26 replies to this topic

[McclaudEagle]

To be fair we do have high taxes, but we also have well tarmacked roads, a public health care system which, although bloated, is recognised as one of if not the best healthcare systems in the world, a sewage system that lets us put toilet roll down the toilet, a power grid that lets us plug in pretty much any and all of our devices in to our homes, and have them running without blowing the fuse box and the list does go on quite a bit. So yes, high taxes, but the old saying of "the grass is always greener on the other side" runs true with us brits; we don't know how good we've got it until we go and live elsewhere for a while.

I couldn't drive my car in the US, for instance, without having to replace the suspension and wheels once a year. At least not in the states I've driven in before.

Head to places like the Fens and we'll soon see just how quickly you'll need to replace your suspensions. Most of the roads around me (Peterborough) are absolutely terrible, have giant pot-holes, cracks, bumps that make you feel like you're on a rally course. As for our power grid, it's not too great. You know, at half time during major football matches, the power grid gets used so much that power has to be 'imported' from France to cope with the load.

Not sure where you live right now, but it must be pretty good to have many of the things you put down on your list. Perhaps your council actually knows what they're doing unlike my damned council who build speed bumps on a road that is no longer used, simply to prevent trucks going down it, even though they're not wide enough to stop the trucks anyway.

[Dark0ne]

Head to places like the Fens and we'll soon see just how quickly you'll need to replace your suspensions. Most of the roads around me (Peterborough) are absolutely terrible, have giant pot-holes, cracks, bumps that make you feel like you're on a rally course. As for our power grid, it's not too great. You know, at half time during major football matches, the power grid gets used so much that power has to be 'imported' from France to cope with the load.

Not sure where you live right now, but it must be pretty good to have many of the things you put down on your list. Perhaps your council actually knows what they're doing unlike my damned council who build speed bumps on a road that is no longer used, simply to prevent trucks going down it, even though they're not wide enough to stop the trucks anyway.

Well, that's exactly the kind of grass is greener talk I'm talking about. Have you managed to go and live anywhere else for any suitable period of time to get a good idea of what it's like living in those countries?

I've had suitable periods in the US, Greece and China and can tell you now; we have it good, despite what all the disgruntled "I pay less taxes therefore my country is better than yours" ex-pats would have you believe. So while I could see myself living abroad because I'm not big on 50% tax when I've never used the NHS for anything more than common cold remedies and I work from home so don't have to commute, I don't take for granted all the good things we've got, and I definitely don't think there's many countries out there that can provide more, for less.

[McclaudEagle]

Well, that's exactly the kind of grass is greener talk I'm talking about. Have you managed to go and live anywhere else for any suitable period of time to get a good idea of what it's like living in those countries?

I've had suitable periods in the US, Greece and China and can tell you now; we have it good.

I live in the UK. However, the most likely decider between me and you is that I live in a rural area rather than a city/built up area. Rural areas almost always get neglected, or at the very least, left behind by the cities. I would create a list of all the bad things that my council does, but it'd probably be bigger than all the posts on the Nexus combined

[Dark0ne]

I've spent most of my life in the south-west so I'm no stranger to rural areas. I think Cornwall is about as rural as it gets for us; and the people are equally...rural...to put it kindly

I've seen my fair share of local council screw-ups, and I tend to find that's because "common" people are running the affairs, and by common, I mean people who have no clue what they're doing and shouldn't be in a position of power. The "common" people in our local council, for example, decided that getting paid £27,000 a year wasn't enough for their supposed to be volunteer work, and instead upped their volunteer donations to £32,000 - £34,000 as soon as they entered office. When the local papers and population cried out about it, they said "you can vote us out in 4 years then". Aweeesome. The head of the council was earning £40,000 and lived in London, 3 hours away. That's the Lib Derps for you; they might speak sense to you now, but you have no clue how shallow they are until they get in to power.

Local council screw-ups aren't confined to the UK. I'm pretty sure every country in the world has the same problem. And my god, as far as corruption goes we're practically squeeky clean in comparison to others. Everywhere I went in Greece the locals would tell me about local governors who accepted EU grants to build bridges/roads/towers/something beneficial, only to find that 2 years later the money had gone missing and the governor's estate had suddenly become millions of pounds better off. Same can be said for my short time spent in Italy and Spain.

I liken this sort of complaining attitude without putting a wider scope on things to my old house, and living with my old housemates. We all got along great, because none of us were bad people to live with. However, because we're human/British we needed SOMETHING to complain about. That's just what we as British people do. So the things we'd complain about were extremely petty in the grand scheme of things, like who left the bread bag open, or who left crums/jam/marmite in the butter. And we'd have some great (and fun) arguments about these things, in all seriousness. But in the grand scheme of things, when you step back and look at other situations around you, you realise that really...you've got it good.

[Korodic]

the government of any land always seem to cut the healthcare and wages of public workers before their own. Anyone else have a serious problem with that? I expect a bloody riot one day when everyone has had enough. I'm surprised more greek politicians arent dead yet to be honest.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

I know London isn't the most British city, but I spent 2 months there and loved it. I didn't drive at all the whole time, even on a weekend trip to Nantes in France. You can't get around like that here in the USA. Without an automobile you might as well depend on another or spend your life as a slave working for Mcdonalds or Walmart. I don't have health insurance, my girlfriend doesn't have health insurance, my best friend doesn't have it and if it wasn't for our measley State aid my daughter wouldn't have it either. Obama's bail out plan didn't account for that, or care either... :/ It's been about 8 years now since I've been to a doctor or a dentist for that matter. Sure hope I don't need it. If I were to get cancer I would probably be better of shooting myself then leaving my family in debt.

Sorry for the sob story. I loved my time in the UK, I sure wish we could get our game together over here. But hey, look on the bright side, at least General Motors didn't go out of business.

[jim_uk]

the government of any land always seem to cut the healthcare and wages of public workers before their own. Anyone else have a serious problem with that? I expect a bloody riot one day when everyone has had enough. I'm surprised more greek politicians arent dead yet to be honest.

They're areas of high expenditure, they're also areas where you'll find a lot of waste, its where the biggest savings can be found. Cutting politicians wages wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference and would just be gesture politics. As for Greece their problems are self inflicted, that said what is being done to them now is appalling, they're suffering death by a thousand cuts just to protect French and German banks..

[Fonger]

isn't this thread getting a bit political

[Korodic]

yeah, but it is interesting hearing whats going on around from the world from the people that actually live their rather than media outlets But yeah I'm done talking politics as I don't mean to deter from the point of the thread.

[3nglishtanks]

To be fair we do have high taxes, but we also have well tarmacked roads, a public health care system which, although bloated, is recognised as one of if not the best healthcare systems in the world, a sewage system that lets us put toilet roll down the toilet, a power grid that lets us plug in pretty much any and all of our devices in to our homes, and have them running without blowing the fuse box and the list does go on quite a bit. So yes, high taxes, but the old saying of "the grass is always greener on the other side" runs true with us brits; we don't know how good we've got it until we go and live elsewhere for a while.

I couldn't drive my car in the US, for instance, without having to replace the suspension and wheels once a year. At least not in the states I've driven in before.

hehe i must say the well tarmacked roads gave me a chuckle.......5 minutes ago on sky news....."will take 11-20 years to fill all the potholes"