captainflack

Yep... off in mid august after nearly a decade.

Just because I don't buy into the bullsh1t doesn't mean I hate the place. There are reasons to come here - job prospects, low tax, cheap petrol, weather, lifestyle, etc. I actually enjoy living here.

But this doesn't take away from the facts, which are that this place is many times more dangerous than home, that it's a dictatorship that bangs up and tortures democracy activists (aka 'terrorists') and that I don't want my two small kids to grow up thinking of this place as home. Because it is not home, it never will be. They'll never have passports or citizenship, or even permanent residency.

It's one thing to accept the risks yourself, but once you have kids you have to consider more than just your own lifestyle and bank balance. I want my kids to grow up in relative safety, and not have their little minds filled with the bullsh1t machine of the local censored media.

scrubbedexpat141

I genuinely and honestly disagree that this place is not as safe as the UK...as a broad statement at least.

Statistics can be manipulated to fit any agenda so they are always going to be played how you or I wish them to be.

The one thing I cannot disagree with is your personal choice. You've been here a long time and know what you want for your kids so who am I to say that's wrong?

Good luck with the move back.

captainflack

It would take a very good spin doctor to manipulate the statistics...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ted_death_rate

Per billion km travelled, death rate in the UK is 5.7, for the UAE it is over 300. That's more than 50 times the UK rate for the same distance travelled.

I've been here long enough to see burning cars with bodies in, kids bodies thrown from cars they weren't buckled into and so on so the figures don't surprise me. I'd need to drive for 500 years in the UK to see the same! We probably all have had close shaves - accidents happen right in front of us on the motorway, or cars that go screaming past only for you to come across a burning wreck a minute or two later. If we're lucky, it's just a near miss, and maybe after a few months here you just brush these things off.

But it's good not to feel too safe here and to really bear these things in mind every time you drive. Some things you cannot avoid, but drive as defensively as you can and keep watching your mirrors, be careful when the lights turn green and so on, and you can at least improve your chances.

scrubbedexpat141

I can probably find stats that say murder in the UK is higher or gun crime or armed robberry or sex offences or something...that's what I mean about manipulating stats.

Driving is madness out here, you're not wrong, but out of that x00 per billion km driven, I wonder what percentage were European casualties?

Ethos83

You can apply the same reasoning to the UK.

What's the murder/crime/assault rates among the middle classes living in normal neighbourhoods?

If you don't live on a council estate or in a deprived area there is next to no violent crime.

scrubbedexpat141

....you're just proving my point that statistics can be manipulated to meet your point, no?

captainflack

Governments around the world spend billions compiling statistics for such things.

I'll suggest to them that they save their money and simply ask me. I'd be happy to offer my gut feeling on

- the rate of inflation
- the death rate on the roads
- crime levels
- hospital waiting lists
- adult literacy

etc.

Because statistics can be manipulated to prove anything, but my gut feeling is unswervingly accurate and incorruptible.