The same is true in London. You travel forty minutes away from where this guy works to rural areas (i.e. still in the "affluent" South-East of the UK), you will

The same is true in London. You travel forty minutes away from where this guy works to rural areas (i.e. still in the "affluent" South-East of the UK), you will meet young people who have no qualifications, they can't leave their parent's house because property is too expensive, they live somewhere with no job market beyond working in a pub, no entertainment, there usually isn't even a supermarket...think about people living in Tower Hamlets, this is in the City, highest GDP per capita area in Europe, now imagine you earn £9/hour...how do you have kids when a 1-bed flat costs £1.2m? You aren't "racing" for anything, you are getting run over. You only get to quit the rat race once you have won, not because you have discovered some alternate way of living. 99% of people in the UK would take years of their life for the opportunity (even in other cities in the UK). Not for happiness, for the fast cars, nothing like that...to eat, to not worry, to have children, to live somewhere safe. Again, being in the race is a privilege, most people aren't racing, there is no sport...they are getting run over.