It was one of the reasons I left academia. I doubled my pay within two years.

Cost of living is significantly lower, and the social safety net means you don’t need as much anyway.

My gut feel is wages are so much higher in the US because everyone is responsible for looking after themselves if life turns on them, so you’re obliged to stockpile wealth in case you’re suddenly jobless or have a giant medical or education bill to contend with.

I found succession easier to watch from the second season onwards. Something about season 1 made me very uncomfortable, I’m not sure if it’s the program that changed after that, or maybe I got used to the style of it.

Guessing it could be venomous sounds pretty reasonable. Being locked in an enclosed space with an unknown Australian snake? No thanks.