littlejimmy

It's official. Norm's finally gone loopy. All this "unbridled socialism" and "left wing media" bollox. Must have got bored of blaming everything on Muslims.

littlejimmy

And then there's those lefty rags The Sun, The Telegraph, The Times...much of it owned by that old commie, Murdoch.

hnd

Despite my previous post, when we left UK we didn't advise our GP practice that we were leaving. This was on the advice of a very senior consultant friend ... he said that as long as our names were on the practice books we could still get treatment. And the practice doctors would continue to get paid a per capita payment because we were still on their book.

Have we cost that practice a penny since we left? NO. Did we cost them even a tiny proportion of the NH deductions from salary before we left? NO - and again NO. Could we get an appointment to see our GP? NO. Did we end up thanking G0d for private health care? A VERY BIG YES. Did we end up paying twice for health care? YES. Because we paid NHI contributions on salary and again as a tax on the perceived benefit from the company health insurance scheme.

Do I think we're taking advantage of the system? NO!!!! NH (National Health) deductions from salary are not only for pension. Has anyone tried to get NH dental care? Virtually non-existant. Tax on income is tax, full stop. NH contributions are different. Yes, a proportion should go towards a pension, the rest is to provide health care.

And in the years since we left the UK we have never visited a UK doctor or dentist. Although we have friends who left UK as soon as they finished University and moved here to the Middle East. They visit family at least twice a year and, despite never having paid any tax or NH contributions, can get treated in GP/dental surgeries - as can their children born here in the ME - with no questions asked. Simply because they were registered with the relevant practice as children themselves.

The system is a complete and utter mess.

Millhouse

Same advice was given to us by our own doctor...

co durham boy

So if you've diligently wound up your affairs and cut ties with the Uk , why would you want to use the services it provides ?

I never wound up my affairs , i keep the basics and my affairs in order and Tax to a minimum as advised by my consultant.I think you need to be savvy and well advised, some say that's morally wrong but in the grand scheme of things we live in the most morally corrupt place on Earth.

I've seen many people 'jump ship' over the years and say they're never returning to the UK as it's worse than Dante's Inferno . Time and time again they return when the proverbial hits the fan and when needing the services of the country demanding everything from Tea with Liz to a double Hip replacement.

I always work on the theory of it's not if but when i leave here so i try and have my ducks in a row for when that times comes .

Norm_uk

As opposed to all your ad hominem bollocks no doubt...

N.

Norm_uk

I find all media outlets have an agenda and generally take things on an article-by-article basis as it were.

I think people are unaware of what right and left wing actually mean. Example - few seem to realise that the Nazi's were Socialists not Facists...same as the Soviets. Yet we hurl words like right wing and Nazi around as accusations quite regularly as if to be right wing is to be utterly evil and to hold right wing opinions on any issue is to be a Nazi. Odd really but it shows how immature and uninformed people are politically...and how the left has done a great job of equating the right with things the left are responsible for - like the biggest mass murderers in history (Mao, Stalin and Hitler).

N.

captainflack

Yes, thankfully all that Salik money, the 200 AED fines you get from parking somewhere that doesn't say no parking and the 150 AED for just sticking a stamp and signature on any document all goes to a very good cause.

It helps provide free 6 bedroom mansions and subsidies to the needy unemployed emirati families (the definition of needy is officially designated as families who cannot afford a second italian supercar).

Thankfully the locals here are very hardworking and highly-skilled, and most have extremely important jobs working from 11am to 2pm every other day if they feel like it, shuffling bits of paper from one desk to another in between mobile phone calls. And lunch.

co durham boy

Correct .......!

JB22

fantastic rant... keep them coming

littlejimmy

You've gotta laugh. The National Socialists just like the Soviets...Oh yeah, Hitler LOVED the communists, didn't he? The use of the word "Socialist" in National Socialist is a misnomer. It's like the German Democratic Republic that was East Germany, which was neither a republic or democratic. Fact is that the authoritarian extremes of both right and left come almost full circle to meet each other. And no true socialist system has ever been in place, where the workers own and control the means of production and have equal say. Soviet Socialism was actually more like State Capitalism.

Wonder where Norm would end up on this political compass.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2

Hello.Kitty

I'm agreeing with you!

You and several others consulted people on this matter, but I know quite a few people who either didn't or were told otherwise, and so went ahead and wrapped everything up... and are now faced with not being able to access services when they are back in the UK on holiday or visiting relatives.

I think a lot of people just felt it was the Right Thing To Do, and there's nothing wrong with that, but if this place has taught me anything, it's to be mercenary about keeping my families best interests at heart... Plan C, D and E and all that.

co durham boy

Good post , everyone here's going to leave the Gulf at some point it's only a pit stop , you're right it does make you callous and mercenary , that's because you're around some of the most p*ss poor people on the planet...!

Norm_uk

Anyone with an opinion that can be defended reasonably is a ranter in these forums...and usually right wing to boot!

N.

Millhouse

nothing wrong with a right wing view my friend. you are on your own in this world.