I was surprised at the title of the posting as i can,t recall the pound soaring for at least the last fifteen years,maybe longer.
I was sorely tempted to change the topic title to āPound soaring again - notā but not sure that @Corona would be too pleased by that 
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If a bird soared like the pound it may in reality just be flapping its wings a bit!
Spare a thought for us poor lot in the backwater of europe, its very tough to see the life slipping away from a loved one.
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cesspit, more like 
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Heās apparently a man happy to lose friends and influence people. 
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Unfortunately, the more often I go back, the harder it becomes to disagree with @graham and Iām in no way anti-UK. There just seems to be an increasing air of decay.
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so tell meā¦ how would you describe it?
No sense in pussyfooting about - thatās the realism and I feel very sorry for the unfortunate people who have to put up with the awfulness of a declining economy, schools and hospital estates crumbling from lack of investment, sewage being spewed out into water courses and beaches, allowing the ābodies to pile highā - need I go on 
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Itās a bit like someone continuously saying āyour house is really crappyā or āyou know that youāre living in a sh1t-h0leā at every opportunity when your house needs work. If it felt sympathetic then that would be different, but my perception is of continual put-downs. Perhaps thatās not the intent, but itās hard not to see it that way.
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I genuinely fear for the safety/well being of my family members who remain in the UK.
I feel very privileged to be resident in France and hugely thankful that I donāt have to suffer at the hands of the criminal Junta that is the current UK Govt regime 
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It depends on what you are talking about. If the UK political system then sure but your comment seemed more aimed at the UK as a whole?
Anyway I am sure you can see the difference.
@graham also the smiley winkey emoji gives off an Iām alright Jack vibe and makes the rest of your post seem like crocodile tears.
What do they say about life in the UK? Are they especially likely to be victims in some way?
It feels like a safer, more secure place than it did when I grew up. There are strikes at the moment, but that was true then too, and battles with the police then as well. Not everything is ideal, but Britain seems a better place now than in the 1970s.
damned if you do, damned if you donātā¦
I felt very safe in the UK in the 70ās but I doubt I would feel so now.
And just to be clear, in those days I was in major city areas like Manchester and Birmingham where I regularly walked the streets and used public transport without living in fear of being attacked.
Best not to mention the gillet jaunes then
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Hmmm, interesting comments about life in the UK
Iām stuck here until retirement, much as I would like to up sticks and move to France I canāt afford it until then.
Is the UK a s-hole? Not so much on a day to day basis. We havenāt quite reverted to 1970ās levels of bleakness and I canāt, personally, think of any areas where I would be uncomfortable now which would not also have been questionable back then.
Thereās a definite lack of optimism in the air though, the relentless wrongness of the Tory party is cutting through and a good few people are waking up to the fact that they were conned re: Brexit and it will not easily be reversed.
At least I will have the opportunity to move to France, but am hoping that does not turn out to be a frying pan to fire move - some of the same tensions as infect the UK can be seen in France with the move towards political extremes, especially on the right.
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Perhaps itās the effect of only seeing the bad news from a place and living remotely.
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Interesting way of putting it, āstuck in the UK until retirementā. Do any of us actually need to be āstuckā anywhere?? Ultimately, we all have a choice, donāt we? I made the very conscious choice to stop work early. Yes, I donāt have as much money to throw around willy nilly, but after years of excess and working all hours, I enjoy my time so so much more. Quite liberating actually. In fact when I moved initially I thought I would continue working, albeit to a lesser extent, but what Iāve learned since being here is that in actual fact I donāt need to work and can manage more than well enough with what I have. I think itās been a real eye opener stepping off that treadmill, and just realizing how different life can be, and importantly, how much better without all the rampant consumerism and almost constant newsfeed wherever you look. Donāt wish youāre life away counting down to retirement!
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