Reply to: Britain 'nation of form fillers watched by quarter of world's CCTV cameras'

[expat]

The alternative is to drop out of the rat race completely. Sell up and take on a small holding / croft somewhere remote and be as self sufficient as possible. West coast of Scotland / Ireland being prime candidates.

that's hard work. Virtually all crofters multi-task anyway: run the Post Office (remember them?) and a croft. Drive a bus and run a croft. Funeral director and wedding cars and run a croft. Do some work for the forestry and run a croft.

It's rarely self-sufficient, it's more usually to round out meagre work possibilities.

Dropping out of the rat-race is exactly what I would like to do, but with some provisos: not be poor, not be shafted as soon as I get ill, be able to change my mind and jump back out if I want, and suit my partner as well as me, if at all possible.

Nearest thought I have is that I could commute weekly, or fortnightly, from much of the Highlands just as much, if not quite as easily, as I do from Bedfordshire. OK it's still the rat-race but you have a prettier cage. Only OH factors hold me back from that for now.


Note, since this thread started with a title on CCTV: Privacy International's survey of surveillance societies now separates out Scotland from England & Wales. Scotland ranks with the rest of Western Europe, whereas England is up there with Russia and China. And there certainly isn't a CCTV camera on every corner up there.

[Moscow Mule]

The alternative is to drop out of the rat race completely. Sell up and take on a small holding / croft somewhere remote and be as self sufficient as possible. West coast of Scotland / Ireland being prime candidates.

And you could even get the BBC to film you for a year.

You are Monty Halls AICMFP.

[DaveB]

The alternative is to drop out of the rat race completely. Sell up and take on a small holding / croft somewhere remote and be as self sufficient as possible. West coast of Scotland / Ireland being prime candidates.

[Svalbaard]

I'm giving serious thought to selling up / or renting the house, dropping out and taking the boat off round the world for a couple of years or more.

I think the sentiment is right here. There is something rotten at the core of this country and it is called Government. No sorry I apologise... it's not called the Government; it's called "Labours prolonged term in power". For to call it Government would mean to suggest that Labour have any real longview or control over their shambolic daily grind from disaster to disaster.

[EternalOptimist]

Modern India might meet that checklist:

1. decent income and work available.
2. lower taxes.
3. low crime rate.
4. can get by with English
5. decent health care
6. not so many bloody CCTV cameras and PCSO officers and PC etc etc


Of course, they won't let you work there without a work permit.

7. no rickshaws

[Solidec]

Like Expat says, I'd love to know where this place is with a perfect mix of high paid jobs and non (or fewer) of the problems the UK has.

There doesn't need to be a Utopic Paradise to emmigrate to. With the UK's continued decline, the GAP between quality of life here versus elsewhere will reach a level whereby the sacrifices to moving are significantly outweighed by the advantages of leaving.

At this point you will leave, trust me!

[DimPrawn]

Modern India might meet that checklist:

1. decent income and work available.
2. lower taxes.
3. low crime rate.
4. can get by with English
5. decent health care
6. not so many bloody CCTV cameras and PCSO officers and PC etc etc


Of course, they won't let you work there without a work permit.

[expat]

Like Expat says, I'd love to know where this place is with a perfect mix of high paid jobs and non (or fewer) of the problems the UK has.

Switzerland os not bad, but quite a few people who work there find it "boring". I think that what really happens is that you look at countries with a simple 5-point checklist (or something like that), but actually you and your life are much more complex than that, so the winners on the checklist are somewhat unsatisfying.

I am not criticising Switzerland for this: I do respect what they have done with their country; and if I were Swiss I would be against integration with the EU.

What I do mean is that you have not at all captured your real desires, when you make a list like:
1. decent income and work available.
2. lower taxes.
3. low crime rate.
4. can get by with English
5. decent health care
6. not so many bloody CCTV cameras and PCSO officers and PC etc etc

then you have not at all captured what you really like in a place. You need at least to try it out, and even one short contract might not be enough.


PS on Switzerland, I would warn you that if you don't like speed cameras in the UK, you really won't like Switzerland. When I was in Zürich they reduced the leeway from 5 km/h to 2 km/h: if the limit is 50km/h, you get flashed at 52 km/h.

[Foxy Moron]

Like Expat says, I'd love to know where this place is with a perfect mix of high paid jobs and non (or fewer) of the problems the UK has.

[Mehmeh]

Where would you go?

Where the streets are paved with cheese!

There's no cats in america.

[expat]

Where would you go?

We do this one from time to time (I am intensely interested myself). If there is a single magic Camelot then those in the know are keeping it to themselves. It usually comes down to a category choice:

1. Old-fashioned emigration to one of the big English-speakers, the USA or one of the old dominions, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. You need immigration brownie points, and usually a job to go to, in order to do this. It's easy to get too old for this without noticing.

2. Northern EU, or similar. Basically Netherlands and Germany: there is work there, you can do it without the language, and they are in the EU so there is little formality. Belgium and France may count, and Switzerland really belongs here, although neither Northern by compass nor really in the EU.

3. Southern EU: use the ease of travel in the EU to go and live somewhere pleasant and normally cheaper, like Spain; and commute weekly to work. As indeed many of us have to do from the UK anyway.

I think that's about it, if you're still working on-site.

[Foxy Moron]

Where would you go?

[BrilloPad]

And half the Brits would happily leave, I admit I'm seriously considering it myself.

If I was not tied to the UK by court order I would have left by now. I guess by the time the kids are 18 I will be too old to go.

[TykeMerc]

Doesn't put many people off. Half the world still wants to come here to live.

And half the Brits would happily leave, I admit I'm seriously considering it myself.

[chris79]

Doesn't put many people off. Half the world still wants to come here to live.

Yeah, to live a life of handouts and benefits, not because the place is a sh*thole.