How are we actually benefitting from living in the UK ?

Emp_Fab

Inspired by the Great Garlic Conspiracy, I started wondering what is so great about living in the UK when other countries have so much to offer.  Yes, I know this is probably my twentieth thread this week, so I’ll show some restraint from here on, but after Garlic, India and Gallbladders, this is the question that’s rattling around my head.

Take a warm European country, Italy for example...  The culture, history, weather, food, wine, beaches, sea, fresh produce and architecture exceed to some degree or other what we have in cold, wet, expensive Britain.

 I’m not talking financial opportunities or access to various services etc, I’m talking just the regular day-to-day quality of life.
The bits I suspect most people on their deathbeds wish they’d enjoyed more.

I get it that for some, Britain is everything they want and they don’t like the idea of living somewhere where you can see the sun for more than ten minutes a week.  I also get it that some people like to nail their scrotums to wooden planks...  each to their own.  But for the normal people, if you remove your job, family and financial commitments, what is it that keeps you here that you couldn’t also get somewhere else ?

VimFuego

great beer, great regional food, stunning scenery. All in all, I like living here.

EDIT: I realise there are different sorts of people, some like me are glass half full types, others are glass half empty, and still others are not even aware there's a glass in front of them. I'm guessing glass half full types are probably able to make good from most situations they find themselves. 

proggy

The high quality nails and planks of wood available keep me here.

Philly_Q

I can only speak English, America's full of loons, Australia's too hot and New Zealand's too far away.

Phil_aka_Pip

Hmmm ... what about an NHS that despite its administrative incompetence has diagnosed my diabetes and kept it  under control using tablets that I could not afford if I had to buy them myself. Oh, sorry you said "not ... access to various services", but  tbh I have been dissuaded from leaving the UK to go to a place where they take less care of their diabetics.

Other stuff: English Ale, a language that I speak, the ability to buy the right kind of HiFi, and driving on the correct side of the road.

ronnyb

Maybe ask one of those people risking their lives hanging on the underside of an articulated lorry at 60mph what the attraction is?

octatonic

I've lived here for most of the last 20 years and loved it.
It is definitely time to move on though- I'm a bit over the weather and dislike how polarised it has become politically- it feels less tolerant then when I arrived, hence the upcoming move.

Hoof

Cheese, beer and sausages.

Besides, some people would be miserable sods wherever they lived.

digitalscream

Because almost all of the UK's citizens are effectively members of the 1%, globally-speaking.

Much as many like to piss and moan, that's only because they've never really experienced the alternative.

bingefeller

Good health care, generally the NHS is very good.  

BloodEagle

My family is the only reason I'm still in the UK, without them here I'd be out of here like a man making a jallbreak, I have experienced a better alternative, and compared to it the UK basically looks like a shithole and a lot of its residents complete cretins (present company excepted, obviously *cough*)

KDS

Nhs, opportunity of education and career/jobs are all positives. Britain is not expensive compared to Europe and USA 

octatonic

digitalscream said:

Because almost all of the UK's citizens are effectively members of the 1%, globally-speaking.

Much as many like to piss and moan, that's only because they've never really experienced the alternative.

If you earn the average wage in the UK that puts you into the top 2.5%, which is 26 times the global average income.
This fails to acknowledge how expensive the place is though.

What needs to be accounted for is total spend- taxation, accommodation, bills, food etc.

blobb

Anoraks, no one does anoraks quite like the Brits.

interstellar

@Emp_Fab is a desperately miserable chap who, if he ventured, beyond the screen of his computer, may find reason to cheerful out there amongst moving mammals called other people

Roland

Here are four reasons

Climate. You might dislike the weather but, apart from parts of Cornwall, we don’t risk running out of water. Other people envy us for this.

Geology. The British Isles have a greater range of minerals than almost anywhere else. OK we don’t have massive quantities.

Infrastructure. We moan, but we have decent infrastructure compared with many other countries. Yes, France and Japan have faster trains. Ours are cheaper. Our electricity supply works without spikes or brown-outs. Look at the number of US guitarists who have power stabilisers in their racks.

Stable government. We may dislike some of them, but at least we don’t need a revolution to change them. Our police don’t shoot people on the streets just because they come from another social group, or haven’t paid their protection money.

Emp_Fab

OY!  I’m not desperately miserable you cheeky git!  I’m lovely I am! 

fandango

blobb said:

Anoraks, no one does anoraks quite like the Brits.

Or queues.

blobb

On a less flippant note, Water & Sewerage. Forget the fat cat newspaper headlines, How often do you have to worry about the quality of your tap water? Granted, in some areas, taste can be subjective but it's always safe. Always. Our rivers are cleaner than they have ever been (to the chagrin of Coarse Fisherman on the Trent) and if you can't pay for your water, they won't turn it off.

richardhomer

Driving on the left is a significant plus for me - I’m never far off a head on crash when driving abroad....

Guitar_Slinger

I did type a list, based on why the wife escaped her small town in Italy, but deleted it. IMHO the great lifestyle is for holidays, retirements and small town boys who can't escape.

I'd get bored of foreign village life quickly. The variety of life in London outweighs having to share it with too many tossers.

One day I'll move on, but not today.