The best country in the world.

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To all those who have claimed in recent discussions that Britain is the above, please state what, in your opinion, makes it so.

Also, are you thinking of The United Kingdom or just England?
 
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While I am not one of those to have made the claim, I have the following observations:

not too extreme weather (generally)
beautiful scenery within easy reach of most
pretty safe place to live
decent infrastructure throughout
little in the way of wildlife to cause harm (wasps and adders are about as bad as it gets)
world leader in style, fashion, music, and art

(now preparing to be shot down in flames!)
 
To all those who have claimed in recent discussions that Britain is the above, please state what, in your opinion, makes it so.

Also, are you thinking of The United Kingdom or just England?

Surely it's the one you feel most at home in, it's a completely subjective question, some of the most content nations are some of the poorest, some of the most equitable and socialistic European countries are the most depressed (don't for a minute think those surveys that show scandi countries as happy are true, they ain't)

What constitutes "best" is subjective in itself.
 
I think it would be a bit arrogant to claim its the best. But I can certainly come up with a few positives.

- Guaranteed land title - we forgot how tricky it can be buying land in other countries
- Relatively little corruption in Police/law/state
- few people (who don't have drink/drug/mental health issues) find themselves genuinely starving/homeless in the street.
- the most popular language/2nd language learned in the world
- everything is pretty close
- we don't get burned in the summer and frozen in the winter
 
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I think it would be a bit arrogant to claim its the best. But I can certainly come up with a few positives.
Indeed, but the claim is frequently made and I wondered if there were actual reasons why Britain is thought to be unique.

Perhaps I should have asked "Why are people proud to be British?".
 
While I am not one of those to have made the claim, I have the following observations:

not too extreme weather (generally)
beautiful scenery within easy reach of most
pretty safe place to live
decent infrastructure throughout
little in the way of wildlife to cause harm (wasps and adders are about as bad as it gets)
world leader in style, fashion, music, and art

(now preparing to be shot down in flames!)
No shooting down in flames allowed, however, apart from world leader in style, fashion, music, and art, if those are important, many places have the other attributes so not really valid.
 
I often thought France was the best country in the world in terms of quality of living. They truly get everything: mountains, skiing, roads, sun, sea, sailing, scenery, food. Just a pity about the language and the inner cities. California is also a great place to live if you are rich, good looking, or famous. Other's need not apply.

I also really like Greece. Mostly because they are a friendly and helpful bunch and have 2000 islands that I am slowly exploring.
 
Indeed, but the claim is frequently made and I wondered if there were actual reasons why Britain is thought to be unique.

Perhaps I should have asked "Why are people proud to be British?".

Can we have a side bet on how long it takes before somebody says 'two world wars and one world cup'.
 
To all those who have claimed in recent discussions that Britain is the above, please state what, in your opinion, makes it so.

Also, are you thinking of The United Kingdom or just England?
That,is a very good question and one I ponder often..As already stated..has many great points it is easy to take for granted..1 thing that strikes me is many people who have had great jobs and worked all over the world end up back here...Says something...
 
Loads of polls and reviews done in the past, they usually base on things like education, housing and welfare, health service, safety etc.
Norway does better than UK on healthcare, many countries beat us on education, crime is a big problem here now, and welfare has gone down the drain.
But there really is no bad country in western Europe - Germany, Switzerland and Norway are probably the best to live if you wanted to move though.
Germany still has free university and great health care, Switzerland great healthcare, excellent for business and leisure.
We do it all too, just not as good anymore as the other countries.

Which is best?

Lake Garda or Lake District
Fjords or Cornwall
Scottish Highlands or the Alps
London or Zurich

Lots of good in all places really, and lots of problems too.

My favourite things about the UK, probably traditional pub culture (not that i partake much these days), tea rooms, Cornwall and countryside in general, nice houses and gardens to visit.

But i keep thinking about my mate in Switzerland - he commutes from Amden (ski resort in beautiful mountains, with a lake) to Zurich for work, about 45 minutes. Same time it takes me to drive from Chelmsford to Brentwood some mornings. I do wonder why I am not more adventurous sometimes!
 
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