Little Britain - the state of England today

Callistemon

Mamie

I am quite intrigued by the posters saying "you shouldn't criticise the UK if you don't live there", given that they quite often then seem to go on to criticise other countries.
Does that mean that only those us who lived somewhere for decades then moved away, can't say anything about a country we are not living in or does it apply to everybody? In which case I am not sure why people on here would post criticisms of France (for example), especially as the source often seems to be entirely based on UK media.
Can anyone enlighten me?

I don't think that is the point, though, Mamie.
We've got family living in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America and France.
It's only the ones in France who seem to keep a foot in both camps, so to speak, a home in France and a flat here as do several posters on here.
So they don't seem properly settled in either country, and I wonder why.

I think also that the reason posters are answering as they are on here is:

I care about these things and yet I don't live in the UK at the moment. Why aren't you all caring about the wrongs? And, if you do, why aren't you doing something about it?

You can tell me that it's always been like this but I've been on this earth for 74 years and it's about times things changed.

It was based on one TV news report on the undoubtedly biased Channel 4.
It made assumptions about other posters and was, in fact, extremely rude. That is probably why posters became defensive.

Lot of people have homes in both countries. We don't. But remember the name of this forum - Gransnet - that's one reason why many do have 2 homes and/or move back - because of their GCs.

There are many people on other threads who ask whether they should move nearer to their children. Others are worried about their old age. I sometimes worry about Alzheimers. Did you know that when you develop that illness you can often lose your second language?

lemongrove

‘Many of you are doing as much as you can but many aren’t’ you say Dinah ...Yet another angry remark.

You were obviously a Labour voter when you used to live in the UK and wish for another Labour government ( when all wrongs will be put right!) as you fondly imagine.

Look, it’s already been pointed out to you that any ills in society in the UK are certainly present in France where you currently live, yet you have chosen to become a French citizen.

The media have a lot to answer for and they concentrate on negatives. Life here in England ( and the rest of the UK!) is good generally, just as it’s good generally in France.

Before social media existed the electorate accepted that results at General Elections or referendums and just got on with it, now....not so much ( understatement of the year there.)
People are often permanently angry or upset or worried, by things they have no control over now.
Ask yourself this ( to everyone) did you get all riled up all the time over politics and the ills of society ( under any government) as you do now that you are old? It’s having so much time to watch news and brood on things that causes problems.We can all do some small good in the world by our acts, but the maxim ‘do your best and leave the rest’ is actually quite a good one.
No matter what some may say about the UK...it’s still a good and tolerant society and material things are much better generally as are attitudes, than at some mythical time past.

I am not a French citizen. I have never said I was. In fact at some point, possibly this thread, I have said that when some of our French friends asked if we were going for citizenship we told them no because we are British. So we are resident, with a carte de sejour which lasts for 10 years.

Please get your facts right.

Also I have not made any comments bout whether France is better or worse than England. I deliberately steered clear of that.

Finally, yes I have got extremely over politics. In fact when Mrs T mad a speech in which she said, amongst other things, "we are a grandmother" I was suffering from bronchitis and was so angry I had a sever asthma attack and had to go to hospital. I have got angry over politics since I was in my early 20s, although not often as angry as I am right now responding to some of the silly, personal comments on here.

Lilyflower

Anyone who takes their world view from the ultra biased Channel Four, and from overseas, to boot, is receiving a distorted view of a generally happy, successful and prosperous country.

I suggest the OP reads rather than watches the news, moreover, reads from a variety of perspectives and seeks out primary rather than secondary sources. A person doing this will quickly see that actual numbers,statistics, graphs and primary research are constantly distorted by single agenda opinion formers.

The British public is being ‘nudged’ to death by those who seek to push their own agenda.

In the country most citizens are able to see this for themselves which is why the last few elections and referenda have gone in the opposite direction from that which the media were pushing. Outside of the country there would be no chance a person could see for themselves the realities of daily life and the added blinkers of a biased media outlet would compound the distortion.

I would entreat every single person to keep themselves properly well informed, to eschew the emotive and rely on sense, not sensibility.

If you had read my OP thoroughly you would have realised that it was in response to the Channel 4 news that day.

Regarding the media, most of the newspapers were supporting the Tories, with a few honorable exceptions.

You have no idea what read or watch so kindly refrain from making personal comments.

MerylStreep

MayBee70
By your own admittance you’ve hardly left the house for the past 14 months.
So perhaps you could tell us what practical help you have been to anyone /organisation/ charity.

Does letter writing etc not bring about social change? And we’re not actually just talking about what people have done over the past 14 months but throughout our lives. My neighbour is very old, partially sighted and suffering from Parkinson’s. We arrange shopping deliveries for her: I have been to her house fully masked etc to help her find things she’s lost occasionally. My daughter set up a covid support group for the local villages even though she admitted that, pre vaccine she was afraid of catching the virus. She wanted me to protect myself as much as possible. I’ve made a stand against racism having decided that not picking up on people’s racists comments is giving them carte blanche to continue saying such things. I think that, over the past 18 months the best thing most of us can do for the country as a whole has been to do everything possible to avoid catching the virus to protect the NHS and I’ve done that to the best of my ability.

MaizieD ??????????

I would like to thank Majestic Wines for keeping me well oiled during the last few years…

MayBee70
By your own admittance you’ve hardly left the house for the past 14 months.
So perhaps you could tell us what practical help you have been to anyone /organisation/ charity.

MissAdventure

Should I prepare an acceptance speech?
Cough cough... firstly I'd like to thank my mother...

I've got the champage English sparkling wine on ice ready for you to throw around, MissAdventure

You'll just have to wait. This is not a virtue contest and I'm not joining in.

Oh the irony!

Should I prepare an acceptance speech?
Cough cough... firstly I'd like to thank my mother...

It left me

I accept that many of you are doing as much as you can but many aren't breathtaking arrogance and self importance

Do you want an annotated list? How far back do you want us to go? Does doing a litter pick count? Does an email to an MP count or only if we chained ourselves to the underpass railings? What about volunteering at the dog's home? In? Or out? Give us an idea and we'll get back to.

Hmmm

MaizieD

Callistemon

I’m still waiting to hear about what people on this thread have personally done to make this country a better place.

Perhaps we could start with you, MaizieD

You'll just have to wait. This is not a virtue contest and I'm not joining in.

If people can't see that change needs to come from the top, from the government (that means voting for a party that cares about the country and its citizens) there's a big problem.

So if we answered your demands to hear about what people on this thread have personally done to make this country a better place. we'd be entering a virtue contest?

Be warned - best not fall in the trap, folks!

Oh and I don’t like the school system here and officialdom.

Callistemon

^I’m still waiting to hear about what people on this thread have personally done to make this country a better place.^

Perhaps we could start with you, MaizieD

You'll just have to wait. This is not a virtue contest and I'm not joining in.

If people can't see that change needs to come from the top, from the government (that means voting for a party that cares about the country and its citizens) there's a big problem.

MaizieD

Chewbacca

By 'here', didn't you mean the country you're living in, mokryna? Not the UK?

Oh! Following mokryna's posts @ 21.43 and 22.34 I understood it that she is resident in the UK MaisieD. Maybe not......

Try re-reading 21.43.

I have lived here for over 40 years with some time in China. But my heart is in England and I want my ashes scattered on a Surrey hill. Some of the family is in the UK and the rest in France. I stay here because of family and the health system.

Mamie

I think some people keep a flat in the UK as an investment / somewhere to live if they need to return. We would never have been able to afford to do that! Bit like having a second home abroad I suppose. I think it is fine - just a different way of living your life.

Interesting Mamie. I think if you are moving abroad you should be prepared to go the whole hog and not keep a home back at home. It's almost like you're hanging on to it as a possible future escape route let alone as an investment.
The other thing, touched on by the OP, is the difference in property values in France. Most French people buy a house to live in, not as an investment, not to make them richer. I dislike the way property ownership in the UK is often about greed and making money. French house prices do not increase at an alarming pace like in the UK and I think this helps young French people who might want to stay in the area to buy a home.

MayBee70
I put demanding ( because that’s what your doing) that posters inform you of what they do for charities and volunteering is just as rude as asking someone what they earn or how much they have in the bank.

I refer you to MissAdventures answer to you.

I think there have always been people in some areas of Spain and France living under the radar in communities with lots of other English speakers, not in the tax or health system in their main country of residence and relying on EHIC and Freedom of Movement. Now, of course, they have been caught out and have had to scramble for tax and health official status and documentation to get residency cards. I have always thought it totally wrong, but happily you don't get many of those in Normandy, it isn't exactly a life in the sun. ☔️

Greta

*Callistemon*: ^"It's only the ones in France who seem to keep a foot in both camps, so to speak, a home in France and a flat here as do several posters on here.
So they don't seem properly settled in either country, and I wonder why."^

Well, I wonder if it's more of a British thing.

The Scandinavian group I belong to mainly consists of women who like me moved to Britain, married a Brit, started a family and settled here. Nobody I know still has a home in Scandinavia. Of course we still go back for holidays to meet family and friends. I have been going back for one 2 weeks' visit a year but my next door British couple manages to visit their villa in Portugal for an extended stay every year. So I actually think I am more settled in Britain than they are. Also, they still haven't picked up many words in Portuguese.

I don't think it's a British thing at all, Greta. But of course it's a common view and we're so used to being told that we're just too lazy to learn other languages, because we're British, that we tend to accept it.

I've come across many people in my working life who've come to live here permanently and haven't learnt more than a couple of words of English. We had grandparents picking up children at my school who'd lived here for 50+ years and had to have interpreters provided if they'd a problem. Our pupils hailed from 25+ countries, including, as it happens, French speakers from Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, The Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I think it's more a case of people who don't have to work and engage with their new community not having to bother if they choose not to - obviously most retired people have this choice. Some will still make the effort and commit to their new country, others won't. When I worked in Europe (not France), of course I'd to learn to speak the language fluently or I'd soon have been out of a job. I lived in a major city, but there was no English community there at all. This was in the days before social media, but I certainly didn't spend any time searching out the English newspapers, or worrying about the nonsense (and nonsense it was) spoken about the UK in the local media. I went back to the UK three times over two years to visit family. My new country was my home and I seriously thought I would be living there for good at one stage - everything about it seemed vastly better than the UK when seen through the rose-tinted specs of a young newcomer. After two years I'd got a more balanced view and couldn't wait to get on that homeward bound ship.

Not getting a vote in the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum of 1975 didn't strike me as unfair in any way.

I think some people keep a flat in the UK as an investment / somewhere to live if they need to return. We would never have been able to afford to do that! Bit like having a second home abroad I suppose. I think it is fine - just a different way of living your life.

Are they in an area with lots of UK migrants Callistemon? I think that there are places where people perhaps recreate a "Little England", a bit like French migrants in areas of London.

No, on the edge of a French village, I won't say where but fairly well south. And worked in Brussels too and speak fluent French.
It seems a few Gransnetters also keep a flat in the UK from what I've read on here.

Others I know of (acquaintances) in Spain do live rather as you describe but haven't heard of some of them for years .

I must say I do feel pretty powerless to change things for the better. I do write to my MP and she sometimes replies but keeps repeating tory mantra. I have volunteered over the years, mainly supporting young people and I know this has been appreciated. Big changes must come from the top. I don't subscripe to the ”wealth will trickle down” theory. I can't remember if that was one of Margaret Thatcher's convictions.