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?

We can't get a routine appointment on the same day, but if we feel we need to be seen same day they will get a Dr to phone and see if they agree! If so, they will see us that day. Routine appointments are generally 3-4 days in advance.

I actually disagree that the UK is particularly racist.

Sure there are some idiots, but the majority ARE accepting of other cultures. No-where but here seems to go to such lengths to ensure that visitors to our nation can understand official communications etc.

In the past I have been on foreign expat fora where British converted muslims were actually extolling the virtues of life in Britain as a muslim. Tolerance, quality and availability of halal food, general inclusion, understanding and respect of muslim needs.

Now for that particular bunch of women, if they could have said something negative about the UK, believe me they would have done. The stuff they used to generalise over non-muslims or kaffirs as they so rudely called them would literally make your hair stand on end!

Now, you've never truly been flamed, till you've been flamed by that lot, I can tell you.

And I found parts of the UK far more racist than Houston, which has a large number of ethnicities and a large population.

I wouldn't live in Houston for all the money in the world, though. Too fucking hot.

It's horribly humid. It's semi-tropical and about 50 miles off the Gulf of Mexico.

I'd as soon live in hell.

I can accept that parts of the US and Canada are less racist but I am having difficulty believing that this applies to Oz

I am a Swiss living in the UK and there is so many good things about life here it is really impossible to list them all. UK rocks!

On the subject of racism, I am also a Muslim and in the 12 years I have lived here I was told to "go home Paki!" once, by a stupid teenager whose friend told him on the spot what an idiot he was.

By groundhogs Sun 21-Mar-10 08:50:49 ""In the past I have been on foreign expat fora where British converted muslims were actually extolling the virtues of life in Britain as a muslim. Tolerance, quality and availability of halal food, general inclusion, understanding and respect of muslim needs.""

I most definitely second that!

I would not have half that freedom in my own country!

I think that in the UK as elsewhere in the world you find boiling pots of racism and the racism can be quite specifically targeted against specific ethnic groups. There are issues in Melbourne with Indian students at the moment which has and is causing some tension between the Australian and Indian govts but a very settled and integrated Greek Community. There are areas of the UK with similar issues (including Notts and those areas where the BNP have sadly had more success). My DH certainly is very proud of Australia's multi-culturalism and its per capita intake of immigrants and would regard his attitude as typical of most Aussies.

Don't get me wrong, I like Britain and defend it even DH is frustated about our levels of beauracracy where he often has a point (no-one will ever persuade him that the need for a paper and a photo driving licence is anything but ridiculous) or that we need the many levels of govt and taxation that we have (separate council tax, tv licence, why can't we just vote at any polling station we chose in a general election etc etc) but I wish we aspired to be the best at more things than we do rather than just good because there is little that has come up about Britain that I don't hink other countries do better (individually) and some of those - educatation, tuition fees, where the povertly line sits, standard of living etc are pretty fundamental.

I live in Germany, so this argument is one that I have with myself regularly. On balance Germany wins every time (standard of living, it is streets ahead in so many things).

Advantages of Britain (to me, anyway!):

• the love of words & associated jokes. (though oddly enough this doesnt translate to the sort of poetical writing that the french do so well)
• the early summer mornings, and long summer evenings, and gentle light in the gardens.
• the NHS. At least doctors aren't trying to "recruit" you for treatment the whole time, and make a profit out of you!
• the jaffa cakes are better than in europe. Hard to overstate the importance of this.
• golden syrup, suet, digestive biscuits, tunnocks tea cakes, sausages etc. We all have our shopping lists.
• the schools encourage creativity, though probably not as much as in the days before the national curriculum, still, its more than in france and germany.

There are other nice things about Britain, but I am not going to put them down, because I, a single mother with children to support, doing a normal job, cant afford them, therefore they are irrelevant to me as advantages of Britain. Like living in a beautiful place.

I think immigration adds to the country, but all the other stuff is spot on. The individual is nothing but a pissant in this country. People can come into your house lawfully and take your goods. The poor are treated like shit. There's racism, cruelty, and ineptitude in every authority especially the DWP. In this country, you get a worse punishment for not having a TV license than for killing an animal. And that's acceptable to most people.

I hope the UK isn't awful! Dh and I and the mini-chipmonkeys are descending on you in the summer!

The NHS has it's faults but compared to Ireland you have it very good. We have to shell out 60 Euro every time we visit the GP, in our practice if we try to get a routine public appointment with an ophthalmologist it will take 9 months

And everyone in the UK has always been lovely to me when I come over!
( I'm just asking for some grumpy old man to berate me on my terrible parenting in the pool in Centerparcs, aren't I?)

I never thought the uk was particularly racist until i moved from northern england to East anglia.

My god, people in this part of the uk seem to have no problem in sharing their racist (and homophobic) beliefs and seem to take pride in them! It's like they really can't see how ignorant and hurtful they are being.

I would love to move back up north Of course there are racist people there too, they just don't seem to need to shove their views in your face all of the time!

I never realised how racist Ireland was till I got to know my ILs. And I didn't have to move that far.

It does make me laugh that a few of you think Virginia/Texas/Georgia are too hot, but most English people complain about the rain/cold/damp!! See? The grass is never greener!!

And yes...if I call the Dr in the morning, I get an appointment for the same day. If it's not urgent, it's usually within a day or two.

I'm from East Anglia NanBullen (as, I believe was your namesake ) and I don't think it's any more racist than other parts of the country - guess it depends where you are. I'm from Suffolk so can only really say about there. I think that parts of East Anglia are still pretty isolated from the main stream, however, so I wouldn't be surprised to find a fair bit of racism around.

Personlly, I found the racism in Australia absolutely jaw droppingly awful but, again, that was only my experience of witnessing it. The stongest undercurrent of racial tension I've ever witnessed was in New Orleans - post Hurricane Catrina. You could just feel it everywhere. Very tense.

Yes - there is nothing quite like the way in which Australians do racism. My African friend emigrated there ten years ago with her white English partner and phoned home crying (to report on how she had been subject to racism) practically every single day. Large, cheap, houses and gorgeous weather cannot compensate for the damage that must do to your self esteem. Re: govt depts being racist, I beg to differ. Here in London, most are run by non-White employees - it would never happen on the Continent or Oz.