Mine is based in seeing the difference in my mothers care when she had cancer there to what she receives in Germany, it's the only reason she's still alive. And for me personally going through some major appointments in both UK and Canada, it's streets ahead for me. My mum was a nurse in the NHS, she has nothing good to say

Well so was I... but I'm not getting into this argument though. Anecdata just doesn't work as evidence..

What is anecdata?
Honestly I respect your point of view. I hold a different one that's all

Suggesting that a personal experience can be used as data or evidence.

I know the nhs has it's faults and is under resourced by the percentage the government gives of it's GDP to it. It needs some serious input of cash and the government needs to stop trying to destroy it, but nevertheless it remains at number one...

NHS is the world's best healthcare system, report says | Society | The Guardian

But there is still much variation. In my early years here our net income after housing costs was virtually the same as after housing costs in the UK. The difference being that my income in the UK was for me only, while here it was a family of four.

And while in England I had holidays abroad - approx £1000 a year - that I didn't have in Canada, annual electricity/heating costs here were then $2.8k. I was paying £360 a year in Bristol.

I can imagine. Fortunately all that stuff happened when the kids were younger and before I met them. At 11 and 13 they were already well versed in all that.

And a very accurate one it is. But sometimes something similar can be achieved by lowering costs, instead, in a way that couldn't be lowered in the UK short of going to live in a ditch or something.

Our bills have gone up though!!! I guess it depends on what part of Canada you move to though..

The experiences of family and close friends with the NHS over the last 5-10 years lead me to agree with this statement. I've been appalled at what some of them have had to endure, leading to death in a couple of cases.


so I guess Tirytory and I also have to agree to disagree

Hi mate,
Yeah I know Scotstoun. Grew up in Clydebank so pretty much right next door. (bypassing sunny Yoker lol)
I used to get shipped off to my grans at a young age on the no.64 bus to Carmyle every Saturday, and liked looking out for that car outside the row of shops (the one with the signs/inflatables/balloons on it? ha)


Glad to hear you have had a positive experience. My wife and I visited / recce'd Edmonton and Leduc back in 2009. Didn't have much to dislike about it from what we seen.

I am aware not to be drawn too much into these forums / people's opinions on here, as you said we all come from different backgrounds and had very different experiences in the UK. I'd like to see what some would say about kids upbringing when comparing life in a town in Ontario to some schemes in Clydebank i.e. Faifley, Whitecrook etc lol.

Was that shop the old Scotstoun Emporium lol?
There was one in Whiteinch as well next to that mini centre that had the front half of a mini sticking out of the wall haha.

Our playground in the early 80's were the old rail lines,and shut down steel mills along the Clyde,then we moved onto the scaffolding when they were renovating lots of the old council tenements lol,a HUGE change from the fields and sand cliffs of Stewarton.

I find the south side of Edmonton is pretty quiet,it feels more like living in a town with the convenience of living in a city,ie everything is nearby,the north side of the city is not quite as nice and a lot more busy.

My kids love it here,they enjoy school and have settled in pretty well,my oldest was awarded a ski trip(everything included) to rocky mountain house back in March for being one of the top two pupils in her school,we moved house,changed the kids school and the school called us asking if we would still let her go! Obviously we did,imagine how a 10 year old girl from Scotland felt going on her first ski trip at the Rockies!!!

We have been to the Rockies,Elk Island,Jurassic Forrest,Drumheller dinosaur museum,shooting,hunting,off roading,camping way up North near the Rockies,the change in life has honestly been amazing.

I was lucky that I had work arranged before I came over and my company is one of the largest of its type in the world,it also has a work force that the majority of are approaching retirement.

Great!

But you could say that about two different towns in Ontario and conversely in the UK too. You don't have to make a transatlantic move to find a nicer area even within the realms of budget. Of course if you want to do it, you should if the risk benefit weighs up but the above argument is faulty especially if you choose to come to Ontario where there isn't much difference in housing costs or household expenditure, and imo it's higher here.

I suspect anyone gains the most if you choose a province that is actually cheaper than where you live now with a better salary..

Of course, that doesn't mean that "anecdata" can't be used as data or evidence.

I think most people on a forum understand that what they are getting is the opinions and experience of a small sample of people. However, that small sample of people is a larger sample than they're likely to find elsewhere - that's why they come to a forum in the first place. They place more value on a story when the storyteller seems to be in a similar situation to themselves - e.g. in terms of socioeconomic situation, age, occupation, family situation, personal experiences, geography, etc. It's up to each reader to decide what value to place on each story they read.

Much of what appears on the forum is much more than anecdata. For example, the process for things like work permits, permanent residence, citizenship, etc. Even then, there's still a wide spectrum between anecdotal information that may not apply to the reader and hard facts that pretty much apply across the board. Again, it's up to the reader to filter the info and assign a value to it in terms of their own situation.

Anecdata may not always be hard data that applies across the board - but it's not always the opposite either.

Eh? We were talking very specifically about the NHS.. Nothing else.

Well, the thread has been more than about the NHS and in fact started off as something else. Very few threads on this forum are about one thing.

But let's talk about the NHS. You provided a link in stating that the NHS is number one. Well, there are others who contend that France or the Netherlands is best in Europe or that Japan is best in the world.

So if different respected bodies and healthcare professionals can't even agree on the world's best health system, is that really data? Or is it just more anecdata?

Did you read it? And I'm presuming you can provide links of these other reports otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned them... I'm interested..

Generally I think the Scandanavian countries are the way to go... If only my husband could practice medicine there.