3 ms·

I would pose the opposite question. Why in 2022 someone would choose to go to Germany instead of the UK? German politics and government look like a total mess

I would pose the opposite question. Why in 2022 someone would choose to go to Germany instead of the UK? German politics and government look like a total mess to the outsiders in 2022. Also being an immigrant in the UK vs Germany - I will choose the UK any day.

johndoe0815 4y ago
German politics is a mess and has been one since Kohl came to power in 1983 - including the few years of Schröder social democrats/green government in between the Kohl and Merkel years. Corruption in politics is common and nobody seems to care (from the CDU party donations scandals to all the shady deals around Covid masks). But to me things in Germany still seem to be a bit more rational than all the things that are going on in UK politics since BoJo became prime minister... of course, it's far from ideal, but which country is close to ideal in these crazy times? Unfortunately, academia doesn't pay well enough to buy my own little island in the Carribean (which would be submerged in a couple of years anyways)... :)
- blibble 4y ago
  > But to me things in Germany still seem to be a bit more rational than all the things that are going on in UK politics since BoJo became prime minister... Johnson's antics are a rounding error compared to the damage done to Europe this year by the German state's energy policies
pasabagi 4y ago
What mess? I'm not German, but from living here, it feels like the German state is sort of working OK. A benchmark that I feel is pretty fair is COVID death numbers. Germany does OK. Countries like the UK completely fumbled the whole thing, so a bunch of people died. There aren't really a lot of other grounds of direct comparison: certainly, the UK economy has been tanking, but there are confounders there, and the UK has a poor (and flat-lining) life-expectancy, but perhaps that's just a consequence of the COVID thing. In general though, I feel like the UK has just plummeted on all the stats, except perhaps, the number of union jacks per square meter, in the last decade or so. Granted, Germans are more racist.
Kim_Bruning 4y ago
Germany is in the EU, easy language to learn, decent cost of living, good roads, good connections to other countries, nice people (once you get over German frankness), also, Germany is in the EU. Why do I mention that Germany is in the EU? It means that it's much easier to go there for EU citizens, it is trivial to trade with Germany, it is not hard to start a company there, it is trivial to rent a house there, it is easy to travel there. No matter some "minor" issues with German energy politics, this makes Germany a pretty interesting location.

johndoe0815 4y ago

German politics is a mess and has been one since Kohl came to power in 1983 - including the few years of Schröder social democrats/green government in between the Kohl and Merkel years. Corruption in politics is common and nobody seems to care (from the CDU party donations scandals to all the shady deals around Covid masks). But to me things in Germany still seem to be a bit more rational than all the things that are going on in UK politics since BoJo became prime minister... of course, it's far from ideal, but which country is close to ideal in these crazy times? Unfortunately, academia doesn't pay well enough to buy my own little island in the Carribean (which would be submerged in a couple of years anyways)... :)

blibble 4y ago
> But to me things in Germany still seem to be a bit more rational than all the things that are going on in UK politics since BoJo became prime minister... Johnson's antics are a rounding error compared to the damage done to Europe this year by the German state's energy policies

pasabagi 4y ago

What mess? I'm not German, but from living here, it feels like the German state is sort of working OK. A benchmark that I feel is pretty fair is COVID death numbers. Germany does OK. Countries like the UK completely fumbled the whole thing, so a bunch of people died. There aren't really a lot of other grounds of direct comparison: certainly, the UK economy has been tanking, but there are confounders there, and the UK has a poor (and flat-lining) life-expectancy, but perhaps that's just a consequence of the COVID thing. In general though, I feel like the UK has just plummeted on all the stats, except perhaps, the number of union jacks per square meter, in the last decade or so. Granted, Germans are more racist.

Kim_Bruning 4y ago

Germany is in the EU, easy language to learn, decent cost of living, good roads, good connections to other countries, nice people (once you get over German frankness), also, Germany is in the EU. Why do I mention that Germany is in the EU? It means that it's much easier to go there for EU citizens, it is trivial to trade with Germany, it is not hard to start a company there, it is trivial to rent a house there, it is easy to travel there. No matter some "minor" issues with German energy politics, this makes Germany a pretty interesting location.