want to live in the uk

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I'm interested in the thoughts of British residents/citizens on the positives and negatives of living in the UK. I've been in the USA all my life and, quite frankly, the culture has become intolerable (polarized, hyper-religious, anti-intellectual, bullying-friendly, etc.) all the things that make life for me unlivable. Financially, I'm not yet ready, but I'm beginning to take it seriously. Maybe within 3 years. Any input would be welcome.

I live in the UK, London to be precise.

Cons:
-Weather, rarely hot in summer and rarely properly cold in winter. In summer I want heat and in winter I want snow so for me this is a negative.

-Housing: the cost of housing, to rent and to buy is obscene and keeps getting worse.

-People: People are a***holes wherever you go. Don't buy into the myth of the English being ultra-polite, tea-sipping eccentric intellectuals. It simply isn't true. Britain has more than its fair share of drunk, neanderthal, bigoted layabouts.

Pros:

Travel: Being part of Europe there is a lot to explore

As an American you would have not any rights to stay in the UK other than as a temporary tourist. There are exceptions; such as marrying a Brit or having a ton of money. If you were from an EU country you would be able to stay in England much easier. It is on the basis of free movement between EU countries that I left England and moved to France 8 years ago. There are things I miss about the UK and things I'm glad to be free of. No (western) country is intrinsically better or worse than any other. You might want to try visiting England first and having a tour around for several weeks and get to know people.

Things I dislike about England: Crowded, crowded roads = road rage. Crowded supermarkets = trolley rage . Crowded car parks = nowhere to park. People in general in England are more out for themselves and screw everyone else; survival of the fittest. Big brother cameras everywhere tracking everyone all the time. Delinquent kids roaming the streets at night and vandalism of property and cars. Cops more likely to arrest people who defend themselves or their property rather than those doing the attacking. Weather=usually cold and/or wet other than one day in August named "Summer". England is also a nanny state where there are laws to protect people against just about anything from the serious to the ridiculous. The latest is the great firewall of Cameron that is intended to block everyone from seeing porn on their computers but in reality blocks out various support sites instead "Think of the children" - as Cameron's aide Patrick Rock would say . There is the health and safety regime who are afraid people will fall over a dropped matchstick. Don't help a little old lady across the street because if she falls you will be liable for damages and there will be a hoard of claim lawyers after you - far better to stand and watch the old lady fall into the road all on her own and watch her get run over by a bus. The national pastime is moaning about *everything* but doing nothing to change things, except for the worse. Hypocritical MPs who create laws they have every intention of breaking themselves while filling their pockets with taxpayers money and calling it legitimate expenses.

On the plus side: Cornish pasties. Fish and Chips. Indian takeaway. Chinese restaurants.

Last edited by TallyMan on 05 Mar 2014, 7:47 am, edited 3 times in total.

I left twelve years ago. Most of the cons are mentioned above.

Ah, but I do miss Cornish pasties.

Whoa, thanks for the warning.

Wouldn't want to live there, but okay for a visit?

`1

Same here. With an extended work visa, how long would naturalization take?



I agree that overall western nations are equally feched, but UK seems less religiously crazy and more tolerant of eccentricity, relative to the US. All other things being equal, which they likely are, I think I'd prefer UK crazy to US crazy.

Of course people are people, it's the relative nature of the crazy. I can deal with individual a***holes, bigots, etc. It's when they organize under Jesus and use politics to destroy everything and everyone that could possibly lead them to conclusions to the contrary that I would rather not be part of it. I don't think the UK has that degree of religious stupidity. Not all Brits are intellectual, but I'm sure there aren't as many college-educated ANTI-intellectuals in the local burocracies. It's become accepted practice in the US to become educated, then actively eliminate and demonize critical thinking skills in schools. And anyone who doesn't come into the fold may as well be the devil. It's not so much arseholery, but organized, fear based, Puritan arseholery that's taken hold.

This stuff is disproportionately important to me, but would probably be worth the move. I can deal with the omnipresent, flavorless, background stupid. No avoiding that.

I don't think Britain is a good choice. I guess it depends where you choose to live. If I had to choose to live anywhere it probably would be a sea-side town. That's just my preference though.

That was precisely my first inclination. Still nothing is ever perfectly ideal. London is likely not an option.

Things you could never find in the US: QI, Intelligence squared debates, (i.e. anything Stephen Fry would be involved in.) Relatively objective network news. Good curry. People who don't take a fast-food commercial as a dare. Warm ale. National health. Premier League. Wall-to-wall comedy panel shows. More black men put in college than in prison.

I don't know. I may not have have worded my reply too well - I'm a native British citizen but I now live in France.

Maybe Brighton would be a good choice. I like the town myself, and the people there seem nicer and more polite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton

I need to correct you there. Ale should never be served warm, but cellar temperature which is noticeably cooler than room temperature but not ice cold. Also more black people are jailed proportionally in the UK than in the US. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/oct/11/black-prison-population-increase-england

I was there ten years ago and I thought it was very pretty and people there seemed polite. I would love to live there but I don't think I would be able to because of what I hear about it and if I were rich or married a British guy from there, I could live there. I wonder if I could still live there if one of my parents was from there and they moved back and I decided to live over there with one of them?

Plus it's expensive I hear, their gas, their taxes, and there are pros like universal healthcare and no charges but damn that is why their taxes are so high. Plus their lifestyle is different like tiny homes, tiny cars, air drying your clothes than drying. But the pro thing about it is people don't sue for dumb reasons or for things that are their own fault. Then don't forget about the con part that is happening with disabled people, being cut off and lot of them have been dying or struggling to survive or rely on their families or spouses for support. I am glad we don't to that here to people.

I really liked London but damn it's so expensive and you have to be rich to live there and I wonder how do the lower income people afford to live there or low wages people. I hear the low wages people travel two hours to work because they live outside of London and they travel into the city for work because it's a lot cheaper to live out of London. But their transportation monthly passes are expensive.

You get scummy parents here who shout and swear at their children in public.

People in small shops try to overcharge you all the time but nobody notices unless you know how to add.

There are stupid offers and sales everywhere in shops because again, nobody bothers or knows how to add up.

Transport is very expensive out of London too.

People are very much against immigrants and people on benefits and won't stop at a chance to slag them off. There is a real hate culture growing and it isn't nice.

In general though people are friendly!