leighbloke

No, that is selfish!! You aren't doing it for anyone else, therefore it's selfish!!! There is nothing wrong with it, just admit you're looking after number one!!

poollounger

Helen I agree with you. Witness Anne Widdicombe's recent TV foray onto a housing estate near Kennington in South London. Many years ago I worked in Frankfurt, the financial capital of Germany. I worked in the heart of the city, but not in finance. I remember going for a walk and seeing a group of people conversing in the street outside a bar.. how nice I thought...until I noticed the syringes lined up along the window sill. The gutters were full of them too, and some of the U Bahn exits were filled with people injecting as well. I gather squeaky clean Switzerland has a similar problem in it's cities.
I too lived in an east end of London tower block for many years... where tramps pissed in the lifts, and needles were often found in the stairwells. It was stripped bare some years later and is now very smart with a concierge. Still council. Things can change.

poollounger

Yes the exploitation of the welfare state needs to be controlled....but remember that for the many who come over for handouts, there are as many who come over and work very very hard doing the jobs that no one else is prepared to do. Even Dublin is packed with Poles, all just human beings searching for a better life. The next generation will all speak English without an accent, well at least without a foreign one, and the one beyond that will be considerd British.

helenp

Yeah drugs are a big problem especially here in St.Helens I don't know why its so bad could be not many job opportunites here you have to go to Liverpool or Manchester etc to get decent work. Guns are now coming into town so this is why we live out of town could never live in town again anywhere. It took us a few years to save up to get out of town and we had to downgrade our house, which a lot of people wouldn't do. but as I said there is crime in Spain we have spoke to people who live there and in some of these beautiful villages not far from the coast there are drug barons living. Last year we went to Fuengirola and took a quick route down a back street and low and behold there were junkies hanging around a bar.
Its everywhere I think Britains biggest problem is the negative press, all Countries have it but don't go on about it so much, there should be more self pride.

Helen

lcortez

Dont think is fair to blame foreigners for everything,after all many of Britains most revered institutions were set up by 'foreigners',Marks and Spencer(Jewish immigrant),Bank of England(Dutch), the list could go on,even fish and chips!
However with regard to the Britain bashing totally agree its human nature,a way of accentuating the positive with a new situation,also if the basher though Britain was great,they wouldnt have moved in the first place!

Rixxy

Leighbloke - I came to Spain to give my kids a better chance in life. It was hard and gruelling, still is to be honest. I certainly dont consider that selfish.

brisca

An excellent response, Hillybilly!
You've covered everything we would have said...........couldn't agree with you more!

username 34

I would say that I love aspects of England - I love my friends and family who are there, I love the way my town looks in the summer, I love the christmas spirit and late night shopping where we used to live, I love the Indian restauarant near us.

I love "things" about England - what I didnt like and wont do is "LIVE"there. Moving abroad I can still experience all the good things I like about England when I go back on vacation.

Yes - where we live now may have downsides - but there are SO many good reasons to live here they outweigh them. Thats where the UK failed us .... money = crap, schools available to us = crap, tax = 40%. We couldnt have the Sky package we wanted because of the cost, we couldnt put the kids in the school we approved of because of our catchment area, WHY have to live on a crap budget, depriving yourselves of things when you cn go overseas and get it?

we now are tax free, dh earns far more money, I dont have to work, we pay for an excellent private knidergarten and school, we can afford anything we want, we are so very happy. BUT - we have no shops here, no cinema, no newspapers, bad TV, our house is large but quite basic, etc..

but the bad things here - compared to the bad things in the UK are trivial and irrelevant - thats the difference... in the UK they're the huge factors.

we took a chance - it worked and life here is so much better. But most expats who come to work here last less than a year ..... for the same reason we love it here they hate it. Horses for courses people.

pjj

i agree with you rixxy! you are not beinging selfish one bit ! i think that leighgirl opps i mean leighbloke i think he s got out the wrong side of bed this morning he seems to be getting in to sum right debates on the forum today ha ha !

Val W

Three teenagers murdered in London in the last couple of weeks, a two year old raped and murdered in Leeds, do I need to say more.

Is this the sort of place to bring up children.

pjj

i think leighboy needs to read this quote !

username 34

and I bet the US, Oz, South Africa, Spain, France and most more have the same figures for the last couple of weeks too.

dont highlight these cases as all countries have the same problems - ALL - and to the same level or worse. if you think the rest of the world is different you will get a rude wake up call.

its the easiest thing to say "what a place to bring up children" - wot a cop out answer!! one answer fits all eh?!

well its not - its a combination ..... taxes, schools, wrong crowd at schools, drinking culture amongst brit teens, lack of respect from brit teenagers, highest rate of teenage pregnancy and a governement more than willling to give them tax payers money therefore ensuring they will go on to have another 6 kids for the money, kid culture of sitting on the internet, lack of space and facilities for kids to be outside safely ... etc...

so dont just label crime stats ..... dont let the daily mail be your voice - tell us your real reasons why, not whats in newsprint.

my biggest fear was that no matter how nicely we brought our kids up, because we couldnt afford private schooling they would have to go to the local school. There they could easily fall in with the wrong crowd - boozing, druggie, shoplifting etc etc ... anything we can do to try and keep them on the best track is the most important driving factor for us

Val W

They are much larger countries than Britain, so we can't compare their figures. Don't tell me these happenings over the last couple of weeks aren't shockers.

lcortez

yes would have to agree morals and standards of behaviour seem to have declined drastically in the UK.Cost of living seems to be spiralling beyond the reach of the average family as well.There are some good things though,for example work seems a lot easier to come by in the UK,but would sadly have to agree,the no of bad things seem to outweight the good (reason for our move to Spain,aside from Spanish heritage,is the inability to get on the housing ladder)

Rixxy

No - its winter sick season in the UK!

Yes bad things happen here, they happen everywhere - Im sure most of you will have read about the recent Tony King thing, but then again local justice happens here as well!

So far I feel safer and as yet havent been robbed, mugged or worried too much about my kids.

Indidently on a lighter note, they summed things up hilariously a couple of years ago. They went back to Uk to visit family and their father (yes I pay to send them back as its important) and it was 9pm. They were out trying to find a restaurant that would allow children (son was 5ft 10 then, daughter was/is 5ft 8) and at the entrance to one had a sign with kids and a line across it (kids barred).

However someone with a dog walked right past them and into the joint!

They were appalled at that - and still are! (I found it totally hilarious)