After a year living in America, I’m moving home to England. Many people think this is a mistake. Brits act as if I’m committing some form of self-harm. “You could make so much more money! You could have a much bigger flat!” Americans have read so many horror stories about Britain on X that they act as if I’m going back to North Korea. “Won’t you get arrested at the airport?”
This is the opposite reaction to the one I received a year ago, when I decided to leave. Last August I moved to Washington, D.C., and nearly everyone I knew was thrilled for me. I had finally made it out of the country! I wasn’t unusual for a young Brit. Record numbers are leaving. In the year to June 2025, around 195,000 under age 35 left the UK, making up about 76 percent of all British emigration. Some go to Dubai, some to Spain, and some to Australia—mostly for financial reasons, including higher wages, tax advantages, a lower cost of living. Some go to America, the land of opportunity.
Of course England has its problems: Over the past few decades, immigration has spiraled out of control, despite the public consistently voting against it; people have been arrested by armed police for offensive social media posts; civil servants are “triggered” by the sight of our own flag. We are losing pride in our country. Our economy is stagnant too: Measured by GDP per person, Britain is now only just richer than Mississippi, the poorest state in America. Wage growth is slowing, taxes are rising, and public services are collapsing. We are, according to The Atlantic, a “case study in self-sabotage.”