dunroving

Around here some people use wire and spring under-soles for their shoes and boots, to prevent slipping. They work really well - cost maybe £20 for a decent set, from most outdoor clothing stores. We've had a couple of treacherously icy winters here and mine were invaluable.

Lothianlad

The Jeremy Kyle Show* ... and all reality TV shows, the Guardian newspaper, the BBC in terms of its own agenda driven left wing political reporting, Ed Miliband, Len McCluskey and Unite union, the Labour Party, foul mouthed binge drinking chavs and chavettes and all it involves, uncollected litter, dog poo, abuse of the social welfare programs in all respects, inability to over rule the European Court of Human Rights and the deportation of proven illegal immigrants and immigrants convicted of criminality....that's all....for now.

*Did you realise that this total crapfest of a TV spectacle is transmitteed to over 40 other countries of the world? Some image of the UK that portrays to the rest of the world!

Grayling

The Daily Mail, It's readers and the Tory party

Bud the Wiser

Civil unrest....

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...ia-immigration

Pistolpete2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...mmigrants.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ack-Straw.html



Sorry! forgot the gospel truth, rather than the DT.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24924219

chris955

I agree with the first 2 but give me the Tories over Labour any day.

Lothianlad

It's not called the Tory party any more......you referred to the Conservative party, it's correct title....the former term harks back to the past, and only those who wish to be derogatory in some way about the Conservatives use that old fashioned word, along with all of its political opponents, such as Labour supporters and activists, Trades Union robber barons...

.....and last but not least, of course, the BBC, the "unofficial" broadcasting mouthpiece of the Labour party......

.....and of it's gormless, spineless, Labour Party leader....the Unite Union Paymaster General's puppet-on-a-string, wide eyed narrow minded "Red" Ed Miliband......

....a man with no principles or policies of his own to speak of, and who only managed to become Leader of the Labour Party because of the block voting system backed by the Trades Union Bully Boys, for ever waiting in the wings to feed policy instructions through to - with orders to implement them in accordance with Union desires for a true Socialist society far removed from the so called "New Labour" of two former disastrously damaging Prime MInisters of the recent past....

....self seeking, self publicising milliionaire grand mansioin homes all over the world globetrotting "do gooder and raking it in big time in the process" Tony B'Liar...sorry, I meant Blair.....and the dourest of dour Scots (and I'm a Scot myself btw) Gordon Brown, still deeply imbeddded in one massive political sulk since he was kick arsed out of office in 2010.....

....leaving the UK with practically nothing in the Bank of Britannia plc and a national debt bill running into squillions of gazillions, leaving the legacy of a reputation for the Labour Party of being a party which can't really be trusted to run the finances of a Bring and Buy stall at your average village fete anywhere in Britain.....it has happened each and every time the Labour has been in Government....massive debts al round...

...and on top of all of that uncontrolled and unrestricted immigration policies into the UK....Labour threw open all doors into the UK for practically any body from jujst about anywhere in the world, Third or EU or anywhere, to anybody hoping to take advantage of all aspects of opur social welfare programs, the types of people the Labour Party most likely to be potential Labour voters of the future...sadly that has proved to be the case.

Result - parts of the UK now resemble just about anywhere in the Third World and Eastern Europe, and come 01 January next we can expect a huge inflow of people from Bulgaria and Romania, the types of people already turning even posh parts of Central London, such as normally exclusive Park Lane, into shanty town type campsites full of indigenous Romas.

Now, at last, the benefits of a Conservative majority Coalition Government are becoming very clear and obvious....the economy is now growing at a faster rate than many other parts of the Western World, including the Eurozone - set to rise in the UK by 2.6% in 2014/15, perhaps sooner, improvement of performance in all aspects of the economy, including manufacturing, falling inflation, falling unemployment (even though the majority of jobs are part time at present).

Of course all of this good news will take some time to filter through to the public at large and people's awareness of a change in their day to day livinmg standards as there is still a very, very long way to go yet before thyat happens, and people see an improvement in their own personal circumstances.......austerity measures must still remaain in place as there is still one ginormous national debt left to be seen to, which is essential before full prosperity is achieved for all....in the longer term.

Labour's wastefulness and shambolic profligacy will take a very long time to put right, but there is only one thing which will endanger all of this in the near future......the election of a Unite Union puppet intent on turning Britain onto a left wing Socialist Satellite State - "Red" Ed Milband and his new style "Red" Labour party on Thursday 07 May 2015.

You have been warned. Watch this space.......all of you out there in Expatland......stay put, don't even think of coming back to a UK which may end up being "Red" Ed's (oops sorry...Len McCluskey's) Socialist "Paradise" and all that will entail.

sallysimmons

I was expecting this to be really bad when I got back, but actually, people around me seem pretty happy.

Met up with an old friend last week who lives in Aberdeen, but regularly comes down here to visit her parents. She said 'I always forget how smiley and cheerful people are in Yorkshire. I do love it here.' According to her, the lovely chats I regularly have, the waves from other courteous drivers, and the almost constant laughing with strangers are not things that happen in Aberdeen, which she describes as very reserved and a little bit cold.

So I do think I see the glass as not only completely full but actually spilling over simply because I'm lucky enough to live in a place where other people are pretty content too.

sallysimmons

double post - sorry

Sally Redux

That's hopeful- just need to steer clear of Lothianlad

Lion in Winter

That really was a prize moan, wasn't it.

Grayling

Pretty typical for him though

chris955

I have been hearing the same nonsense from different people of course for 20 or more years. Get out of the UK while you can, the sky is falling

chris955

I will admit I expected people to me quite miserable and unfriendly as that was more or less what I was told to expect. What we found were warm, friendly welcoming people.

Lothianlad

There is nothing whatsoever that is wrong with the British people as a whole......I live here and have never lived anywhere else, even though I am now working and living in "posh" Cheltenham and not back home in "posh in parts" Edinburgh, and I have to say that I have been told by foreign visitors to the UK, and especially Americans, how friendly and hospitable the British people are generally speaking, with a sense of humour.

All I wanted to do was to highlight the present POSITIVE aspects of the current economic scene here in the UK, the good news about the economy which has been getting better and better with each and every official report from not only the Bank of England but also...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24799507

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24926512

http://news.sky.com/story/1149708/uk...-third-quarter

Economic output improving faster than previously expected, inflation rate falling, unemployment falling, industrial and manufacturing output rising, services sector flourishing, housing market rising (perhaps too sharply), improvements being made to the NHS, including the time spent by GPs to individual patients with all over 75s being allocated a named doctor from each practice to deal specifically with their immediate health issues, and strict regulation controls being imposed on unsuitable material hitherto availbale on the internet, such as anything to do with child pornography, among other unsavoury material of a sexual nature.

All of this, in time, would make the UK a better place for any expats hoping to return to the UK in the future.....

.....but you can bet your last quid that it would almost certainly go all pear shaped and down the toilet pan should the likes of a newly extreme left wing Labour Party leader "Red" Ed Miliband get his hands on the British economy, under the directives of Comrade Len McCluskey and all other Union Stormtroopers - along with that other Ed.....appropriately named Balls ( to be followed by "up") and all the other disaster areas economically speaking should the worst happen on 07 May 2015.

I'm only saying...for your own good, but what you ultimately choose to do
is of course your own affair entirely, and I wish you all the very best.

And who would want to return to this type of weather anyway.....dull, gloomy grey sombre sky, mist shrouded Cotswolds, dampness all around, drizzly and with a distinct chill in the air and set to become much colder by tomorrow. And you are thinking of coming back to this?

Back to a possible future Labour Government and its economic record....

...history, of course, speaks for itself.