Scrutineer

I'd say spraying graffiti everywhere if the train stations are anything to go by.

I'm only Julie when my wife's in Paris, Joro, so don't worry about it. Joking, by the way... seriously, no worries and enjoy your retirement in Adelaide.

Those Japanese demographics are terrifying. "A report compiled with the government’s co-operation two years ago warne d that by 2060 the number of Japanese will have fallen from 127m to about 87m, of whom almost 40% will be 65 or older." http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/03/japans-demography It's basically going to be the world's first nation-sized old people's home.

This takes me back, really, to when we were waiting for various things to slot into place. There are so many hurdles that you can forget to be excited by it all.

The bottom line is the UK cannot control the majority of the immigrants because they are internal EU migrants and have every right to travel and work in the UK so any grandstanding by politicians is just codswallop.

About four cats.

And that's a major benefit of Adelaide - it's a large city with affordable housing. The house we have here would cost around seven or eight times more in my hometown and yet we're an effortless 30 minute drive from the CBD.

That's McLaren Vale, Joan. Just on our doorstep. Is the 143 CPV the expensive one or the one with the long waiting list? If the latter I wondered how long you had to wait- when you applied for it? I thought they were ending it.

The last free movement en masse in the Commonwealth meant millions of Asian subcontinentals and West Indians moving to London, which you might have noticed has not gone down particularly well with many people. This is talking about something different from the Commonwealth - it's cherry-picking four English-speaking countries - which is a good thing IMO and I would love freedom of movement between them, but I can assure you the governments of these nations will never do this.

Providing you can get visas for either, then you're spoilt for choice. I've never been to NZ, but really want to go there. The weather seems nicer, and the topography more varied and within easier travelling distance. On the other hand, it's a much longer flight to civilization than Australia, and also the NZ government have been running a programme to try and entice NZ citizens back to the country because so many are leaving. In fact around 55,000 move to Australia every year, so that might tell you something. Also, people with Australian PR or nationality have more rights in NZ than people with NZ PR or nationality have in Australia, so that might be another thing to consider for long-term plans.

At dawn.

As I say in the Farage thread, the optimum population is 30 million, which was reached in approx. 1890. However, no reason this can't get much bigger so long as infrastructure can be paid for. Obviously in the UK there are limits because it's so small, but look at Australia - much of the north has the same climate Indonesia where 250 million people. The north of Australia could support 50 million or even 100 million easily - but there is no money for the infrastructure, it has to be developed in phases.

I would deliberately go to the "suburbs to avoid" one afternoon, just to get a proper understanding of Australian life. We have a much higher standard of living here, but we also have our bogans as well. You'll go home much better informed than if you just spend the week looking at nice houses and drinking in pubs on the Swan River.

There's no absence of culture in Australia at all, if we're talking about art, etc., and in fact it's much more accessible to me now than it was when I lived in the sticks in England. What there is an absence of in Australia is architectural stuff, for obvious reasons, and also homegrown culture, which is practically non-existent. That frustrates me.

A good point. I definitely miss weekend breaks in Europe, but having seen so much of it, and USA as well (nearly all the major cities except Chicago and Seattle) I can wait for more. The debate we have is that Australia obviously is a superior place to raise a family for so many reasons ranging from childcare support, education levels, access to services, lower stress with zero traffic & house prices (might be just an Adelaide thing), etc., but on the other hand the absence of family is a major thing for us, and nipping over to Paris or Rome is another. I have noticed though that the two things I miss about the UK aren't inherent to the place at all - family and Europe!

Whatever you think of any of them I enjoy the differences between UK and Australian politics.

Sorry Marisa, what was the context of my saying the foreseeable future bit? I can't recall.

It certainly didn't cost us even a small fraction of that amount, but even if it happened to, I think saving up for two or three years is all part of the adventure, to be honest. Nothing in this world is free, least of all experiencing life on the other side of the world. If you don't feel like that then I would advise against galavanting around the planet!

While it is natural to see "emigrating" as one-way and permanent, it really isn't like that. You're moving to Victoria but you could just as easily move on to New Zealand, or Queensland or even back to England or buy a farmhouse in the Loire in five years. You just don't know. Don't look at it like emigrating, the word brings too much weight, see it as a simple adventure and life experience and see what unfolds. As for advice about what might make it work - accept your new home for what it is and dump pre-existing fantasy ideas about what you think it's going to be. So, buena suerte, as they say in Santiago!

That is somewhat disingenuous as the Guardian, Observer, Mirror, Sun, Daily Mail, Times, FT, and Independent have at one time i recent history supported Labour, and many would again, especially the first three.

Debates like this always go against the incumbent, but that's part of being PM. Cameron was a coward to back out but he can't let them go ahead without him so he'll have to u-turn.

Zummerzet maybe?

I grew up in Britain and Australia and had both accents as a child. Today, my accent is southern English and always will be I presume. However, I do use a lot of Australian words and terms but these were acquired in childhood, not as an adult. I once saw one of the Brits in Oz programmes and there was this English guy on a beach being interviewed. He'd been in Australia a matter of weeks and had a full-on Croc Dundee accent, which was obviously fake and totally ridiculous. I think as an adult your accent won't change unless you're faking it, at least not for a very long time. I know someone who has been in Aus for maybe 20 - 25 years and even she has only the vaguest hint of an Aussie accent.

Tough stuff, and no real answers. My family supported us, my wife's family did not, but kept their lack of enthusiasm to ignoring the whole thing and never saying anything nice about it, rather than actively being difficult, although there was a brief time when we needed somewhere to stay before we left and we asked them - they said no and tried to talk us out of going. Luckily my family stepped in and lent us a house. I know it's tough, but I'll never forgive them for their attitude even if we move back, so it's just not worth it. You must support your kids in what they want to do. It's their life, not yours, and the grandchildren are not amusements for grandparents but your kids, and you are offering them an amazing adventure in life.

Enjoyed talking religion with you NWM. Good luck and enjoy your free time!