I came to the comments section expecting to see lots of angry anti-socialist rhetoric and dented egos. I was surprised at the number of people agreeing with you until I realised those comments were mostly from ex-pats living in similar situations.

Sadly the US way of life is slowly infecting all of us in the UK; which is sad because we have neither the space nor the wealth to be able to afford the American Dream.

A nasty right wing fervour appears to be gripping us in the UK; a kind of mini-trumpland with our very own covid and climate denying mini-trump. He even has the same colour hair.

I would happily move to Denmark if I were able to learn Danish (I am useless at languages) and were not too old to be prevented by immigration rules. Or maybe Italy or Spain or France; the same problems and attractions arise. England is no longer the social haven it used to be, with rampant conservatism dragging us back to the Victorian era.