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Comment by alkonaut | Hacker News Reader

When I look at the UK from Scandinavia, it seems to me that it's basically "50/50 continental Europe and the US".

Wage inequality, parental leaves, employment security, higher education etc.are decidedly "non-european" in the UK.

So yes when I talk about "Europe" in the context of "Europe vs US" I think the UK needs to be considered separately.

Yes, I'm Norwegian and moved to the UK, and it was a shock to see "US conditions" in Europe, and took a lot to get used to, even though the UK still have a lot of protections and welfare systems the US doesn't.

(to the Americans: In many European countries "US conditions" is commonly used in political discourse as a way of scaring voters with the image of chaos and suffering)

Shades of grey though; not entirely black and white. In the UK->Norway direction, it's surprising to have to pay to visit a doctor or specialist, not to mention paying painful retail price for medicines, even for children. (Yes, I know there's an annual cap etc., but still seems a bit weird compared to free-at-the-point-of-use and a flat prescription charge in the UK.) No NHS dentistry either. (Yes, I know NHS dentist availability is not what it once was in the UK! And there are subsidies for necessary children's treatment in Norway depending on severity.)

Wage inequality and higher education I agree with, but we do quite well with parental leave don't we (the UK)?

but we do quite well with parental leave don't we

Relative to the US, absolutely. Relative to Scandinavia, not really.

It'd be literally impossible to do worse than the US though.

I mean, we're talking about Europe as whole. The UK has the highest maternity though paternity is much worse but still better than quite a few EU countries.

> but we do quite well with parental leave don't we (the UK)

No. No you don't. :)

Maternity leave in the UK is the highest in the EU. Paternity is much less generous, though still better than a lot of other countries.

The new (2015) UK rules are more generous, but still not the "highest in the EU" (c.f Sweden's 480 paid days). Swedes also don't need to take it at full rate meaning you can e.g make it a 2 year leave with lower pay. That might be possible in the UK too. Typical Nordic is 12 month maternity + 6month paternity I.e until the child is 18months.

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