Slean Wolfhead

We got a Sportage 5 years ago...never had a single thing go wrong with it. It had a 5yr warranty, but we knew the UK was already offering 7yrs so they were pretty confident in the build quality. Thinking of changing again and looking for something new and non-diesel, but keep coming back to the Kia again. They're not cheap cars anymore though, like they used to be. Hyundai/Kia are also developing a Ute, which should set the cat amongst the pigeons.

I think life in summary is just a long search for contentment and happiness. It's quite easy to read between the lines and see who is unhappy with their lot, who protests too much, and who is trying to convince themselves by criticising or tributing random objects to try and shape their own sense of worth. I don't post here much anymore and only come on for quick spurts and to catch up with any changes, but I've had some people on ignore for years because they added nothing to my experience and still cannot seem to move on with their lives. You just have to filter them out.

A lot of the cheapest Coles biscuits are made in the UK, such as bourbons etc.. They're not the good chocolaty M+S or Waitrose ones though, they're the cheap, nasty and tasteless homebrand stuff like you'd get at Tesco or Sainsbury's. Mr Kiplings UK-made cakes and the UK-made Cadbury mini-rolls are always in Coles mixed in with the local stuff. There will be a lot more of this as the £ drops, and hopefully at better prices than the usual international sections in the supermarkets. I tried some British bacon recently and paid about $8, it shrivelled up into nothing. Much prefer the Aussie stuff now.

It's a tough one. Australia has used immigration to fight off a recession for 19 years, so what you say is true...even the Poms have been criticised for coming over on 457's and ruining the stability of Australian job security....you might have been one of them, and now the same is happening to you. We're all part of the circle. What has happened though, is that people have become incredibly wealthy in Australia, but less productive as a whole compared to rapid advances in efficiency in the 3rd world. There is always somebody coming up from behind. The bottom line is, they can only prop up quality of life and wages for so long before it reaches tipping point for the pre-immigrant population. The UK reached that stage years ago and has been dropping ever since, to the disaster that is unfolding today. If anything, Brexit will lead to increased immigration as they will need more cheaper workers to remain competitive in whatever market they end up in, or the businesses will have to relocate to wherever the workers are. If the UK and Australia want to survive in their current formats, the people who haven't already made their fortunes will have to accept that they will have it much harder than now, and work for less personal benefit, if they want to survive and eventually prosper. Young people today won't have the sort of lives their parents, or grandparents had. They will see a drop in standards, balancing out against the immigrant and poorest people who are coming in from poverty and seeing a rise in their living standards. They incidently, don't see a problem as their own lives are improving dramatically and they are being lifted out of poverty. This is the underlying principle of capital democracy, and everybody is happy to argue for democracy as long as they are still on the upward curve. What happens when the beneficiaries of democracy reach the top of their own cliff and realise that their dramatic increase in life quality and wealth is heading for a plateau and then a decline, is still being played out. The Brexiteer voters from the poorest classes are hoping their Government is going to save them from the competition, the rust belt voter from the USA is hoping Trump is going to save them and send them back to a time of digging coal. Australia will hit this point in about 10 years. It's all bullshit...both Trump and the UK Government are already doing what Government's do and dropping the promises that put them in place, because none of them really want to change the system to protect their people. Isolationism and protectionism to keep the wolf from the door need a wholesale change in principle and belief, and we're just going to get more of the same. Can they be saved, and do you trust Government to do what you want, or are they going to use your vote as a mandate for them to whatever they want and retain the status quo just in a different format?

If it's a hard Brexit and no single market, they need a border and a customs point. Or how can it work? Maybe tourists walk through on a free VISA, but everything else will need to be checked, including the validity of labels on boxes, and what's inside them.

One of the things you have to realise is that Australia is different, and it won't change because you miss the English system which in many ways is better and more efficient. Every single day i see something that the UK does better, but it's getting out of that habit of comparison that is crucial to your future if you decide to stay. If the UK was that good, it would have a better quality of life, the population would be wealthier, healthier and happier, but any comparison you can find says that just isn't the case (overall). There are horses for courses, but maybe the more relaxed perspective over here is actually beneficial, although frustrating at times. It took me a long time to realise that I was trained to respond like a monkey in the UK and see the bad side in everything, when there are more important things in life that i was missing and at the time, didn't care about. If you're British trained in health with experience, you should get on very very well here, and that will stand you in good stead when you find your feet and break through the cultural barrier. 5 years ago we were down to our last $2000 and I, being the partner of the VISA holder had taken 6 months to find a job as i had nothing lined up, couldn't get an interview. Very depressing, very worrying and I was falling into the same sort of "what the hell is going on" frame of mind. 5 years later, we're citizens, have a house, earning enough money to aim to pay off a 30 year mortgage in 6 years. We have money to invest which we never had in the UK, we have cars each, better health, better food, and we're 100% happier for feeling we've achieved something that really wasn't going to be possible in the UK. I miss the pub, miss the closeness of mates, a good balti, the football away trips, the sarcasm and pointed humour, even the whinging and blind optimism to bad news. But for me it's a much nicer place to go back for a holiday and actually do the things i want to do, than have to live there and try and build a life. Australia is a huge place and it's not the same everywhere you go. Take a look at the greenness and wetness going on in QLD and Northern NSW at the moment, then have a look at the South East corner about 400 miles long for spectacular coastline, views and mountains..and your 4 distinct seasons. It's all on the doorstep.

you'll have to work that one out for yourself mate !

The intention of the ban is to make you take your own bags. After spending weeks complaining about the 5p charge, they suddenly had a brainwave about how they could avoid paying 5p..

We banned plastic bags about 3 years ago in ACT, you can purchase the thicker re-usables for 15c and then re-use them, or just take your own bags or boxes in. Caused the usual fuss, but a no-brainer really. 10 years ago in gas guzzling America they were packing your shopping in brown paper bags that would degrade, so why Australia and then the UK took so long, god only knows. I saw the Daily Mail article when they introduced it in the UK, and the helpful advice that you could "beat the charge" by taking your own bags...dur.

The example is the same, there are morons everywhere. You know the German''s "love it", but you don't know why Hamilton was booed but decide to criticise one and defend the other? Why even start the thread if you're this stupid?

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/england-fans-10-german-bombers-braying-beer-fuelled-scum-songs-dragged-through-the-mud-a7645321.html

Exactly, it's something that citizens of 1st world countries have largely eliminated over the last few generations, but even in Britain one of the reasons for having kids was that there'd be somebody to look after you and support you when you got older and couldn't work. Plus people didn't travel so much, so the parents and even grandparents would end up living with and being supported by the children. Currently, what with pensions, savings, and much more comparative wealth..the emphasis seems to be on kids leaving home to support themselves as individuals whilst leaving the parents to only fund themselves in their retirement, AND the kids would expect an eventual inheritance at the end. I work with a Chinese girl now and even though they are pretty wealthy these days, there is an expectation that she sends home "family" money each month. This goes to fund things like family weddings, parents, support of an Uncle who's lost a business, illnesses, helping out nieces and nephews with study costs etc.. Self-insurance for the extended family from a pot that everybody contributes to. It's also payback, because her family funded her to come to Australia and study and settle, when her own parents couldn't afford the total bill by themselves. It's like a mutual society, and the Chinese and Indians do it very well to get ahead.

You can backpay 6 years NI if you like, that will cover a gap you're going to have in your pension entitlement. It's very reasonable if you can pay Class 2 contributions as an expat to cover some of the 35 years needed for a full pension...less than £3 a week i think.

So what is it then? Toyota have an engine plant in the UK. Where do the parts come from that make up that engine? Would you consider that a British engine? Are you talking about volume of parts or value of parts, so giving the same value to a screw as a seat? You remember Amstrad, Alan Sugar's computers with a Union Jack on them? Made abroad and then put together in the UK, they had to stick about 3 pieces together and put it in a case, made him a fortune. When it got to Europe, he was going to get tariffed as an import, so he sent them to a factory in France that added on a useless chip that did nothing. So they could then be classed as manufactured in Europe too. Same game.

Even this isn't actually as clear cut as it appears. 260 parts and materials suppliers in the UK and Europe. That is car components yes. 800 suppliers providing supplies and site services. That is not components. That is food, coffee, gas, electric, water, security guards, alarm systems, internet, building maintenance, toilet rolls, light bulbs, ink, fencing, payroll, banking, etc...all the non-car supply chain from the local economy. That would be the local economy that would suffer if they left. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/03/brexit-uk-car-industry-mini-britain-eu