The news of ever increasing state surveillance, rising inequality, low salaries, privatisation leading to sewage filled waterways and the deliberate destruction of the NHS, revolving door cronyism and the weather contribute to feelings of dissatisfaction.
Maybe the grass isn't actually greener elsewhere(?)
Public services are significantly and noticeably better (my doctor once profusely apologised to me that because of resources my referral could not be the same day he made it but had to be the next morning), the tax rate is lower (because of the Tax Scheme for Researchers) the government isn't spending its days on some War on Woke bs and I'm generally much happier. After a year here I've already purchased a home and am planning to stay for the long term :)
I have dual UK-EU citizenship which helped.
Countries that have progressed rapidly in their digital transformation are also (generally speaking) further down in their transformation into a "control society".
So wherever you go (and unless you chose to start from scratch living on your own farm) it's impossible to escape for very long.
Another thing to take into account, is whether legislation has also transformed itself in favor of civil rights during the same time. But can only happen as a second step, and much slower (law when applied needs precedent). Odds that civil rights transform equally fast and fair immediately are nil (and in favor of more tech and more surveillance).
To "get out" (if there is such a thing) one would have to move to a place that is far behind in that regard (and even here YMMV because some poor countries transform into control societies ling before they are digitally transformed).
Inequality has been pretty stable over the last couple of decades:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/872472/gini-index-of-the...
We too are circling the neoliberal drain like UK but are perhaps a decade or so behind. And racism is rising rapidly. :(
I'm from a Nordic country but have lived in England. To be frank, in many areas it's a real shithole country, and I'd really not want to live there. Not as bad as USA but getting there fast.
Thanks to Trump, the term "shithole country" has now been termed as a dogwhistle for racists, so I'm genuinely curious as to what you mean when you're calling certain parts of England a shithole?
Pretty harsh descriptor, but I’m from the North and often have referred to my area as a shithole. It’s not the area’s fault, it’s 40 years of mismanagement and underfunding, but still not a good place.
Is it? I just asked a question completely in earnest and it seemed to ruffle a few feathers. I thought Trump was the world's problem the last time I checked, oh, every media outlet.
so if one says Britain (the US, or some other place that used to do very well) is turning into a s-hole country the message and accuse goes right back at them. In this case the (racist[1]) Brits who pushed for Brexit, and by doing so have transformed themselves into a s-hole country.
in that case it is still a dog-whistle for racists but the tune that is produced is 100% an insult against the people who deserve to hear it.
[1] ... "to be absolutely clear it wasn't just racists who voted for Brexit. C'nts did as well! -- Stewart Lee
What's actually racist (well, technically: "culturally imperialist") is to consider the provincial concerns of US internal politics as some kind of universally applicable yardsticks. People all over the world have used words to the same effect way before Trump and will do it way after Trump.
If anything, one could easily call parts of the US a "shithole country" regardless of their racial breakdown. In many parts of the word, locals will gladly admit it for the status of their own (whether racially homogeneous or not) country too.
Remember Trump wasn't world president so not everything exports across the Atlantic.
Why would you feel the need to say something like this
Britain's infrastructure is noticeably decaying — potholed roads, buildings in a poor state of repair (let alone well-insulated etc), litter, old buses and trains, homeless people sleeping on the street. There's more of this the further one travels from London.
What is the current PC way of describing Swansea or Blackpool in American English?
If you asked someone who lived here, it would be shithole.
Okay thanks for the advice!!
And of course it's really fucking cold and dark in the winter. But at least it's warm indoors, unlike in England.
Haha, that hit very hard after speaking to a home developer at how dire the building regulations are in the UK compared to the EU or even the US with the gov actively subverting better building efficiency regs.
Cronyism is rife in the UK, it's so open it stinks.
Once it gets below -20 it doesn't really matter. Also, saunas.
> hardly any sunlight
No need for blackout curtains. Don't see this as a minus.
> introvert culture
That has pluses and minuses.
> mandatory conscription
I think everyone should be forced to do some kind of service. Having a trained force is a good idea when faced with...
> looming threat of Russia doing something funni
I don't think they are going to invade Finland again anytime soon, and Russia can very easily be a threat to any country within ICBM distance.
> Don't see this as a minus.
You should try it sometime, getting only one half assed hour of sunlight a day would probably drive me to suicide personally.
> Russia can very easily be a threat to any country within ICBM distance
Well once those start flying it's all over so that's not really a consideration. Small things that don't make a NATO intervention worth it are the real problem. Wasn't it just on the news today or yesterday that they've been jamming GPS in the area? Nobody goes to war over one "accidental" stray missile that just happened to go off course during an "exercise" and blew up a few houses a few km over the border, like that one time in Poland. That kind of thing.
Saunas don't really offset the cold at all, although they are nice anyway. Cars not starting up due to the cold is really rare nowadays AFAIU. I haven't owned or need a car in 20 years, so no personal experience, but I don't hear any complaints about it.
And it's not something you need to really worry about e.g. in Helsinki. In UK for example a lot bigger problem is that the traffic goes into total halt when it snows.
In general I agree that the climate kind of sucks (although the summers are nice). But this is an annoyance, not life-or-death stuff.
> You should try it sometime, getting only one half assed hour of sunlight a day would probably drive me to suicide personally.
The lack of sunlight does suck a bit. And if you're really suspectible to SAD, living up north is probably not a good idea for you. But most just get used to it and it's more like people complaining about the rain in the UK.
And you definitely do need blackout curtains (or an eyemask) in the summer if your sleep is sensitive to light, so it's not really a pro. Most get used to it though.
> Well once those start flying it's all over so that's not really a consideration. Small things that don't make a NATO intervention worth it are the real problem.
Regarding the current situation, Finland is further from Ukraine than e.g. Turkey, so a stray missile from there is obviously just not gonna happen. And even if it did, a stray missile is almost certainly not gonna have much casualties in the bigger picture. Everyday risks are magnitudes larger than such.
There's been all sorts of jammings and airspace violations for decades. They probably mean very little. Joining NATO did slightly increase the miniscule risk of war for Finland in my calculus, as Finland became a geopolitical buffer zone for NATO. Those tend to get the worst horrors in major wars (see e.g. WW2). But anyway you're a lot more more likely to get hit by a car or something than being a casualty in a war.
The lack of sunlight in the winter comes of course with lots of sunlight in the summer (although that may have its downsides too if you're not used to it). I don't find the climate ideal but it's not that big a deal.
The conscription may suck a bit, but you can get out of it quite easily if you want, and it probably wont concern you as an immigrant anyway. And generally a conscription military is better for a country's stability than a professional one.
The threat of Russia is not a huge concern. And the overall everyday safety compared to most other countries vastly outweigh this minor risk.
I find the best part is that the wellfare state is still somewhat intact and things tend to just work. This really lowers the everyday stress compared to e.g. UK or USA.
Of course it's not for everybody but for many aspects it's a good place to live (although getting worse due to neoliberalism, like most places). This is probably reflected in that Finland is the happiest country in the world for six years straight now.
Received a masters degree in STEM from a Nordic country. This somehow rendered me less desirable in being hired?
Living on the streets is not what I envisioned while signing up for an university program.