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Met my now wife playing online games back in 1999. Moved to The Netherlands from the UK in 2006. Learnt the language, integrated and settled here. We're absolu

Met my now wife playing online games back in 1999. Moved to The Netherlands from the UK in 2006. Learnt the language, integrated and settled here. We're absolutely killing it here - it was the best decision of my life. We live in a safe stable country which isn't dominated by the wishes of the selfish elderly. We have a fairly well functioning state with a strong social safety net. We're both business owners, have a nice home and three happy and healthy kids. The UK in comparison feels like a third world country - everything seems to be falling down, and working-age people - particularly those under 40-45 have been absolutely screwed by the last 10-15 years of policy. Basically, if you were 25 in 2000 and bought property then, you have a huge amount of equity. It was very common for people a little older at the time (30-35) who had the means to buy a second property, for rental. Policy in the last years has been about protecting (mainly final-income based!!) pensions, protecting property prices and indulging in the racist fantasies of the retired at the cost of the working age. In The Netherlands housing is also an issue for anyone under 50 - thanks to the "free market" being allowed to buy up all of the housing stock. Particularly the foreign investors who operate with schemes that ensure that they basically don't pay any tax are the biggest problem. It's impossible to compete with an American corporation who pays $0 on every $100 they earn, whereas you have to pay $40 of every $100 you earn in tax.

CodeGlitch 5y ago
> The UK in comparison feels like a third world country - everything seems to be falling down, and working-age people - particularly those under 40-45 have been absolutely screwed by the last 10-15 years of policy. Which part of the UK did you come from? I have to say I'm 41 and neither me or my friends/family have experienced what you describe.
- radicalbyte 5y ago
  We're the same age. I'm from the South West, but called Warwick my home. Before Corona I visited family in the South West regularly - driving along the M20 > M4 > M5 or M20 > M4 > A-roads. Dover, Maidstone, Swindon, Bath, Bristol and Exeter all look and feel worse with every visit. The shops are where you see it the most. In the past towns were full of boutique places. They have been replaced by "pound shops" and plastic fantastic chains (like Gregs). Or horrible fake pubs like Wetherspoons or whatever it's called. The South West has just gotten so bloody old. I'm 41, and when I'm there I feel young. People there are so angry - I'm constantly being sworn and shouted at by fat old (60+) guys because I have a European car. The country has just turned into a shitshow, only like frogs being slowly cooked the people living there are blind to it. It's not just me - it comes up all of the time in conversation with European friends.
  - pasabagi 5y ago
    I have the same feeling (am also an ex UK guy). It's a feeling v. much borne out by the statistics - there's been a slump in wages and living standards in the last fifteen years or so that's been unevenly distributed, both geographically and socially, but has generally lowered quality of life for everyone.
  - CodeGlitch 5y ago
    My experience is mostly UK / USA and small parts of France and Denmark. It's funny you say the UK feels like a 3rd world country...I had that experience in the USA, whereby you see people who were visibly mentally ill just out of hospital (they would still be in hospital gowns) on street corners shouting at cars driving past. Walking around in Miami we were warned from a passer by (she obviously heard our accents and realised we were british) not to walk further down the street otherwise we'd be shot. Days later there was a mass shooting in that area. In other instances in the Miami I was offered drugs several times just walking around a tourist area. I've never experienced anything on this level in the UK my whole life - and it's not like I've spent much time in the USA - just a few short weeks at a time. Honestly I think the UK has a lot going for it - very low levels of corruption, good law and court systems, good education, low levels of crime outside of London stabbings, the NHS, excellent Civil Service, The National Trust, English/Scottish Heritage. I think your comment about town centres going downhill is valid, but a symptom of more out-of-town shopping centres taking away the business. Horrible pubs have always existed, and pubs in general have been struggling for numerous reasons for decades. The South West is where people go to retire - there are no jobs there as there's hardly any major cities, so not sure why you are surprised about the ages of the people there? > People there are so angry - I'm constantly being sworn and shouted at by fat old (60+) guys because I have a European car. Do you mean you had a European registration plate? I drove a BMW for years without many people shouting at me (when they did it was because I'd made a driving error).
    - radicalbyte 5y ago
      > I had that experience in the USA. Me too! It feels like the UK is following that lead (but thankfully we don't have so many guns). > Honestly I think the UK has a lot going for it Sure, but the differential is pointing the wrong way, especially on corruption and the NHS (which is being chocked - I have family working in it and have worked with some trusts so I know exactly what is going on). > Do you mean you had a European registration plate? Yup.
alangibson 5y ago
> selfish elderly No one wants to say it, but this is a huge problem on the US too. They used to talk about the Soviet Union being run by a gerontocracy, but Biden makes Brezhnev look like a young upstart.
- azangru 5y ago
  > Biden makes Brezhnev look like a young upstart. You need to know Russian to compare the two; but, from video archives of the time, late Brezhnev was clearly in a far deeper mental decline than Biden currently is. Last December Tucker Carlson ran a video clip of Brezhnev, three years prior to his death, to draw a parallel with Biden. A person without Russian (as most of Tucker's audience must be) would miss on Brezhnev's trademark embarrassing slow slurred speech. Biden is in a better shape now than Brezhnev was (five years younger then than Biden is today). [0] - https://youtu.be/XLVkBdAxGWQ https://youtu.be/XLVkBdAxGWQ

CodeGlitch 5y ago

> The UK in comparison feels like a third world country - everything seems to be falling down, and working-age people - particularly those under 40-45 have been absolutely screwed by the last 10-15 years of policy. Which part of the UK did you come from? I have to say I'm 41 and neither me or my friends/family have experienced what you describe.

radicalbyte 5y ago
We're the same age. I'm from the South West, but called Warwick my home. Before Corona I visited family in the South West regularly - driving along the M20 > M4 > M5 or M20 > M4 > A-roads. Dover, Maidstone, Swindon, Bath, Bristol and Exeter all look and feel worse with every visit. The shops are where you see it the most. In the past towns were full of boutique places. They have been replaced by "pound shops" and plastic fantastic chains (like Gregs). Or horrible fake pubs like Wetherspoons or whatever it's called. The South West has just gotten so bloody old. I'm 41, and when I'm there I feel young. People there are so angry - I'm constantly being sworn and shouted at by fat old (60+) guys because I have a European car. The country has just turned into a shitshow, only like frogs being slowly cooked the people living there are blind to it. It's not just me - it comes up all of the time in conversation with European friends.
- pasabagi 5y ago
  I have the same feeling (am also an ex UK guy). It's a feeling v. much borne out by the statistics - there's been a slump in wages and living standards in the last fifteen years or so that's been unevenly distributed, both geographically and socially, but has generally lowered quality of life for everyone.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  My experience is mostly UK / USA and small parts of France and Denmark. It's funny you say the UK feels like a 3rd world country...I had that experience in the USA, whereby you see people who were visibly mentally ill just out of hospital (they would still be in hospital gowns) on street corners shouting at cars driving past. Walking around in Miami we were warned from a passer by (she obviously heard our accents and realised we were british) not to walk further down the street otherwise we'd be shot. Days later there was a mass shooting in that area. In other instances in the Miami I was offered drugs several times just walking around a tourist area. I've never experienced anything on this level in the UK my whole life - and it's not like I've spent much time in the USA - just a few short weeks at a time. Honestly I think the UK has a lot going for it - very low levels of corruption, good law and court systems, good education, low levels of crime outside of London stabbings, the NHS, excellent Civil Service, The National Trust, English/Scottish Heritage. I think your comment about town centres going downhill is valid, but a symptom of more out-of-town shopping centres taking away the business. Horrible pubs have always existed, and pubs in general have been struggling for numerous reasons for decades. The South West is where people go to retire - there are no jobs there as there's hardly any major cities, so not sure why you are surprised about the ages of the people there? > People there are so angry - I'm constantly being sworn and shouted at by fat old (60+) guys because I have a European car. Do you mean you had a European registration plate? I drove a BMW for years without many people shouting at me (when they did it was because I'd made a driving error).
  - radicalbyte 5y ago
    > I had that experience in the USA. Me too! It feels like the UK is following that lead (but thankfully we don't have so many guns). > Honestly I think the UK has a lot going for it Sure, but the differential is pointing the wrong way, especially on corruption and the NHS (which is being chocked - I have family working in it and have worked with some trusts so I know exactly what is going on). > Do you mean you had a European registration plate? Yup.

alangibson 5y ago

> selfish elderly No one wants to say it, but this is a huge problem on the US too. They used to talk about the Soviet Union being run by a gerontocracy, but Biden makes Brezhnev look like a young upstart.

azangru 5y ago
> Biden makes Brezhnev look like a young upstart. You need to know Russian to compare the two; but, from video archives of the time, late Brezhnev was clearly in a far deeper mental decline than Biden currently is. Last December Tucker Carlson ran a video clip of Brezhnev, three years prior to his death, to draw a parallel with Biden. A person without Russian (as most of Tucker's audience must be) would miss on Brezhnev's trademark embarrassing slow slurred speech. Biden is in a better shape now than Brezhnev was (five years younger then than Biden is today). [0] - https://youtu.be/XLVkBdAxGWQ https://youtu.be/XLVkBdAxGWQ