Saturday, Jan 27, 2007
How did it come to this!
Daily Mail: 36 reasons to say goodbye to Britain
As you sit in stationary traffic and pouring rain, worrying about the mortgage and whether you'll ever get a date for treatment on that ingrowing toenail, you may not be totally surprised by the news. In the league table of the best countries to live, Britain is 37th.
Posted by uncle chris @ 11:08 AM (167 views) Add Comment
15 Comments
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1. Surfgatinho said...
Well, I've lived in Portugal and Australia and I have to say the fact they are only 20-30 places higher in the list does not reflect the fact the quality of life is 100 times higher. The only thing keeping me in this country is my family
2. sirgoogle said...
We said goodbye nearly 13 years ago.
Shame is we will have to come back sometime.
3. nearly30 said...
sirgoogle - you an expat? Can't imagine how someone could afford to or want to get back into the UK - not without family help or a massive slush fund!!?
A sad state of affairs - especially my generation - I know 1/2 of my firends have either already left or are considering leaving the UK.
Welcome the new trend of 'Generation Expat' - although nothing new - but once out - gone !!
I doubt they are likely to return - high house prices, low wages, no penions and poor job prospects - esp. for graduates or anyone under 30!!
BBC article: "The number of British citizens who chose to go permanently abroad doubled from 53,000 in 2001 to 107,000 last year [2005]- some 2,000 people a week." - overall 5.5M Brits abroad or 1 in 10!!
Biritsh who left in 2004:
40% professional/managerial
25.3% manual/clerical
17.5% retired/carers
9.3% children
7.9% students
So - nearly 50% were vital for our economy - being replaced by???
Thanks Blair!!!
4. Mjchum said...
My working hours this week were:
Monday: 06:00 to 01:00 (Tuesday) (19 hours)
Tuesday: 06:00 to Midnight (18 hours)
Wednesday: 04:00 to 01:00 Thursday (22 hours)
Thursday 07:00 to 01:00 Friday (18 hours)
Friday: 06:00 to 18:00 then a 5 hour drive home (17 hours)
That's 94 hours. This is typical + I work 24 hours most weekends. So make that around 115 hours per week. Add to that the job is pure stress, mostly due to Govt regulation and scumbags leaches that know nothing (consultants). The remaining time I sleep on the floor of my office.
Can't afford a home. Can't afford for my family to live in the UK.
I hate this place with a passion now. Can't see the point in even being alive.
Don't think I'm going to stay here much longer. It's a con. NuLiebour have created the 'them and us' 'society'.
5. dohousescrashinthewoods said...
Wow, if I read you right, nearly30 (a little over 30 now?) that's 10% of brits living abroad
6. nearly30 said...
Mjchum - you working in the NHS by any chance? Doctor/Nurse?
Bad luck if you work in Kent - they want 'freebie' hours!!
7. denzil said...
As the Labour anthem from D:Ream said:
Things can only get better.
8. nearly30 said...
Denzil - hopefully for me they will - currently writing applications for yet another job (change) for Feb07.
Fed-up of job insecurity and threat of unemployment!
Just about to finish my 5th contract job since 2003.
Before you ask - yes I am educated and skilled - but no-one seems keen to give/create full-time permanent jobs these days - esp. to graduates.
Lost my last full-time perm job back in 2001 - in IT - after the last 'bubble'.
Currently in an area that isn't in the 'miracle' economy zone - i.e. the SouthEast!!!!
B*gger!!
9. Ticktock said...
Mjchum,
Those hours are going to kill you!!! An absolute discrace.
The sense of betrayal detected in your post is widespread. Many socio-economic groups in Britain have simply been sacrificed in order to protect the lucky few. What a shame we Brits are allowing this to happen to us with little or no resistance at all. I never believed a whole generation would simply bend over and be 'bummed' in this way. I feel embarressed.
What on earth has happened to everyone? Im sick of this country, the wicked elite that shit on us over and over again without any come back at all, the outragous propagana system that feeds us daily lies, the stupid people that still think we live in a 'free democracy' (and vote in a war criminal to prove it) and the even more stupid who fail to see how any of this is relevant to them at all. Its over, lets face it. Run for the hills!!
10. sirgoogle said...
Yes I am an Expat. You can read my sorry tale on the Wiki - under what happened in the last boom/bust
11. Mjchum said...
nearly30 . . .
I'm 31 and the way things are going doubt I'll make 40.
I work in Land Regeneration (contaminated land). I doubt any other business in this dreadful country has more regulation and personal liability.
I've worked as a consultant and contractor for the past 10 years and the week I describe above is quite typical (100 hours/wk).
I've lived in cars, vans, derelict buildings, on the office floor, small portacabins, even outside on concrete slabs. The work is wildly stressful and difficult. No family life at all, no social life at all. Earn okay but once hours are taken into account and the massive taxation of NuLiebour it's rather shite. No job security, no pension.
I'm tired, depressed to the point of suicide half the time, dazed, confused. The only enjoyable moments are what my friends call my 'manic episodes' which are quite wild, nothing gets in my way, can make anyone laugh 'til they piss themselves and turn out some of the best work in the industry (according to colleagues). The manic episodes are quickly followed by dark depressive periods, sometimes for weeks at a time.
I'm now coming to the realisation that the way I Iive and work is causing severe mental illness which sooner or later will result in the inevitable.
It's getting worse every year. More regulation, more government 'people' (androids) desperate to see what they 'can get on you', more consultants' trying to 'get one over on you', more audits, more health and safety nonsense, more paper work, more crap . . .
I got married last year. Didn't have time for a proper ceremony . . . had to get back to work, Have a duaghter I never get to see and a wife I dearly love, but I suspect will leave soon if things don't change. Probably see them once a year now. British Government denied us a family visitor visa (6 months), paid £150 for that privilige.
I could afford a house in the UK . . . for a year or so maybe, until I'm short of work for a couple of months, interest rates go up . . . then get repossesed.
I ABSOLUELY HATE THIS GOD FORSAKEN HOLE OF A COUNTRY. IT'S SUCH A TERRIBLE SHAME WHATS HAPPENED TO IT UNDER THESE LUNATICS.
I HAVE TO GET OUT!!!!
12. geed said...
Greetings.
I'm also an Expat living in Melbourne with both British/Australian passports.
Life is good here, the sun defintiely shines more often than in the UK but the weather remains changeable (I have been told Crowded Houses Four seasons in one day was written about Melbourne, the rumour is true!). I am an engineer in the Automotive Industry and Melbourne is Australia's "little" Detriot. When i weight up the pro's and con's of all the places i could work in the world in my field, Melbourne usually shines brightly. I may be able to earn more money in the UK but i would not be living in such a beautiful place and have such a high styandard of living, I have a secure permanent job with company car and things are quite good. Property is quite subdued here although the inner city "premium" markets remain buoyant. I feel i would get more for my money in Melbourne than anywhere in the UK although this is my subjective opinion.
But all is not rosey. My long term girfriend misses Scotland and her family. I miss the close proximity of Europe, cheap flights and holidays rich in culture. I also miss the beautiful mountains and countryside (I am from Wales originally). There is more culture in a pot of yogurt than in the average Australian town or city - the exception being Melbourne, Australias most European of cities - or person for that matter. There is a definite isolation here, almost an irrelevance. Nothing really happens in Australia and know one really cares! This may be a good thing for some.
France sounds like a great compromise, we are returning back to the UK in April for a holiday but with every intention of coming back to Australia, but i may just pop of over to France while I'm in Europe, you never know??
Surfgatino - If I came back, Ditto!
13. harold said...
geed, I thought Adelaide was culturally very rich when I visited it, although perhaps a backwater compared to Sydney and Melbourne.
14. enuii said...
Just thought I'd add my 10 pence worth on the subject.
I am just over 40 and a skilled engineer in the power generation sector of the industry and have watch our once great industries systematically destroyed by foreign takeovers, bad government and even worse management. What is left is now swamped by health and safety fascists, project managers, planners all of whom detract from the cost effectiveness and efficiency of just about everything. Last year one project for a government quango that took £2 million pounds worth of paper work to sub-contract out £50K's worth of work, it's at this point I gave up and just go with the flow now to prevent the rest of my hair falling out.
I hate TV adverts peddling crap people don't need and I won't listen to commercial radio stations in the car for fear of hearing another patronising public information advert.
I hate cities in the UK as they are all dumps and if it wasn't for the wife and kids would happily live in the middle of nowhere, still live in my first house bought in 1987 and now paying the mortgage until I'm 65 to just fund raising the kids.
This country has been spoilt by lying politicians looking after themselves and their rotten party's, the people of the UK are great and should be more like the French and make their feelings known. Too many people are more interested in reality TV than the reality of their own lives!
15. Chillilizard said...
Mjchum - Do youself a favour and get out. I'd never work in those conditions. Nothing pays enough for that. There are loads of jobs out there that pay minimum wage and you basically sit on your ass all day.
Here is a suggestion: Go work for the underground. You get paid an average of 30k (i'm not sure, but I know its well above the national average). You work 30 hours a week or something. There is an excellent union. Its a bit boring, but every once in a while, you can relieve some of your frustrations by running someone over.
Hey... every job has its ups and downs. But your job really stinks.