Oliver Bennett

Hello everyone, My name is Oliver Bennett and I'm writing a piece for the Sunday Times (UK) about the great British exodus. We're trying to pin down the reasons why so many people seem to be leaving the UK at the moment - analysing the 'push' as well as the 'pull'. I'm seeking comment on this matter, however brief, such as: why did you leave? What do you miss, what don't you miss? Anyone fed up and going home? If anyone wants to get in touch I'm at [email protected] - or post your thoughts here. Full names are preferable if that's okay. We're aiming for a serious piece that addresses the phenomenon.

I will also need a couple of case studies - that is, people willing to have a short interview and potentially a photograph. If that's you, then get in touch.

Many thanks for all your help. Yours, Oliver

antjen

Hi,

I am not britsh, but my husband is. We have been married for 5 years and i have lived in the UK for 5 years. The reason why we decided to move to the States is because the house prices were getting too expensive there and our jobs seemed to be dead end jobs. The only way that we would be able to improve ourselves is move from our 3 bedroom rented detached house to a small apartment in a bigger city where the work normally paid better. So we thought, since we aren't happy there, we have now got to give America a chance and see how things fair here. Plus the beach is just 30 mins away and the mountain is about an 1hr. Different lifestyle as i feel we can be more active. Plus there is so much more of a variety of fast food * that sounds silly, but when you come home from work and you can't be bothered to cook, heck... it's a good enough reasons.* i don't know how we will do here, but we are both young and we don't have a family, so we might as well give it a shot.

Best of luck with your article. This is just my opinion and our reasons we have decided to move. But boy do i miss my sunday roast!

Jen

garfro

wanna buy my house in orange county? i need to get back to the UK
Garth

callé

lol! How about sunny Florida? nice 4 bed, large den, 2 bath for sale.
a house does not make a home. many people soon find out that a bigger home only seems more empty when its not where your heart is.

Glaswegian

Apologies for my comments here not really being true to this forum ... I saw this and felt inclined to comment.

So the UK acknowledges that there is a great exodus?? That's interesting all by itself.

1997's election results and the changes to the UK that resulted.

Don't miss anything ... the happiest day of my life was when I got on the plane and flew to Canada.

Your sample will be biased by the forum you're posting this in - most posters here are heading home, admittedly I'm not one of them.

Sorry, I ticked the box for no publicity ....

Pollyana

Never fear, he has plenty of fodder for his interview from all points of view, on the Oz forum..........

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=255033

tearingmyhairout

Left because of a good opportunity. Didn't intend to like it (actually intended to take advantage of the financial incentives while in the US to get a better house on our return to the UK). We actually love it, and don't want to return because of happier people, sunnier climate, more affordable everything, feeling like I'm being paid for all those years at university, children being allowed to be children (not that we have any yet!), not having to battle with traffic to do the shopping, waking up every morning knowing people are going to ask "how are you doing?" and smile at me, feeling like I can make it if I really want to, knowing we can live on one income when the time comes, not having to wait 3 months to see a specialist at the hospital... The list goes on. I would never have considered moving here, or even coming on vacation before my husband was offered the job here. However, since being here and experiencing it all fist hand, despite the politics, the place is great, and we are healthier, happier people here. One downside - you have to drive everywhere, so we miss the pubs in Blighty, but we don't miss the smoke in them!

Pulaski

Ditto!

Pulaski

I guess that you didn't see this then, on the BBC's web site back in April of this year. Interesting reading, and you and I are part of the phenomenon.

I just love the quote ".... The idea that, for a large number of people, Britain is a country not worth living in is quite hard to grasp." ....Not by me it isn't.

bodmin13

When we went back for a holiday in April it amazed me that there was a tv show on BBC 2 about couples immigrating, not just immigrating but the show was paying them to go for a few weeks, followed them trying to settle in then giving them the option of plane tickets home if they can't hack it. It seems like they are trying to push us out.

iaink

I could have posted this, but you beat me to it!

SarasotaRealtor

Hi Oliver:

I live in Sarasota, Florida and have many clients wanting to move to Florida in particular.

I am a Realtor here, and specialize in selling businesses under the E2 Business Visa Program.

Under this program immigrants can stay in the U.S. if they purchase a business that fits a certain criteria that is approved by the U.S. Government.

It is interesting in the sense that a lot of U.K. people are very cautious in what they pay for the business (and rightly so), but tend to throw caution to the wind when buying a home.

I had one gentleman who nickel and dimed a busines owner, and ended up paying $116,000 for a business allowing him to live in the U.S. and I later heard he paid $600,000 for a new home.

Their choice obviously but I often wonder if they have heard the word called leverage.

I would be pleased to give you more details or examples.

Regards.
John Andrews
Horizon Realty, Sarasota, Florida
Phone: 941-373-0854
Website: www.floridae2business.com

Lydia_700

I’ve been a lurker on this site for quite a while and have only posted a couple of times, but on the European thread. I’m an expat myself, and have lived in France for nearly three years now but am totally hooked on reading about those who are in the process of emigrating or about those who are coming back to the UK. I find it fascinating.

Sometimes I do get terribly homesick and ache for my native country, but being just a short hop away across the Channel I am lucky enough to be able to nip back from time to time and get a ‘fix’ of what it is I’m missing. I find that after about a week or so though I am more than happy to be waving goodbye to the cliffs of Dover once more.

So anyway, I’d like to add my two bobs worth to the debate and give the reasons my husband and I felt impelled to leave Blighty:

It’s overcrowded and will only get worse. By the time I’m of retirement age the population will have doubled. Resources are stretched now and I dread what it will be like in say 10 years time.

It’s dirty and there seems to be a general lack of national pride about the environment.

Roads are congested and the government’s anti-car stance is ridiculous unless they invest money in making the public transport systems better. People will stick to their cars all the time the transport system is dirty, dangerous, overcrowded and expensive.

There’s the yob culture and the general underlying feeling of aggression simmering just under the surface in many of the bigger towns. Of course there are still sleepy little villages out in the country, but they tend to be very expensive and not everyone can afford to live in idyllic places such as those.

I find it depressing to witness the dumbing down of the English language and culture. On TV or radio now it’s normal to hear a presenter who doesn’t seem to realise that ‘th’ is not pronounced like ‘f’ and people also seem to have forgotton how to use the past tense, i.e. we was watching telly. A small point and it may seem snobbish to some but to me it just represents a general decline in the standards of society. Crikey I sound like a real ol’fogey, but what the hey, in for a penny, in for a pound.

Then there’s the compensation culture; anything that happens to a person is always someone else’s fault and nobody seems to want take responsibility for themselves and for what they do. That leads me on to political correctness; criminals are treated better than victims, minorities given more support and rights than majorities, etc., etc.

Tony Blair, materialism, the asylum seekers debacle, the state of the health service. I could go on but I really think it’s about time I called it a day

MikeStanton

I agree with (part) of what you say : especially the bit about congestion.

Suggesting a doubling of population is ridiculous - especially given that UK's population growth rate is very low. Of course, you may not retire until you're ~2000+ years old.

The issue of ageing population is a huge problem for the western world. Some counties, eg France and Scandinavian countries have a social time-bomb : their overly generous welfare systems need to paid-for by their shrinking tax base. And, having worked some years in in both UK and France, France's entrepreneurial activity (which would enhance its tax revenue) is hardly world-beating I've worked for the European Commission - and it successfully turned me from being pro-EU to anti-EU. It is an out-of-control bureaucracy and a great stifler of economic activity.

Does poor pronunciation indicate a general decline in society? I don't think so. Any more than the destruction of Jewish cemetries in France means that the 6 million Muslims in France are raving, suicidal bomb-wearing fanatics.

Whichever way you look at it, the English language has been incredibly successful - no matter how it's spoken (by the way, the 'proper' way to speak English has only existed for ~150 years; so it's a new phenomenon.)

Both France and UK have a lot of good and bad points. Vive la difference!

dugongs

I agree with most that you say especially the cost of public transport in the UK which is a bloody joke frankly. Luckily I live in a very nice town in Surrey.

Does all these negatives make me want to go and pay the silly taxation levels in France. No. Does it make me determined to vote for anyone but Blair in the next election. Yes.