I suddenly feel like moving to Sweden.

Pigface – Member

Well I have lived in both and enjoyed them very much.

I didn’t mention “crime” that is your assumption. Why have you brought crime into it. I said secure which isn’t crime unless you are going to tell me different.

What proof do you have that Sweden and Finland are more dangerous than the UK, provide the evidence for you assertions please.

Actually you said “safe and secure”, but yes I assumed crime, what other fears do you have?

Anyway, my source was http://www.civitas.org.uk/

Specifically

http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf

‘fill yer boots’ as they say.

I have nothing against Sweden or Finland, they’re lovely places and the few people from that area I’ve met have been lovely, but we shouldn’t give into this self-hate mantra that everything in Britain is crap, because it’s not – I’ve lived all over the place, and no single place is better than the UK in every respect – in the developed World Britain is a great place to live, we have ample opportunity for happiness, if you take the planet as a whole, well, even Birmingham would seem like paradise to most of the world.

If you truly want to move abroad, I wish you all the luck in the world – but doing so because you think the UK is a terrible place is wrong.

I have nothing against Sweden or Finland, they’re lovely places and the few people from that area I’ve met have been lovely, but we shouldn’t give into this self-hate mantra that everything in Britain is crap, because it’s not – I’ve lived all over the place, and no single place is better than the UK in every respect – in the developed World Britain is a great place to live, we have ample opportunity for happiness, if you take the planet as a whole, well, even Birmingham would seem like paradise to most of the world.

If you truly want to move abroad, I wish you all the luck in the world – but doing so because you think the UK is a terrible place is wrong.

Well said.

Pigface – Member

Er ok sbob what ever you say

Ok, I’ll have your clothes, money and bicycle.
Thanks! 😀

Ok so where have I said the UK is terrible place or where have I said I think it is a terrible place. Come on play fair.

Really interesting figures thanks for that, I see you are a little choosy which figures you used. I know that in Sweden any form of sexual assault gets called a rape, hence the Assange debacle.

If those figures are to be believed then everyone in NZ has had their care stolen 😆 didnt happen to me when I lived there but no doubt you will tell me I am wrong 😀 and that my van was stolen all the time.

sbob I haven’t got any money but which bike are you interested in?

Actually you said “safe and secure”, but yes I assumed crime, what other fears do you have?

Anyway, my source was http://www.civitas.org.uk/

Specifically

http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf

‘fill yer boots’ as they say.

Sometimes you have to apply a “common sense” test! Sweden has a marginally lower homicide rate than England and Wales, but double the rate of rapes. When a person is dead, it’s hard to dispute the figures, but I’m willing to bet that the rape figures are a result of different reporting rates.

The rate of assault looks high in Sweden, and seems to be about 5 times the rate in Denmark. Of course those are two separate countries, but I’d be surprised if Swedes really are 5x more violent than Danes – I’m wondering if there is an effect of “immigrant on immigrant” crime distorting the figures?

Whatever – I always feel much safer in Scandi-land than I do here, on the basis of incidents like when I was inadvertently taking photos of a drug dealer and he smiled and politely asked me to stop. Don’t imagine that would happen in Tower Hamlets.

Pigface – Member

Ok so where have I said the UK is terrible place or where have I said I think it is a terrible place. Come on play fair.

Really interesting figures thanks for that, I see you are a little choosy which figures you used. I know that in Sweden any form of sexual assault gets called a rape, hence the Assange debacle.

If those figures are to be believed then everyone in NZ has had their care stolen didnt happen to me when I lived there but no doubt you will tell me I am wrong and that my van was stolen all the time.

sbob I haven’t got any money but which bike are you interested in?

Picking and choosing the aspects you wish to use in a discussion is the advantage of basing your stance on research and facts and not gut feel 😉

You may have not used the words “terrible” I was referring not to you specifically but the sort of “why can’t we do anything anymore in this bloody country” type attitude you hear so much these days – we’re only called Great Britain because our land mass is greater than Britany, but it’s still a great place to live.

Anyway – you answered a thread asked where you would suddenly like to live, I know the OP was talking about post-election, but perhaps you weren’t – I feel you don’t care for people making assumptions about you, anyway – and I note you’ve spent time there – your specific reasons were that we can’t see a doctor when we need to for 3 weeks, you feel unsafe and insecure here and you feel that housing is too expensive – sound pretty terrible to me – but you can decide what you’d call it yourself.

Oh and PS, I’m sure, that if you say your Van was never stolen, it wasn’t – but I can tell that statistically it was far more likely to have been stolen than it was in the UK – so based on the data of a single person you believe car crime in lower in NZ, where as I, based data taken from the crime stats of the entire country think otherwise- which do you think is more accurate?

I was referring not to you specifically

but you quoted my post so forgive me for assuming, you can see why I did it.

Yes I was talking about post election, I don’t want to get political but last nights result was my worst nightmare. That is a personal view and its not the view of everybody. Just pointing that out before you decide to do something with that bit of information.

No I didn’t say “we” I was telling of my own personal experience of trying to book an appointment with a doctor. It seems I need to emphasize that it was my personal experience. I will also say that the NHS saved my life after a very bad car crash when I was 17 spent 3 1/2 months in hospital and a further 9 months learning to walk again. I think we are truly blessed to have the NHS, is it perfect no, but I am very glad it is there.

You know what they say about stats 😆

I think this country is crying out for a competant, compelling, left of centre party that will offer a real choice. Less of the “don’t worry the rich will pay” retoric bullshit spouted by the current Labour party and more of a “If we all pay more into the public sector then we will all get more out of it and this will be a nicer, happier place to live”.

Exactly if you want better public services everyone has to pay more. The sums do not add up to just pile it on the wealthy. In addition its just another form of selfishness of “let them pay as long as we are aright” rather than a collective we all give a little more makes a big difference. Your little may be more or less than my little but we are all doing so.

we shouldn’t give into this self-hate mantra that everything in Britain is crap

Of course, and I don’t. I’ve posted on here many times about the positives of the UK, and whilst I’ve only spent a couple of months working in Sweden I lived in Finland for over a year.

I started the thread in the post-election morning depression, so it relates to that: I was simply expressing my disappointment that once again the country seems to have voted (perhaps un-knowingly) against socially minded political ideas.

I think this country is crying out for a competant, compelling, left of centre party that will offer a real choice. Less of the “don’t worry the rich will pay” retoric bullshit spouted by the current Labour party and more of a “If we all pay more into the public sector then we will all get more out of it and this will be a nicer, happier place to live”.

Absolutely. In other words, focus on copmetence and ideals rather than confusion with a veneer of hopefully populist soundbite nonsense.

focus on copmetence

🙂

Where do you lot live to think the UK has positives? Safe and secure?!!! This country is a violent s@@thole, or it least that’s how it seems to me. You cannot leave anything without it being nicked, and just getting to or from work runs a daily risk of being sworn at or pushed and jostled or worse. As noted elsewhere, the whole place just seems to be about being selfish and “me me me”. After five years we know no one apart from immediate neighbours and no one speaks. I want to live where you do!

Rant over.

I felt like moving to Austria. I did. I visit the UK often mind.

Where do you lot live to think the UK has positives? Safe and secure?!!! This country is a violent s@@thole, or it least that’s how it seems to me. You cannot leave anything without it being nicked, and just getting to or from work runs a daily risk of being sworn at or pushed and jostled or worse. As noted elsewhere, the whole place just seems to be about being selfish and “me me me”. After five years we know no one apart from immediate neighbours and no one speaks. I want to live where you do!

Move. That’s just the north. Most of the UK is fine.

I know noone other than my immediate neighbours, but that is because I’m anti social and don’t go out and do community stuff. One of my neighbours does and surprise surprise knows load of people.

I live in the south. In the Home Counties. It’s the only place I can get work. I leave early and get home at 9 or later so not much time really to do good things locally. That’s life here.

I live in the south.

😯

I’d be concerned about the food:

Be honest, you’re never out of the surgery long enough for him to update your records.

Has Molly left yet?

You cannot leave anything without it being nicked

I was in Wales (Rhosilli) two days ago. Took a few pics of the sea, organized my rucksack, left. Realized 30 minutes later that my £750.00 camera was still on the bench.

With a sick feeling I returned pronto, approached the bench, asked two leaving Welshmen if anyone had ‘mentioned finding a camera’.

‘Oh yes, we handed it on to the shop there’. I was so effusively thankful that it prompted bemusement from the two men.

(For balance – I had my first DSLR stolen away unseen from my side. Glastonbury Festival – sat on the grass talking to a girfriend outside Banana Joe’s blanket stall) which was ironic as G’ bury festival on the whole was a positive experience and made me think (broadly )better of people. Except for that twunt with my Praktika PM3 full of black and white pics of mudbaths and Hells Angels wot I was going to publish. Bah.

The bigger the population, – the more depersonalised the social climate, and the higher the risk of crime – is my generalisation.

I think most places in the world have a harsh contrast between city and village life, the UK is not a hotbed of horrible people all of a sudden, althoughwith rampant materialism comes a certain effect…

Left the UK over 3 years ago, not because of governments, elections or attention seeking flounces.
In Australia I pay to see my GP, pay more for prescriptions, pay for X-rays, have worse roads, less respect for the environment and no easy access to the alps.

For all the many frustrations living in the UK has it’s really not a bad place to live.

munrobiker – Member
Seriously considering moving back to Scotland, possibly even the US.

Funniest thing I have read, dislike of the way the UK is heading so move to the country where suggesting paying unemployment benefit or addressing healthcare can have you labelled as a Communist 🙂

Doesn’t Sweden have a fairly inexperienced, ineffective minority SD/Green government at the moment?

I’ve lived in the US. Mrs MR was so sick for so long (months) that her sick leave ran out, her insurance only covered HMO care (you don’t want to know how bad that was) and I couldn’t legally work at that time so we had to come back home to the UK for healthcare that was (if not brilliant) at least better than nothing.

There are two positions in the US – you are up, or down. I thought the phrase ‘one paycheck away from living under a bridge’ was hyperbole. As we packed and left we found a woman rifling through our waste bags in the lot underneath the condo. She went to run away when she saw us but Mrs Rider called her back. Turned out she was a smart, articulate woman who had been left by her wealthy husband and his nice lawyers. He took everything, she had nothing. Welcome to Florida, have a nice stay. We of course let her have everything she wanted. Knowing what she really wanted was a country that wouldn’t let her down so hard.

I see it happening here. We follow the US almost slavishly.

Someone on here said Swedish bacon is no good.

Thread closed and stay in the UK

Yeah I too would love to know if MrGrips has scuttled off to Sweden and the burning question we probably would all like to know …

Did he take that Lycra Jumpsuit with him 😆

I spent three months in Sweden and all I can say is I’m glad the whole thing was on expenses as it was very expensive for everything. It was a nice place, but I can’t say I hanker to go back.