I've not been in the Uk for years (thank god) but I see on television, infact everywhere, how bad things are.

Can you really feel a difference though?

If you've not been in the UK for years, then how can you see it "everywhere"?

I dont watch UK TV, thank God, and generally you shouldnt solely lie on the media to form your opinions, especially the UK media which will twist anything to boost their ratings or sell more papers.

Ok sorry, I don't see it from within the uk other than my friends opinions. Dohhh that's why I was asking.

I do watch UK TV and have internet.

Actually if you read correctly I didn't make any opinion I asked a simple question........... can you see a difference or what? From your reply I take it that you don't, but it is a little unclear to me, thanx anyroad

I'll second that!

What "things" do you refer to?

Exactly. Unless they are reporting hard facts and figures, it's best to keep an open mind as regards the media.
As for things being bad - well the UK, like other western countries, is struggling to come out of recession (today the unemployment figures were up again). But even if 20% of the population are struggling, that still leaves 80% either doing the same or better. Yes, if you work for the public sector,chances are your job may be at risk. But many are benefitting from low interest rates as regards their mortgage. I've just seen Boris Johnson on the box defending the poor record of London transport, and he stated there are more passengers using the Tube than ever before. So, presumably some of those workers, tourists and visitors aren't doing so bad, even if they have to put up with unreliable trains.
Also, don't believe everything is coming to a halt in the UK. The government is going ahead with the crossrail project across London - good news too for Spanish construction companies! http://www.constructionenquirer.com/...racts-awarded/
Of course my comments have a London bias, and I can't speak for all parts of the UK. But, I suspect, life goes on much the same for a majority of the population, even if life's not all rosey for everyone.

Indeed, life does go on. I've said before, perhaps I'm lucky, but I haven't really experienced any difference in my day to day living, if anything, some things are cheaper, lots of deals about. Electricity, petrol and gas are going up, but that's no different to anywhere else. Yes, unemployement is slightly up, and will continue upwards for a while yet, but at under 8% it's better than Spain's nearly 20%. The UK can still borrow money at .75%, I read today that Spain is now having to pay something like 3.5%(?), that's a huge difference. The Spanish economy is looking a bit shaky. My only negative is I have had my house for sale for a few months now, and so far, no takers. But we're not desperate to sell, we were just thinking of buying a new, bigger place, we can wait.

The thing is though, when you look at the number of "economically inactives" of working age in the UK, you end up with around 20% !!! Now, of course a lot of those are classified as being on incapacity benefit, so may be better off financially (at least for the near future, as the UK government has promised to crack down on this). But I suspect in reality all western countries currrently have around 20% of the workforce not working, even if you allow for a certain black market distorting things. The labour intensive industries have moved to the far East.

Hang in there,

There's a boom on the way.

IMO it's a regular cycle designed to keep us all down and make the rich richer, this is the time they all invest and take advantage of us.

Seen it all before.

But Gordon promised us "no more boom and bust"

Heard it all before

Yes, comparison of unemployment figures is a tricky thing.

Both the UK and US did some fudging of the figures around 20 years ago to exclude those who stopped actively looking for work or going to the job centre regularly. And in the UK, the number of people on disability benefit has quadrupled in the past 20 years.

There is a "shadowstats" site that says real unemployment in the US is not 9% like the figures, but more like 23%. i.e. around the same as Spain. For the UK, I dont know.

OK, there may be people Spain excludes too, but from discussions I've seen it seems this is a more complete stat. Spain should be more clever and start excluding people from their stats too maybe that way they wont be bullied so much by the ratings companies!

Couldn't agree more!

Spain excludes anyone from it's unemployment figures who are not eligible to receive benefit. All countries massage the figures, some more than others!

I dont think that is entirely true. As long as you go and sign on every three months then you are included in the figures. I believe it is the people who arent entitled to anything so dont go and sign on who are excluded.

The country has gone to the dogs I tell ya.