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Peter Triggs
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Gone Fishin, Canada
Jan 2000
time: 05:19
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quote:
Verres:
I just voted - Socialist Labour.
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You could try North Korea. Arthur Scargill and the rest of that lot would be right at home there.
Remember that, when he was president of the miner's union, Scargill refused to support the Polish Solidarity union.
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CerberusIV
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Having just left the UK I can understand your wish to get out too. You have more choice on where to go than I did (as Aus and NZ, amongst others, don't really want old gits).
We decided to stick to the EU since you have a legal right to live and work in any EU country - although some try to make the bureaucracy as difficult as possible. First choice was Spain, mainly for the climate, but having driven all the way there we didn't like it and didn't stay. I can't really explain why, more a feeling than anything definite. The locals will sell you stuff but foreigners seem to get stuck in ex-pat communities and we didn't leave the UK to end up drinking with and working for a bunch of people who only want the home counties in the sun.
So we loaded up the car and headed north again and came to Ireland. It's nice here. The weather is better (a lot better!) than northern England. The government seems to be vaguely socialist - actually it seems to be more vague than socialist. Everyone speaks English - of sorts. In some ways it is like the UK 20 years ago, in other ways up to date. Costs are comparable to the UK, some things more expensive, some things less.
It's a lot less stressful. When we were looking to rent a house the agent told us Waterford was much more hectic than a few years ago. We laughed. After the UK this place is very relaxed.
Employment prospects are fairly good. The economy is growing healthily, unemployment is less than 5% (you need to be careful which part of Ireland you go to though as it is a lot higher in some areas) and there are pockets of high tech industries with reasonable prospects. I'm not working yet but don't anticipate any real problem.
Outside Dublin it is still a rural country, but not hicksville. Pro-european and quite outward looking. Hard to tell what they really think about Northern Ireland - wishing it would just disappear is one interpretation.
We also liked France as we drove through and intend to go back for a while.
Ireland isn't everyone's cup of tea but we like it.
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Zevico
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Melbourne
Apr 2002
time: 15:19
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Australia has a very good electoral system and a natural suspicion of politicians and ideology. This is a very good thing, in my opinion. There is no chance of American-style wafflers and holier-than-thou preachers being succesful in Australia, no candidates for prime minister waxing lyrical about their strong belief in [insert religion here] to gain support. Australians of all political beliefs (most, anyway) simply see this for what it is--crap.
It is also, I would consider, an overwhelmingly tolerant, non-racist, and polite country. I am told by those who visit here that Australians are very friendly, too. Though is looking at the country from a positive viewpoint.
Finally:
quote:
Tony Abbott (producer of children out of wedlock). |
Well, he didn't have an abortion, did he?
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Immortal Wombat
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in perpetuity
Dec 2000
time: 05:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Verres
I am dead serious about this - I want to know what options there are outside the UK and US. |
If you want somewhere which is majority English-speaking, then New Zealand is probably your best bet. It's a bit like what you'd get from taking North Yorkshire and spreading it out to the size of Britain. And then doing an accent overhaul.
They have a better voting system, so more parties get representation, and there's currently a leftish coalition government. Culture and Politics at Wikipedia.
It's not a socialist paradise, but it's lefter than Britain, probably, and it's doing ok. Also, the rest of the world tends to ignore it, so there's no major international political issues to get *****y about. Oh, and it has entirely banned nuclear materials, which is nice.
Or as Cerberus says, Ireland seems to be fairly relaxed about things.
If the language isn't a problem, then Scandanavia is the place to be.
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06-05-2005 06:41
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