The regional variations in crime levels make the stats irrelevant. Someone moving from Moss Side to Bondi will be better off as would someone moving from Cabramatta to Surrey.

As long as Mike is not abusing anyone I cannot see the problem.

Grayling

I am intrigued. I note that many of your posts support and reflect the downsides of Oz, and you are saying you have just got a visa to come to live here. Whilst i accept that having a balanced view, and not going to a place starry eyed is very sensible, i can't help but wonder why you are going!! Do you personally have any positive experiences of Oz?

Actually its quite normal for someone who’s just returned here from Oz to be negative about Oz for the first few weeks, its called reassurance, we need to reassure ourselves we have made the right move by emphasizing the negatives about the place we have just left. Mike lived in Sydney for 12+ years and thinks he knows all of Australia

Mike is no different than the rest of us that have returned “home�, the sad thing is with Mike is that he should really be out “strolling through quaint villages� and “listening to the gentle melodic sounds of the birds� as he “walks through woods and across commons� just like PB does now, rather than sitting at home in front of a computer averaging over 8 posts a day on an expats forum.

No doubt his post rate will slow after the initial reassurance time as he gets out more and enjoys a little more of our culture and our long summer evenings and actually begins to get a life here.

Is that not right Mike ?

(I dont usually get into these sort of discussions, but just wanted to point out something about "facts")

Grayling, my mother & father lived in the same house for 50 years until last year, no form of security (eg screens etc) & never had a car stolen or a house break-in. Ive never had a car stolen, lived here all my life. Lived in an absolute dive of a suburb for 12 years & got broken into once (no security). None of my immediate family (mum/dad, 4 siblings/inlaws & 8 nieces & nephews all my age) have ever has a car stolen. Nor have they ever had their houses broken into. Fact.

So whos "fact" is more "factual"? (& thats a rhetoric question of course )

Like BP says, its all relevant, but like a lot feel NOT ON HERE!!!

People can use their own search engines to find their own statistics loaded in whichever direction they choose Mike. Go out into the great British countryside and get yourself the life you crave and leave us dreamers to it

And stop shit stirring, surely you kind find something better to do in the cultured country you live in, go to a museum where they have stuff over 200 hundred years old, thats great that is

Mike started this post as a response to a quote in another thread

"I dont know whether it's true but I've heard there are no 'bad' areas in Oz like there is here in the uk..."

Surely people thinking that need to be put straight?

You don't have to agree with opinions on here, but why do people need to resort to personal attacks when they disagree with a poster?

Jane

I wasn't saying i didn't agree.

And as for personal attacts, that wasn't one, it was very tounge in cheek as Mike would know. He is a stirrer and openly admits it on the "returning to UK forum".

I wasn't really referring to you, you just happened to be the last poster before me!

Some other posters on the thread were personally attacking (or even attacting ) Mike. Sorry, I just don't get it.

Jane

i thought cos i was the last poster, you thought... yeah yeah!!

Know what you mean, but Mike can sure dish it, he should be able to take it

PS, sorry for the spelling, but the dyslexia hits in waves (at least it didn't read ad attracted, now that would have been:scared: )

Judgmentalism is a 20's and 30's preoccupation - tends to lessen with age.

Stirring to inform ~OK, unloading personal fleas NOK.

But better, having identified a problem, to suggest solutions - eg WHAT TO DO about crime.

Now Stanton: how were you affected by crime, how did you, or in hind sight, how would you avoid it?

Me? Had my post box smashed once, broken into once in Balmain - an electric tool stolen.

I think the important thing to remember is that all areas are different.

When I lived in Sydney Western suburbs, we heard Police sirens all the time. (well, not ALL the time, but very often )

Now we live up here in my little corner of the Bayside, things seem a bit different. I did hear a Police Siren recently, about 4 or 5 weeks ago I think, and it really suprised me, not having heard one for about a year !!!

This weeks Crime Reports in our local paper show:
- TV set stolen from Local school
- Game Boy stolen after house break in
- 4 Tyres slashed on car parked outside house
- Fence outside house graffitted
and the big one:.......
- House break in, Laptop Computer, DVD's and PC stolen !!!

But thats just my area, Victoria Point. In another local suburb the house occupants actually came face to face with a burglar !!

That's a good point Meg.

And I suppose, partly subconciously, thats how I have handled all my problems with Australia.
I moved around, and found a Place I really like !!

My argument with Mikes posts is that he generalises, as if Australia is all the same.

The new readers here need to be made aware that different parts of Australia can be VERY different.
eg: Cabramatta NSW is very different to Victoria Point QLD !!

We had an estate agent round last night and she was telling me about an incident with her boss' son last week. It was on the news apparantly. A colleague had picked the son up from school and was driving home through Spring Hill when the car was hijacked :scared:. The son had a gun put to his head and they were ordered out of the car. The thieves then drove off. The guy had to have a week off work he was so traumatised.

Now I know that this is a rare occurence, but its still scarey that this can happen in the middle of the day in Brisbane city. Crime happens everywhere.

Jane

Lucky it was,nt Johanesburg or RIO, they would have shot him.......mm

Car Jacking of certain types of car has increased in Sydney. The cars they go for are the ones that are pretty impossible to nick because of immobilisers and new security systems. Easier to bypass all of that and get the owner to hand over the keys.

MILs neighbours were burgled recently. So far I have never been a victim either here or in the UK.