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11/08/2009, 10:23 ianmill Joined on 08/06/2009 Posts 24 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France Of course things depend on location - town, village, country etc - but here is one statistic re alcohol and youths: France - 2% to 3% of 16 year-olds drunk at least 10 times per year UK - 15% to 34% of 16 year-olds drunk at least 10 times per year Source of info available on request I moved from Edinburgh to a town of around 50000 inhabitants. And it is such a pleasure to be in the town centre in the evenings without feeling uncomfortable. For parents of daughters - in 2006, some 4% of births in the UK were to females aged 12-18, but the corresponding figure for France was just 1.5% Ian    Report

11/08/2009, 11:33 Cerise Joined on 23/08/2004 Laguepie Tarn & Garonne Posts 938 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France Statistics are just that -statistics.  You can finddifferent figures where ever you look. http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/sante/mag_2000/mag0929/dossier/sa_2440_jeune.htm and a book by a reformed  alcoholic French girl of 19 about underage drinking in girls! http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/sante/mag_2000/mag0929/dossier/sa_2440_jeune.htm As a member of the Comission Jeunesse for our area I am fairly horrified by the drug taking/dealing locally which seems much higher than I experienced in the little Cornish community I lived in (comparing like for like).  What I do think is that incidents are much less reported here.  A young man was stabbed to death fairly randomly in Figeac not that long back and it didn't even make the national papers, or the TV news.  In UK it would have been front page of a tabloid!  This lack of reporting makes British living locally, who often don't read the local paper or watch/listen to French news anyway, very complacent.  Often parents are much more lax in the care of their children than they would be in UK, but their children are just as much at risk.  Interesting.    Report

11/08/2009, 13:02 ianmill Joined on 08/06/2009 Posts 24 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France I agree that statistics are statistics - and I'm no social scientist - but I imagine that most British people moving to France do so because they perceive the quality of life to be better. Now each person's definition of the quality of life is different, but for I also imagine that many British people see less drunkeness and boorish, loutish behaviour in France than in the UK. If anyone wants to try, visit the A+E dept of a hospital in the UK at midnight on a Saturday, and then choose an equivalent town in France. I don't think anyone will need statistics then. Ian    Report

11/08/2009, 13:10 Cendrillon Joined on 19/10/2007 S.E. England & S.W.France Posts 1,017 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France "What I do think is that incidents are much less reported here.  A young man was stabbed to death fairly randomly in Figeac not that long back and it didn't even make the national papers, or the TV news.  In UK it would have been front page of a tabloid!  This lack of reporting makes British living locally, who often don't read the local paper or watch/listen to French news anyway, very complacent.  Often parents are much more lax in the care of their children than they would be in UK, but their children are just as much at risk.  Interesting." A valid point Cerise Cendrillon    Report

11/08/2009, 13:28 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 7,061 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France Just sent  you an email, Cendrillon. "You are the pancake queen, young and sweet, only seventeen" By Clair with apologies to ABBA    Report

11/08/2009, 13:43 Russethouse Joined on 23/08/2004 Forum Moderator Posts 12,291 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France  ianmill wrote: I agree that statistics are statistics - and I'm no social scientist - but I imagine that most British people moving to France do so because they perceive the quality of life to be better. Now each person's definition of the quality of life is different, but for I also imagine that many British people see less drunkenness and boorish, loutish behavior in France than in the UK. If anyone wants to try, visit the A+E dept of a hospital in the UK at midnight on a Saturday, and then choose an equivalent town in France. I don't think anyone will need statistics then. Ian The odd thing is that given the perceived quality of life, the suicide rate is so much higher in France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate and especially the suicide rate among young people. www.quimperclub.org 99    Report

11/08/2009, 17:12 ianmill Joined on 08/06/2009 Posts 24 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France OK - suicide rates are higher - but why do so many British people move to France if they don't think the quality of life is better here? It has to be more than the weather, the house prices ....... Surely the most important statistic is this (although the data is 4 years old): Five hundred Britons are leaving the UK every day (Times, April 20, 2007 - data from 2005) If the perceived quality of life is not better here, why do so many British people stay rather than return home? OK again - what I perceive as important for a good quality of life may be different from other expats, but I am just happy, as I said, living in a country where daily life is not marred to the same extent by the antics of drunken and/or mindless youths. In an earlier post I also mentioned stabbings - here is a passage from the Sun's website from 2 months ago: A SHOCKING 72 people are stabbed or robbed at knifepoint EVERY day, it was revealed today. New figures show there were nearly 26,300 "serious" knife crimes last year. Alarmingly, the number of offences has soared by nearly 1,500 since the year before - a six per cent hike. Surprisingly, the biggest increase was the 72 per cent recorded in rural Avon and Somerset, where serious knife offences rocketed from 360 to 618. But the figures do not include more than 250 fatal stabbings - or thousands of more minor knife offences. Does anyone have equivalent data for France? This discussion has certainly moved on a good bit from the original question of parent/child bonding and education and in France - Grimaud dreamer, at the start of this section, was just worried about losing touch with his son over the years. Ian    Report

11/08/2009, 21:56 Russethouse Joined on 23/08/2004 Forum Moderator Posts 12,291 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France  I suspect many British people move to France because they are attracted by a life in the countryside which they couldn't aford in the UK, as well as many other factors. Quite a few go back too, ask the removal companies. As for the Sun's stabbing statistics, I think you'll find that France has more murders than the UK : http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita     www.quimperclub.org 99    Report

12/08/2009, 8:34 ianmill Joined on 08/06/2009 Posts 24 Re: Losing touch with my son if we move to France Perhaps the murder and suicide statistics quoted will encourage more people to return to the UK, but maybe some should consider staying just a little longer, if this story from Timesonline is anything to go by: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6792825.ece (Post edited by moderator, the article quoted was under copyright) I was asking if anyone had stabbings - not murder - data. The chances of being murdered in the UK or France are very very low - but what about lower-level crime? It is this that encouraged me to come and live here - the ability to walk around town at night without feeling threatened. Ian    Report

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