Would you rather live in Britain or Switzerland?

None of the writers of Next Left - and perhaps only a small proportion of our readers - are today the position of wondering whether an additional 10 pence in the pound on earnings over £150,000 will tempt us to leave Blighty and take up residence overlooking Lake Geneva.

But we would like to help those that are grappling with that dilemma.

So please help us to put together reasons why (even if we were the super-rich ourselves) we would rather live in Britain.

I hope that we can make this pro-Britain rather than anti-Switzerland. It is simply that Switzerland has been most often mentioned as the probable destination, Some have been rude about the Swiss in the past, most famously Orson Welles in The Third Man:

"You know what the fellow said—in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

But no doubt there are many good things about Switzerland which are somewhat more heart-warming than its lower tax rates and opportunities for tax avoidance: the lakes, the chocolate, the skiing, and the employment opportunities in international organisations. Here's a reminder of some famous Swiss too.

But might there be even better things about Britain? If you were super-wealthy, might you just think it worth a few extra thousand pounds a year to stick around.

Your ideas please - but I'll kick this off with some quick initial thoughts.

1. Much as we love Roger Federer, we prefer to watch him at Wimbledon. The football's probably better too.

2. Its just more interesting. Especially our cities: London is where most of the top earners live. But also Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol. And Oxford and Cambridge. And the countryside. And Cornwall, the Lake District and the Welsh coast. We'd miss all of that.

3. Arts and culture. Theatre. And indie pop. And telly. Heidi was a big hit here. But we would miss the comedy especially.

4. Food. We couldn't have said that thirty years ago. But now we've got one of the best restaurant scenes in Europe. Bread and cheese is great too. But could you trade in the fry-ups, curry, fish and chips and the Sunday Roast?

5. And we remain proud of the role this country played, with others, in defeating European fascism during the second world war. We continue to remember the sacrifices made to do that. And we're proud of the welfare state we all contribute to as well.

But please share your reasons you would rather live in Britain than Switzerland. Or your reasons why Switzerland would do it for you.

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