which country?

[Tahrey1043]

would you emigrate to?

looks like not just driving conditions, but quality of life in general here might be heading decisively towards the austere, authoritarian end within a few years. be good to have a reasonable idea of where's both safe and pleasant to decamp to, until either the sh*tstorm blows over or the UK becomes the next yugoslavia/zimbabwe/etc. something i've feared for a while but recent news articles aren't reassurring - in fact, the opposite.

that old bloke who survived the holocaust - and real, genuine suffering and terrorism (and i dare say far, far worse conditions than i'm being fearful of - so far) - getting roughly chucked out of a labour conference and then arrested under 'terrorism' laws (!!!?!) is only the thin and well-wiped end of the stick.

to perk your ears up more here's a couple more, particularly roadgoing ones, that you may have missed but have been in the papers and even (if briefly) troubled the radio news this week.

DVLA wants to enforce mandatory car insurance even for vehicles that are not being driven. Quite what this will mean for any number of projects and reasonably good complete frames sitting round SORNed in people's garages and in scrapyards is open to debate, but for the majority it probably means --> scrap. Totally unneccessary and heavy handed measure, won't cut crime, anyone who'd be driving like that won't have taxed their car anyway (for one thing - can't get tax without insurance) so why not just pull them up for THAT pre-existing statutory offense?

Example of how our current beaurocracy has a great lump of shelling their peanuts with a sledgehammer.

Or the number-plate chip tagging thing. Some (small, as it wasn't publicised) resistance to their satellite tracking idea, and the logistics are incredible, so this genius idea has been come up with. Microwave RFID readers on roadside gantries or even in the tarmac (the amount of rectangular/diamond shaped tar-covered-wire loops in the road where there aren't any traffic lights / speed cameras / trafficmaster transmitters makes me suspicious this has been silently in the pipes for years and the sneaky sods have only just publicised it) can pick up "upto 200 plates per second" (just in case the Indy 500 happens to roar through?!) and so pinpoint (and log) your location at various times, and of course work out the average speed between.
Supposedly a boon for tracking criminals, their movements, and stolen cars, if not for the fact that the criminal element generally involves people with a brain who are not blind to the world and it's current events - they'll just peel the plates off a target car and put unchipped falsies on, leaving the common, mostly law abiding guy to get all the needless stick.

[Alex_6n2]

who voted for american :/

[bstardchild]

who voted for american :/

4 people!!!!

[Alex_6n2]

why?

[bstardchild]

why?

No language issues

Massive country

Cheap fuel

V8's

Why Not...........

This country is Fucked

[Krupa]

So is America.

So is just about every country in the world, move away and you'll just find something there that'll p*** you off.

Unfortunately that's just how modern life is.

[Redline]

Canada, on the basis that it's like the USA in many ways. But minus the foreign policy, the blind-patriotism and oh, Americans.

Went to Toronto last year, and pretty much decided that I want to emigrate there sometime in the future.

[ModifiedMadness]

I quite liked where I went in Orlando, granted every country is pretty much fuked these days but they're still better than our own. England, you burn the flag nothing happens, America, you burn the flag you're likely to get arrested as it's a federal offence! That's how it should be.

[mfa-polo]

I was out in Canada a few years back, its a fantastic place would move tomorrow if i could.

I agree with Krupa most places in the world are f**ked, esp. America!

Modern Life Is Rubbish!

[Josh_PoloGTi]

It would be Canada for me.

I did Spain (well Mallorca) and I came back. Sunshine and nice beaches aren't everything LOL!

And before you ask, I was doing proper work out there... Installing IT, Comms, Navigation and Entertainment systems on Superyachts.

[Tahrey1043]

i dunno, it seems like a fairly nice place with its governmental head on straight ... but there's the ever-living quebec trouble, it's too close to america and technically still under british jurisdiction...

i like the look of new zealand - they also have maori conflict, and a 100kph motorway limit, but very cheap petrol (equivalent of 60p per litre is expensive, according to an ex pat at the hospital), a fairly english climate (but a bit warmer?) and seemingly quite a laid back attitude to everything. plus quite a bit removed from the usual trouble spots.
oh, and the landscape.. not quite canada, but probably less lethal!

[Si_GTi]

New Zealand sounds good tbh. Parent's went there last Easter and said it was great, everyone was real laid back - could ship the Polo over there too

[M@Turner]

Has to be Canada for me too. Although New Zealand sounds nice too.

I've been Canada a few times and loved it every time. My Uncle emigrated over there in the the 70's i think to do telecoms stuff then opened his own B&B in Vancouver.

Canada for me has pretty much everything you would want. You've got the nice friendly people, nice beaches, Rocky mountains, heavily urbanised areas and lots of suburban areas to get away from the stresses of life. You can go camping and see "big ass bears" and moose's and other cool creatures. Oh and they have wicked golf courses too. Even the Pitch and Putt courses are cool.

I'd move there in a shot i think.

Mat

[robz]

i like the look of new zealand - they also have maori conflict, and a 100kph motorway limit, but very cheap petrol (equivalent of 60p per litre is expensive, according to an ex pat at the hospital), a fairly english climate (but a bit warmer?) and seemingly quite a laid back attitude to everything. plus quite a bit removed from the usual trouble spots.
oh, and the landscape.. not quite canada, but probably less lethal!

yeh i voted for new zealand. ive got an aunt who moved over there bout 6years ago & shes just came over here for a "holiday" BAsically wot Tahrey was sayin is how she described it ie warmer than over here but not 2 warm. so @ the very least im gonna go visit 4 a few months

[Alex_6n2]

canada or nz are the pick of the bunch for me as well

i asked why for america, as even though our own country is f****d up, America is more so imo

No language issues - Lots of places where English is the main language

Massive country - Canada is massive (and less densly populated)

Cheap fuel - NZ has cheap fuel, so does Canada

V8's - You can get them any where, <10mpg most of the time, pollution :/

Why Not........... - Lots of them are massivly predjudice (just look at the recent huricane issues), you will get shot

It's not all bad i spose, housing is cheap, many of the American people are very nice and there are places that are just as beautiful as Canada etc and as wide open but the thought of being part of the "Bush" thing puts me off