I visited S Africa not so long ago, twice in fact. I traveled along the Garden Route from Cape Town to Durban, and then up the middlt to Jo'burg. So to get an idea of the UK economy, as lived by ordinary people, let's compare the two countries.
The UK is a poor country, compared with the top EU countries, but it has a strong currency and an enormous wealth of soft power and influence on the world stage.
Now of course there are poor neighbourhoods in any country. But the real surprise is not that these neighbourhoods exist, but that they make up the majority of UK neighbourhoods - at least 80% of the neighbourhoods in every city UK city I know look similar to this.
Pick any UK city and drop a street view pin randomly anywhere in the suburbs and this is what you'll see.
But do the same in Denmark or Netherlands and you'll not to see any of this.
Take a look at the cost of living, or inflation currently 8.7%. Salaries in the UK may be 50–100% higher than in South Africa , but electricity costs are rhree to four times higher.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=South+Africa
The average UK wage is £31k, meaning you take home £2,000 a month. How far would that go in London today?
You could not afford a flat - the rent in London for a 60 sqm flat with irange curtains is £1,500 and bills and council tax would be a further £250 per month. (All figures averaged and approximative.)
Or consider car insurance in the UK. Even with many years driving experience, minimal claims record, I spoke to insurance salesmen and the cheapest car insurance I found was £2200 per year.
The UK may have a strong currency and seems a wealthy country by GDP, but for ordinary people, things are pretty expensive and this leaves in people in the UK poor compared with their life for their European neighbours. Here is a map showing areas of relative poverty in Europe.
The UK is certainly a great place to live for many reasons rhat we will consider, below, and we are better off here than South Africa, but in terms of wealth, the comparison with S A shows we are not as better off as we might like to think.
The UK is a better place to live than the Netherlands or Germany or even Switzerland, maybe not France or Spain, for the warmth of its people, the beauty of its landscapes, the richness of its culture and history, and the qualities of its language, communications and entertainment.
Britain is also a major finance centre, the industrial revolution started here, it has universities in the world's top ten,
BRITAIN'S NUMBER ONE ISSUE IS ITS POVERTY
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/22/britain-is-now-a-poor-nation-this-is-our-number-one-issue/
It is a great article, and the causes of our relative poverty are given as currency debasement, expensive housing, inefficient NHS, poor productivity, govt admin and tax inefficiencies, naively overgenerous welfare and pension provision, mediocre politicians chasing the election lure
While the readers in their comments all blame the men who won't work
Draft to be completed. .....
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