Most advanced country

[Crenners]

I wonder what immigration is like for Bhutan. Has anyone actually been there or is this just romanticised received opinion?

Just had a quick look, I reckon I could get by out there, no traffic lights, good scran halfway between Chinese and Indian basically, probably a lot of vegetables.

Don't seem to have any nukes is the main issue I can see. They will be steamrolled by China in twenty minutes.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I love The Netherlands but the Dutch are often very difficult and outspoken (though they would call it being honest and helpful), then there is the Zwarte Piet issue, and finally the fact that's it's acceptable to throw massive fireworks around the street for 24 hours at new year - it's like Helmand province mixed with The Purge. But yes, I'd live there in a flash, great place and people.

Not as good as Norway though.  The prices are insane, but then so are the salaries.

When an old firm got taken over by a Canadian firm they sent the CEO over to the Netherlands and he had to be ushered off by his minder in a 'nothing to see here' fashion in the 'ask me anything' section. Brilliant.

[Blue Jam]

It's usually your Scandinavian countries + the old commonwealth (Aus, Can, NZ) which top these lists.

Though when I hear 'advanced' I instinctively think of Japan.

Japan is a surprisingly socially conservative place. Big on traditional gender roles, women who marry can expect to become "office ladies" and watch their career stall, men are expected to "keep" a wife, traditional Shintoist weddings have the bride wear a little hat "to cover her horns of jealousy" etc. Also pretty strict on immigration and even Tokyo is not as ethnically diverse as one might expect. You can get treated as a bit of a novelty if you're caucasian, and Japan's a lot less welcoming if you're Afro-Caribbean. Or Korean. Or an American on Okinawa.

Not sure about Australia, I've heard Sydney is surprisingly conservative and Tasmania may have come a long way from the days it was known as "Bigot's Island" but it still didn't legalise homosexuality until 1997. iirc Melbourne is the nice liberal bit, someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

How does Iceland rate these days? I love Reykjavik and could probably live there if it wasn't for the dark and the cold and the sulphurous tap water.

[shoulders]

Isn't Costa Rica meant to be an amazing place. Incredible natural environment, ecological focus and the only country in the world with no Armed Forces.

Still has humans there though. Tropical humidity, creepy crawlies and urgh, humans. Costa Rica would be better if it was fully rewilded.

[beanheadmcginty]

Only decriminalised homosexuality in 2020

So as long as you're not a homosexual in possession of a time machine you'll be fine surely?

I've lived in the Netherlands for a year now and it does indeed shit all over Britain from a great height in most respects. However, the service in restaurants in laughably diabolical. Easily the worst I've ever experienced in any country in the world. You can get a decent doner kebab for about 4 euros though, so I don't really bother going to restaurants anyway.

[shoulders]

Service in Amsterdam bars I visited was very friendly, among the best I have experienced outside Ireland.

Anyway, huge suicide rates in Norway and Netherlands suggests something isn't quite right.

Amazed no-one has mentioned Denmark which is probably the most advanced effort at a social democracy within capitalism.

[badaids]

Is there a better African country than Uganda. Relatively stable, relatively modern in the cities and beautiful outside, you don't get hassled as a foreigner as in many other countries. Best thing is the Ugandan people who are incredibly generous and the culture is ingrained with an amazingly sharp sense and warm of humour in spite of the the horrors the population experienced in the Amin era and poverty : they are hilarious and can make even the worst of situations into a joke. A nation of Bob Mortimers. I didn't want to leave when I went there.

[Blue Jam]

Still has humans there though. Tropical humidity, creepy crawlies and urgh, humans. Costa Rica would be better if it was fully rewilded.

Sounds like Snek Island is the place for you:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/snake-infested-island-deadliest-place-brazil-180951782/

[BlodwynPig]

So as long as you're not a homosexual in possession of a time machine you'll be fine surely?

I've lived in the Netherlands for a year now and it does indeed shit all over Britain from a great height in most respects. However, the service in restaurants in laughably diabolical. Easily the worst I've ever experienced in any country in the world. You can get a decent doner kebab for about 4 euros though, so I don't really bother going to restaurants anyway.

Not just Netherlands, Northern German service is appalling.

[shoulders]

Is there a better African country than Uganda. Relatively stable, relatively modern in the cities and beautiful outside, you don't get hassled as a foreigner as in many other countries. Best thing is the Ugandan people who are incredibly generous and the culture is ingrained with an amazingly sharp sense and warm of humour in spite of the the horrors the population experienced in the Amin era and poverty : they are hilarious and can make even the worst of situations into a joke. A nation of Bob Mortimers. I didn't want to leave when I went there.

The evangelical baptism and treatment of homosexuals renders a lot of that moot... The West's fault of course, but still horrible.

[Paul Calf]

Bhutan all the way. Only country to measure success by Gross National Happiness rather than wealth, massively into conservation of the environment and they play some sort of mad sport where they launch arrows at each other's villages.

Yeah, there's also the madcap ethnic cleansing, oppression and forced repatriation of ethnic Nepalis. Top Bhutan bants.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_in_Bhutan

[Paul Calf]

Not just Netherlands, Northern German service is appalling.

It's because they're well-paid, valued employees who don't need to grovel for tips.

[Sebastian Cobb]

It's because they're well-paid, valued employees who don't need to grovel for tips.

Apparently when McDonalds opened in Moscow the staff were getting training on service with a smile and the general attitude was "why do we have to be polite? We're the ones with the burgers.".

[Chollis]

yeah, it's NZ/Canada/Scandis. Denmark usually ranks high on these lists doesn't it?

[Crenners]

Countries with essentially no culture are apparently the best. Might be something in that.

[Ferris]

*ferris enters thread rubbing his hands together*

[Sebastian Cobb]

yeah, it's NZ/Canada/Scandis. Denmark usually ranks high on these lists doesn't it?

Always nationalistic northern europeans and settler colonies.

[Ferris]

It's NZ/Denmark though isn't it? I prefer Canada to the UK by a fair distance and as a society it is kinder and fairer, but I don't think we're top of the totem.

[imitationleather]

"What is the best country to be a white person in?"

[Ferris]

"What is the best country to be a white person in?"

Oh yeah fair enough we probably do have that sewn up.

[idunnosomename]

I always think it's a sign of an advanced country when there's white people everywhere and they've moved the indigenous peoples to their own special reservations

[kngen]

Japan, because they've pretty much stopped reproducing, and have locked themselves away in tiny capsules with lots of toys and stuffed animals waiting for the world to end (and that's just the middle-aged salary men).

[Sebastian Cobb]

Japan, because they've pretty much stopped reproducing, and have locked themselves away in tiny capsules with lots of toys and stuffed animals waiting for the world to end (and that's just the middle-aged salary men).

I reckon the Chinese Tang Ping movement is more my speed.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

There's no utopia on the planet for you to live in. Every country has its own unique set of problems, and thinking that such a place exists where everything is better is only going to get you in trouble and make you unhappy. Grass is greener etc. You may as well move to an uninhabited Hebridean island and declare yourself King.

[Sebastian Cobb]

You may as well move to an uninhabited Hebridean island and declare yourself King.

That'll be way more appealing once starlink is fully operational.

[shoulders]

It's because they're well-paid, valued employees who don't need to grovel for tips.

And this goes for Eastern Europe as well, does it?

[Ferris]

You may as well move to an uninhabited Hebridean island and declare yourself King.

Would unironically love this. Piano and a couple of guitars, my homebrewing equipment, records, and games consoles (+ good wifi) and I'd be at it like a shot.

Row about my kingdom in the morning doing some fishing, bit of cooking, break out the ale by late afternoon, no one to ask me to do anything, music in the evenings, bed by 9pm, magic. I'd make some enquires to do this if I wasn't married plus child.

[dissolute ocelot]

Can't help think I'd be better off living in a lovably shit country, rather than somewhere full of self-righteous Nordic supermen (all the Danes I've met are pricks). Realistically, The Moon sounds a good option.

(Pretty much everywhere seems full of racists and covid deniers, even Scandinavia and the Netherlands, so it's probably all shit.)

[Ferris]

Can't help think I'd be better off living in a lovably shit country, rather than somewhere full of self-righteous Nordic supermen (all the Danes I've met are pricks). Realistically, The Moon sounds a good option.

(Pretty much everywhere seems full of racists and covid deniers, even Scandinavia and the Netherlands, so it's probably all shit.)

You could move to Ferristopia. Set up a shed on the other side of the island and be the man Friday to my Robinson Crusoe.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Ferris, if you ever get to the island, would you consider employing me as a farmhand? I am excellent at shovelling shit, and require only modest accomodations.