Desert Shaikh

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/uk-officially-bottom-of-pile

norsk

There is one thing the British are really good at though: Moaning about how awful it is to be British!

seven seas

It does put things into perspective, doesn't it?

littlejimmy

I would think this is probably skewed by regional factors. Some places in the UK are pleasant to live in (like small country towns), others are grim, crowded and shite (large industrial towns and cities)

Fahd

with no doubt !

hnd

We don't necessarily moan about being British. We do, occasionally, moan about returning to Britain and what we find when we return there for holidays or whatever. There is a difference between the two.

We went back in July for two very happy occasions - a 100th birthday and an 80th birthday. Apart from these two very, very happy parties, pretty much everybody we visited/spent the day with/bumped into in the area where we used to live/ had dinner with etc was unhappy with what was happening in Britain. It was wonderful to catch up with so many friends and our families but, at the same time, it was depressing to discover how so many were unhappy with their lives, the direction the country was taking etc etc etc.

Millhouse

In all honestly, I think that this is a function of the west. It's hardly a party in the US, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and many other places either right now.

Hello.Kitty

it makes me laugh really... I can't help feeling that the Brits answering this are just so heavily mired in their Broken Britain tag-line that they've handily forgotten that the rest of Europe isn't exactly foot-loose and fancy-free... "oh, but the weather's better!"... F*** the weather, like that's really going to make a difference when your economy's collapsing!

I wish they'd stop whinging and just do something... either help out a bit or bugger off to the Costa Del Sol or wherever they think life's better, then after a while there they can start moaning about that and come back to Broken Britain with their tail between their legs.

YJMalmsteen

Listen guys,

If it were not for the money, do you think we would be living in the god-forsaken Middle East - bigotry, racism, deadly driving, sexism, no political freedom etc.

I would hazard a guess that the majority of you would not live here if it were not for tax-free concessions and elevated wages. I live in Kuwait and I don't know anyone who does not look forward to their next holiday back in the UK. In fact during the summer, the place is empty with Kuwaitis prefering to go to the UK, Europe and the USA.

There you go - a non-whinging Brit!

shiva

IMHO I think you have to actually become an expat in a fairly shitty place before you can truly appreciate just why half the world would relocate to the UK if they were given the opportunity.

What does piss me off about the UK is the pervading negativity that's existed pretty much since queen Victoria died. Everybody bemoans the state of the nation and forgets that they can all help change it. Its why camerons big society is a great idea ultimately doomed to failure.

Everytime we go home people moan about the council and government and happily forget that at anytime they want they can challenge the status quo especially on the local level! "why don't you go to your mps clinic, or go see the council" "humph moan, too much effort" etc, I guess you have to live in a dictatorship before you can really grasp the true power of democracy.

A similar senario plays out with entrepreneurs, in the UK if you tell most people your starting a business they will tell you with glee of all the pitfalls and failure rates, here or in the US most people will congratulate you and wish you luck.

I think as expats we really notice these attitudes because they are so uniquely British in their negativity and so different from most other places, don't get me wrong I still intend to return to civilisation at some point but am fully prepared for it to piss me off for a while.

On another note I do find it amusing that a huge percentage of the country want to emigrate, the biggest differentiating factor between an actual expat and the millions who aspire to it is that those of us who are had to actually man up and get on a plane at some point, something that for some unfathomable reason those very millions will never manage to do( thinking about it they probably talk themselves out of it with tales of how it will all end in tears if they do)

Hello.Kitty

I might have to print that off to hand out to the whingers when I get home. Very nicely put!