Thread: 10 reasons not to live in the UK

The 'International Business Times' has published '10 reasons not to live in the UK' (don't shoot the messenger)

1. It's expensive

House prices may be falling (August saw a 0.3 per cent drop in value) but rents – particularly in London – have never been higher. And with twice the number of people choosing to rent a home instead of buying property, not to mention the rising price of food, petrol and cigarettes, the cost of living in the UK is only getting higher.

2. It doesn't pay well

It costs a lot to live here, but the returns are quite slim. According to uSwitch, the UK no longer has the highest net household income in Europe. UK homeowners now earn £38,547 after tax - less money than the Netherlands, Denmark and (worst of all) even Ireland.

3. Unemployment

Those lucky enough not to be earning less money than Ireland are most likely unemployed. 2.51 million people in the UK are now out of work, as the UK economy continues to struggle. Meanwhile, overseas career opportunities are going strong, with 70 per cent of expat entrepreneurs feeling that they have “achieved more by working abroad”. Further news of Australia’s labour shortage, with 150,000 jobs going spare, doesn't make the UK figures any easier to swallow.

4. The weather

The weather is lovely in the UK, for people who like rain. But for those who can accept the second lowest amount of sunshine in Europe per year, it’s still bad: London, according to a study this month, is one of the unhealthiest cities in Europe, with the poor air quality (and the UK's failed attempts to clean it up) earning the capital an F grade from SootFreeCities.eu. (Berlin, incidentally, has the best air in Europe.)

5. No-one gets any holiday

5.5 days. That’s how much more holiday the average European has than a Briton each year. Working hours are longer too, as Brits spend an average of 36.4 hours in the office every week, compared to 30.6 hours in the Netherlands. (Those reading this at work may want to get out a calculator.)

6. The children

It may not be a surprise after the recent riots, but British expats who have escaped the UK are almost unanimous about the benefits for their children. 80 per cent told Moneycorp recently that moving abroad gave their kids a better quality of life. With education spending below the European average, isn’t it time that somebody thinks of the children?

7. Britain's "broken society"

The country’s “broken society” is a major concern for 59 per cent of Britons, while spending cuts only add to everyone's worries about the NHS, public transport and, indeed, education. In addition, 47 per cent of the people uSwitch surveyed are anxious about crime and violence in the UK, as the government's popularity falls lower.

8. Death

Life expectancy is just 80.4 years in the UK, a whole year below France, where the average person lives until they are 81.4. And having one of the highest retirement ages in Europe (63.1) means that Brits will be working right up to the final 17 years of their lives.

9. Unhappiness

If people aren't working, worrying, spending money, or dead, they might well be tired of the UK and its cloudy weather and poor quality of life. Or they might be in the 5 per cent of the population that have said they are happy living here.

10. The bad news

Hearing negative news stories about unemployment, crime and spending cuts can easily lead to frustration for UK residents, but the news that France is officially a better place to live than the UK (and has been for three years in a row) might well be the tipping point.

Source: International Business Times

a lot of us in the UK worked out that list years ago sadly, thats why we emigrated

Originally Posted by RobWilliams

The 'International Business Times' has published '10 reasons not to live in the UK' (don't shoot the messenger)

Who knows where the International Business Times got their information (I've never even heard of them before) .. the UK holiday allowances are pretty good I'd say. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employme...ys/DG_10029788
28 days a year, mandatory paid holiday for anyone that works 5 days a week? Who could complain about that... Most people here in the USA would give their right arm for such an allowance.


It's easy to be negative about the UK, let's face it the Dailiy Mail does it all the time. It seems like a lot of people that move knock the country. I wonder if they do it from their own insecurity about whether they've made the right decision on moving thousands of miles away from their families.
I get tired of the constant "hey look what I've done" attitude when people emigrate too.. who cares if they've bought a big house in a cheapo country? I'd rather live in a smaller house in a country that's not full of bragging expats, and arrogant natives. Moving overseas doesn't make those people better than the people they leave behind, (although plenty seem to think it does) and honestly nobody is really impressed with our pools and bigger houses, when they live in the UK.. it's like moving to Cornwall or Scotland, you can buy a big house cheap there too... the difference is that you'd still have the NHS and British people around you.

I haven't seen a a significant rise in my standard of living since I moved to the US ten years ago...quite the opposite, if anything.

I see quite a few expats who don't have a single good word to say about the country they left, it always strikes me as odd because regardless of where you came from it is very unlikely there was nothing good or nothing you miss. It does seem like a coping mechanism. It's almost as if they think if they rubbish everything then they wont feel so bad about all the stuff that is exactly the same here. It's a bit sad.

I think rubbishing the country you emigrated to is a defence mechanism against homesickness, also in some cases it helps u justify a so called move back to a country on its knees full of foriegners, also the mind plays tricks, the UK is not the land of cream teas and rolling green valleys with the sun shining on them, as a lot who go back find out, in no time at all they regret it and realise they were better off in there new country, there friends they had have moved on and once the initial novelty of people being back has passed they find thses friends have not a lot in common, have heard this story sooooooooooo many times

I must admit I hadn't heard of them before, they are apparently an online business news site.

Originally Posted by sam

Who knows where the International Business Times got their information (I've never even heard of them before) ..

Actualy the IBT are very uptodate and imformative on there articles, there journos seem to have there finger on the pulse.