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How will it end?


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It seems to me that everytime I go out the door I see an English removal van...

Having been here for a few years now and settled very happily I am starting to wonder how long it will be before all the reasons that I left the UK, live next door to me.

I dont begrudge anyone coming here...its a lovely place... I am just wondering where it is all leading to.

How long will it be before house prices go mental as in the UK? Its already going that way a little!

Just how many more gites can we have?

Will it all end in tears?

Will we all be kicked out or means tested to see which ones of us are contributing to the economy and who has to go home.

How long will the French put up with this invaision? Most French people dont yet have a problem... but ask yourselves if you enjoyed some of the ethnic invaisions we had back in the UK or did you sometimes think "enough is enough"?

At some point the flood has to stop and I am wondering if we will all be moving to the next best thing by then?

Phil
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I was wondering if a different prime minister in the UK might entice people to go back to whence they came especially those who are finding it harder than they thought in France and are surviving hand to mouth whereas they had good jobs and homes before.
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Please don't forget that those that have made the move have been able to do so because of the system in the UK. After a few years in France I doubt many of us could afford to move back. Are we really political refugees fleeing "Evil Britain" to discover a new life under the wing of the avuncular Jacques Chirac, or people that profitted from the UK system and now decide to bite the hand that fed us??
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[quote]I was wondering if a different prime minister in the UK might entice people to go back to whence they came especially those who are finding it harder than they thought in France and are surviving hand...[/quote]

Seeing as though this PM is berated for being akin to Margaret Thatcher and New Labour as being no different from the Tories, are you saying that people are fleeing the UK because of right wing policies? I would like to believe that most people who buy French homes, do so for their love of France, its culture and climate.
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Cjd,once again you mislead people in your response,you are here in france BECAUSE your wife is french,not because the UK has dealt you a bad hand,and like you posted your wife is from a "well to do"family,please dont try and empathise with people leaving the UK for different reasons to yours, after all the UK gave you for free to yourself a degree to no benefit to the UK other than the french pay your fam.

 

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I don't think it will end, you will always have Val 2 telling people they could not possibly make a living in France and they should go home before all is lost and make room for her building business, don't buy from brits don't sell to brits, don't drive a british car etc., and dread the thought of moving next door to P. Shute or else the France he knows and loves may not be the same again and maybe he will have to go back to the UK. to get away from all those british people taking over his little bit of France and maybe they will  upset all those French people making a tidy profit from selling us their properties. 

Why do you always put forward doom and gloom? you appear to be always anti the british moving to France, you did it, so let other people make up their own minds and mistakes if necessary, give them good advice and not I'm here so you shouldn't be.    

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[quote]Cjd,once again you mislead people in your response,you are here in france BECAUSE your wife is french,not because the UK has dealt you a bad hand,and like you posted your wife is from a "well to do"fa...[/quote]

Read it again, Outie. I'm defending the UK rather than criticising it. As for you claiming to know so much about me, you in fact know nothing. How can you possibly claim to know my true reasons for moving to France? We could just as easily have stayed in the UK as my wife was very happy there.

If you wish to speak about tax payers money, perhaps you'd like to enlighten us as to how much tax you paid when you worked on the boats.

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I don't think it will "end". It will probably evolve.

Maybe people with children will return to the UK because the education system there may ultimately suit their kids better; or a UK university is preferred but I think you have to have been a UK resident for the previous 3 years in order for the university place to be "affordable". Or maybe more parents decide they don't want their kids to join the 25% of under-25s apparently unemployed in France.

The baby boomer exodus may substantially increase (assuming it has started) as the BBs continue to retire - either early or at 60/65. The excellent French health service as well as the cost of property may make the move increasingly attractive allowing people to plug pension fund holes with the balance of the value of their UK homes. (Yes, I know - the "excellent French health service" for some members of LF is a joke but that's not generally the perception.)

France is always going to be close to the UK geographically, whatever the reality when someone gets here; the culture is viewed as accessible, not alien. Bulgaria, Estonia and wherever the Sunday supplements announce is the new France / Spain will always be too much of an unknown for the majority - even if Ryanair do fly there.

And of course, hundreds - thousands - of kids educated in France, returning to the UK to work for 10+ years - may decide to migrate back to the sunny sunflower-filled fields of their childhoods to raise their own families.

Isn't evolution grand!

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Hi

Some sideways thinking ?

Now is the best time for people to go back, if they want to. Why ?

French property prices have risen considerably over recent years, and the GBP is weaker than for a long time.

Just a thought !

Peter

 

 

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Is part of the reason that wanderlust is an integral element of British culture and character?  The fact we live on a small Island, with long Winters, and historically were a nation of mariners?

Think of all the English speaking countries that have been populated by emigrants from Britain over the centuries, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. To name a few.

In the sixties significant numbers of Brits were leaving for Australia, as "Ten Pound tourists".  Today it's France and Spain.

Apparently, even today the British are the best travelled than virtually any other nationality.

Nothing really changes!

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Perhaps I have something to do with it Sprogster, and if so I humbly apologise.  In the seventies, I worked on the liners taking the twenty-pounders out to their "good-life" in the Antipodes and now, thirty years later I find myself helping to sell (or should that be helping to buy?) houses to those who themselves now seek the same "good-life" - but this time, in France. 
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It will end if the UK voters swallow the tory and ukip anti-eu diatribes and the UK begins to withdraw from full participation in the EU  (I love that UKIP was born in a Spanish villa.  Just how easy would it have been to buy without the EU)

Or if the UK housing market crashes, or the currency valuation changes dramatically.  All these elements have contributed to the popularity of France and Spain as places you can realistically live in.  British emigration has traditionally concentrated on the ex-colonies.  Much easier to do as the laws are pretty similar, don't have to worry about the language and you can still see queenie a lot.    Now the laws are similar, the EU is more viable than in the past.

EU legislation has made freedom of movement so easy, and for (most) EU residents, you don't even have to worry about currency changes.   It's easy to buy your house or a car, vote, get a job, collect your pension etc etc and you have essentially similar basic rights in each country, all thanks to the EU.  You only have to read accounts from US citizens to see just how difficult moving to another country can be in terms of legalities.

Emigrant groups traditionally stick together.  I know  Brits like to think of themselves as expats rather than emigrants...but a  lot of the characteristics are similar and the creation of anglo enclaves is definitely one of them.  Look at the UK - there are pockets of emigrants scattered around specific areas.  Looking at the Brits arrive in the Dordogne or Brittany or whereever is no different to being Irish in Kilburn in the sixties and wondering why all the Irish end up in the same area.   It may seem like there are a lot of British moving, but I would imagine that if you look at emigration figures across Europe, or even just France, other countries would rank a lot higher.  I think the key differene is, you notice the British more as so many don't work as they're retired or do the tourism thing.  Most other emigrant groups are at mainstream work (the main reason for moving), whether it's in Britain or France, therefore you don't notice them.

 

 

 

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How much do you get from brussels to write a load of nonsense,or is it that you are like the rest of them and fiddle the expenses,take a plane for £50 and claim for £200 how fair is that,just one example I could go on as you are well aware.

 

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Princess Toni is the worst of all worlds.

You get the mass spending, handouts and swathes of public spending and tax of old Labour combined with the extreme control freakery of the extreme right wing of the Conservatives.

Unfortunately the git will get in again because (i) you get more seats/vote in Labour areas (ii) the handout club will vote for him (iii) the "public sector" skiver quango lot (of whom there are masses) will also vote for him.

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Pangur you are right when you say that the figures are not as dramatic as it might seem when you are here and you see the number of Brits arriving all the time. However, this is just France. Last year 'The Times' estimated that over 500,000 people left Britain to live abroad. That includes France and other European countries, America, Australia and everywhere else. I suspect that if you did a straw poll anywhere in Britain you would find that, given the opportunity, many more would do so too. Secondly, unlike the economic migration of the Irish to Britain that you mention, the majority of those who are leaving Britain are well educated, often succesful professional people or tradespeople who have had enough for one reason or another and are willing to risk leaving behind family ties and good jobs in the hope of a 'better life'.

The question the politicians (and perhaps the British people) need to adress is why? What is so crap about Britain (apart from the weather) that we all want to leave? Is it too late to change it or are we who leave a natural wastage of a culture that is heading in a direction that no longer includes us or our ideals? Are those of us who move to France just traditionalists who long for an England that existed 40 years ago? Perhaps those who embrace the American ideal see opportunities that just don't exist in Britain any more. If Europe is one big city, is Britain the inner city slum estate that everyone who can is deserting, leaving it to decay and crime.

I don't mean to be too critical of the old sod, just stimulating debate, but I'm glad I don't live there any more.
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Will we all be kicked out or means tested to see which ones of us are contributing to the economy

A French friend was talking about this recently and was astonished/appalled when I told her newly arrived Brits no longer have to provide evidence as to the the state of their finances.  Actually, it surprises me too for it's in everyone's interests.

I suspect that if you did a straw poll anywhere in Britain you would find that, given the opportunity, many more would do so too.

There was such a poll last year and wasn't the figure something like 1:3 would if they could?  Seemed absurdly high to me but there you are.

Is it too late to change it or are we who leave a natural wastage of a culture that is heading in a direction that no longer includes us or our ideals?

I've said before (ad nauseum) that I'm not convinced disillusionment with life in Britain is a  sound reason at all for leaving, quite the reverse in fact.  To make it work abroad in the long term, you've got to have a positive outlook on life and you've got to be able to cope with everything life throws up at you.  If you're the type of person that can allow problems at home to manifest themselves to such an extent that you see no other option but to emigrate, it's only going to be a matter of time before a similar scenario occurs in your new country of residence and you want to up leave that too.  I've seen it so many times.  If you think living in Britain is tough, try living abroad (on second thoughts, don't) especially where you don't speak the language, don't have a job, face nightmare bureaucracy, have very few friends and even less cash. 

That said, I can understand more why people of working age and with children (or even retirees) may want to up sticks and move to say, Australia or New Zealand for a new life and bit of adventure.  Both beautiful countries, English speaking, pro-British, reasonably easy to find work.  Most parts of the former also have a fabulous climate.  Anyone ever lived in Perth, WA?  Now there's a truly beautiful place with year round sunshine.

But rural France?  Especially the increasingly popular (ie remote, rainy and no chance of work) bits that the Brits automatically head for?  It's nothing more than a case of the grass always appearing greener and ignorance driving their temporary bliss. 

M

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Why should it end ?

What is wrong with freedom of movement between countries ?

I'm moving to France in july with wife and kids and expect to claim all the state benefits that i'm entitled to just as thousands of east europeans etc are now doing in the UK thanks to the expansion of the EU.

A big thankyou to Ted Heath.

 

 

tim

 

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<< I've said before (ad nauseum) that I'm not convinced disillusionment with life in Britain is a sound reason at all for leaving, quite the reverse in fact. To make it work abroad in the long term, you've got to have a positive outlook on life and you've got to be able to cope with everything life throws up at you. If you're the type of person that can allow problems at home to manifest themselves to such an extent that you see no other option but to emigrate, it's only going to be a matter of time before a similar scenario occurs in your new country of residence and you want to up leave that too. >>

Agree completely.

I think that **some** (not all, and certainly not anyone on LF ) are dissatisfied with their *life* not their country. It may be their sense of dissatisfaction is blamed on the way they perceive the UK to be - because "it's all the government's fault" is a more comfortable concept than admitting "my attitude and outlook on life is crap and things won't change unless I do!" The reality is it's their personal circumstances, opportunities, personalities that they're dissatisfied with. And whatever country they live in, that may never change.
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I'm moving to France in july with wife and kids and expect to claim all the state benefits that i'm entitled to just as thousands of east europeans etc are now doing in the UK thanks to the expansion of the EU.

So what's made you opt for France when there are so many other countries you can set up home and scrounge in?  M

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I'm moving to France in july with wife and kids and expect to claim all the state benefits that i'm entitled to just as thousands of east europeans etc are now doing in the UK thanks to the expansion of the EU.

It's thanks to the expansion of the EU that more "Liberal" UK politics will be able to prosper throughout the union. Incidentally, this seems to also be the reason for the "Non" vote's strong position in France.

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I'm not scrounging. I have a house (no mortgage) a job and expect to pay social charges and taxes.Increased child benefit and tax breaks for large families are however an advantage over the UK.  

My real point was that the EU has enabled me to make this move easily and as the current governments of the UK and France are both pro europe this will continue for quite sometime whether people like it or not.

 

 

tim

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[quote]I'm moving to France in july with wife and kids and expect to claim all the state benefits that i'm entitled to just as thousands of east europeans etc are now doing in the UK thanks to the expansion ...[/quote]

So what's made you opt for France when there are so many other countries you can set up home and scrounge in?  M

What has it got to do with you?  he has every right to do so.

 

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[quote]So what's made you opt for France when there are so many other countries you can set up home and scrounge in? M What has it got to do with you? he has every right to do so.[/quote]

It would  be interesting to see the reactions of his neighbours when they find out, that he's just another scrounger...living off a country's welfare system that he has paid FA towards.
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