I love my country ENGLAND
 

I have always wanted to go home,the holdback was I always had pets and would not leave them,also I had work out here.
I am in Qld,the weather is perfect,I love the cold and rain and wood fire,but come October,it is hell for 6 months,the heat is unbearable,seems to affect you when you are older.
My husband is Australian and coming with me,we have lived all over Australia.
The food here is terrible and so expensive,last time I went home,I did not find much difference in prices,and you do not have the range of stuff here like in UK.
The happiest day of my life will be when the plane arrives at Heathrow,be it rain hail or snow.ps My pets are going with me.,now that pets passport is in.

Over the last twenty years (from the period 1985 to the now) GDP per person in Britain has increased at a faster rate than in any other country in the G7. ie the wealth per person has increased at a faster rate in Britain than in the USA, japan, germany, france, italy or canada. Thats a fact. Hardly a sign of a country thats had its day.....


ps good luck with the move back pomijean :)

What's a fact? How about the distribution of this wealth in real terms (eg. how did it help the girl with the baby who asks for a few pence on the tube) instead of this GDP per person economist crap?

And to make this post talk too much and say little here's some bollox for the chippy.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me...

Re: i love my country
 

The only time I was truly ashamed to be British was when I was living in Italy as a student. When the Heysel Stadium disaster happened, (39 Italians died), suddenly to be English was an embarrassment, even the laundry woman would spit on the ground when I passed and my 3 Italian flatmates (all nice girls) were a bit rude and nasty to me. I became an honorary Australian for a few months whenver anyone asked me my nationality!

Of course, I am also often ashamed to see the terrible behaviour and attitudes of some of my compatriots. Luckily a minority bu there seem to be more British idiots/ bigots than many other nationalities.

why must it be judged by wealth?People are just money obsessed.Maybe people have more monies in the UK but the quality of live is poor now.I have lived all over,and all over the UK and these last few years in Blighty go down as been the worst of all.Attitude of people and the way of life has all gone down hill.Looking at it from my parents perspective and i can see why they really feel bitter at the changes.....not changes in anything other than peoples attitude to others.Its pretty much a care-less society.(compared to what it was of course:( )

England is fantastic, but its either far too small OR their are far too many people here, you just have to que everywhere, shops roads banks. And if the weather is nice then you cant get to the nice places and park unless you got up at 5AM !!

We have spent a few months in Oz of the last couple of years and have also been to Canada several times and each time we returned to the Uk we felt suffocated, and that was from the moment you have to fight for your suitcase at baggage reclaim at heathrow...

Wherever you live you have bills to pay, you have to work, you have to pay taxes, buy food educate your kids and generally get on with life...there is no eutopia. But the fact is in Aus if your travelling 100ks it takes one hour 200ks take 2 hours... in the Uk you never no how long a journey will be.....you just no it will be a pain in the arse!!

And in Oz you can visit beaches where you wont see another sole.....and thats nearly eutopia, compared with sharing a beach with 250,000 people. Most of Oz is dessert but even the bits you can live are huge and unpopulated compared with the uk.

So if you want room to breath....go to Oz but dont expect life to be easy, cause life isnt easy anywhere, and even in Oz if you dont pay your bills they will repocess things!!!


:lecture: :scared: :confused: :D :zzz:

DESMUND
Stop talking crap
the phrase jumping out of a sinking ship was just a joke hence th '''only joking''' bit but never mind
on replies like yours calling me a bigot proves another contridiction on your behalf and that is trying to take away freedom of speech, why cant people have an opinion without abuse being hearled at them.
it seems you need to travel around a bit as you dont seem to be very wise.
How can you explain your theory, here where i live the asylum seekers all hang around together(which is fair enough) covered in gold all over there hands, expensive leather jackets, they have a house all payed for with no bills, mobile phones, and now they are given money to buy a car and that is a fact. try explaining your defense to the average brit who goes to work 6/7 days a week that has got a loan that he will probably be paying off for the next 10 years and cannot afford to go on holiday. this government only looks afer the outsiders, why do we still have homeless. you say about skilled, then why are they not working then and skilled at what.
you are the only person i have come across so far that has a good thing to say about asylem seekers. they should all be genuine not 'the majority' as you put it, it doesnt really matter anyway, good old England will take care of everyone and there problems. if you like living by the beach it will be a good thing soon because we will all be falling off the land because we are getting so over populated.

Hmmm!!!!! yeah right the uk becomes a better and better place every time another day goes by.... yeah right and pigs fly...

and to say that the Uk has the fastest growing GDP per person in the G7 states sounds like the government would say.. you may be very right in saying something like that.. but ever consider how they work that out?

total income of the whole country devided by everyone in it..
This doesn't mean every ones income is increasing.. which is very much the case..
if this is so how comes every one in my company got a paltry 1.2% wage increase and very much the norm in the sector I work.. if was so fantastic I should have been getting exactly the same as every one else i.e like the amazing public sector gets at timefor e.g the 16% (I will stand corrected) the fire fighters get and they still get way more than me..
Regional wealth and the gap between the poor and the rich is getting wider and wider.

But I have to agree the not every thing is bad about the uk but those things are steadily less.. transport tax and not just general tax.. local tax is on the big rise.. one friend in a certain burough had a whopping 24% increase for the yr.. and do you think his wage increase was reflected in that... standard of living took a major hit needless to say..

I could go on but to just say that the wealth of the uk is better is talking balls.. break it down and you will say its not a rosey picture..

Well just to give a brief synopsis on me.

I was born in Bournemouth, England in 1979. My family left for Australia in 1986 when my dad got offered an educational appointment. I was brought up, educated, and worked in Australia right up until the time of my graduation from university in 2001. I then I headed back to England to broaden my horizons and see Europe.

I live in the South, and have a fair paying job with good prospects. However after being here just over 2 years on I can't wait to leave. I won't deny that I’ve had a great time, and its been an experience I’ll never forget, but England isn’t Australia. I've travelled to most parts of Europe, but now I’ve most certainly had enough. "It was great while it lasted".

Fact, England is one of the most expensive countries to live in Europe. The wage vs cost of living is abysmal. The majority of the population seem to lead boring lives, and live for East Enders, Big Brother and Celebrity scandals so they can pretend their lives aren't so drab and boring. The weather is terrible, honestly who loves the cold, grey sky’s and rain? Don’t get me wrong I love the British people, I just think given the opportunity most would prefer to live somewhere else.

When someone asks me my nationality I proudly say Australian! Because from my experience it is the best country in the world.

James

Re: i love my country
 

I can see what you're saying but there has been a rather unfortunate tendency historically of persons proud to be British believing their culture and values are all positive things and will enhance other places... Many such places were not that keen to be enhanced by the British! And many indigenous people were not at all convinced that British culture and values were 'only a positive thing'...

I tend to the view that if anyone believes their country's culture/values are the pinnacle of where it's at in world terms then they should be expected to live there and put their money where their mouth is.:)

If you're off to Oz, one tip: Don't try too hard to 'enhance' it with British culture/values. The locals don't like it much and it won't win you any friends. Unsurprisingly, they're proud to be Australian too, whatever that means.

Re: I love my country ENGLAND
 

Qld too hot? You could have lived further south where its cooler. The food is just fine where I live in NSW, maybe you just cant cook. And just what food is it thats missing here? Granted the supermarkets in Uk are bigger and the freezer section full of lots of frozen stuff - which you will need to stock up the freezer for when its snowing and freezing and you cant get to the shops.
Your Australian husband will love that!

Good luck to you both on your return to UK I wish you a happy retirement.

Re: returning to UK
 

Quick question - how do you work out pensioners pay 50% in tax...please let me know. At last update to my knowledge top rate is 40% and No NI due on income after turning pension age.

If you are counting other aspects please state but there is no rate over 40% income tax level?

Cheers

It would be refreshing to meet an aussie that does'nt just repeat the same stuff about England. Is it printed in the Lonely Planet guide on Britain what you have to say ? Does'nt any aussies have their own opinions or are they one great big giant collective ?

I liked living in Oz for a time but would'nt rush to go back because one of the biggest problems for me was the shallow nature of the people. I really did feel that if you had met one aussie man and one woman you had met them all. They also seemed to all hold the view that they were some kind of world leading super country when from the perspective of somebody that had previously been educated and travelled the world they clearly are not.

I'm afraid I came to the conclusion that given the limited scope and relative isolation of life in oz most fail to understand Britain when they visit given the size and depth of society here and opportunities that exist in all walks of life.

Re: returning to UK
 

+GST?

pensioners tax
 

Go to www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk Form IR121 Note for every £2 of income over limit of (£18300) you will have £1 taken off the higher amount of your personal allowance i.e. 50% this only applies to over 65 year olds. Only three more trips to the dump the guys down there know me now.Got the corks and the hat ready to go. Yafms very patient other half "why cant she sell the house" she did work for estate agents for 8 years for gods sake.