Discussion
In response to the Immigration thread...
I'd just like to know who;
I'd just like to know who;
- would like to leave the country, given the chance (and move where and for what reason);
- is very happy here and wouldn't think of leaving; (for the love of god, why?) or,
- not really that bothered either way.
Mojocvh said:
and I detest the sapping underclass this country seems to breed.
Good Luck.
And that means what precisely? I have been to Canada a number of times and neither encountered personally or otherwise people of questionable intentions. To put it politely.Good Luck.
NismoGT said:
Canada
Quality of life appears to be better. Cost of living also appears lower.
How does taxtation in Canada compare to the UK?
I believe taxation in terms of salary is largely the same, but houses and utilities are cheaper there.Quality of life appears to be better. Cost of living also appears lower.
How does taxtation in Canada compare to the UK?
I dont wish to pish on your parade, but in real terms is is no cheaper to live in Canada than most places in the UK.
Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
) now it's impossible for me to go, no country would have me.Emigrated to Sydney 1.5 years ago, best thing we ever did!
Positives:
Weather, financial stability, education, outdoors lifestyle, opportunities for children, no Central European overlord dictating our lifestyle, lower crime
Negatives:
Cost of living (offset by higher income somewhat), cost of houses, isolation both politically and socially, draconian laws on speeding (they think your head explodes if you do 100mph!), cost and lack of selection of decent fast cars (not that you can use them anyhow).
All in all it's bloody brilliant though and hammers where we used to live, which was a nice part of the Midlands called Little Aston.
Positives:
Weather, financial stability, education, outdoors lifestyle, opportunities for children, no Central European overlord dictating our lifestyle, lower crime
Negatives:
Cost of living (offset by higher income somewhat), cost of houses, isolation both politically and socially, draconian laws on speeding (they think your head explodes if you do 100mph!), cost and lack of selection of decent fast cars (not that you can use them anyhow).
All in all it's bloody brilliant though and hammers where we used to live, which was a nice part of the Midlands called Little Aston.
sawman said:
I dont wish to pish on your parade, but in real terms is is no cheaper to live in Canada than most places in the UK.
Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
My brother emigrated there donkey's years ago - mainly to escape a, shall we say, compromised and difficult residency of the UK...Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
He loves it, gets on well, and hasn't looked back. He'll never return.
sawman said:
I dont wish to pish on your parade, but in real terms is is no cheaper to live in Canada than most places in the UK.
Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
Next week marks 5 years in Canada for me. I'd agree with all of the above, there's just as many people shouting at pigeons in the street and white-trash benefit-specialists stabbing each other as the UK.Taxation is the same or possibly a little cheaper depending which province you live in
General groceries is about the same
Property can be cheaper to buy, but property taxes can be high
There is a huge issue with the social underclass, they are known as the first nation
Getting a job can be a major hassle for a non canadian - locals will almost certainly get appointed over an immigrant
getting a line of credit an an immigrant can be problematic
Dental treatment is hugely expensive
prescription medicines are hugely expensive
25% of canadians cannot register with a GP
Internal travel around North america from canada is hugely expensive
Car insurance is expensive
Second hand cars are expensive
Good luck, its a great country to live in, if you can afford it
Yes, you can have a lakefront house with several acres for the price of a semi in Watford in some provinces, but the living costs are similar (used car prices are crazy high compared to the UK, check Autotrader.ca). Here in Nova Scotia the tax rate rises to 50% at just under 90k GBP, although skilled jobs pay significantly higher than the UK due to the strong Canadian dollar, and there's a lot more work available.
That said, a lot of people like the slower pace and the better property, mainly those with a family and kids. Endless camping and lakes and stuff. Mind you, the schools here are f***ing awful unless you go private.
But Jesus Christ, this place is a cultural desert. 'Call me maybe' is considered on a par with Mozart and Coronation Street is Shakespeare to them.
I left the UK two and a half years ago. The main reason was that the wife is a Kiwi and her family own huge farms in the north island where, after 18 years commuting into London to sit in an office, we thought it would make a nice change to buy a small farm! We're currently in Dubai, but that's another story.
However, we were thinking of this for some time but what gave us the final push was simple. We had a nice house in Essex. Modern, double-fronted, ensuites, nice garden. However there were 3 houses opposite, all triple garage, 5 and 6 bedrooms, the type of house I dream of, but just couldn't afford. All 3 were occupied by work-shy foreigners, who loved nothing more than to sit on "their" front lawn, drinking, smoking, and generally taking it easy. I refuse to spend my tax contributions on these peole, so left.
There's abfew things I miss about England, but none of them are enough to make me ever want to return.
However, we were thinking of this for some time but what gave us the final push was simple. We had a nice house in Essex. Modern, double-fronted, ensuites, nice garden. However there were 3 houses opposite, all triple garage, 5 and 6 bedrooms, the type of house I dream of, but just couldn't afford. All 3 were occupied by work-shy foreigners, who loved nothing more than to sit on "their" front lawn, drinking, smoking, and generally taking it easy. I refuse to spend my tax contributions on these peole, so left.
There's abfew things I miss about England, but none of them are enough to make me ever want to return.
I have been in Canada, specifically Vancouver now, for the past 2 and a half years. I am due back in the U.K. in a month or so.
Vancouver is like great-looking but extremely slutty girl. Pretty, yes, fun if you have the money, yes, but shallow as hell and once you get past the novelty of the looks, its depressingly vapid and lacks any substance whatsoever.
Vancouver is like great-looking but extremely slutty girl. Pretty, yes, fun if you have the money, yes, but shallow as hell and once you get past the novelty of the looks, its depressingly vapid and lacks any substance whatsoever.
Left the UK proper about 8 years ago. Spent 5 years in the States, before shifting to Bulgaria. Before that, I worked 6 months off, 6 months on, and on the whole spend 50% of my time at home in the UK, and the rest stating where I was. I prefer the lifestyle of slightly decrepit countries to be honest. They tend to be more relaxed, enjoyable, better weather, have character, and so on, and so forth. Spent 18 months in Mumbai, a good few years in the UAE, just under a year in Nigeria, and so on. Each one was dotted with 'visits' back home to see family.
Well, most of my family are in the US or in BG now, so no particular reason to go back.
I do miss HobNobs, and aniseed balls.
Well, most of my family are in the US or in BG now, so no particular reason to go back.
I do miss HobNobs, and aniseed balls.
So I am in the middle of relocating to Boston MA for work and while agree that te UK seems like a corrupt, workshy and decrepit shell of a country I am fully aware that that is what the media portray it as since it sells papers and gets people watching the news,
I am going because I any a change of scenery and a bit of an adventure, if I go over to the US and don't le it then I will do my time and come home. Moving because you think where you are going will be better n every way is a bit naive. It is not like everyone gets murdered in Boston right? That's New York.
I am going because I any a change of scenery and a bit of an adventure, if I go over to the US and don't le it then I will do my time and come home. Moving because you think where you are going will be better n every way is a bit naive. It is not like everyone gets murdered in Boston right? That's New York.
My best friend is about as international as you can get. He's been in the British and the Australian armies, worked in the middle east and the USA for considerable lengths of time, invaded two countries, although not on his own. He's multi-skilled, having spent some time in Oz teaching deaf children sign language.
He returned to Britain once he got married. His point of view, which can only be gained once he's had a few, is that Britain, or at least England, is a nice mixture of faults, all of which sort of balance out with the good stuff. The weather's the only thing he says lets the country down.
I used to work with a sergeant at one police station. He is Jewish by birth. He too has been all around the world, at least that part of it that the UK has invaded or protected over the years. He has spent time in Oz and Canada, a parent coming from the latter. I was sitting in a police hut waiting for the rain to ease before running to my car, and asked him why he chose Britian when he had a choice of a number of God's Own Countries and he said more or less that same thing. For him there was the added advantage of lack of racial prejudice compared to so many other countries. I didn't know he was Jewish and told him so. He said that that was the point.
It is, he said, only the nutters in this country who are overtly racialist. In other countries, notably Oz he said, many politicians openly touted such drivel. This would have been in the 80s.
I worked with a chap who'd returned from Western Oz. He loved the lifestyle but a confrontation with a youth wearing a T-shirt which read: 'Keep Australia tidy - kill a Pom' went to court. He had seen this youth in a group walking through a mall, and said to him: I'm a Pom, want to try your luck. The kid ran off, he chased him and there was an altercation. He had the option of prison or going back to the UK. He said that it wasn't until he came back that he realised how much he'd missed the UK and how much he liked it. His wife, who'd originally got a bit upset at having to move back, admitted that she preferred the UK.
A neighbour had returned from Canada purely because their child had an (eventually fatal) illness and they could not afford the treatment out there.
The general concensus of those who've had experience of god's own countries is that if you can make a success of your life abroad you could have made a success of it over here.
Me, I wouldn't mind an extended holiday home in Italy. However, my life is wrapped up with our kids and grandchildren. I would not want to leave them. We have friends in Italy. They tell us of rampant corruption in the police and officialdom. They had to pay bribes to get a licence for their hotel/restaurant and then pay a regular kick-back to ensure they had no 'trouble' with the law. Parking outside the hotel was sorted by regular payments to the local wardens.
I remember getting a number of illegal immigrants out of an artic. They'd come as early immigrants from a country in eastern Europe that was seeking, and since succeeded, in joining the EEC. The lorry had been through France, Italy, Germany and Belgium. You can guess the conditions. When I asked their leader why they didn't get out in one of the other EEC countries and save themselves aggravation, he told me stories of what officials (not just the police) do to immigrants such as his group.
I like this country. I like its mores and habits. I suppose that some of the reason is that I was born and brought up here and my immigrant grandparents were grateful to be here. Other places are great to visit, maybe even live, but each has problems, some that would irritate me too much. I know that I would not take kindly to being talked to in the manner that some Oz police forces feel is their right. Whilst I've never thought of myself as cultural, that is what I would miss in Canada.
I went for a meal before a show in London and sitting at our table were two Canadians, both emigrants from this country some 40 years previously. Nice people. We chatted and they told us about their lives. They were regular visitors to 'England' and I asked them what they looked forward to.
We'd by then finished our meal and we were killing a few mintues before the show started - The King and I, I said I was surprised at the cultural lack being a problem - and they both said: 'This.' It seems that in Canada as soon as you've finished eating you are required to leave, even if, as we were doing, you hadn't finished your coffee.
They went all around the world for their holidays but spent at least one in 'England' each year and reckoned that if they ever emigrated they'd come to England. I said something along the lines of: Just for the coffee time in restaurants? The bloke said the only people who didn't realise how great England was were the English.
A friend is married to a Ceylonese (that's how she describes herself) woman. They made regular trips to Celyon in the old days and described the beautiful country, the lifestyle, the pleasant people, etc, etc. And therein lies another attractive part of the UK: it is stable.
I was walking towards my rugby club house along a paved path that was just wide enough for one person to walk. Another chap was coming towards me. There was soggy ground either side.
As we appraoched one antoher, and almost at a signal, we both stepped off the path on oppostie sides and then, once we'd passed one another, got back on and carried on walking.
Where else but England?
He returned to Britain once he got married. His point of view, which can only be gained once he's had a few, is that Britain, or at least England, is a nice mixture of faults, all of which sort of balance out with the good stuff. The weather's the only thing he says lets the country down.
I used to work with a sergeant at one police station. He is Jewish by birth. He too has been all around the world, at least that part of it that the UK has invaded or protected over the years. He has spent time in Oz and Canada, a parent coming from the latter. I was sitting in a police hut waiting for the rain to ease before running to my car, and asked him why he chose Britian when he had a choice of a number of God's Own Countries and he said more or less that same thing. For him there was the added advantage of lack of racial prejudice compared to so many other countries. I didn't know he was Jewish and told him so. He said that that was the point.
It is, he said, only the nutters in this country who are overtly racialist. In other countries, notably Oz he said, many politicians openly touted such drivel. This would have been in the 80s.
I worked with a chap who'd returned from Western Oz. He loved the lifestyle but a confrontation with a youth wearing a T-shirt which read: 'Keep Australia tidy - kill a Pom' went to court. He had seen this youth in a group walking through a mall, and said to him: I'm a Pom, want to try your luck. The kid ran off, he chased him and there was an altercation. He had the option of prison or going back to the UK. He said that it wasn't until he came back that he realised how much he'd missed the UK and how much he liked it. His wife, who'd originally got a bit upset at having to move back, admitted that she preferred the UK.
A neighbour had returned from Canada purely because their child had an (eventually fatal) illness and they could not afford the treatment out there.
The general concensus of those who've had experience of god's own countries is that if you can make a success of your life abroad you could have made a success of it over here.
Me, I wouldn't mind an extended holiday home in Italy. However, my life is wrapped up with our kids and grandchildren. I would not want to leave them. We have friends in Italy. They tell us of rampant corruption in the police and officialdom. They had to pay bribes to get a licence for their hotel/restaurant and then pay a regular kick-back to ensure they had no 'trouble' with the law. Parking outside the hotel was sorted by regular payments to the local wardens.
I remember getting a number of illegal immigrants out of an artic. They'd come as early immigrants from a country in eastern Europe that was seeking, and since succeeded, in joining the EEC. The lorry had been through France, Italy, Germany and Belgium. You can guess the conditions. When I asked their leader why they didn't get out in one of the other EEC countries and save themselves aggravation, he told me stories of what officials (not just the police) do to immigrants such as his group.
I like this country. I like its mores and habits. I suppose that some of the reason is that I was born and brought up here and my immigrant grandparents were grateful to be here. Other places are great to visit, maybe even live, but each has problems, some that would irritate me too much. I know that I would not take kindly to being talked to in the manner that some Oz police forces feel is their right. Whilst I've never thought of myself as cultural, that is what I would miss in Canada.
I went for a meal before a show in London and sitting at our table were two Canadians, both emigrants from this country some 40 years previously. Nice people. We chatted and they told us about their lives. They were regular visitors to 'England' and I asked them what they looked forward to.
We'd by then finished our meal and we were killing a few mintues before the show started - The King and I, I said I was surprised at the cultural lack being a problem - and they both said: 'This.' It seems that in Canada as soon as you've finished eating you are required to leave, even if, as we were doing, you hadn't finished your coffee.
They went all around the world for their holidays but spent at least one in 'England' each year and reckoned that if they ever emigrated they'd come to England. I said something along the lines of: Just for the coffee time in restaurants? The bloke said the only people who didn't realise how great England was were the English.
A friend is married to a Ceylonese (that's how she describes herself) woman. They made regular trips to Celyon in the old days and described the beautiful country, the lifestyle, the pleasant people, etc, etc. And therein lies another attractive part of the UK: it is stable.
I was walking towards my rugby club house along a paved path that was just wide enough for one person to walk. Another chap was coming towards me. There was soggy ground either side.
As we appraoched one antoher, and almost at a signal, we both stepped off the path on oppostie sides and then, once we'd passed one another, got back on and carried on walking.
Where else but England?
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