British families earn more than £10,000 above the European average, so they should be happy and contented. But they are not! How does one explain such ungratefulness?
Well, to find the answer one can take a quick look at the uSwitch.com European quality of life index. It shows that the UK is almost at the bottom of the league table for the quality of life it offers its citizens.
According to the report the British pay "the highest prices for diesel, 18% above the average, and the second-highest price for unleaded petrol, 6% more than average. Public spending on health and education is below-average. British workers have fewer holidays than average and retire later (they have the third-highest retirement age in Europe), while life expectancy is the third-lowest at 78.9 years, compared to 80.9 in France or 80.7 in Sweden.
There's a bit of clever thinking! Reduce life expectancy but increase the age of retirement. That increases the number of years the workers pay into the social security system and reduces the years in which they can draw their pensions!
That may explain why the number of people leaving the UK in 2006 (41,026) was the highest in Europe with total emigration from the UK increasing by 30% since 2001.
Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, said: "Soaring food prices and inflation, not to mention high property costs, are placing the biggest squeeze on disposable incomes. British households are facing huge financial pressure as take home pay stagnates, inflation continues to rise, and economic growth and house prices fall."
The same report indicated that Spain offers among the best levels of quality of life. Part of that is due to the weather. We can't blame anyone for the bad weather in the UK, of course. But the irony is that Spain's economy is also in dire straits, with its housing bubble having recently collapsed.
Britain under Thatcher was considered a model to emulate by the capitalist of the rest of Europe. They looked on with admiration as Britain privatised almost everything it had, slashing public spending and destroying many of the past gains of the working class. They admired the flexibility of the UK labour laws, the longer hours, the lower pensions...
The problem for anyone thinking that an escape to Europe may be the solution is this: the rest of Europe is catching up fast with the UK. What they have done to the British workers they are also doing to the European. There is no escape from capitalism across borders. The escape route is in the international struggle for socialism!
