St.Georges Girl

Well there is the Sunday Times and imo, it's a darn sight better than the West.

clougherty family

Hi Tracey,

Don't want to get into all this slagging off UK/Aus. and to be honest the only reason I posted is because we're just a bit worried about the situation here. I love England and Maidenhead is our home town, all our family and friends are here and that part is great. I love the UK for all the reasons we all went on about when we were in Perth and posting on here, but I have to say that this society is not the same as even a couple of years ago. I don't want to be racist or ageist etc etc blah blah, but the place is unrecognisable from when we were growing up.

My boys will go to the Catholic school near us but if they weren't Catholic they would have to go the another primary school near my house and the statistics are about 98% asian children. Don't get me wrong, I had asian girls in my class at school and we all got on fine but it's got to the stage where the white children are in the minority. I don't want my kids learning all about religious festivals and not being allowed to talk about Christmas! There are Polish people everywhere, Polish shops opening up, it feels like we are living in another Country. I'm not sure whether we should just stay here and deal with the fact that things change or whether we should move somewhere more rural or even move to another country. I really don't want to have to move abroad again as it's so stressful but at the end of the day we want the best life we can for us and our children.

All these people on here keep saying that they've never seen any crime near them and I know the media hype everything up but seriously, every morning I put the TV on and someone else has been shot/stabbed/beaten with an iron bar. It's getting to be a normal occurance. This is not just happening in London anymore, it's widespread and I for one, don't really want to wait until it starts happening in my town before I move.

Jo

Fleaflyfloflum

Hi Jo

I can understand your fears and know what you mean about things changing, but the big problem is, WHERE do you go to escape from it? You only real alternative if you want complete safety from the angst of the modern world is to be somewhere extremely isolated, but would you really want that?
The very sad truth this is the world we live in now, regardless of countries.
My colleague got mugged walking home from work last week and beaten to a pulp, all for a bag of work clothes. No matter where you are in the western world there will be risks, new immigrants and an ever changing environemnt because thats how the world is now.
Personally, i feel we either have to adapt to it or forever be searching for something or somewhere that doesnt exist.

I sure hope you find happiness though

lorids

Absolutely, the world is changing at a phenomenal rate and I am sure the generation before us would think exactly the same and most of us have done alright! However I think there is a huge danger in trying to avoid these changes as they are pretty similar across the western world. I think all we can do as parents is try as best we can to bring our children up with respect, love, security and happiness and hope as they grow up these values will be instilled enough for them to make sensible choices for their own lives and those dependant on them. I am getting less convinced about the 'where' and more convinced about the 'how'.

However a far easier answer to this thread is BRING THEM UP IN SCOTLAND!!l

Nu-Shooz

Too scared to live in UKdeary me!

Crayfish

Don't listen to the sensationalist press. Statistically speaking, the UK is a safe country. I know that murder rates in the UK are low in international comparison...

I have found that the news articles relating to high British crime rates relate to peoples' perceptions of crime, rather than crime rates per se.

I live in Sweden (commonly thought of as very safe) and I have noticed the large number of assaults, rapes and even murders over here. While I don't feel unsafe in Stockholm, I definitely felt very safe in London too and never had anything happen to me in my seven years in the capital. Just a bloody good craic Missing the UK to be honest...

Crayfish

Jo, just so you know, these sorts of situations happen in most western countries. In Sweden we have an equivalent to Slough in a place called Sodertalje, half an hour south of Stockholm. Due to Sweden taking in a large (highest of any western country) number of Iraqi refugees, they have mostly congregated there. This has resulted in tensions building up between the Swedes and the natives and a subsequent rise in crime rates.

My point is that, instead of thinking of moving back to Australia, which was not right for you, just move to a place slightly further away from Slough. Simple! It is fine to bring your family up in most parts of the UK, just pick a half decent area...

clougherty family

Hi Crayfish,

Thanks for your advice. We have no intention of EVER returning to Australia, the point I was making is that my husband feels so strongly about the changes here that he was even thinking our kids would be better off somewhere that we didn't like living! I'm not sure what we will do, if anything, but I was just trying to warn the people who are on the way back here that as much as we still love the UK it isn't what it was. The place we live in is one of the most expensive places to buy a house in the country and yet it is now feeling like Slough did 10 years ago. I know people that won't even go to Slough anymore to go shopping, it's that bad. This is 5 miles away from where we live and there are white boys and asian boys having turf wars and stabbing and shooting each other. It's ok to say it's all in the news but they don't report on things that don't happen do they? I woke up this morning to hear that a Dad had gone to the next house to get his 10yr old's football that got kicked over the fence and ended up getting killed ! WTF is going on???

Jo

Crayfish

Hi Jo,

Yes, that sounds bad. Definitely look at other areas then. Reading is not too far away and it's a nice place. Three bedroom houses for 200- 250 K. I'm in two minds as to whether to come back to the UK at the moment. We'll be trying Sweden out for at least one year though. If we did come back, we would be looking at Surrey... Some very nice areas there but can be expensive.

Good luck with your situation

clougherty family

Hi Crayfish
Reading is another place you wouldn't want to live!! I think if we do end up moving it's going to be somewhere in the sticks like Devon, can't see any other big towns being any different than here really. Thanks for your replies.

Jo

lorids

"as we still love the UK it isn't what it was".

Hi Jo

I feel for you as it is horrible not to be happy where you are although compared to a lot of the world there are certainly scarier places than England (try Scotland !).
However I do not think you can tar the whole of the UK with the same brush ......'it isn't what it was'. This opinion is dependant on you as an individual, where you live, your ideals, values and what you want to do with your life. As pointed out in numerous posts there is good and bad absolutely everywhere and this is debatable depending on what your definitions of good and bad are!
Perhaps a move to an area within the UK you are more comfortable with would be worth a try as there is such huge diversity and opportunity within the UK. Sorry if I sound a bit full on but I do get a bit passionate about sweeping UK statements which continues the downward publicity of the UK. I do think the UK should take a leaf out the Australian handbook of 'how to play it up when we have the same problems as everyone else!'

I really hope you find a great environment you are happy with..it's not easy .

Marmalade

Great post Lorids. There's good and bad places in every country (doubt if there are any exceptions to the rule). For instance, I live just across the river from St. Louis (in Illinois) in a lovely town of 16,000 and there is very little crime here. But, if you drive 15-20 minutes south of where I am you hit East St. Louis which has killings etc every single week! Dangerous there, you bet you, but I know never to drive through the place. I choose not to live in a dangerous area, it is as simple as that. And, I have to say Scotland is a wonderful place to live (only my opinion, mind you as I am a Scot). I will be moving back to Scotland sometime within the next year. And, no not all areas of Scotland are safe, you can pick and choose like anywhere else in the world as to where the safe areas are, and there are plenty.

ladyofthelake

When someone is shot,stabbed or beaten in the UK, the news is reported across the whole nation. A nation of 60+ million people hear all about it.

I live close to Jacksonville, Florida, a large metro area of about 1.2 million people. We don't get to hear about crime across the country unless it's a very high profile case. But we don't need to, there are enough crimes here to keep up with. Here's what we've had since Jan 16th.

Jan 16th: Three Gunmen Invade Southside Apartment
Jan 21st: Teen Shot and Killed in Apparent Drive-by
Jan 22nd: Stray Bullet Lands Near Baby's Crib in Arlington
Jan 23rd: Police Piece Together Westside Shooting
Jan 23rd: Man Found Shot Dead On Front Lawn Identified
Jan 25th" Fourth Man Sought in Kidnapping & Rape of Teenager
Jan 27th: Officers Search for Shooting Suspect, Teen Hospitalized

This is just 1 city in the US. Who knows how many shootings and murders there have been across the country. The crime rate in the UK is percieved to be high, because you hear about every single shooting, but in comparing it with one city of 1.2 million the US is by far worse.
I stay safe here by avoiding the known areas of trouble, and the same is of the UK. It is sad that the country has changed and there have become no go areas, but that's how it is now.

clougherty family

Just wanted to say that I am not generalising about the UK, I am talking about where I live. The reason it is worrying is that it is an affluent area and if it's going downhill here then I dread to think what the big cities in the UK are like. I am in no way slating the UK as we spent a long time deciding to come back here after living in Australia for 2 yrs and my main concern is that I don't really want to have to leave here again.When living in Perth we realised all the things we missed about the UK and made the decision to come back here. We are now concerned that it is not the place (Maidenhead NOT the whole of the UK) to bring up our children.

Jo

denzil75

There have been some great posts on this discussion. Jo, I think all you really need to do is move out of the area you are in to another in England, one that you have perhaps researched more on, been to visit etc. The longer you stay in the area you are now the more you are going to become disillusioned with the whole of England and maybe decide to move again overseas, which could be more disastrous than simply relocating elsewhere in the UK!

Not sure how good this website is, I came across it the other day when looking at places in Sheffield for us to move back to in a few years time. But maybe take a look and see what you think.

http://www.upmystreet.com/

Good luck