If I was to live elsewhere it would have to be warm. I agree that the UAE is a good place to work and also Saudi with their planned infrastructure spend is up and coming. You would have to hold your nose and tongue living in the middle east. The UK is one of the best places to live if you're poor and the place to have a residence if very wealthy. The big problem as I see it is the hollowing out of middle income earners, marginal tax rates are criminal particularly for one earner families. With both main parties thinking you're rich if you pay higher rate tax, it's not surprising that many professionals are looking at a higher standard of living for their families elsewhere.

I think Saudi is very uncomfortable for Westerners. The reports I've heard from Sales people I've worked with who had to go there on business were pretty negative, they couldn't wait to leave!

The UAE is much easier. I feel I probably have to hold my tongue in public in a UK city more so than I do in Dubai tbh. The problem is, the media only feeds us the horror stories from the UAE. Truth is, you pretty much have to be committing an act of genuine public indecency to get into trouble over there. They arrest Brits for that for sure (and so they should!).

You do have to hold your nose a bit in the UAE. There is an unofficial class system out there that can feel quite unjust. You've got the Emiratis at the very top, next you're got the Brits and Americans who run everything who are well treated and allowed to make money (although those starting a business outside the jebel Ali free zone will need an emirati sponsor, ultimately a form of corporation tax!). Then you've got the educated Indians and Lebanese, they'll struggle to make money working for someone else but some do well in business. Then at the bottom you have the Philippinos, poor Indians, and North Africans. These people do the manual labour and service jobs that sometimes borderline on slavery. These people are treated terribly, far too often by the Brits in particular I have to say.

Agree on the unfair treatment of the middle classes over here, but I think the same erosion of the middle classes is happening throughout the West. Maybe our elites squeeze them with a little more relish over here than other places due to the class system. Middle class Brits won and built the empire, but the ruling elites have always despised them, seeing them as upstarts. That has never really gone away. So there is a sort of unholy alliance between the ruling classes and the envious undeserving poor who also hate us!

Sweden - very expensive, and it's capital city isn't even as interesting or fun as numerous of our provincial cities. I think a lot of Brits would, in reality, find their welfare state to be stifling and overbearing. Also, what kind of person dreams of moving abroad so they can enjoy the welfare state?

Canada - great natural beauty and some decent cities, but it is heavily unionised, the weather is extreme for half of the year in most of the country, and a can of beer that would cost a quid here will cost five there. They are quite backwards in a lot of ways - a lot of what we expect to do quickly online, like car insurance, over there you have to fill out paper forms and then queue up at an office, usually run by a provincial monopoly, so the insurance costs five times what it would here. A lot more homelessness than the UK, like the rest of North America. One thing I did find is that their dental care is leagues above ours - paid for through work contributions for most people.

New Zealand is more expensive than here for most goods and its cities are pretty boring compared to what we have. Also, very little of the historic architecture and character we take for granted here. Same applies to all of the new countries, and Germany which was destroyed. This is a major selling point of the UK for me. NZ is also just so far away from everything.

Australia - if you're into the beach culture and the scorching sun then it has its merits. It isn't as friendly a country as here in my opinion and a bit of a cultural desert. Also very expensive. Plus numerous types of predator that will rip you to pieces or poison you to death. Some very dangerous nut cases as well in parts, and plebby stupidity, similar to the US in that sense. Police are way stricter than ours.

The US - a land of many contrasts and one I love, but the better places are expensive. Some seriously dangerous parts and a sense of extremeness generally... their downtown areas, including the nicer ones such as Seattle, San Francisco, Portland (OR), going through a very bad spell will drug addicts, bums, thieves and murderers not being properly managed or punished. Defund the police innit? Insane levels of stupidity and madness likely to be encountered on a more regular basis than here. Seems pretty divided at the mo.

Germany - i think it will undergo a period of decline and degeneration. Suffering from massive waves of migration and its industries have to cope with competition from the rest of the world, which is catching up. Quite a few of its cities are a bit soulless and crap. When people were saying banks would leave London for Frankfurt I just laughed. I've been there. The likes of Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle are far better places, nevermind London.

Just my two pennies. The UK is relatively cheap for everyday goods still compared to those countries mentioned, has bags of character, the weather is annoying but not extreme, is relatively open minded and friendly, and still benefits a little bit from being physically separate from the continent yet close enough to easily access those countries. Things like sense of humour and understanding are never the same when you go to live abroad. The UK also seems to be a job making machine and those who want to work can easily find it if they try hard enough.

I think the West is being wrecked very badly by the WEF/Davos orientated idiots who run the political establishments. The values and ways that made the West great, including its freedoms for ordinary people, are being undermined. The next general election for us will be a choice between WEF agent Sunak and WEF agent Starmer. Virtually no difference. Eco socialist garbage whether we like it or not. However, all of the western countries are affected by this. I agree with what others have said about the middle classes being crushed.

I think there are things we could learn from Japan, but maybe we're just too different. Why not play to our strengths rather than turn into an everywhere/nowhere, gloablist cesspit?

Quite likely most of those people were domestic workers like nannies and drivers. By law, their employers have to pay their airfare for a return flight home once every year. Yes I can imagine the staff on those swanky Airlines feeling rather put out!

That may seem like quite a 'nice' law and I suppose it is in a way, but there are other less nice laws! For example, their whereabouts whilst in the UAE is the legal responsibility of their employer, almost like they are property. If they go AWOL in the UAE, their employers are in trouble with the law.

This ^^

During my mid-30's (1998/99) I took an 18 month sabbatical and circumnavigated the globe backpacking, spending the bulk of time in the SEAsia/Pacific region. Of the 22 countries visited Thailand and New Zealand stood head and shoulders above the rest and my hope was to make a choice and one day retire there.

After divorcing during the mid-noughties I worked and saved hard and ultimately retired at 49yo to SEAsia, settling in Thailand. 12 years later I am still here. Mortgage paid-off 6 years ago and house rental income covers my living costs and my SIPP is still accumulating.

I consider myself lucky, but it didn't all happen by itself.

Canada has always looked lovely, but I've never been. USA I have no desire to ever step foot in again.

The UK just seems sad these days, but so do many other western countries. Social media seems the cause for much of the decline, something I play very little part in.