Originally Posted by zerohero

I guess it really depends on what part of the UK you live.For me its:

1/Beautiful green countryside
2/Beautiful autumn and spring scenery
3/The cultural diversity where I live-people from England, Poland, China, India,etc all living together and getting along(I know this is not the case everwhere)
4/International cuisine -local restaurants/takeaways serving food from China,Thailand,Italy,India,Mexico,Malaysia,Afghani stan,Carribean etc.
5/Creativity-of the 10 worldwide most successful films of the past 5 years,7 of them were based on books by British writers (eg Harry Potter,Lord Of The Rings etc).
6/The summer is not unbearably hot like some countries
7/Being a 45 minute train journey from the centre of London - still one of the worlds' top 5 cities
8/British TV - yes,I know it can be dire but recently it has turned around and become ambitious again (new Doctor Who etc)
9/Lots of things to do - in my small town there is a choice of live music (punk,indie,metal,ska,international,folk) every Thursday,Friday,saturday and Sunday.There are 30 pubs,restaurants,cafes,museums,nice walks,historical buildings,good shopping.5 minutes drive north is another town with a 3 screen restored spacious traditional cinema and small venues.15 minutes drive south is a larger modern town with multiplex 15 screen cinema,bowling alley,leisure park and vast shopping centre.In between is picturesque countryside.
10/Availability of work
11/The British press.Our newspapers must be the most vicious and negative in the world but also the most entertaining and informative.

Obviously there are some less good things about living in the UK - as there are in all countries.I'm lucky that I don't live in one of those areas that suffer from such problems,but those problems do exist in all countries.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

Oooo, this is gonna be fun!!


By the way, Lord of the Rings........South African writer.

Originally Posted by zerohero

No,Lord Of The Rings was written by JR Tolkien who was English.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

That would be the same J.R.R Tolkien born and rasied in Bloomfontaine?

Originally Posted by zerohero

Yes,born in South Africa but raised from age 4 in England.His formative years and inspiration were English.The great American comedian Bob Hope was born in England but left at age 4 and for the same reasons is known as an American (not english) comedian.

Originally Posted by zerohero

.The great American comedian Bob Hope was born in England but left at age 4 and for the same reasons is known as an American (not english) comedian.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

I just deal in facts, he was born in SA, and considered himself a Saffa, if you read his biogs he always said that he was a Saffa.


Lets go back to the list and see what else we can pick apart shall we?

Originally Posted by zerohero

Who's got a chip on their shoulder then? Yes,lets deal in facts.

Tolkein was a British citizen.
His parents were British.
He grew up on England.
He fought in the British army.
After retirement he lived in Oxford,England and Bournemouth,England.
He died in England.
He did not consider himself a 'Saffa'.
He was English.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

No chip at all, just don't see the point of this kind of discussion, if you want to point out the pro's to living in the UK then there is a forum for it, but why would you post something like this in the Spain forum?


He always considered himself as a Saffa, he gave long talks about it on campus, and cited SA as an influence for many of his stories.

Originally Posted by zerohero

Tolkein considered himself British(read his interviews) never a Saffa and Lord of the Rings was inspired by the English countryside.As for why this was posted on a Spain forum I suggest you look at the title of this thread (why stay in england)

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

But who is to say that I agree with the title or content? I don't think threads like this are helpful at all and symbolise what is wrong with the British mindset.

Originally Posted by zerohero

If you disagree with the title of this thread why are you posting on it?
Also,what do you mean by the British mindset? There are as many different mindsets in Britain as there are in Spain,America,South Africa etc.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt

No chip at all, just don't see the point of this kind of discussion, if you want to point out the pro's to living in the UK then there is a forum for it, but why would you post something like this in the Spain forum?

I am posting on it for the same reason you do, I have an opinion

Originally Posted by zerohero

So you don't see the point of this discussion but you have an opinion even if you don't see the point.
As I said before those were 10+ good reasons to stay in England.Everyone has different tastes-some people dislike or are not interested in live music so Britains' excellent live music scene would not be a plus point for them etc.

Originally Posted by zerohero

So you don't see the point of this discussion but you have an opinion even if you don't see the point.
As I said before those were 10+ good reasons to stay in England.Everyone has different tastes-some people dislike or are not interested in live music so Britains' excellent live music scene would not be a plus point for them etc.