I lived in a 800,000 dollar house which had no insulation and no double glazing and was cold in winter, I lived in Abbotsford in the inner west (a lovely suburb which I miss by the way) 8c without heating is quite cold.

Huntsmen spiders were regularly roaming round my house, not dangerous but not pleasant either.

Australia especially Sydney is a very expensive place to live, my wages are actually around 3 times higher in the UK than they were in Australia, I realise this will not be the case for everyone. Grocery shopping is ridiculously expensive over there and the choice is nowhere near as good as the UK (I live within 3 miles of around 4 farm shops selling great produce)

It is isolated from everywhere, where I live I can be in 10 different cities in just a relatively short car journey, In sydney you need to get (a quite expensive) internal flight to get to the next city of any merit, this would be even worse living in the West of Australia ( I got married in Western Australia, Ive no need to return)

By Culture I mean the arts, history, Architecture, Design etc etc, I agree Australias 'culture' is a far more modern one, I donot care for the beach and if your classing a BBQ as culture this is where we disagree.

Australia is indeed a melting pot but not one without its problems, casual racism is rife as is a sexist attitude which permeates through the media as well, the TV is just shocking, ABC is just about passable but the 'Aussie is the best in the world' stuff that comes out from the other networks is nauseating.

I moved back for many reasons, including Financial we are far far better off over here rather than having to worry about money this helps a great deal. I also just didn't see myself living there long term (which was the original plan) it wasn't for me, IMHO Australia has done a very good job in selling itself (as seen by posts on here by people that think its paradise without ever having been!) but in reality its just another first world country with all the problems associated with that. As for the weather I prefer the british climate, I hated the summer in Sydney and it never seemed to stop raining in the winter (it has more rainfall per year than Manchester), I also missed my friends and family which is something that people thinking of emigrating shouldn't underestimate. ATEOTD it wasnt for me but that is just my observations and whats right for me isn't right for another.

I absolutely love the UK, and moving away made me realise this a lot more and ir avnnoys me when people slag the place off having never lived somewhere else, the grass isn't always greener, sometimes its a weird shad of brown because the heat

I'd rather be in Blackpool!

Your intelligence fails you again. I didn't complain that an interview with Nigel Wood had a picture of Nigel Wood in it. I complained that an image of Nigel Wood is not the first thing one should be seeing on the RLWC website. Your love for the man clouds your thinking.

I used to live with a girl whose friend and husband were strongly considering moving to Australia.
"I think we should do it." She said "We should move to Australia."
"Why?" I asked
"It would be amazing"
"Why?"
"Errrrrrr."
I do not live with her anymore.

As much as I'm glad I live in the UK now, that is pushing it, if i never go to Blackpool again it will be too soon.

You are wrong.

It wasnt put as a landing page on the RLWC website It was the latest article on the website. It was an interview with Nigel Wood, about the world cup. It just happened to be the last one uploaded when you happened to go on to the website. But your tery managed to exceed your usual level of asshattery and you decided to whine and moan about it.

Surely you cannot be as stupid as you first appear?

I didnt borrow $800,000 the house was worth that, I borrowed half that, you have a look and see if you can get a nice 2 bedroomed house (not apartment) in a nice suburb for anything less than $500k housing is extremely expensive, not that Im complaining I did OK out of the Australian property bubble.

I never said there isn't racism in the UK, great strawman argument there. However casual racism (in the workplace and in the media) seemed far more prevalent in Australia to me, E.G the term WOG being used for some european people quite openly in conversation and on TV.

I dont know you, but you seem to be the typical 'pom' that cant quite understand why people don't just love Australia because it worked for them. The attitude of some Australians and English migrants for that matter when I said I was moving back to the UK was as if i'd sh@t on there door step, they just couldn't believe that anywhere was better than Australia to live, I find that strange but I liken Australia to a teenager (which it is in country terms) it seems to want to shout about how great it is whilst sticking its fingers in its ears and not listening, again this is just how I found it, I didn't want it to be like the UK and I didn't expect it to be, I went with an open mind but it wasn't the place for me.

Also I did have a fan heater and an electric blanket, it was cold in Winter as i said. I know its rains in the Summer, a lot!


As for work I am a Graphic Designer, but I now own my own business and as such my income has trippled to that of what I earned in Australia. If Im being fair I would say the average wage in Sydney is roughly around the same as it is here in my profession, but obviously in Sydney you have the more expensive living costs.

Australia is a wonderful country, and I may consider retiring out there one day, but I am just giving an honest opinion of what I found when living there, some people are very blinkered when it comes to Australia.

Good stuff Chris.
Will they let you back in when you want to?
I hope they do not allow whining pommies to pick and choose when they can just arrive in a Country, too cold, too hot, too e.

English immigrants were once highly regarded, nowadays they would be near the bottom of the list, whining, unhappy, not like England.
The ones that stay and stop whinging are like the Gypsies of Australia, selling car stereos at traffic lights,
So I am told.

That might that casual racism he was talking about

Im a permanent resident, so I can go back when I want if thats alright with you?

As for the rest of your post - I can see why you've integrated well with the Australians.

As for whining there is a real sense of irony when any Australian accuses an English person of whinging, they are the world leaders in it.

He is kind of proving my point for me

I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with pretty much all of that.

What I would add however, is that whilst franchising does indeed provide the framework within which clubs [ishould[/i be able to grow and prosper, to do so they are still required to be managed and run by competent people. Moreover, those competent people need to be overseen by an extremely robust governing body. As it stands, too many clubs are poorly run and the governing body appears to lack the courage of its convictions in terms of enforcing the franchising framework in a consistent way. Organisationally, there is a rather immature feel to the RFL, in that it lacks honesty about the things it gets wrong whilst making overblown claims about the things it gets right. I'm not advocating BBC style naval gazing and public flagellation, just honesty, a willingness to learn from mistakes and a bit of tough love in terms of allowing those clubs who insist on failing, to do so.

As for JP - I have terrific respect for him as a player; as a RL futurist - less so.

Yes, we should all be embarrassed because you don’t like Nigel Woods suit.

I know you like a whinge, but Christ almighty, it’s a mans suit ffs,.

Its quite funny that you have spent your time over the past few days whining about a problem you made up and admit you have no idea whether or not it exists or is even a realistic possibility, and the fact you didn’t like Nigel Woods suit in a picture headlining an interview with him. That’s not normal. Its quite funny, but it isn’t normal.