Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts

Aussies No Longer Flock to London

The whole world changes all the time. Cultures alter at different speeds depending where you are on this planet. Faster communication is creating a "one world community' as many would say. However, cultures do differ between nations and ethnic groups.

Australia has gone through dramatic change, from being an outpost of the British Empire to independence and self governance. Once Australians saw themselves as British first and Australians second. Going back "home" for a holiday to see mother England was a dream for many. Even after Britain joined the European Community Australians flooded into London.

Today, Australians are "thin on the ground" in England. Work restrictions are killing off the attraction. You can only work if you are European. Working visas issued to Australians has halved since 2006. Only 10,000 Australian citizens actually reside in the UK. Businesses promoting Aussie travel to Britain have closed their doors and Internet sites. "Pub crawls" of the Australian parts of London such as Shepherd's Bush no longer operate.  British pubs are also suffering because they cannot get Australian bar tenders who speak English well. Europeans just do not "cut the mustard".

Who is to blame. The British government is at fault putting visa restrictions on the valuable Aussie labour supply. Culturally, the British are closer to Australians than Europeans. Migration is going the other way now. More British and Irish are coming to live permanently in Australia. There are more employment opportunities in this advanced country, which oddly has more in common economically with primary producing developing nations. Digging out coal for the world pays well.
Migration by Ty Buchanan
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UK Is Dishonest Not Paying Pensions

The battle goes on between Australia and the UK about the shortchanging of British people who were born, lived and worked in their homeland before emigrating. They paid their taxes and crucially paid there "stamp" every working week toward the state pension. However, the UK does not align payments with inflation for ex-pats living in "wealthy" countries, only those retiring in developing nations. UK governments, indeed previous governments of all political shades, have "stole" from these elderly people.

Today the British pension paid to those who emigrated permanently to Australia is worth a pittance. There is no way they could live on it. Australia has to make up the shortfall even if ex-Brits have lived in Australia for only a few years before retiring. This is disgraceful behavior from a supposedly civilized country. It certainly fails the Australian norm of a fair go.

On average the rate of pension paid to those living in the UK is more than double what ex-pats receive. Each recipient gets the British rate upon the day of retirement. This means those who live to an old age get a few pound a week.

The rule is not even consistent. Brits retiring in the US and Israel get inflationary increases. As Jim Tilley chairman of British Pensions in Australia (BPiA) says: "These guys are a bunch of hypocrites."
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Society
TwitThis

Academic Papers Could Soon Be Publicly Available

The era of academic journals being closed off from the general public by financial barriers is coming to an end. Publishers are terrified by this. It means they will have to get funding from other sources rather than annual subscriptions. There will be a time limit placed on articles, so after a short period they will have to be released so everyone can read them.

This move is being put forward by the UK government. It is pushing for open access from the very beginning of publication. Unfortunately, the government intends to make authors pay publishers. This is unrealistic. Admittedly, university lecturers are in a secure financial position. However, scientists find it difficult to get funding and allocating part of income on publication is another financial burden.

Universities are saying that the government is looking after publishers, protecting their income while passing the cost onto educational institutions. Martin Hall says we must move forward to get full funding in advance. Unfortunately, he does say how this money is to be obtained. UK researchers are planning to offer some work for free while saving their best for payment from journal publishers. This is too much like the present where only 5 per cent of articles are in gold open access.

This does look bleak for publishers who will steadily "go to the wall", and Universities who will pay either way. If most articles are going to be free, then the cost of the fewer "advanced" papers will cost much more. Governments will ultimately pay for the cost as the institutions are largely public bodies. In the current economic climate this cannot be sustained.
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Science

Europe Will Bring the World into Depression

The European economic situation is becoming a world problem. There seems to be no way the Euro can be saved. There will definitely be a flow-on effect to the world economy. Despite the new agreement, without the UK, nothing has really changed. The regulation and punishment for spending too much is too late for Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. When these countries ultimately default, and they will, France and Germany will be drawn into Depression with them because their banks have continued to lend to these deficit countries.

There will be another problem in Europe that no one has highlighted. When unemployment gets too high in the struggling countries life will be unbearable. Labor is free to move across borders in the EC. Workers will move to where the work this. That is Germany and to a lesser extent France. Economic refugees will flood across the borders. The UK will not be exempt from this. For centuries England, Scotland and Wales have been destinations for workers from Ireland leaving due to lack and work and political problems. When Ireland defaults hundreds of thousands will move out.

Welfare systems in these "target" countries will be burdened to the extreme. Unemployment benefits will have to be reduced, per person, to cope. Lack of demand in Europe means lower production in the US and Asia. The future also looks bleak for Australia, the main provider of basic resources to China.

Going for a budget surplus in 2012 may be politically justified and the Australian Government may just make it in time for the next election with tough cutbacks. However, no matter which political party wins government it will have to go straight back to spending to keep the Australian economy moving with the sharp cutbacks forced on China by the failing world economy.
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Politics

The Internet Is Not Yet the Great Leveller

Access to the Internet prevents it from being a world levelling device. In Australia people will have to wait up to eight years to get broadband. South Africans living in "dangerous" areas will never get an Internet connection because telco companies fear theft of copper wire. India is too poor, so many regions will have to remain on dial up Internet. Those in remote places in Britain are still waiting for a method to be chosen for broadband distribution.

Leading Western countries are the main source of software for all Internet users. Even Twitter and Facebook are based in the US. People also use these sites to interact with those of similar ilk. The world is segmenting into cliques and a broad world view is not materializing. This is despite more information being available for the average person than at any other time in human history.

People are essentially parochial. They identify with the region and country they are in. Though international news is easily accessed, many choose not not to log on. They still get news from local television and radio. Such news sources now have less than 15 per cent of non-local news, particularly in the US. Ninety five per cent of Internet users in the UK go to domestic news sites. Afghanistan is the topic of most international news stories while clashes in Africa are given just cursory comment.

No doubt in time a common world view will develop. This is because urbanization is happening everywhere, so there will eventually be a common background for most people irrespective of place of origin. The readership of blogs is increasing, with most commenting on local and international issues. There is a need for barriers from language barriers to be broken down. News will travel faster when breaking stories are translated on the spot.
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