THE WRITE STUFF

AN AUSTRALIAN GIVES US HIS POINT OF VIEW ON POMS AND THE NEW BOOK: 'TEN POUND POMS.'
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Aussie, as you say in your review of the book 'Ten Pound Poms' and like many Aussies we know lots of 'Poms' (woops, I mean Brits), and when I read about the book with the name Poms in the title I was interested. No Brit I know really likes the term Pom, but there it was right on the front of a book written by Poms. Well that's what I thought until I read most of it. The writers are not true Poms in the exact sense, one being a born Australian and the other being a Brit kid who was brought up Australia.

HOW CAN WE BE SURE 'IT'S THE BEST THING WE EVER DID.'
Having first read your review then having read most of the 'Ten Pound Poms' book I would like to comment on a few of the subjects so ably covered by Hammerton and Thomson. It is a very readable book and should become a must have for all us 'Ten-Pounders' who came to Australia from after the war and upto the mid 1980's. The other British migrants who came under their own steam and all those two and a half million non-Brits who migrated to Australia would find the book hugely interesting and very factual, but there are a few points I'd like to raise.

IS THIS WHAT BRITS WHO HAVE EMIGRATED WANT TO HEAR ABOUT BRITAIN?
My girlfriend and I have just completed a backpack tour of Australia with a short stopover in Alberta [Canada] to visit some of her relatives. Firstly, the tour of Australia was magnificent and people were very kind and helpful to us. We loved the country and the way of life, and naturally being British with a Union flag proudly stuck on our backpacks we met many Brits and were fed many stories, mostly about what they thought of Britain. These stories were, in the main, a kind of justification in why they left Britain in the first place, with most of them refusing to entertain the thought Britain might be a modern, successful and go-ahead country. By the time our tour of Australia was nearly up Angie [girlfriend] and I had devised a great 'putdown' on Britain that the immigrant Brits we met seemed to want to hear. It went like this: "Oh yes, Britain is swarming with blacks and Asians. They're everywhere. I'd guess half the population is dark skinned. And the economy. Don't believe what you miught read about it, the country is worse than it was after the second world war, with most people scratching a hand to mouth living. And crime, Oh my God the crime. You can't go out at night, you've got to triple bolt your doors, with rape and murder top of the lists. And the government, corrupt as any African state with every other politician taking bribes. I don't know why we're going back." Our listeners, in the most part Brits, but a lot of Aussies to, hung on every word. Only a few Brits and Aussies twigged what we were up to, but I can tell you, what we had to say, though all nonsense is just what a lot of emigrated Brits were dying to hear. 
Justin Mansfield, London, England. September 8th 2005.

GIVE US CANADIANS SOME CREDIT FOR KNOWING WHAT'S TRUE AND WHAT ISN'T.
The two letters you published in last months issue (Brits Abroad Newsletter & Brits Abroad Website) about the CTV news item does not reflect how most of us Canadians feel towards Britain. Firstly I’m a Canadian and I, like many other Canadians did not see the CTV broadcast. And if we had seen it we would have known right away that their story about British troops pulling out of Iraq was incorrect. A great many of us in Canada watch other new stations such as the CBC, and even the US’s CNN, and draw our new information from them, and we would have instinctively known the CTV report was wrong and treated it accordingly. You really don’t think we all believe what we see and hear on the local TV news surely? It is often biased, slanted, and regretably incorrect, so I wish those two ‘Write Stuff’ letter writers of last month do not write off a whole country because of some producer and news writer at CTV having an anti British agenda. Sadly it does exist, as any fool can see by reading certain newspapers and magazines produced in Canada and watching some programs on television, but please, don’t think we’re all as ill-informed as that.
Malcolm Berlier, London, Ontario. Canada. August 17th 2005

DON’T WATCH CTV THEN
Why watch a mismanaged, misleading TV news station with an anti-British agenda? I gave up on CTV and most Canadian news stations years ago and now watch BBC World News on digital cable. Factual reports, no commercials, first class group discussions, and real news that doesn’t have any kind of side-taking in its content.
Mr.V.H. Jansen, Montreal, Canada. August 16th 2005.

YOU'RE JUST IMMIGRANTS LIKE THE REST OF THE NEWCOMERS TO CANADA.
I'm not English and a friend who is has directed me to your website. As a Canadian I find it angering that you would print the letters you have that do no good to foster relations with our British cousins. I don't know why these writers are so upset. As British living in Canada they must know that we Canadians hold no special link with Britain. As far as most Canadians are concerned the sooner we break the pointless ties of monarcy (sic) and forms of allegance (sic) to the old country the better. I do not know what you expected Canada to do after the bombs went off in London. It was reported, I saw it myself, although I did not see the reference you made to CTV Am news, yet what they said was partly true, so where's the problem? I've met many Britishers here in Canada and I find that you think you have some kind of special relationship with Canada. You don't. To find out just ask Canadians, specially teachers like my husband, who do not teach any kind of historic reference to Britain. We are, and we always will be, linked in culture and life style to our neighbors the Americans. Although we don't support their war in Iraq we do feel a much closer bond to them than to Britain. Put your place in Canada into proportion. You are landed immigrants like all the other newcomers.
Teena Dawn Fuller, Toronto, Canada (July 19 2005)

I'M PROUD TO BE A BRIT NO MATTER WHERE I AM IN THIS WORLD.
I've taken my skills and my work ethics to many places in this world: Australia, Canada, and now California, and I am so proud to say that what we are, who we are, and what we take with us around this world is very much admired by all those I have worked with and socialized with. We are a presence in this world wherever we go, we are counted on for our input on global matters, and let's face it, when it comes to the media, to film making, to television we are, if not the best, then we're a smidgen away from being the very best. Don't knock our education in Britain, I can tell our kids leave school sooner than most but they take with them more than most. Our skills and trades are needed worldwide with Australia now asking Britain once again to come downunder. Let me say, that in every aspect of being British, I am more than proud. We hold our own and we stand head and shoulders over most of the worlds best. Be proud you are a Brit. Own up to who you are. You've got a lot to shout about.
Sam Warrington, Los Angelas, California. (July 2005)

IF IT'S SO MUCH BETTER HERE WHY DO I MISS BEING BACK HOME?
You know I can't disagree with the facts, life in Canada is much better for a young married chap like myself. Good job, good apartment, good car, good people around me at work and our new friends, lots to do if you like to do what Canadians do, and I do most of the time, but I still find myself daydreamimg about going out to see the game (Liverpool - and can you believe, now Wigan), about going around the pub to meet my mates, going fishing, and most of all going to Blackpool in the high summer to walk along the front, smell the sea, and eat some fish & chips. That's what I miss, and it's not here, none of it. What is here is good, but completely different. Will I ever get over this feeling of homesickness - or what? If anyone knows how I can deal with this problem then write to me - care of this website - Britmail@aol.com  and mention me: 
Dave Allenson (Winnipeg, Canada - ex Liverpool 2002)  (June 2005)

NOSTALGIA IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.
Your website follows a strong theme of nostalgia, being of interest mostly to those emigrated Brits who trace their departure from Britain to the 1940’s through the 1970’s. We didn’t all leave way back then and we do not all look back with glassy eyes at a Britain that used to be. Nostalgia is all very fine but it’s not for everyone. Not everything back then was better, or was more friendlier, or even that good for you. My parents tell me stories about those ‘good old days’ that quite honestly leave a lot to be desired. Cold rooms without any form of heat (bedrooms), food that was very basic, hot water that was only used for that once a week bath, washing boiled in a big tub, coal fires, primus stoves, gas meters, batteries for radios, and their own parents who thought that keeping your elbows off the table and washing behind the ears was all you needed to do to get on in the world. Humour was lacking in most walks of life yet superstition was rife. ‘Mark my words’ was a statement of fear expressed daily. Education was suspect, with such things being taught that the population explosion would cripple the world by 1990 and all the worlds forests would be dust bowls by 2000. People desperately emigrated in those days just to get away from a country they feared would swallow itself up, that’s why the vast outback of Australia looked safe, as did the huge forests of Canada. No, nostalgia is old hat. It’s full of misty memories that might seem cosy and warm now but in a seriously close analysis of those 'good old days'  it all looks a lot like hard times and a hard life. My parents liked to think it made them what they are today, and to some extent it might have (but they still emigrated didn't they), but I doubt that hard times, worry, and superstition ever make anything worthwhile out of anyone. It’s progress that matters, moving on, improving ones life, learning by mistakes, not dwelling in a past that looks good on calenders but not too good under a microscope. 
Daniel Morley, Perth, Australia. (April 2005)

DON'T CONFUSE BRITS WORKING ABROAD WITH BRITS WHO HAVE EMIGRATED ABROAD.
The Ronald Young Ph.D. article ‘Back To Basics’ goes to prove once again that working abroad and emigrating abroad are two very unrelated issues. I am doing my second contract here in the US and to me being here is great, but, I’m only here on a working trip and I will be going home late in 2006. I’ve met immigrants from Britain who are a whole different type of people. It’s as if they’ve given up on Britain and would be happy emigrating anywhere. One fellow I met who works in Denver and emigrated there from Birmingham says he was hard pressed to decide where he wanted to emigrate to: Canada, Australia, or the US. His view was ‘anywhere has to be better than Britain.’ This is sad. But it makes it very clear that British immigrants who have ‘given up’ and gone abroad are a whole different group of thinkers and doers than those of us who decide to go abroad to better our working skills. I hate to mention ‘class’ and ‘education’ but those two very real imposters must play a huge part in who goes where and why.  
Chris Farrell, Los Angelas, USA.

DON'T PUT ME ON A GUILT TRIP IF I DON'T WAVE THE UNION FLAG FROM THE ROOFTOPS.
Your website is a good and interesting read - if you are an over-zealous true blue Brit living abroad and still deeply interested in what goes on in Britain. But you do put a lot of us on a guilt trip. Your attitude is, that if we don't want to wave the Union flag and stand up for all that's British then we must be against the old country. That is not true. You must know from living next door to America, and being strung out on the border of the same in Canada, that over-indulgence in patriotism can be quite nauseating. And going all gung-ho for the old country just isn't something we Brits living abroad are prone to. What did Oscar Wilde say? 'Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel' - or words to that effect. No Ken, don't make us 'quiet Brits' feel guilty because we don't yell our heritage from the rooftops. We expats are, in one way or another, very proud of Britain, but let's face it, the old country has as much wrong with it as the USA has with it, or Canada has, or any country come to that. No one is perfect, let alone our country or us emigrated Brits.
Frank Sutterfield, New Jersey, USA.

FINDING YOUR WEBSITE HAS BROUGHT ME A GREAT DEAL OF HAPPINESS - AND RELEASE.
Your website has been a wonderful place for me to find. I've been wondering for many years if I was the only Englishman in the entire expat world who was suffering from acute homesickness. When I saw the Brits Abroad listing on another website I thought, oh yes, another jolly expat Brit website where us expats are all over the moon about leaving England and revelling in sunshine and happiness living abroad. Then I read some of your articles, the Emigrating series, and some letters in 'The Write Stuff' and I realised - thank God, I'm not the only one who is homesick. Just to feel slightly vindicated in my belief that it's okay to still yearn for the British way of life, and not be frightened to mention that fact, has given me a deep sigh of relief. There's so much I want to say, and I want to write about now that I feel I can, that first I'd consider it an honour for you to publish this letter so that it may reach the heart of someother Brit living abroad who feels the pangs of homesickness like I do. I now know there are others, maybe hundreds, so please be assured, when you read this and are sitting quietly thinking of your 'real home,' that I am right there with you. I can now open up with many stories I'm now not frightened to tell. This is just the beginning.
Arnold Warring, Sydney, Australia.  (February 24th 2005)

BRITS WHO EMIGRATE ARE NOT A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT FOR BRITAIN.
The broad scope of your interesting website seems to aim directly at the emigrant British family and how they adjust to the more negative aspects of living in a foreign country. There are of course many positive benefits to emigrating, if one has the right attitude of seeing the good side, and then buckling down and getting on with ones new life and all the adjustments one has to make. The remarkable thing I've found working abroad, mostly in Australia and Canada, among those Brits who have emigrated, is how quickly and how well they  adjust. My sojourns abroad in a working capacity only, has all the homesickness of leaving my country, let alone leaving my family and my friends. I find the wrench of going abroad, and having to make new friends, as well as having to adjust to a completely different way of life, very stressful indeed. How immigrants from Britain can pack up everything, say goodbye to ones dear parents and friends, sell up the family home, and even give away the family pet, then arrive on a foreign shore and immediately become a devoted and stand-up supporter of their new country, truly puzzles me. I met so many Brits on my working tours of Australia and Canada that had nothing but negative memories of their life in Britain, that I wonder if they were ever proud Brits, and now what kind of people these bad advertisements for Britain really must appear. I'm now working in California, and in a year I shall be going home, and looking forward very much to that time. Every time I return home from working abroad I realise just how much Britain means to me, and how much I missed her vibrant and exciting lifestyle. But what makes the vast majority of emigrant Brits such malcontents? How can they leave everything they are supposed to have loved once so dearly, like parents, friends, homelife, and their once fierce British pride, and swap it all in the twinkling of an eye, for a country they know little about? What makes them so eager to bury their own heritage, and take up their new flag? Can anyone tell me? Email this website if you can tell me what I'm obviously missing.
Laurence McArthur, California, US. January 7th 2005

SHOULD AN ANTI-BRIT BRIT WORK IN A BRIT STORE ASKS A READER..
The love hate relationship Brits living abroad have with Britain is really quite alarming. We have, like you (your editorial July) a local store that specializes in imported British goods. I visit this store almost once a week, to get everything from tea to sweets, yet they employ a woman there who looks to be in her late forties, who gives me, and a few others shopping there, an argument on anything British we might defend. Just last week I told her my good friends were going home after being here three years, and she scoffed, 'you mean he's found a job there.' When I told her that there were more people out of work, by numbers, in Canada than in Britain, she sneered. She then snapped, 'ah, but he can't buy a house there I bet.' I said he never had one when he left Britain, and he and his family were going home to live with his aging father. Again, a kind of pouting sneer. Isn't it rather off-putting to customers in the store to have a British exPat, with such a terrible attitude towards Britain, work there? Several people shopping there overheard all this. What's wrong with exPats once they get abroad and gain a few things? And with that attitude why would she want to work in a store that specializes in British goods in the first place?
Brenda Williams, Toronto, Canada.

NOT ALL BRITS LEFT BRITAIN BECAUSE THEY FELT THEY HAD NO OTHER CHOICE.
I would like to take issue with Mr.Kenneford's statement in his letter to you in the 'Write Stuff.' He says that, 'we would never have left Britain if we had loved it there,' implying that all emigrants from Britain only leave because they felt they had no other choice, or felt they no longer cared for Britain. This is not so. I am confident in saying that just about all the Brits I've met, who emigrated from Britain, some over 20 years ago, did not do so because they had lost their respect for Britain. We left to try our luck abroad. We left to make a fresh start in another society. We left to improve our lot. We did not leave because we wanted to get out. To this very day (I left with my family in 1979) I still miss many things. I still love and respect Britain. And I am so sad to hear of other Brits who left Britain, some over 20 years ago, talk as if their previous life in Britain was one of poverty and setbacks. You can be a Brit and be happy living abroad, but you don't have to continually put down our great country, that serves its 60 million inhabitants very well, and provides a great and respected influence on the rest of this world.
Peter Goodwin, Melbourne, Australia.

LET'S FACE IT KEN, WE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT BRITAIN IF WE HAD LOVED IT.
Whilst I find your website refreshingly different, I do find it to be very critical of the many thousands of Brits who have emigrated, and who have made a new and happy life abroad. Your views as to why we, the British who emigrate, can possibly go abroad and write-off our own country, are in the main argumentative, and based on a personal view that I know very few Brits living abroad share. Most of us do not simply write-off our own country, we exchange it for another. But let's face it, we have decided we're happier and better-off where we are now, so flying the big UK flag hardly seems right. Your main argument on this theme is that other nationals, like Americans, Australians, and Canadians, go and live abroad and are full of praise as to where they are from. You ask, 'why can't we be that proud.? My answer is that these other nationals that live abroad have not emigrated, in the full sense, like we have. Most are living abroad for a few years or more (as do the thousands upon thousands of Brits who just 'work' abroad) and will return to their home country in due course. We emigrated Brits have decided not to return 'home.' Give us, the countless thousands of Brits who have emigrated abroad, a little respect. We're not all down on Britain. And let's face it Ken, if we loved Britain that much, we wouldn't have left in the first place.
Malcolm Kenneford, Albury, NSW, Australia.

IT'S WHAT YOU MISS, NOT WHAT YOU GAIN, THAT MATTERS
Whenever I met British people living in Canada, the conversation always centred around the good things their new life abroad had brought them. For most the transition was indeed a giant leap from the tiny brick terraced houses, to large apartments, with big kitchens, showers, and central heating. With us, and a few others we met whilst being an immigrant in that very American style country, Canada, was not counting the gains, but counting the things you missed. Much can be got used to, but a great deal of things, specially lifestyle itself, cannot be replaced in a few years. We missed too much, and cared too much for our homeland, that we eventually, after seven years, returned to our beloved country. It was an experience being in Canada, but it wasn't us. We're British, and very proud of it. 
Margery & Doug Bourton, Maindenhead, England. (June 2004)

CANADA'S TV HISTORY SERIES IS TOTALLY MISLEADING.
I'd like to take this opportunity to write to you about my recent experiences in Canada. I travelled from England (Durham University) to attend a forum of invited authorities from around the world to discuss the subject of 'Intertconnective Immigration Policies', being held in Ottawa. The three day event went very well; which incidently is the first of its kind anywhere, and whilst travelling through various cities in Canada I watched a television presentation entitled: 'Canada: A People's History.' I was stunned. This series, obviously made at great expense to the taxpayers in Canada, is a near total fabrication of the true early history of Canada. It leans to the American side, specially in its portrayal of the war of 1812, and hardly mentions any battles that were favourable to the British, who fought the war and prevented the Americans annexing that part of Canada. Further unfavourable references to the British occur throughout the five episodes, with overwhelming praise for all things French. I watched all this to the point I wondered why the series was ever made. To portray the British in Canada as invaders? As being wrong in every respect in building a country called Canada? Of being 'unkind' to the French? Of instituting the just laws of Britain? It is very hard for me to understand how this series can be shown without someone - anyone - knowing that it fails completely in telling the factual unbiased truth. I'm left wondering why. Is there somekind of undercurrent of dislike for the British in Canada? I'd very much like to hear from anyone with true knowledge of Canada's history, and of this TV series, to contact me. Please do so through this website. Britmail@aol.com  Reference: Canada's History. 
Roger Watts Ph.D. Durham, UK.     (May 21st 2004) 
PLEASE NOTE: There has been a concensus of opinion from all quarters of the Canadian public that this series lacks factual representation of the truth, and should not be taken as anything but a biased anti-British representation of a slanted and opinionated appeal to young Canada to question their very beginnings. We thank many history professors in universities across Canada, and a group of teachers from a certain district in Montreal for seeing this series for what it is sadly worth. December 2004: It is now being shown on The Knowledge Network in western Canada, and The History Channel across Canada and into various areas of the US.

SOME PRAISE OF CANADA IS LONG OVERDUE. WE'RE NOT ALL MALCONTENTS.
Do you mind if I step in here and offer some praise for the country you have of late, via several letters, degraded beyond a fair and honest assessment? We're not all malcontents. And I mean Canada. And I mean us Brits, who have come here in our thousands and found a good life. Firstly, your correspondents fail to understand that any massive change of country and culture will induce homesickness and a feeling of isolation. Give it time. You made the quantum leap now hold firm for awhile. As lifestyles go Canada is a very good one. It's made for people like us Brits who come from the working to middle classes. Opportunities abound if one gets stuck in. And family life is a lot better catered to than in most big inner-city residential areas in Britain. So you'll give up a lot of things, from cultural preferences to British pride, to foods and sports. But surely we all knew that before we packed up and left. Right? Give Canada a break. It might be quiet, laid back, and a one class society, and exists in the shadow of its big influential neighbour, but it is a good place to live for any type of Brit with the guts to emigrate. Adjust my fellow Brits, or go back to Blighty. 
Jack Shaw,  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.   (April 17th 2004)

WE JUST CAN'T SETTLE NO MATTER HOW WE TRY.
Like a lot of the letters you have published in 'The Write Stuff' about not getting settled after emigrating, we too just can't settle no matter how we try. We came to Australia just over two years ago, mainly for the kids sake; we have three, aged 9, 11, and 14, but after trying several places from Adelaide to Melbourne, we are just not adjusting. It's not the work. John can get a good job anywhere. It's really all about missing the things we had in Britain that you can't find here, and I just hate the creepy crawlies and the damn flies. We're considering going back. Is anyone in Australia feeling like us? We'd like to hear from them.  (please address your inquiries through this website and we'll forward them on) 
Janine & John Bradford, Melbourne, Australia.  (March 2004) 
Editor: I'd like to add that we get many emails about being unsettled, usually from Australia and Canada, and many put the blame on the children ' - 'we only came for the childrens sake' - I'm sorry, but that's codswallop!. You emigrated because You wanted to. When things don't work out as they should, for crying out loud DON'T BLAME THE KIDS.  Ed/Pub: Ken Seymour.

A CHOICE ONCE TAKEN.
May I say how much I understand the way you feel about being unsettled in a country you cannot ever grow to really love. I’d like to refer to my situation, very similar in outcome, that has all the sadness and regrets that yours has, and how through family and work we seem to get bogged down in something we have never been unable to free ourselves from. Once a choice is taken we are often left to see it through. Isn’t that a hallmark of being British?  Seeing something through to the end?  In my case it was a transfer 32 years ago from Britain to a parent company in eastern Canada.  The job was good, the salary excellent, and the upgraded way of life began to unfold for myself and my family.  Children grew up and married, and my wife and I eventually retired.  Yet, in the ensuing years I kept to being very British.  Holidays, foods, attitude, and much more.  Now it's too late to return.  I understand how you feel.  Join the club.
W.P.Smith-Henshaw, Toronto, Canada. (March 2004)