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?

yeah well, expats often include 'men that never got laid in their home country' (my brother included, bless him) 'people that counldn't get jobs here' (my brother again..)and 'people who just aren't satisfied anywhere'....(not my brother, give him a 7-11 selling booze round the clock, a job, and a good meal, and he's anybodys)

i get free healthcare ( well you know what i mean)

free education for kids

and tap water that is clear and larvelly.

belgo I live in England and
My child can walk to and from school.
I can cycle wherever I like.
We live the near the town and can take place in cultural activities every weekend if we choose.
???

i think the scarcity of cockroaches really plays in the favour of UK too.

and i have never been groped by strangers in the street here. (Italy, Greece....just try getting down the street. just try it..)

I Love the uk.
It's nice to visit other countries but I wouldn't want to live there.

The blackbirds in the garden.
Red squirrels.
Morning dew.
An English pub lunch.
A sunday roast.
Fish and chips by the seaside.
Duck ponds.
The corner shop.
Our lovely temperate climate.
The lawn.
The BBC.
Pretty villages.
The theatre.
Christmas.

I am an American immigrant to Scotland. I am married to a Scotsman and our three children have never lived anywhere else but here, where they were born. I hold dual nationality now, as do our children.

We have thought long and hard about it, and this place has more good than bad.

I have lived in numerous countries.

No place is perfect.

My sister in particular will never understand that not everyone wants to live in the US. That some people love their home nation as much as she does hers.

I have never lived in England, I can imagine that might be different.

Ummm - OK. NHS. No-where near free unless someone wants to tell me where exactly my 51.8% tax is going. It is free at the point of delivery perhaps. Oh except for prescription charges, dental charges, eye tests etc etc. Hence I'm looking to going to Riga for some dental treatment at the moment. I'll take the Australian medicare system any day thanks.

Cricket. I'll also take Australia thanks. On the plus side the English are inventive enough that we keep coming up with different variations of the game of cricket that we can teach the rest of the world to beat us at.

BBC. OK - but we can't get the World Service here and there have been times when the BBC has been terribly politically biased. Other countries have great journalistic traditions too.

Humour - Jim Jeffries (aussie) and Ed Byrne (Irish)

Beers - Belgian beers, German Wheat bears - better than most English ales.

English wines [blech]

Shakespeare>>>> Well it's 400 years old which makes it English history. Also Anglo-American history and Australian history since it predates the colonisation of both. We don't get exclusivity over Shakespeare.

Yes fish and chips at the seaside is lovely - it's good that you can get something hot to eat whilst shivering on our beaches. Who would want a gelato on the Amalfi coast instead>>>

Children spend too much time indoors generally and do not have the try anything can do attitude in such abundance as kids from many other countries.

The theatre - Broadway, 42nd street...

Of course the French have no pretty villages and they don't waste any money on their royal family either...

"Humour - Jim Jeffries (aussie) and Ed Byrne (Irish)"

Ahh you see Aussieng, I detest sport mostly, but I'll have to pick you up on the Cricket thang..

At least we Brits are not sore losers.... We are graceful in our defeat, (kinda have to get used to it... , especially in the more behaved and less yobbo sports.

Our undying faith in our sportsmen and women, right up until the moment they mostly do (sadly) get knocked out in the final rounds...

Our pride in those that win medals for us.

OK, I'm not a drinker of beers, and i prefer lighter blonde biers if forced to partake - but Cider.... doubt anyone could beat our Scrumpy....

and PIMS FGS!!!!

BBC - both TV and radio
NHS - it's free and has always been excellent imo
M&S
cultural diversity
countryside
music
proper films
welfare state
architecture
coastline
history

Bad things:

BNP
the worshipping of all things American
rain
public transport
it's not secular (yet)

daffodils<

really green countryside.

Radio4 - there just isn't anything like it anywhere else...

its funny how many 'continental' beers are actually brewed here in the UK....

and i challenge anyone to try Badgers, Hepworths, Harveys, Jennings, Sharps....and not find UK beers to be top quality (and recognised as such in Europe)!

alchoholic cider i have been unable to obtain in other countries.

An aussie friend of mine went mental for Uk sausages...'crazy good; in her words...I have to say advertising in thiis country is much more subtle than in the Antipodes (actually, my first few hours in Oz were spent laughing my tits off to Aussie ads 'buy this, its great!' being a standard strapline.)

I noticed that the BNP has come up a few times but I honestly believe that we are one of the least racist countries in the world.
I heard a joke about "coons" told in a mock-Ghandi accent on the Australian equivalent of This Morning - would that ever happen here?

I am an American who is in love with England, and it drives me insane when people emigrate here, then trash it to bits.

I love the scenery, the history (as a former English Lit teacher, the literary history makes me swoon!). I love that I can't get out of Tesco sometimes for having a long chat with the checkout ladies. I love that I can get a dr appt the same day that I call for one, and that I don't have to shell out any money at the end. I love that I had the choice to have a baby at home, and did. I love that my children will be able to walk to school, get a decent education, and wear a uniform. I love that my kids love to put on their rain coats and splash in muddy puddles when it rains. I love tea, and all the ritual that goes with having a good cup of tea. I love that my children have my husband's Midlands accent...and correct me if I say 'Zeebra'!

Yes, the weather is rubbish, but if that's the only negative I've got about living here, then I am blessed!!

I have lived in France, spain and Italy too and they are a LOT more racist on whole

Doesn't well -you should move down to Lodon - the weather is great here pretty much all the time. don't know if it's the pollution keeping us warm!

LOL electro...I highly doubt I would find the weather 'great'...my US hometown is Savannah, Georgia...so that's my basis of comparison! :-)

This is a useful link for the haterz...
www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15452867

doesntplaywellwithothers - I've just looked up the climate there - it's to hot from may to october.

OK - I was comparing it to the Midlands

Nice post doesntplaywell - you have reminded me of many of the nice things about this country!
I forgot:
Literature, apart from Sh-Sh-Shakespeare... especially children's: AA Milne, Lewis Carroll, JM Barrie, Kenneth Grahame, E Nesbitt et al.

LOL Groundhogs. I used to love the UK's Eddie the Eagle style joy in our crapness at sports but then we got all proud about beating Australia in terms of medal haul at the 2008 Olympics and had to admit that it was all a cover which means that just doesn't wash any more

Lots of places are very multicultural Canada, the US and Australia more so than the UK. I would consider the UK reasonably racist. My DH is not British but is white and he hears a lot of racism in his job (expressed in an "of course, we don't mean you since you're white" kind of way) and there have been some shocking examples of racism (some sports presenter just a short while ago - I can dig out the details if anyone does not recall who I mean) in the UK media too.

I hate cider so have never noticed the plus points of various overseas countries in not offering it as a beverage.

Doesn'tplaywell - how on earth do you get a doctor's appointment on the day you call for one> It takes me 2 weeks usually just to get an appointment with the nurse, my Dr only works Thurs & Friday with NHS patients, don't get me started on my midwife (although compared to some on my ante-natal board my maternity care is superb) and I have only just managed to register with an NHS dentist after 4 years without one. When DH's family (overseas) were all diagnosed with an hereditary blood disorder 12 months ago he had to telephone me from his consultation with the Doctor so that I could spell out the name to the doctor who was trying to google it

There are loads that have already been mentioned,but I second decent radio stations.
DH and I used to spend a lot of time travelling in the US and the radio was dire.All we seemed to be able to get was fundamentalists listing 'the 7 signs of evil'.It was funny to begin with,but got pretty dull pretty quickly.

This thread wil cheer me up on the bad UK-hating days I hate this country sometimes and hate the idea of bringing kids up here [on day!] because of the educational systems and political systems, but this thread reminds me of the reasons why I love the country too (On the condition that Home Eding isn't outlawed and the healthcare is still free by the time I have children of course )

" how on earth do you get a doctor's appointment on the day you call for one>"

Never had a problem with that. Provided you call in the morning.