How do you rate the standard of living in the UK?

[Socci]

Today my mum said that she would consider migration to another country if she was younger because she feels that the standard of living in this country is not good enough and is getting worse.

What is your view on this? What do you think is good compared with other places in the world? What would you change?

My uncle emigrated to Australia about 30 years ago and he and his wife have never been completely happy.

So is it a case of the grass is always greener?

THE UK has one of the best standards of living...during the summer, when there are plenty of interesting places to visit, lots of places to go for a walk, glorious gardens, lovely parks to spend the afternoon reading while laying on the grass and the children playing in the background(provided the ground is not covered with duck dropings!). Days are long and not too hot, wonderful! and you don't even have to spend lots of money to have a good time.

Now, about the rest of the year... that's a completely different story, maybe because you are forced to live indoors and then you realise how expensive everything can be: little houses for a lot of money (you do not pay attention to this during the summer), not being able to place a foot on the street for a little sunday walk with your family without spending at least £20 (it's bloody cold so coffee, hot chocolate and a cosy place to consume them are a necessity). And the darkness during the winter months....AAAAARRRGHHHH!

But then the spring is back and... everything becomes beautiful again. :)

I've lived in the UK since October 2004 and I have to say the standard of living here is excellent. Coming from Dublin where you can't buy a cardborad box (never mind a house) in the city or within reasonable commuting distance for less than 200k euros to living in North Wales where you have beautiful countryside within easy reach of gorgeous Chester and everything is soooooooooo much cheaper! I'm on a winner definitely. I do miss home, but I honestly don't think I could afford to live there and give my son the same opportunities as I can here.

NQC - I'm veuveclicquot, which was actually my Christmas incarnation of PinotGrigio. Changed my name for an amusing arf thread and haven't changed it back. Not least because I like cod calling me arfy.

Another thing that's great about Australia is that they have the work/life balance better than the UK - I've just been offered a senior position at a big company and at the interview they said that they realised I had a family and they didn't expect me in the office all hours of the day and night. Now that's a pretty big thing for a working mum.

In the UK everybody tutted at me for leaving at 5pm to get to nursery on time (and to do that I had to take no lunch break).

NQC - I'm veuveclicquot, which was actually my Christmas incarnation of PinotGrigio. Changed my name for an amusing arf thread and haven't changed it back. Not least because I like cod calling me arfy.

Another thing that's great about Australia is that they have the work/life balance better than the UK - I've just been offered a senior position at a big company and at the interview they said that they realised I had a family and they didn't expect me in the office all hours of the day and night. Now that's a pretty big thing for a working mum.

In the UK everybody tutted at me for leaving at 5pm to get to nursery on time (and to do that I had to take no lunch break).

Another Canadian here who just spent 8 years in Dublin and now am living back on the East coast, where I grew up. And with just the PROFIT from our house sale in Ireland (after paying off our mortgage!) we have just bought a four-bed detached house in a lovely area with good school and preschool within walking distance. It is a dream come true.
I was away for 10 years and have returned to a wonderful place to raise kids.
I can't believe all the Canadians on here!

arfy - if you're in the eastern suburbs, you're pretty much guaranteed no snakes, and the only poisonous spiders are funnel-webs (very, very black, thick legs, quite distinctive) and redbacks - also very distinctive. Wouldn't worry about much else. As far as your dd goes, it's simple - never ever touch a spider or a snake! :)

Standard of living here is fabulous!

I have not read all this thread but a number of posters have posted that the number of immigrants in the UK is one of the reasons why they want to immigrate. Now correct me if I'm wrong but if you immigrate don't you also become an immigrant yourself? And why do I get the impression that it is OK for white anglo saxon folk to move to different countries but anybody that does not belong to the exclusive club are viewed with suspicion or contempt?.

My parents moved to the UK in the 1960s from Jamaica and they worked for everything they have which is more than I can say for a lot of the the indigneous population these days. So imho, the UK is fine for those who are prepared to work hard.

The Aborigines and Maories are the original inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand respectively but I bet the incoming whites from the UK are far better treated than they are. It would be interesting to get their perspective on how the British immigrants have stolen their country and trampled on their rights since they arrived over 200 years ago. Despite what the tabloid press like to perpetuate, many non-white immigrants to this country have endeavoured to assimilate despite the hostility from the idigenous population and as far as I can see, all of the land still belongs to the indigenous population. If wasn't for poor immigrants like my parents, who would have kept your hospitals going, look after your old folk, clean your buildings, drive your buses, pick your fruit and vegetables - shall I go on?

So those of you immigrating because of the immigrant situation in this country, I hope you are treated with the dignity and respect that you clearly are incapable of extending to immigrants in this country.

Good point Speedymama.

The way the Aboriginal people are treated in Australia would make your jaw drop. That and John Howard are two of the reasons why I would be thinking twice about moving there.

Arfissimo - there was a thread ages ago where you thought you might be pregnant but nothing was coming up on the HPTs. Are you??! I admit I have often wondered what the outcome of that thread was...

Pruni, I wouldn't want to deny the horrific treatment of indigenous peoples, but has it ever occurred to you that the worst of that treatment came at the hands of Brits? The only reason you don't have the problem today of dealing with the aftermath of what the British did to indigenous peoples is because you made the colonies independent...

Australia has made huge efforts the last 40 years or so to address the problem. The only reason Britain doesn't have a problem is because you made it and left it behind over here! I'm just very surprised that you can use this as an argument against Australia when we're trying to clean up a mess which is as much Britain's as ours.

That said, John Howard's premiership has been the first time I've felt ashamed (at times) to be Australian.

Bloss, i think you are passing the buck. Britian has had very little to do with the running of Australia for the past 100 years, since federation. The 'white australia' policy ( I know 50 years ago) the responsibility for stolen generation, the vast inequality between health, housing,and oppurtunities for indigenous Australians lay firmly with a government that has been power for over a generation.

Speedymama has a very good point, loads of british people complain about immigration then prepare to immigrate enmasse to Spain and other such countries creating there own enclaves and become a problem for locals who end up sacrificing there own culture.

Has it ever occurred to me? Yes, it has. Has it ever occurred to you that your choice of words is rather patronising? You are surprised at me? You do sound like a rather prim form tutor talking down to one of the girls.

Of course we left it in a mess, as we did everywhere. What a poor excuse, though. IME (which is only of academics in Australia) when well-educated, well-travelled people are saying "Hey, I don't want to be a racist, but they are lazy good-for-nothing drunks.." and the like, then I think twice about how fantastic a country is.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I suppose it depends on where you live surely. I live on a council estate and although it is by no means a really rough area, sometimes I really worry about my kids growing up here. There is general mix of well meaning people and then some very undesirable characters, and when you see young kids out on the streets causing trouble, terrorising the shopkeepers etc it does make me feel very depressed about the state of the world. I believ that in some parts society is really decaying, I was in the town centre a couple of weeks back and saw a young gilr walk up to another girl and whack her in the face, this kind of thing happens alot and is not uncommon and makes me scared for my childrens future. I know an incredibly rich lady who has children and lives in a village not far from here, she is well educated but so incredibly naive about what its like in more deprived areas. She only ever goes into town to go to Waitrose and was genuinely shocked to the core when i told her of things i have seen and experienced.
So my point is, you could ask us both the same question and our responses would be so polarised because of our situations.

But Pruni, you only are made aware of racism once that you are part of a minority. Otherwise you can live oblivious to the problem because, of course, nobody is going to be explicitly racist to you if you belong to the country and look very similar to the vast majority of your connationals. (Not trying to have a go As I like you very much, but this is what I have learned after living as an expat 4 countries for so many years)

Cori, unfortunately, some damages caused by colonialism, particularly racism,, continue to exist centuries after the colony become independent. You can observe that in every single former colony, whether it was made independent 250 yrs ago or a few years ago.

You are very much right Kayzed, I found difficult not to smile when I read in newspapers that the British work more hours than other Europeans . Working an 8-5 shift for only 5 days a week, being paid extra for anti-social work hours, etc. it's just a dream in most countries I have lived.

Pruni, sorry if you found the tone patronising. I was responding to the content of your post, which I find rather patronising.

The fact is that NO country, ANYWHERE, has managed to deal with the problems of colonialism yet. For decades, Australia has been trying very hard on this - the expenditure on indigenous peoples has been absolutely humungous for such a long time. But the sad fact is that a willingness to help and provide substantial funding is not the answer. The dysfunction that is experienced today is the result of the near total collapse of indigenous societies - something that happened in the first century of settlement in Australia, ie under British rule. It is true that many things were also done in the first half of the twentieth century, and it is also true that racism persists today. However, I believe that the vast majority of the damage was already done while Australia still belonged to Britain.

I'm not passing the buck at all - I'm someone who daily lives on the benefits that white predecessors extracted from indigenous peoples. It is my duty to help as much as anyone. And the Australian government has had some dreadful attitudes and policies. But the SOLE reason that Britain doesn't have the same problem with a hugely dysfunctional indigenous population is because she just left them behind her - in Canada, Australia, NZ, the Middle East, Africa etc. To suggest that the plight of indigenous Australians today demonstrates that Australians are more racist than Brits is completely ignorant of history - and a shameful washing of hands.

Cori - Australia did not even have full national sovereignty until 1986. Until the mid-1950s the Union Jack was our official flag. As a child, I sang 'God Save the Queen' at school. When Britain entered a solely European war in 1914 (and later in 1939), there was absolutely no question about whether Australia, Canada etc would be at war too. The Governor-General continued to be a Brit for decades...It is far too simplistic a view to think that as of 1901 Britain had little involvement in Australian history.

Well bloss, your understanding of patronising is different to mine.

I also did not say that Australia was more racist than the UK. I said that I was shocked by the treatment of the Aboriginals. And that I had met Australians who were happy to tell me their racist views.

Pruni, you said that the way we treated indigenous peoples would make you think twice about moving there. The implication being that the country as a whole has attitudes and policies that are wrong.

I am the first to admit that we haven't found the solution to post-colonial disintegration of indigenous communities. But that doesn't seem to me a huge black mark against us - nobody else seems to have discovered it either. So the 'black mark' that you have put against us must surely be that you think we are currently racist in our treatment of indigenous peoples in a way that Britain is not? Am I reading you wrongly? What exactly have are we doing wrong in your view?

(Needless to say, pointing to individuals' racist comments is not helpful - plenty of racist individuals can be found on either side.)

But I really am sorry if I sounded patronising - looking back I can see how it struck the wrong tone... Apologies. :(

Bloody Hell, just flipped this thread and read the last few and thought I'd chip in. I'm from the UK, lived in London for 10 years, psychiatric nurse working on the acute wards and in the community. I've now been in Australia for 6 years, lived in Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, now Hobart, doing the same work.
There are racist wankers in England and Australia. There are communities that are utterly deprived in both countries, and ignored by those with the cash. Personally I find that there is a much bigger/wider middle class in Australia. Fewer people that are really on the poverty line. There is more space, so much more space. We have a mortage, which as 2 nurses we would never have got in London ( first mortage for us both, mid 30s). We have a car here, again, never would have managed one in the UK. There's beautiful parks all over the place ( Hobart). I had a ball living in London, the pubs/clubs are SO much better, there's nothing like them anywhere in Australia. It depends on what you're doing with your life. With 2 kids, here is perfect. We are lucky in that nurses are needed the world over, so got in on a work visa. I miss the pubs, but then, these days we rarely get the oppertunity, plus don't have the fierce need to get out the house because it's so bloody small it's doing your head in. I love it here.

hear hear, she speaks the truth. Well put OzJo. Very well put indeed.

However, I will be buying a loft apartment in Freo when the kids leave home...the southern suburbs of Perth will b e just a tad too quiet sans enfants.