Would you consider emigrating if the recession gets really bad here in the UK?

moggylover

Generali wrote: »

A mate of mine earns about $20k in Saigon teaching English. He lives like a Maharajah.

But I would much rather stay here:D .

I have been giving this thread some thought all weekend! It kind of nagged at me that I knew I did not want to emigrate, but could not for the life of me understand entirely why!

But I think I do now. These small, wet, and often dreary islands are my home! They have seen me through good times and provided my health care and education to allow me to develop my potential to the best of my ability (given hindsight as well I could probably have done it even better:D ). I have never wanted great wealth or personal acclaim but grew up with a desire to "make some small differences" which I have (but perhaps not as many as I would wish) so I do not feel that I have been in any way betrayed by my Country.

I would admit to a desire for a sweeter climate:D - but other than that I would not contemplate leaving the Country just because there are hard times when I know that I have enjoyed the good ones due in no small part to the Country that nurtured my growing years.

A speech I heard when VERY young, which has always stayed with me:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3s6U8GActdQ&feature=related

The most important part of this speech begins with: "In your hands......"and ends with "ask not what your Country can do for you - but what you can do for your Country".

Perhaps I am just a child of my time, when trusting that standing together, shoulder to shoulder, could still make a difference was not something to be ridiculed for.

tim79_2

moggylover wrote: »

"ask not what your Country can do for you - but what you can do for your Country".

How very true. The only problem is that after much soul-searching I've decided that there isn't an awful lot I can do for my country (which is fortuntate, as barring emptying the bins - sporadically - it isn't doing much for me either). Yes, I could keep paying the taxes to stop the rot for another few years, but what good would that really do to halt the problem? There will always be good times, there will always be bad times and anyone who tells you that Britain is in a financial meltdown from which it will never recover is a buffoon. Given time - with or without my contributions - things will fiscally turn around; the underlying problem is our culture.

In the last 24 hours I've seen irate motorists abusing one another, listened to idiot parents wandering around supermarkets screaming swear words at their children, seen people fighting in the street and been punched in the face by a drunk who was trying to assault a disabled man in a pub. The last of these things, I'll admit, isn't commonplace in my experience, but the rest are witnessed on a practically daily basis. Respect is dwindling away from our society and that's why sooner or later I'll be off.

Nothing is harder to chance than culture and thanks to the left wing, human rights, softly-softly mentality that has infested our politics most of the effective tools to make these changes have been taken away from us.

I appreciate the grass always looks greener on the other side and I can say from experience of time working abroad that isn't always the case, but there are better options for the masses of decent, hard-working people amongst whose numbers I like to count myself. If nothing else, I won't feel so peeved about handing my taxes to a useless government who can organise the sun to be shining on me most days.

And don't worry, I will be leaving entirely debt free so the rest of you won't have to worry about taking up my slack !

Dithering_Dad

Goodbye tim79. :wave:

bendix

Generali wrote: »

A mate of mine earns about $20k in Saigon teaching English. He lives like a Maharajah.

I love these stories. As someone who has lived amongst so-called English teachers working in South East Asia, I can assure you they do NOT live like Kings. Far from it, I know dozens who live in Bangkok and eke out an awful living in crappy one room apartments with no aircon or lifestyle.

Saigon is one of the most expensive cities in Asia, much more so than Bangkok. I was there last week. $20k a month would be ok. A year? Not a chance for a decent life.

I suspect your mate is exaggerating a little.

I'm swimming completely against the tide here. I'm heading back to the UK after 10 years in Australia and New Zealand and five years in Thailand. I'm in a great job in Bangkok, but am giving it up for an even better job in London, largely because I know that given the field I'm in it's more sustainable in the UK. I'll be earning in the GBP150-200k a year range, and I'll work only four years before retiring back to Asia, aged 48.

One of the key reasons I want to come is because costs of living in Asia are skyrocketing, while prices of housing etc in the UK are falling. I'm going to invest in a house in the UK in 2009 and wait for a few years until it starts to pay for itself while I'm back in Asia.

In my view, there is some serious wedge to be made in the UK right now.

As for those lauding HK's tax rate of 20%, you might want to come and see how much the cost of living is, as well as the quality of life. Given the smog from China, people are sick all the time - you live in tiny high rise apartments on top of each other, yet can't see out of your window more than 50 metres because of the pollution. You go for a beer and a meal and drop a hundred quid easily . . . . . .

Nahhh . . it's easy to paint good stories about life overseas. I know so many illequipped guys who have come to Thailand believing it is the land of milk and honey and that you can live like a king on a british state pension - not a bloody chance.

linni

I would emmigrate tomorrow if I could, Canada or New Zealand would be nice. Purely because I would like a better life for my children and Britain is no longer Great! Unfortunately I do not have anything the would want... so am stuck here. I only hope my children will manage to escape (and hopefully take me with them)..

Dithering_Dad

linni wrote: »

I would emmigrate tomorrow if I could, Canada or New Zealand would be nice. Purely because I would like a better life for my children and Britain is no longer Great! Unfortunately I do not have anything the would want... so am stuck here. I only hope my children will manage to escape (and hopefully take me with them)..

Out of interest, have you ever travelled to Canada or New Zealand? I don't mean just for a 2 week holiday but for any decent amount of time where you lived and worked there and sampled the 'real life' instead of a tourist trip?

Regarding your 'Great Britain no longer Great' comment, Originally our island was called Britain, but the name dropped out of common use after the masses coalesced into the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland and the principality of Wales. It was revived as part of efforts to unify the island in the 16th century. The "Great" had to be appended to distinguish the proposed kingdom from Brittany, AKA Britannia minor, lesser Britain, the French peninsula that had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic immigrants from the British Isles. James I, who was also James VI of Scotland, unified the thrones of England and Scotland and had himself proclaimed king of Great Britain in 1604. The term became official with the Act of Union in 1707. Hence Britain will always be 'Great', just like one of the Antilles will always be called 'Greater' and the other 'Lesser'.

neverdespairgirl

Oy, DD, that's my kinda post (-:

linni

I was merely thinking of slower pace and better quality of life. We are losing our identity. We import things, when we can grow or make them ourselves, because it is cheaper to get it abroad and I won't even start on the Euro. We are becoming overcrowded and every bit of 'green space' is slowly being lost to 'developers'. A trip to 'Tesco' is like a rugby scrum. I have several friends who live abroad and they love it. I certainly don't think the 'grass is greener' but I would love to be able to 'give it a go' and there is nothing here to look forward to apart from struggling to pay the bills.

Dithering_Dad

linni wrote: »

I was merely thinking of slower pace and better quality of life. We are losing our identity. We import things, when we can grow or make them ourselves, because it is cheaper to get it abroad and I won't even start on the Euro. We are becoming overcrowded and every bit of 'green space' is slowly being lost to 'developers'. A trip to 'Tesco' is like a rugby scrum. I have several friends who live abroad and they love it. I certainly don't think the 'grass is greener' but I would love to be able to 'give it a go' and there is nothing here to look forward to apart from struggling to pay the bills.

I'll take that as a "no, I have never been to the countries that I am desperate to emigrate to, but I do have some vague idea based on no experience whatsoever that my life would be so much better".

Thanks for proving my earlier points.

Cannon_Fodder

As one's country of birth is a complete lottery, how can thinking about it (even if only vaguely) be any less valid than an accident of birth?

I'm sure plenty of French, Spanish, Indian, Zimbabwean, Argentinean, etc etc, people believe their country to be the best in the world.

We can't all be right.

Does continuing in the inherited/taught mindset you have grown up with constitute patriotism or blindness?

(just playing devils advocate a bit, think this is really intriguing.)


I think an extended period to experience the options is a sensible idea. Though, for example, I could tell in 2 weeks that Crete is not for me.

Of course, when HPI was "certain", it rarely mattered if you chose wrong, as you could just sell up and try again. Now, its a brave person who ties themself to a country where they might be stuck for 5+ years to get out of NE.