Is this Really an Issue?
 

After reading this BBC report on the Government's initiative regarding anti-social behaviour

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3188022.stm

why would anyone want to go back?

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

yes because it goes on in every country - and at least they are trying to do something about it in the UK.

from my experience noise from neighbours and other anti-social issues are not unique to uk.

certainly i feel that there is more power here in uk to deal with these issues than in other countries which usually pass the buck to mediators with few official powers.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Every place has problems flash. How about gambling amongst teenagers?After reading this report you might think, why would anyone want to live in canada?
http://www.canada.com/national/story...4-9D7D9AB85A4F
You must also be spectacularly blind not to notice the drug problems in parts of vancouver...blind or wilfully ignoring it. how about this?
http://www.canada.com/search/story.a...4-079726acd1c9

as it happens I don't judge a country on a cut and paste article...you might want to consider that:rolleyes:

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

I am well aware of these issues but I was merely pointing out that the anti-social behaviour in the UK seems to be especially severe when soccer fans are barred from entry into other countries and the Government has determined that the situation requires special attention in 10 areas of the country.

Seems to be more than isolated instances.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Agreed but here on NSW Central Coast Australia we have terrible problems, as with all Australia.

Been in Oz since 1997 and been a victim of crime more than once (robberies of car & home for drug money) and our current neighbours teenage children are running feral in the area, causing damage to property and cars.

Sometimes the sun and sea can blind us from this. Thank you for the link though.

I referred earlier to wilfully ignoring problems. Perhaps selective blindness might be a better description.

I have personally never experienced crime in the UK.

However whilst living in Perth WA, up in the hills, my house was burgled in broad daylight when I was at work. They smashed in my patio doors (A$ 1,500.00 to fix) and cleaned me out. The cops arrived at the scene 24 hours later said it was "kids", took off, and I never heard anything from them again.

A few weeks later my girlfriend in Mt. Lawley, Perth was burgled. They got in through the roof and took everything that was not nailed down including some very expensive jewelry.

Sometime after that an estate agent friend of mine was found murdered in Fremantle. He had been bludgeoned to death by a demented transvestite!

Basically, Flashman, as they say in your part of the world "S**t happens"

What gets me though, after spending many years abroad in various countries, is an attitude that many ex-pats develop, including you.

You have to justify to yourself your decision to emigrate by knocking your native country. You are seeking solace and reassurance that you have done the right thing by criticizing the country of your birth.

This displays a certain amount of insecurity and naivety. Do you honestly believe that the UK is the only country in the world that has serious social and economic problems? Name one that hasn’t!

Personally, I think that the UK is going downhill big time but I have also learned that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the hill.

But when all is said and done this is the only place in the world where I do not feel like a foreigner.

Best regards

Barkingtoad.

Some very good + valued points made Barkingtoad. By the way im looking to immigrate from UK to Canada. I understand that Canada will not be better than the UK in all aspects but it appeals to me in the areas that matter to me. I guess this could be said to most people that move abroad.

You can never be 100% satisfied with where you are, but it's what you make it.

I actually find it noisier living over in Canada. No one seems to adhere to any sort of noise codes, especially during the summer late at night. Our neighbours often make alot of noise at around 2-3am in the morning (He works for Sony and like to test out how great and lud his stereo can go) and there is one guy I affectionately call Karaoke Man because he insists on singing on a karaoke machine full pelt late at night many times during the summer. We live in one of the nicer neighbourhoods as well so I hate to think what it would be like elsewhere.

Obviously this is going to happen in the UK as well, but I really haven't has that much trouble in the past.

I was in Canada last week and have vistited many times before without coming across this problem. Obviously it's different when living there. However i think it's the luck of the draw. My cousin in the UK has a right pain for a neighbour while living in a nice town, where as i living in a horrible part of town have good neighbours.

The point is good or bad parts of town, you will always get selfish prats that don't care about anyone else around them.

This is true I suppose as is the case with most things...

Interesting point that you cannot be 100% happy wherever you live! Bollocks - yes you can.

Many people live in dire circumstances and look happy, say they are happy and are indeed happy. Why? Appreciation of what they have and understanding that both happiness and sadness are a temporary state of mind which we (me included) impute on outside circumstances or factors.

Scotch

Scotch

My point was that you will always have ups and downs. Your life can never be good all the time. If you never have the downs then how will you know what the Good times feel like...!!

I have also lived overseas, I spent 10 years living all over Australia, (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin and 3 months in Perth) and in 96 returned to UK, personally I hated it, I found the people, negative, critical and in comparision unfriendly. After 2 years I ended up in Southern Spain for 4 years., though again I find some of the British are living in British ghettos, they don´t want to adopt the culture of their new home but want a clone of UK and they bring their behaviour with them to boot. And only a small minority intergrate into the spanish culture. Too many British people like to put people into "Boxes", or should I say the "class system" and generally tend to think they are more superior to the people of their host country.

Since I have picked up various accents, and adopted some of their customs from countries I have lived in I´m not always identifided in being a British, which is a blessing, being blond I tend to be mistaken for scandanavian.

No country is without its problems, but probably the happiest people I have met have been from poor countries, the British are generally not liked because they try and make their adopted country become a version of UK and nowadays we are viewed as either snobs or yobs. Australians in countries closer to them seem to be viewed as the latter overseas (not my words) but lets face it, Australia was set up originally on UK criminals. Beautiful country, but is often viewed as uncultured and beer swilling.

The west is generally too soft on its criminals, the safest places as a woman that I felt safe was in the middle east and parts of Asia. I´m not saying that all their ways are better (moreso for women) but their criminals know the penalities. The trouble with the west we have become too politically correct and until the industrialised countries start to toughen up there will always be problems. I love going to new countries, especially the poorer ones, because generally I find the people more friendly and hospitable, and interestingly sometimes happier - maybe because they don´t know any better.

Until the western society goes back to teaching its young old fashioned values of self respect, respecting others and their properties etc etc, society will never solve the problem of anti social behaviour, crime etc etc..........and any country that does not recognise that, we will keep finding that the grass is not any greener, wherever we choose to live. Interesting, stastics show the UK is the most expensive and most violent country in Europe. (In the Industrialised world) The other two in crime figures in those top figures are USA (being 1) UK second and Australia 3rd...... would I live back in Australia no, I find the majority of the people unsophisticated and crude.

Though I have many friends who are Australian, but they are ones who have travelled or left. Interesting a number of educated Australians are going overseas, look at the stastics of Australians leaving.....


Makes me laugh that the British Government are cracking down on Anti social behaviour and motorists and a victim can be sued by a criminal, or get stabbed in the street by a yob for simply asking him to pick up his fish and chip paper........

Generation British are leaving UK by the planeloads at the moment, a friend of mine was buying a house and 5 out 9 who were selling were leaving the country and going to live oversea. UK will be left with the yobs, criminals and asylum seekers!!

So personally I think anyone who is unhappy with UK has a pretty good reason to be so.......its a dump in comparison to a lot of countries regardless of their problems, so maybe their viewpoint is justifiable.......sorry just an opinion.

The great thing is that the world is now a smaller place and we are not tied by our roots and I personally like to learn new ideas and cultures, the friends that I have are from all the world, which makes life more interesting and open minded and who´s to say we have to live the rest of lives in any one country.......Enjoy and move on....

Mercedes...

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Yes but in Britain houses are so close together that they have to do something about it.

At least in most parts of America it is possible to move out of the city centers and find a reasonably priced detached house so that what your neighbor does is not such an immediate concern as it would be living in a British semi-detached.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

I know what you mean. The 2 up 2 down terraced house that I grew up in takes up less land than my present front yard but sells nowadays for about 40,000 pounds ($CAN90,000). I would have a hard time even finding a similar house in Canada but could find something much better for a little more in the country.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

When we were looking to buy we saw houses that had a larger family room than the footprint of the whole two bed terraced house that I had owned in London! :eek: .... And the whole of the house in America cost rather less than what I sold the house in London for! :rolleyes:

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Having lived in a bigger house now we have realised that material goods really aren't everything and it takes a damn sight longer to clean!!!!

There are certainly some expats out there who despite not having lived in Britain for years still bang on and on about moving away from there. You'd meet them in Perth all the time. In many ways they were quite tragic figures, still whining on about the UK and its problems (and desperately trying to find evidence of them) and ignoring anything bad that happens where they live. As you say many of them are still incredibly insecure and whiny, still going on about percieved or real problems they experienced all those years ago.

Thanks for the analysis and also for reminding me about the sanctimonious, self righteous, opinionated autocrats that I left behind.

Thats the flashman I know and love! Making friends and spreading joy wherever you go....:p

Well what do you expect from an insecure, naive, tragic whiner with tongue firmly in cheek?

Well...only if you say so....

Yes I did --- again with tongue in cheek!

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

I'd have a hard time finding a 2 bed house for GBP 40k in england - where did you grow up the scottish highlands ? If not it has to be one of the worst or most disadvantaged parts of UK.

Given your very humble origins is it really fair to post your opinions on here as typical representation of what UK is really like. By all means share your views but at least qualify them with the extra info that you came from a very poor area so people reading can understand where your coming from. I think if more people did this when posting it is easier to understand their views.

There certainly seems to be a correlation between those posting poor experiences of UK and their experiences growing up and the strength of the desire to escape difficult situations.

If you look hard enough and find an area that is up and coming you can still find reasonably priced housing in the UK. I bought a place just over 2 years ago for 40k, mind you I sold it just over a year later for almost 60k. It was on the outskirts of Manchester.... a lot of people here seem to have the southern mindset about living in the UK.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Fair enough that's logical. After all why emigrate if you have it good where you are. There's no doubt that Canada offered me more opportunities with fewer barriers based on origin, class etc.

On the other hand it would also explain the disappointment of those with priveledged up scale backgrounds who didn't receive the expected degree of deference.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

I reckon that if you had got on with things in the UK you could have done whatever you wanted to do, and would have had the opportunity's to do what you wanted. Reading some of the stuff you posted reminds me of my dad...brought up in a two up two down in Shelf, W. Yorkshire. He got on with it and now has a great lifestyle in the UK, which offered him the opportunities he wanted and took.
Incidentally, its kind of ironic, but this is something that not once have I ever felt the need to bring up when living in the UK...there was no need too, no one gived a crap. Its only once I moved to canada and ran up against people's fixed idea's here (about the UK) that I have ever raised the subject. As I said, one of life's ironies.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Hi all after reading what has been posted here i just have to have my 2 pennies worth,I am still in the uk I live in a city with almost 1 million people my reasons for wanting out of this hell hole are as follows,after owning my own company here and working in excess of 80 hrs a week for a princely sum of £200 a week and paying double that in taxes I feel that i have tried to put into the uk and had nothing but the p**s taken out of me by some snotty nosed little oik saying that i have been creaming off the business and that i should have more of a turnover than i was actually claiming(vat man:when i asked him where he got the notion from he just said "oh i dont know that you are but i think you do".I took this up with my solicitor but was told the vat man can do and say what he likes with no evidence needed :confused: )having all the little incremental tax hikes that as an employee you dont tend to notice but as an employer is crippling i decided to give up with the business.
I have a 12 yr old son that does very well academically (top 5% in hampshire:D :beer: :beer: )but only found out recently that he is severely bullied and has been most of his school life(yes we should have seen the signs but we didnt hindesight is wonderful)when i bought up the fact with the school and asked them waht they are going to do about it they said they will deal with the bullies.ok great yes? No 2 weeks after this i had a call from the school saying my son had been caught fighting :confused: he is totally non violent so this confused me.I got to the school about 40 minutes later to find him sat in reception area crying his heart out,as i walked upto my son to find out what was going on I got steamrollered by 3 teachers who "had seen everything"I politely told them to fu**off before i lose my temper(can u do that politely :D )transpires he was defending himself against 3 lads who were hitting and one got hit round the head with my sons lunch box,the teacher then told him to goto the heads office which he replied no i havent done anything wrong and walked into the playground ,with that the deputy head chased him around the playground grabbed hold of him by the wrist and dragged him back into the school by the wrist!!!After hearing this the teachers looked very guilty did not try to explain otherwise.I then took my son out of that school there and then.The head mistress did not bother getting in touch with me until i had cc'd a letter to the local newspaper.
Racism.now here is a subject that i can go on for hrs telling you my whole life upto last weekend when i was involved in a fight where for no reason whatsoever someone came over to me in a pub and called me a thick fu**ing paki never met him b4 doubt if i will again but this isnt out of the norm contrary to popular belief.(Me i am halfcast olive skinned not that asian looking but obviously enough)
big brother.uk now has more cctv's per capita than any other country in the world.and probably speed traps aswell.6 million people caught in speed traps this yr.ok i hear people when they say that they cut deaths on the road fair enough but surely they should put them in accident blackspots?!!only one here in southampton is on a accident blackspot the rest are on dual carriageways where i have never seen an accident.
pedophiles.southampton and portsmouth have the highest number of pedophiles(known) walking the streets than any other cities in the uk due to our councils having lots of single bedroom apartments and them having some sort of deal with gov to house them.
corruption.For me to gain 2 fairly large contracts one from local goverment one from university i had to give the buyers a kick back.corruption is writh but because its secret handshakes nudges and winks apparantly its ok and doesnt exsist.
I think I had better stop now but I could carry on all day.
to sum uk up for me there is too many people here too many illegals that the goverment are not doing anything about(1million brits leave per yr appantly uk citezens are not having enough kids to repopulate sufficiently yet at each census the population rises??????)and not enough room to cope with 60 million peeps.
sorry finished now :)
:lecture: :lecture:

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Actually I was doing fine in the UK minus adventure and stuck in a nice secure well paying rut at the age of 28.

I am sure that your perspective of unlimited opportunities in the UK is debatable and would be of interest to other ex-pats like Tom Jones, Julie Andrews, Rod Stewart etc.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Indeed. And look at all those canadians like Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Neve Campbell et al all currently living in....oh wait a sec, they're all down in the USA. Oops!
by the way, thank you for so eloquently proving the point that all those other posters were trying to make...;)

Funnily enough we found that as well, although we lived in quite a nice neighbourhood. Always assumed it was just one of the quirks of the area, but maybe not.
Now happily esconced back in a small village where any noise after nine pm is unusual. Maybe we've been lucky.
Are you still heading back home Daisy? How are you getting on right now?

Yep, only just over four weeks to go. I do feel a bit nervous about it, but I think that that is because it is just another change. As my husband says we can always move back if we hate it, but I doubt we will... Has been very cold here recently so that is a one reminder of why we don't want to be here!!

The noise thing is true, we were very surprised about it...

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

I was merely replying to your provocative comment "I reckon that if you had got on with things in the UK you could have done whatever you wanted to do, and would have had the opportunity's to do what you wanted. " implying that the UK is a land of opportunity and that I was negligent in not pursuing my opportunities.

Again this is debatable however I did not state the same rationale also applies to anyone leaving Canada because I simply don't agree with it.

Re: Is this Really an Issue?
 

Provocative? Oh for heavens sake flash. I remember you once posted something about how you were surprised at the fragility of some of the posters ego's on this forum. I think you need to heed your own advice there.
As for the point I was trying to make it still holds, despite your twisting of my words. Britain has provided a heap of opportunities, both for people like my mum and dad and indeed for a lot of immigrants. I was fortunate enough that my mum and dad took advantage of those opportunities, they got on with it and took them and as a result now have a great lifestyle in the UK.

All the best Daisy! I'm sure you're looking forward to getting back to be with the family, particularly with a little 'un there. Hope it all works out for you, of course its another big change, but stick with it.

Thanks for that, its nice to get some positive feedback for a change....