extremes but we do have variety. The weather is never the same from one day to the next, and the frequent rainfall is what makes the landscape into the fabulous green that I love

After a recent accident whilst on holiday abroad I have a new appreciation for the NHS. At every stage during my treatment I was asked for my insurance details and/or credit card. So NHS is definitely top of the list of living in the UK.

Despite the constant critisisms of the state schools in the media I have been amazed at how wonderful and caring primary schools here are.
My DC started school in Italy and I can't even begin to say how much better in everyway the schools in the UK are.

Also I really like the variety of weather we get. Travelling is great, I've been all over the world but it's true what they say, "there's nowhere like home".[especially when you have children].

Freedom of speech and religious freedom
A free press
Equal opportunities legislation (which in theory at least means both genders have equal rights)
Culture - especially free museums
Amazing history
The Wimbledon fortnight and world-class sport generally
Health and education services - not perfect but pretty damn good - in fact, a social care system
No fatal earthquakes
Fabulous scenery
The right to roam
Freedom to travel in Europe - which means a decent proportion of right-wing moaners have moved to Spain where they can: not learn Spanish, still read the Daily Mail and complain about immigration (missing the irony that they're immigrants)
Irony

Regional accents and general cultural variation.

I love the fact that you can still just about trace the boarders of medieval kingdoms through local accents. It's amazing really.

I was also like to add freedom of conscience and speach. Invaluable stuff.

Thank you SO much for starting this thread. Am about to move back to the UK and DH and I were seriously wondering this morning if we had made the right decision. But now I am feeling all nostalgic for bluebells and witty bus drivers...and nice milk being delivered to your door...

ok my family are from all over or have lived all over and I've lived abroad.

I love being abroad but in my experience of other places this is what I love about the UK.

Humour - we do it well
Freedom to portray yourself how you like and no one will give a damn
Eccentricity
The majority of people have a sense of fair play
Class system (I think it's hilarious)
NSH
The fact that you can come from any part of the globe and keep your culture whilst mergining with everyone else
FREEDOM - we moan but it's much better than many other countries.
As a woman I don't feel the need to be stick thin and be well presented for the male (and the rest of my female competition) 24/7
SISTERHOOD - love it
Kids have lots to do (at least in London - no other place can compare).

But give me a job and home in the EAST - I'd be off and be absolutely fine mate.

Has anyone mentioned Bacon yet? I would say that the food in Oz is better overall than the food in the UK, with the exception of British Bacon. Absolutely delish.

London is SO fab for children!

Also wanted to add Not Taking Yourself Too Seriously and Being Able to Get a Joke.

Morloth - unless you come from Denmark in which case they laugh at our bacon.
The only think that prevents me being a vegeterian............

Don't like Danish bacon. I like the UK unsmoked streaky the best - though we did have some treacle bacon this morning which was divine.

Trust me, have had bacon all over the world!

If I didn't live in the UK I'd choose Belgium too. I absolutely LOVE Gent, and could quite happily relocate there if I had to.

Oh yeah very important - decent food from other countries - the one advantage of not having the best national cuisine I guess.

I love going abroad and eating other country's food but the thought of eating one type of cooking day in and day out - oh my god!

And, again, sisterhood - lovely not being in competition with other women.

Freedom, at least an ambition of equality and a recognition that it's needed..... we all know we're not quite there yet...

The water, obviously better NOT to just leave tap blooming running, no matter WHERE we live! But we can drink it, straight from the tap.

Where I was living, not only did the water smell, sometimes very strongly, it stung your eyes and woe betide you get it in a cut.... Obviously NOT safe to drink....

The birds, the wildlife. Cats and Dogs that are not rabid...

There are many things that could be better here in the UK, but by christ they could be a heck of a lot worse.. I can assure you!!

Oh, and Britain is the home of Mumsnet... need I say more?

British women make very good friends. They aren't competitive with one another like the French.

Walnut cake.

What's left of the countryside in the south is very beautiful, if endangered and fragmented by new roads.

On the whole children are brought up to be polite. This I got from a French ski instructor who told me she liked British children because they said please and thank you as though they meant it.

I live in a much maligned area of London, indeed, it borders one which is internationally notorious (and where I lived happily for 20 years)
And in this hell hole, I enjoy a fantastic community spirit, friendly neighbours, and whilst my car got vandalised to destruction 3 days after moving in TWO separate neighbours offered to lend me thier cars! Peple smile, say hello, and watch out for other people's children.

NHS treatment has transformed DS's life - and would not have been affordably available in the USA, or available ful stop in DP's family's country.
Who could decry a country which celebrates bonfire night - everyone out in the cold, delighted by fireworks, or sumer fetes, or carol singing in town squares, or pancake day with pancake tossing?

I'd rather walk on the grass in our parks than stick to the gravel in France, (and I'm certanly pleased that our songbirds and rare species aren't blasted out of the skies as delicacies), and i'd rather lay down my towel on a rugged, deserted beach in Devon than line up in a rown on an expensive Italian sunlounger.

Clotted cream, cider, toffee apples, real ale, Bakewell pudding, the Cornish Pasty, pork pies with English mustard....

Cheese rolling!

The fact eccentricity is loved in so many forms in the UK.

Friends from abroad can't quite believe the likes of lardy cake. Nor the fact Anne Widdicombe has been elected more than once.

The class system, which unless you've lived in the UK for some time makes no sense. Money doesn't necessarily equal status, in fact you can be utterly broke living in a crumbling pile and still be deemed to have greater social status than squillionaire in mock-Georgian mansion down the road.

Archaic ancient laws - pregnant women are apparently allowed to request a policeman gives them their hat to pee in... And there are many more such nutty laws.

I can only comment on London - in terms of 'improving' your wider education and career prospects, the sky is the limit - most of the time, there is an amazing range of jobs to choose from (even in specialised fields). If you work hard and stay focussed, then you can rapidly improve your lifestyle - infact, you can do this many times over until you are satisfied. I don't know many places outside the UK where this is so easy or even a possibility, no matter how dedicated you are (only other places I can think of are parts of the Gulf pre-recession/other tax-havens).

i suspect that some of these expats never managed to make their mark here, so left through the back door and they probably feel quite cynical and bitter about it as time goes on.

Where are you, Condensedmilk...I mean people aren't going to sell up and move half way around the world to admit they make a mistake, and actually the UK is OK!

Teh things I like about England are;

1. The close proximity to Europe. Paris and Rome are easily accessible.

1. I am happy with the state school system. My 3 DCs will be educated from 4- 18 without me having to pay a penny for it, and by and large they will receive a decent education.

1. The NHS has saved my life. For free. And given me a wonderful home birth. For free.

Sort of number 4, I think the police are OK, and are better than police in many other countries.

(yeah yeah DS pays lots of tax, blah blah)

1. You don't catch many deceases round here. We're pretty much malaria/cholera free.

1. WE don't have the death penalty. Which in my opinion m

The things I don't like.

1. The weather. I really would like some serious warmth. When it does snow, or is really cold, we can't cope because we're not used to it.