You really think your average parent is unaware of the fact that drugs are in issue, in every country in the world?

I have never been anti australian....I am due to move there soon.

What I am against is anti UK posts. I only post in response to those but then I get attacked for it

this forum has descended into banality recently. We do not seem able to discuss anything as adults

G

One thing that I find truly amazing, and its only just occurred to me because of this thread, is the amount of crap-bashing the Australian media cops at the hands of the whingers on this forum but boy they love to use it when things like this article come about???

I find the percentages interesting, especially as it means that there are twice as many people in the UK using E as there are in Oz!

But three times the population.

G

That's not strictly true though is it mate? You quite regularly post cheaky little links about something negative that's happened/happening in Oz! Like this, this, this and this (just a small cross-section). I understand why you do it, you think we all wear rose-tinted specs, but the fact is that posts like those and the OP's do not seem designed to inform, but merely to inflame.

Grayling. I think I can put this to rest and solve the Australia Lifestyle 'Question' - the powderkeg of BE.

There are always people that post knowing there will be 'trouble' - (surely they must know).

I don't see Vash as a spin doctor, he just puts most things into perspective so that the 'Oh My God' posters don't panic people unnecessarily. He does, in fact, recognise Australia's downfalls and quibbles - eg airfares. I've got a lot of time for Vash. Vash actually uses facts and interpretation reasonably well and puts a good personal slant on it. I've been impressed with some of his posts. Nothing wrong with Google - even Mr Stanton had a penchant for it.MrsD is also good value - I love it when she posts, and says something like "Yes, you CAN get it here" reducing 100 whinging poms to nothing in a second(!) You can't beat experience.

The only 'glossed up' posters are people who are in honeymoon periods talking about @2006 "BBQs and dolphins" (Can I trademark this?). We can disregard these and enjoy them for what they are.

We can also disregard "the UK is pits" posts for the following reasons:

i) Most people just fancy a move to Australia ultimately. They know the UK is not all bad, it probably got them to where they are now. All the people who talk about Blair and all his tossers probably don't *really* care. By talking political it gives them some credence and a bit of credibility. Most of it is hot air. They've seen a nice little lifestyle pull and fancy a slice of it. I don't blame them to an extent.
ii) Not all people are like you and me, with a nice little house in a nice area. Some people do have not so nice lifestyles and a move to Australia with the FX multiplier might well be a godsend. I say "get over here - where the bloody hell are you?". I don't blame them.
iii) Most people know that aussie is not perfect and say as such.

This leaves a small minority which, well, we'll discount.

Grayling - we're all just as bad, I mean you tend to post every time someone posts negatively about the UK just how nice your little house in the Lake District is, and you often post newspaper articles yourself. So maybe you are the counter spin doctor for the UK which makes you as bad as Vash.

In the same way, I post when someone says all Australians are suburbanites and all do x, y and z. Essentially we are saying we don't all live like x percent of the perceived population. But we know a lot who do! I know not everybody can get to live on acreage/semi-rural/near a city at any price, you know full well not everybody can afford to live in a little house in the Lake District.

So these counter arguments will always be circular.

So, if you take the tit for tat postings out, and the people like yourself and me who are explaining there are people who are exceptions to the rule, you're only left with 'troublemakers'.

The 'troublemakers' have to learn to be a bit more cool with their posts and then we can discuss in an adult fashion. If someone posted a newspaper article and actually did a decent critique of it with their own opinion instead of "Ha Look what I found" there would be less emotion...eh Jad!

It's emotion and type that get people, not the content.

So basically I think we can accept posts from everyone. But ultimately you have to be responsible for your own posts - and you have to accept all the baggage that goes with it - lol. Might as well keep to facts.

And, also, newspaper articles can be just plain wrong....even if the stats are not the interpretation can be out of wack.

cheers

Badge

And those examples you have given exactly illustrate my point.....they are the sort of things that those slagging off the UK post.

Ie. about crime, PC,yobs drugs etc.etc.

If you look you will also find things about health services, immigrants, benefits etc.

So it is OK to post such things about the UK but some sort of crime to post the same about Australia

G

I would not argue with that Badge...and I have always made it clear why I do it

G

I was merely picking up on your statement that you only post in response - the links above are all original threads by you, seemingly in response to nothing but your perceived idea that this forum's full of rabidly anti-UK posters.

Like I said - the vast majority of times, people only post those threads about the UK in response to threads like yours and OPs and I fully stand behind what I said just now - they seem designed to inflame, not inform.

Grayling mate, I agree with Hutch, (who incidentally I think is one of the more astute posters on here in recent times).

Your're not stupid but you know that you are as much to blame as the rest of us.(!) You've been attacked, (and not that often, because you have a good case generally) because you've added to the melting pot!

cheers

Sometimes it is full of anti-uk posters.

There are plenty who start slagging off the UK in their first post so you can hardly claim it is response to posts like mine.

When I post an original thread it is usually at one of the frequent times when a group of posters are working themselves up into a frenzy about something in the UK such as PC or 'immigrants'.

There is one developing nicely at the moment http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363666

I could post a lot worse things if I wanted to....but choose not to.

G

Everytime posts an article - especially a cut and paste they are asking for trouble because unless they qualify why they posted it, its interpreted as a pre-emptive strike not a counter, because noone keeps count of the score.

Cut and pastes are dangerous without qualification (!)

So could we all ... so could we all ...

Is this when we all break into 'The Circle of Life' from The Lion King?

Incidentally ... I happened to chance upon the most heinous piece of news from the UK. It's shocking in the extreme so reader discretion is advised.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4848670.stm