caramac

It's horrendous. Those poor people just having a day out. We're in Croatia at the moment, but just heard that the pilot is the one who's critically injured in hospital. How on earth did he survive?!

You're on holiday, of course you can't say no! We're on holiday too atm, my girls are 20, 19 and 17 and we still cant!! :laugh:

How long are you going to be in the UK for? And will you be using the train for all your travel? If so, it may be worth you getting a 'two together' railcard. It costs £30, but the you get a third off all your rail travel plus lots of discounts for attractions such as theatres, theme parks etc. http://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk. Something I didn't know until last year is that during the holidays all trains are classed as 'off peak', so you can travel on any. Best to check this though as the train companies seem very good at changing the rules without notice! My daughter and I were travelling on Northern Rail last month and she'd forgotten her railcard. The very helpful guard told us that it's cheaper for us to travel on a two for the price of one ticket anyway - it would have been more expensive for her to use her railcard! Buying tickets for rail travel in the UK is far too complicated and seems designed to deliberately confuse, but the staff at the stations can be really helpful. check Wowcher, Money Supermarket and voucher codes for money off eating out, or just google 'discounts for...' There's always lots. Another tip... Buy your jelly beans from Tesco - £1.50 for three packs :wink: Have a great trip

I'll pm you. Its true that there shouldn't be too much trouble if they're packing in front of you - we only had minor damage on our other three moves and nothing lost, but this one was packed in Sydney, transported to Melbourne where we thought we'd be living then they didn't export wrap anything when we had to change our plans a few months later. We had paid for sole use of a 40' container though which was arrived here only 2/3 full. No one had thought to question it at the other end! The crew at this end were appalled at the standard of the packing even for a domestic move.

We had loads lost and broken last time. It cost £800 just to get our clock repaired! Picture frames, mirrors, antique furniture, white goods etc etc, broken, lost or damaged. Unfortunately, lots of things which were broken or lost only came to light later, after we'd claimed. How they managed to 'lose' a huge white sofa is still something which amazes me. They did eventually find it, but loads of other things are still missing including lots of things with sentimental value. We did pack most of the photos etc in our flight luggage, but other things we thought would be safe went in the container. The company in Melbourne was useless and it took getting in touch with the CEO to get any resolution. The companies we were happy with were Pickfords, Kent and Chess, but other people may well have had problems with them and been happy with the one we'd not use again - seems a bit of a lottery.

I thought many of the companies which now run the railways are actually the publicly owned companies of other European countries? Arriva is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, for instance. Seems madness that profits made here go into their public system..

It's academically selective, so it should rank well. It's also quite difficult to get a place if you're coming in in a non entry year. Our older two were assessed as being able enough to secure places (at Sydney Girls' and N Sydney), but there weren't any for them, so we were advised to try again for year 11. They all have a high proportion of Asian students which isn't a problem in itself, but the girls did seem to spend a lot of time going from school to music lessons, to tutors etc and that wasn't something we wanted. Mind you, what we got wasn't something we wanted either so it's definitely worth looking at!

I'm old enough to remember doing my training under the Thatcher administration and remember clearly thinking how taking the cleaning staff out of the ward team and putting it out to private tender was a big mistake. So it proved to be. We had our first case of MRSA within 6 months. Coincidence? Possibly, but there were so many jobs that the original ward cleaners did as a part of their duties which the contracted out service wouldn't touch. Cleaning toilets being one of them! We never had the same cleaners twice, so there was little pride taken and no loyalty to the rest of the team which was a given previously. I remember there not being enough sheets, blankets etc and wrapping pillows in towels because there weren't enough pillowcases. I remember bring newly qualified and being left in charge on a full ward on an operating day, with only auxiliaries and students for support. Seems like we've come full circle..

Im at work atm, but will pm you when I'm home and have a minute. Might be day or two though..

It's how many working in the system see it too. But, hey, what would they know? It's all about self interest after all..

Of of course there are people who won't change their behaviours, but there are those who really don't have any idea what they're doing. People who see no harm in putting apple juice in babies bottles, for example. Just because there's a minority, core group of those who don't care doesn't mean you shouldn't try to educate. It saves the country money in the long run when you're not doing complete dental clearances on 7 year olds, or endlessly filling rotten teeth. Not to mention the impact poor dental health can have on the rest of a persons health.

Perhaps, but it's a lack of education in many cases. And what happens when those kids grow up when they'll have to pay for the errors of their parents? What about taxing those sugary drinks and using that money to educate? What about those who have medical conditions which adversely affect their dental health? Much better would be to invest in education at a young age. Evidence shows time and time again that early intervention in health is key and economically beneficial. I simply don't understand why its not the obvious route to take and why it's always the punitive measures they go for.

Who are the non essential staff? Cleaners? Clerical staff? Porters? That was the question.

Might do to you, but it's a conversation I was having with my dentist and have spoken to my friend (whose husband is also a dentist) about. Just because you can't yet see it happening doesn't mean it isn't. Bound4Tassie seems to know that it's already being piloted. Indeed, if it doesn't work in the piloted areas, they may backtrack on implementing it. Or they may not.

Nope, just sounds like you know what's going on from the inside instead of believing what you're being told..

I completely agree with you. It's a mess, but as usual, it'll be the dentists who get the blame (just as it is with drs and nurses 'not working weekends' atm).

Is there much scope for career (and salary) progression once you get there? If so, and it's something you'd love to do, then I might be tempted. It also depends on which visa you'd be on and whether you'd be paying school fees or get some govt assistance with living expenses. Would there be help with relocation and set up expenses? Like some of the other posters, I don't think it's a great salary for a family of 5 in Sydney. It's the same size as mine and I wouldn't want to live on it, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible, especially if you're already used to counting the pennies. Sydney is a beautiful city and is quite cheap to get around with kids using public transport and there's usually quite a lot of free activities going on at weekends, but that is countered by lots of things being much more expensive. As others have said, school uniform, school stationery, shoes can really set you back a few hundred dollars for each child. You can look at school websites to get an idea of how much uniform etc is. Would your wife be working? If so, childcare can be very expensive too. I'd make a list of your outgoings for where you're living now, then start researching how much the equivalent would be in Sydney. Also take into account your work travel expenses. Would you be driving? If so, where from? There are lots of toll roads into the city which can really add to your outgoings, so choosing the area you want to live in is important too.

That's exactly what I said to my dentist and she told me that's the biggest objection they (dentists) have. All those kids who have parents who care about their oral health, who also happen to be, in the main, richer, will pay less as adults than those whose parents couldn't or wouldn't look after them. I thought a good idea would be to get dentists/dental nurses into schools to educate children and maybe give out toothbrushes/paste in the same way chlamydia testing kits, condoms etc are given out - after all, early intervention in everything health related is the most cost effective route to take, but she doubts there would be money made available for that.

Off topic, but no, I think it started in the mid 00s (when there was also an increase in the number of domestic students taken into dental school) when there was a bit of an exodus from the NHS by dentists who couldn't make the new contracts (labour introduced) work for them. The Tories are looking at changing what we get through. They're talking about having everyone assessed, then being charged according to their current dental health state - the worse your teeth are, the more you pay. It won't be banded according to treatment level, as it is now. Its still at the consultation stage, according to my dentist, so who knows what the future will bring.

Things have changed dramatically in the last five years due to, guess what? There was a recruitment drive from overseas, so now most people can access NHS dental services.

I guess during your time working towards your visa, you or you family weren't subjected to torture, rape, beatings, murder? The hoops many of these people have jumped through, including risking their lives by escaping by any means they can, are far worse than qualifying for a needed skill,milling in some forms and parting with a bit of cash (although there are those who do sell everything to buy their passage from people traffickers). My husband has a patient at the moment who watched her entire family beaten and murdered in front of her - her parents, husband and kids. I'm not sure she had the wherewithal after that to take any tests or exams. She's waiting for her claim for asylum to be considered - she's (like all unprocessed asylum seekers) not entitled to benefits, bar around £5 a day subsistence allowance and she's housed in a flat no one else wants to live in - completely unfurnished.

Did you not read the thread title? I did. I thought it was simply the usual perjorative misuse of 'illegal immigrant' to mean asylum seeker. There's no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. EU migrants can come and go as they like, just as we can to their countries, and those who are not asylum seekers/refugees must have come via usual routes, so are not 'illegal'.

We work with other countries to take a fair proportion. No one is saying 'open the flood gates', but we have a responsibility to take a share (assessed and proven to be refugees). It's not an all or nothing situation. How many asylum seekers who are given refugee status will train to become the teachers, drs, nurses etc our public services need? In my little world I personally know four drs who came as refugees from Iran in the eighties. Yes, they're using public services, but they're also contributing, both financially and professionally. How many, given the opportunity, will become business owners, providing jobs for others? There will be those with great drive and ambition and there will be those who don't, just like the indigenous population. There were similar worries about the Jewish refugees 70 years ago. Most of them seemed to learn English, build businesses, become teachers, drs, politicians etc. and integrate into society successfully. I really feel for those hauliers and lorry drivers who are being affected by the disruption - it must be horrendous. Not just the waiting around, but the threats of violence many are facing and the worry of unwittingly carrying people into the UK - I'm sure there's some organised trafficking going on, and those traffickers should be dealt with with the full force of the law, but we have to have compassion for those who are genuinely desperate and escaping intolerable lives.

You are only considering "refugees" and asylum seekers, not all immigrants though. I thought that's what we were talking about....? :eek:

This reminds me of the apocalyptic predictions of opening the borders to Eastern Europeans. The UK takes a very small number of asylum seekers in comparison with other countries. Of course applications should be processed properly and quickly for the benefit of all concerned, but our failure to do this isn't the fault of the asylum seekers. There are so many inspirational stories of people who came here as refugees and who have made their lives here, are contributing to our society and are proud to be British. We have to stop seeing everyone as a potential drain on our resources or a threat to our 'way of life'. Yes, they will need support to get started, but will often give far more back (I'm thinking in particular here about drs I know who came as refugees in the 80s without a word of English - that takes some determination). Just to be clear, this doesn't mean I think we should just let everyone 'just wander right on in', or that I have a 'bleeding heart', simply that we have to find a humane way of supporting human beings who are escaping unimaginable situations. [h=3]Does the UK have more asylum seekers than most countries?[/h][h=3]No it does not. With an estimated 173,100 asylum applications, Germany was the largest recipient of new asylum claims in 2014. The United States of America was second with 121,200 asylum applications, followed by Turkey(87,800), Sweden (75,100), and Italy (63,700). By comparison, the UK received 31,300 new applications for asylum by the end of 2014.[/h][h=3](Source: UNHCR 2014 Asylum Trends Report)[/h] [h=3]How many refugees are there in the UK?[/h]At the end of 2014, the population of refugees, pending asylum cases and stateless persons made up just 0.24% of the population. That’s 117,161 refugees, 36,383 pending asylum cases and 16 stateless persons. The vast majority of refugees stay in their region of displacement, so that 86% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries. Turkey now hosts the highest number of refugees at 1.6million, followed by Pakistan at 1.5million (Source: UNHCR 2014 Global Trends Report)