I'm sure this topic has been discussed before but it's a puzzle to me. I'm going back to England next year. I can't wait. I've lived in Australia for 5 years and while I have taught myself not to hate the place (bites fist as she speaks swearing through the sock she stuffed in her mouth earlier), I really am looking forward to going home. Recession or not.

So why is it people act shocked then say things like 'are you mad"? England?? It's a crap hole.
These are the words spoken out of the mouths of people that have never set foot out of QLD, never mind got on a plane and visited England.
I am so close to strangling the next person who says this it's not funny.

Yes, I know! I find itquite funny now

Just console yourself with the fact that you know something they don't!

Equally frustrating are the friends and family back home in the UK who have never lived abroad themselves so don't understand our need to return to what they call a s**t hole.

Hi Erica

I think I know why the Brits make negative comment. It's because they really do think they are worse off. The news is doom and gloom over there but at least you can choose whether you buy a newspaper.
But like you.....I am amzed that so many people have such a strange opinion when they've never gone further than their own back yard.

We're getting comments like that from people here as we're off back to the UK in January. They don't think there is any other country as good if not better than Oz! Ysterday a Mum at school said I was mad going back to the rain in the UK even though it was pouring it down and freezing yesterday in Perth!

Back home the odd person has a moan about what's going on in the UK but the one's who agree with what we are doing are the on'es that have been here and seen what it's like!

Exactly, I have been back in the UK a week and it's amazing how many people have said "what you doing back 'ere?".

Don't forget though that what the average Brit sees of OZ/NZ is what the media shows them. Like Bondi rescue - for one thing. Or, Home and Away.

Fantasy and reality : 2 different things.

I am not saying OZ/NZ are better (or worse) than the UK - just different. Personally, I prefer the UK. There is no better city in OZ/NZ than London. That's a fact.

I now ask people why they think the UK is a sh*thole. You'll be surprised at how many can't think of a valid reason.

Of the minority who can this is the conversation I usually have.

Why is the UK a Sh*thole then?

"Stabbings everywhere"

REALLY Everywhere. How many have you seen then?

"Well none"

How do you know there are stabbings everywhere?

"Well the paper says so"

So if the paper says the Pope is Jewish do you believe them?

"Well no, don't be stupid"

Why am I stupid.

"Oh I'm not carrying on this conversation"

Cue the hissy fit flounce off

It's when they get really shirty and start going on about whinging pommes and how we should all p***s off back to England.

My response goes like this;

Ahem, you're just jealous. Some of us came on a ship and some of us came on a plane. Doesn't really matter, we're all out of the same gene pool. We can all go home at any time. If you want to stay here, then that's fine by me. Ta ra me duck, nice knowing yer. I'll send you a postcard from sh****ole Britain to not worth a mention on the map Perth

Because they are just plain bloody ignorant. I was once like that, having lived in OZ i am now a much better person

We just have to ignore the idiocy. We know better

I'm not bothered anymore that people think the UK is a sh*thole. In fact some parts are, I was lucky enough not to live in such a place.

What does annoy me is when people won't/can't justify their statements and quote stuff they read in the papers and then apply it to the whole of the UK.

This past week I've been 'debating' this very issue with another poster on another thread. This lady posted how bad it was where she lives in Lancashire but still insisted that what happened in her part of the world happens everywhere in the UK.

Unlike some of you guys who seem to get grief from Ozzies, I have alot of well travelled Australian friends who think it's great that we've given Oz a go but equally think it's great we are moving back home. There is only one non-Brit who has said the UK is a sh*thole. Bizarrely she is from South Africa and has never been to the UK.

True, as are some parts of OZ and NZ. Like Brisbane's Fortitude Valley or New Zealand's Cannon's Creek.

I lived in a house in NZ at one point with superb sea views, had an excellent job, good circle of mates, but there was always something missing. It's hard to explain really. I just feel I belong in the UK. All these feelings of disconnection left me the moment I stepped back onto British soil.

Note, I spent 2 months at Xmas living in Buenos Aires and I never felt out of place once. I think NZ and OZ just don't suit my temperament.

I think the reason many aussies respond like this is because they are taught their whole lives, at school, by newspapers and TV that australia is the greatest place on earth. So they just cannot understand people wanting to live somewhere else, they just cannot comprehend it.

I have been in oz 2 years now and have thought many times that I might go back to the UK but perhaps I will try america first, I hear they like the english

In my experience the majority of Brits who say it is a craphole usually came from a "crap" city or town (mostly the ones that seem to say this are from the north of England and this is not a dig at northerners). Anyone who called the U.K a dump who had not been there would quickly get put in their place.

Perth for sure is not a craphole in terms of beauty , cleanliness e.t.c but it is a crap city in so many other ways to some, boring & lacking culture & things to do are some of the reasons.

Kind of a strange comment for a South African to make given the situation in their own country. One look at the Africa (South African) forum on here is like reading a horror story

What annoys me most of all is when my own family (both the ones here and the ones in UK who've never been here) say that Britain is a S***hole.

My mum in particular (and she lives here in Australia) seems to take great pride in putting Britain down at every opportunity she gets. (and she is British).

Today I was talking to her on the phone about my dilema as to whether I should move back or not, and I mentioned one of the things that puts me off going back to UK is the ecnomic situation and the constant bad news that we hear from UK. Immediately she cut me off in the middle of the sentence and said:
"Ah yes, of all the countries in the world Britain is going to have the worst recession and it's probably going to be a depression and MOST people will be unemployed and...."
and that's when I cut her off to say that I knew some of the bad news was exaggerated but the point I was trying to make is that I know Britain is not perfect. It's just the way she said that though, as if she was proud to say how bad her own country supposedly is.

I can only assume, (although she'd never admit it) the real reason is that she secretly wishes she had the guts to go back, and is looking for any excuse she can find to justify herself staying here. I suppose if she can convince herself that Britain is terrible and Australia is wonderful then it probably makes it easier for her to feel better about not having the guts to go home.

Maybe that could be the reason behind a lot of other people saying similar things too.