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highwaystar101 on 10 January 2010
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TheRealMafoo said:
Soleron said:


In addition, the situation and numbers of the poorest people in the UK is much better than the US. Your government still has millions dependent on food pantries as you say. We don't, except for small numbers of homeless. Since we have council houses and high, indefinite-duration benefits for the poor/have children/elderly, our social welfare is less about food-and-a-place-to-sleep (which charities are good at) and more about boosting standard of living by a few thousand per head. When I lived in your country for 3 years, the level of inequality was MUCH higher than I was used to.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1240988/France-tops-list-best-places-live-world-fifth-year-row--Britain-languishes-25th.html

The UK is #25 on this list, the US is #7. Most of these kinds of lists really are talking about the poor, or lower middle class, as if you have money just about anywhere is a great place to live.

So, I am not sure I would agree with the quoted statement.

 

Plus, who cares about the "inequality", if the lowest class lives much better then equal lifestyles in other countries?

Ah the Daily Mail, the paper that forces pessimism down the throats of British people lol.

...

The source they used for that was the quality of life index 2010.

The methodology this year (source) looked at 9 fields, Cost of Living, Leisure & Culture, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Risk & Safety and Climate. The UK came 5 points behind the USA in overall tally, which is fair, the USA is a far far nicer place to live than this crap hole.

However, the UK did beat the USA in several fields which seem to suggest that poor are better off in the UK, such as healthcare. Healthcare is a universal factor, the quality affects everyone; but it especially affects the poor who have trouble accessing good healthcare, so if good healthcare is provided for them their quality of living is better. The UK beat the USA's healthcare system by 6 points, indicating that our more socialised (yet hybrid) system is much more effective in supplying healthcare to the poor than the USA's hybrid system. (I know I'm barking up the wrong tree with argument)

The UK tended to beat the USA in fields which directly influence poor peoples quality of life such as the the environment (10 points higher), health (6 points higher) and personal freedom (8 points higher). The fields the UK failed compared to the USA weren't particularly as important to the quality of life for the poor, such as climate (USA trounced the UK by a whopping 18 points here).

To be honest, I think it's probably better being poor in Britain than it is in the USA.

(On a side note: It certainly looks like it is worse to be rich in the UK than the USA)

...

Anyway, it's probably not a good idea to listen to what I have to say today as I'm feeling like shit and I've just spent 8 hours writing up a report, not a good mix. I think I need an aspirin and a nap.