People gave very similar answers to what
they would not miss and what they would like to change about their countries,
so I have put the answers together. I've published the answers in a rough order
of popularity.
What people
living in England would NOT miss about England and what they would like to change
For people to be more direct, more warm,
more open
Wanting people to be warmer to each other
and strangers
The unfriendliness. For people to be more
respectful of each other in public spaces.
“People can be quite cold, people are not
as hospitable as in other countries. People here can be really private, they
don’t want to be disturbed.”
“English people can be a bit guarded,
abroad people aren't suspicious of strangers right away.”
Bad manners, up-tightness, the British reserve
The non-reliability, people not keeping
their word
“There’s a bit of an attitude of looking
out for yourself, it didn't used to be, people are making money, not giving it
to anyone, not looking out for other people, there’s more of a grabby attitude
going on.”
A more positive attitude towards life and
other people in general. “It’s not OK to do well in England,
you’re looked down on. If someone’s doing well you don’t get enough
encouragement.”
David Cameron
A system that pretends it’s democracy, the
deception of politics
The zeitgeist culture, the way this country
is run
Insularity, Anglo-centricity
The Xenophobia, “It’s not so apparent in Brighton, but a lot of the
country is quite racist”
Get rid of racism “People think you should
get stuff just because you’re British, people just want things for free and aren't willing to pass it forward, there’s
a racist culture, because the they want someone to blame, they've got this idea
that it was better in the old days, I’m not sure it was really.”
The bureaucracy. “There are a lot of forms
to fill in.”
Red tape bureaucracy, all the rules for
everything, lack of being able to do what you want, applying health and safety
to everything.
The nanny-state, ”my friend couldn't take a
picture of her child in the swimming pool,
is everyone a pedophile?”
“The establishment is too entrenched with public
school and the royal family, it feels a bit oppressive at times.”
The way some people have gone about the
Jubilee, “stop putting so much emphasis on the royal family”
Council estates, chavs
Binge drinking
The class system “I can’t bear snobbery”
The snobbery “I hate the facade English
people put on, they say one thing, but mean another. They talk behind each
others backs”
“Mainstream British poetry is apathetic and
dull and it’s all Larkin’s fault. I would
like people to be more critically engaged
and interested."
Less of a youth culture, more mixing
between the ages
TV celebrity culture, the negative news,
Daily Mail, gossip magazines, the British Press, “some countries have newspapers
that print news”
Small living spaces
Unpredictable weather, long wet grey
wintertime, the weather, the crap summer weather, “I like having seasons, but
would like to have seasons that do what they say they do”
Trains
What people
living in Sweden would NOT miss about Sweden or what they would like to change
Move Sweden
further South. The Weather, the rain, the cold, the winter. The cold and the
darkness. The summer should be longer and dryer, wanting the Swedish summer to
really be summer. ”In winter you’re so aware that the weather is shit, but you’re
prepared for it, it’s more frustrating in summer.”
”It’s a bit too moralising sometimes, but it’s not only a bad thing it depends on how much I
agree.
”Sometimes it’s annoying that Swedish people are so obedient, there are
so many rules and that, abroad people don’t queue and they smoke everywhere,
there’s more freedom, but sometimes I can miss the Swedishness, there’s a bit
of hypocrisy.”
”There’s a lot
about the square thinking that annoys me but that I also appreciate”.
”That Swedes are
so smug and gullible and think that Sweden is so fucking great and that
everything works in such a blind way, you think that authorities are right just
because they’re authorities.”
Narrow-mindedness, ”many people think Sweden is the centre of the universe and that
everything revolves around us”
That everybody
has to be the same and that you’re not allowed to be good at anything
The bitterness,
the apathy, that there’s no spark.
The racism, the growing suspicion against
foreigners, a growing “we and them”-feeling, the segregation
“Multi-culture is an area where we lack
debate and information.”
”Sweden should be
much bigger. You should bring a million Chinese people here, it’s so fucking
small everywhere. There should be more bigger cities that are exciting to
explore.There should be more of everything.”
”Political debates
should be kept at a relevant level, not about voting after the wallet and
things like that.”
Fire 75% of the
politicians. The conservative government.
The pubs and
bars. ”It’s so much nicer to go out abroad”.
Expensive to go
out and have a beer, expensive to go out an eat
The Swedish
non-spontaneity, to just be able to meet after work. ”Here everything needs to
be planned, it kills the spontaneity, limits the social life”
For people to be
a bit more open and sociable. The quietness, that we’re so
suspicious.
People should be better at taking care of
old people
The stress, Christmas eve
My thoughts: Warm and Cold
Everybody knows that English people are
traditionally known for being polite, that’s why it was interesting that so many
people living in England wanted people to be more warm or open. But then being polite is not the same as being warm and open… Swedes wanted people to be more sociable as well, but
it wasn't as high on the list. For Swedish people the weather and the winter seemed
to be the biggest topic for dislike and change.
Racism is a problem in both countries.
English people seemed slightly more upset about the system and how the country is run. Swedes
have mixed feelings. And for the moment I’ll leave it to someone else to
analyse the rest of the politics.
What I don’t miss about England
is the cold inside, the cold houses. Not a single English person mentioned cold houses: they’re
used to it. It’s just me, born a fussy spoilt Swede with no right to complain… What
I’d like to change anyway is the housing situation, making it cheaper and
easier for people to find a good place to live.
What I don’t miss about Sweden is
… yes, the cold outside, the long winter. And I would like people to be more polite and say sorry
when they bump into you.
In both cases my list could be quite long,
but I just wrote down the very first things that popped into my mind, and that’s
how most “Swenglish people” answered the questions.
This study is
by no means scientific, the answers are based on interviewing fifteen people in
England and fifteen people in Sweden, aged 22-59. Look out for the next question:
What does being English/Swedish mean to you?
