Austerity / Economy

[Hoover Attack]

Mine is moving to Vietnam in August, along with his wife and kid. They’re fed up with teaching here and being more social workers than educators, and in Saigon they’ll have a much better quality of life and higher wages than in Watford. Can’t say I blame them.

Where is your step-mum from?

[Proposition Joe]

Last helicopter out of Watford.

What am I missing about that chart above, btw? Don't want to be thick, but seems to say that in Korea, come 2064, 100% of the working age population will be 65 or over? Is the key poorly worded or am I have a mare?

[Long slender neck]

In the UK, there'll be just two working people for every "retired" person. In Korea, it'll be 1:1. You either impoverish the workers, or you *ahem* cull their older dependants.

Just remember this chart next time assisted dying is being discussed.

You worried?

[Hoover Attack]

Last helicopter out of Watford.

What am I missing about that chart above, btw? Don't want to be thick, but seems to say that in Korea, come 2064, 100% of the working age population will be 65 or over? Is the key poorly worded or am I have a mare?

Oh, Prevans!

[Long slender neck]

I guess I'd rather live as a rich man in Saigon than Watford, although lets not pretend its all fun and games in such places. Theres a reason we all live in grey suburbia.

[Hoover Attack]

Last helicopter out of Watford.

[Hoover Attack]

Why is everyone dead-naming Ho Chi Minh City?

[StillSpike]

Your kids are going to be impoverished, and very angry.

Something to do with better TV, streaming services etc, I guess.

I wonder what Russia's numbers would look like.

Also, and it's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but how comes Turkey gets to have its name spelt 'locally' and no-one else does? No idea why that annoys me, but it does.

[Currywurst and Chips]

Wait until they’re told they’re being put up at the Watford Travelodge

[Dunners]

Last helicopter out of Watford.

What am I missing about that chart above, btw? Don't want to be thick, but seems to say that in Korea, come 2064, 100% of the working age population will be 65 or over? Is the key poorly worded or am I have a mare?

It means for every person over 65, there'll be just one working age person.

[Chief crazy horse]

Is the answer to create more young people by creating the conditions that enables them to procreate. Banning online porn might help. No?

Possibly. I'm all for making it easier for people to have and raise children. But studies have shown that what is really driving the fall in average fertility rates is women choosing to have fewer kids. And this is usually because, unsurprisingly, they want to enjoy their 20s and 30s.

So we need more Wimmin then. Is there a way, say, that we could convert men to women and force them to have kids?

I thought this was established many years ago. If you remember the movie, ' A life of Brian', Reg (Cleese) makes it quite clear to Stan that men definitely can't have babies.

[Proposition Joe]

Last helicopter out of Watford.

What am I missing about that chart above, btw? Don't want to be thick, but seems to say that in Korea, come 2064, 100% of the working age population will be 65 or over? Is the key poorly worded or am I have a mare?

It means for every person over 65, there'll be just one working age person.

OK, right. Thank you. Silly me.

[Proposition Joe]

Annoyingly, Australia and New Zealand look *very* comparable with the UK, so the escape routes aren't that much better on that metric.

[StillSpike]

There's not that many countries who are going to be better off than the UK by that chart

[Celtient]

Mine is moving to Vietnam in August, along with his wife and kid. They’re fed up with teaching here and being more social workers than educators, and in Saigon they’ll have a much better quality of life and higher wages than in Watford. Can’t say I blame them.

A mate of mine has lived in Saigon for years working for an education charity. He says the humidity and smog is so horrendous, he does most of his work through the night when it is just about bearable, and sleeps during the day. Sounds like heaven

[Dunners]

There's not that many countries who are going to be better off than the UK by that chart

Correct. This is a global issue and it's going to affect everyone. Apart from Israel.

[Adz]

Annoyingly, Australia and New Zealand look *very* comparable with the UK, so the escape routes aren't that much better on that metric.

If you're over 30 there's not much chance of getting a visa here unless you're on a skills in demand list. It's a good point though. The data obviously doesn't take into account immigration though which has changed massively here over the last few years.

[Proposition Joe]

Annoyingly, Australia and New Zealand look *very* comparable with the UK, so the escape routes aren't that much better on that metric.

If you're over 30 there's not much chance of getting a visa here unless you're on a skills in demand list. It's a good point though. The data obviously doesn't take into account immigration though which has changed massively here over the last few years.

Mrs PJ's passport is a handy loophole around the skills issue.

[Adz]

Annoyingly, Australia and New Zealand look *very* comparable with the UK, so the escape routes aren't that much better on that metric.

If you're over 30 there's not much chance of getting a visa here unless you're on a skills in demand list. It's a good point though. The data obviously doesn't take into account immigration though which has changed massively here over the last few years.

Mrs PJ's passport is a handy loophole around the skills issue.

Come on over then, we're the lucky country, things will work out

[Dunners]

I wonder what Russia's numbers would look like.

Also, and it's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but how comes Turkey gets to have its name spelt 'locally' and no-one else does? No idea why that annoys me, but it does.

Russia's numbers are catastrophic. Given it's size, it will struggle to retain border security and state presence, especially in the Asian regions, beyond the next decade.

As for Turkey, it's not such a minor point as you may think. Turkey is one of the dormant regional powers. With US dominance declining, it's beginning to flex its muscles both militarily (in Syria) and culturally, and awaken from it's post-WW1 slumber. This insisting on the spelling of its name is part of that.

There's a reason why the likes of Erdoğan frequently communicate with the Turkish diaspora, especially in Germany, to remind them that they are Turks first and whatever adopted nationality is second.

[Max B Gold]

If you're over 30 there's not much chance of getting a visa here unless you're on a skills in demand list. It's a good point though. The data obviously doesn't take into account immigration though which has changed massively here over the last few years.

Mrs PJ's passport is a handy loophole around the skills issue.

Come on over then, we're the lucky country, things will work out

My daughter has been in Melbourne since October and doesn't seem too impressed.

[Long slender neck]

I've heard Oz is just like England, but hotter and more bigoted

[Max B Gold]

That's one of her complaints.

[Hoover Attack]

I've heard Oz is just like England, but hotter and more bigoted

It's like England from 40/50 years ago, but hotter.

[Dunners]

Does anyone know if Australia is hotter or colder than England?