Mark Dowd

Came across this article regarding life downunder:

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.p.../article/2946/

So is Oz really more like Kath & Kim than Neighbours? Do the brighter natives have a tendency to up sticks and move away from Oz? If Australia is so great, why do so many Australians live in the UK?

Just for balance, here's the reply to the original article:

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.p.../article/2965/

For lighthearted purposes only - no soap boxes please

Scott

maybe should post in " the Barbie "

i like Kath n Kim btw

Pollyana

Its on its way there now.....

emmyjc1

I think that kath and kims surrounding reflect the surroundings but not the people! I love kath and kim thou!

Buzzy--Bee

Whenever I say to people in the UK that I'm emigrating to Melbourne they say "Where Neighbours is filmed" and I always reply - "...and more importantly, Kath and Kim".

I love Kath and Kim.

"Quantity time, Sharon, Quantity time, not quality time..."

"Why can't you just forget about me sleeping with the Bolton twins, Kim, I mean, I've forgotten about it...."

Excellent stuff.

Buzzy

Dolly

I love Kath and Kim, I can't wait for the new series to start.

As for it reflecting life in Australia, I'm sure its just as accurate as Eastenders, where everyone leaves school and goes to work in the "market".

Centurion

I think if the original author of the article had ever bothered to come to Australia then perhaps he might have a different perspective, rather than basing an article on his experience of having walked into one of the rather tacky and shit Walkabout bars once.

As to Germain Grearer being "cerebral", I think thats a typo - it should read "poisonous bitter hag".

elmtree

Kath & Kim quotes:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272397/quotes

Vash the Stampede

emmyjc1 said it best: "I think that kath and kims surrounding reflect the surroundings but not the people!"

Do you believe that Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale accurately reflect British life and British people?

Well then.

Some do. Others remain at home. And the majority of those who do move (such as myself), return home after a few years.

As the reply accurately observes:
That puts it into perspective, don't you think?

Because contrary to the popular stereotype, we know quite a lot about the world outside Australia, and have a great desire to experience it for ourselves. That's why we have such a reputation for international backpacking.

Nevertheless, we still call Australia home.

I assume from your questions that you haven't visited Australia either. My advice would be to reserve judgement until you've had a chance to experience it for yourself.

PS. I have attached two photos. The first is my house in the UK. The second is my house in Australia.

Where do you think I'd rather be living?

Buzzy--Bee

Errr the West Midlands, judging from where you actually live!

Buzzy

Vash the Stampede

Well, that's beyond my control at present...

MartinLuther

It makes a great base for exploring other parts of Europe.

Also it's quite easy to get a decent job regardless of your level of expertise.

Hutch

Funny actually ... I've been waiting for this article to get mentioned on this site. I did a response to the article for another web site (no soap box) ... which I cut and paste below.

The greatest strength of the Internet is also its greatest weakness - anyone can publish anything. For every well written article there are several terabytes of shite out there too. With that thought in mind - have a read of this. Finished? Great. What did you think? Now I'm no apologist for Australia - I recognise that this country is not some sun-kissed utopia, but even the most anti-Australian Oz-hater would surely agree that Patrick West's 'article' has all the journalistic rigour of a misunderstood 14 year old's diary entry. West has come to the earth-shattering conclusion that life in Australia is not like Neighbours. Hold the front page! All these years I've been labouring under the delusion that a trip to a beach in California would entail giving the brush-off to pneumatic female life-savers jogging through the surf in slow motion with their pendulous breasts heaving up and down in skin-tight red swimming costumes (god how I miss Baywatch). And what does Mr West base this extraordinary theory on? Apparently he's got pissed with a couple of Aussies and thus arrived at the conclusion that "Australians are some of the most coarse, racist people on earth."

It's clever stuff though. Not content with rubbishing an entire nation based on a drunken conversation in his local Walkabout boozer, West then poses this stunning question - "If Australia is so great, why do so many Australians come and live over here?" Apparently it's not because of job opportunities in their field of expertise, a desire to travel, a need to explore their ancestors roots or marrying a Brit (by way of just a few examples), but because "Australia is not the paradise it is portrayed to be on Neighbours." Wow! According to West, Jon Pilger, Clive James and Germaine Greer all left Australia because Harold Bishop didn't run the local coffee shop.

I suppose the recent news headlines about the number of Brits fleeing blighty for foreign shores escaped his attention. Over 190,000 Britons left the UK last year and since only a small percentage of that figure ever return, we can only presume that the vast majority of people understand that life is rarely as portrayed in soap operas. Are there 'coarse' and 'racist' Australians? Of course. Are most of them 'coarse' and 'racist'. Of course not. You want 'coarse' and 'racist', canvas the opinions of a few caucasians in Bradford, hang out on the terraces during a football match, have a quiet word with a skaffolder in London. Better still, base an article on something other than a throwaway comment by an expat Australian hack and a night on the piss. Nothing like Neighbours? Nothing like journalism more like.

emmyjc1

'No Brett you want the best house on the worse street so you can lord it over people!'

Vash the Stampede

"Buh-kerk...!"

"What's that, Kim?"

"Buh-kerk, Mum. You're chooky!"