Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

Team GB’s efforts at Rio 2016 have been a roaring success, with Britain beating the Chinese for second place in the overall tables. A big part of this success has been put down to the actions of UK Sport, the government body which allocates sport investment. Their strategy has been to ruthlessly target funding at those sports which the UK stands the best chance of winning medals in.

Whilst this has resulted in significant improvements in Britain’s position in the Olympic league tables, it has come at the expense of other sports which have withered on the vine as their funding is cut right back.

Asked whether we should spend more on sports that we have a higher chance of winning medals in, just 18% of people said that we should. More than twice as many people (40%) explicitly said that we should not spend more on sports just because we have a higher chance of winning medals – a further 25% of people said that neither of these options reflected their view.

The British public do seem to be clear on the benefits of a higher medal tally though. Over half of people (55%) said that they thought winning lots of medals at the Olympics improves the perception of the UK in the eyes of foreigners, more than twice as many as the 23% who don’t think it improves perceptions of us.

(source YouGov)

What do you think? 

You may be surprised as to why I didn't just say the UK as opposed to "your native country" as we are on EOS and the vast majority are British Expats, however in the some polls we have  participants from as many as 20 different countries! Yes I was surprised too...

I was curious and I think others may be too as to whether those who have made "the move" are actually happier with it or have finally regretted moving over to Spain, part time or full time.

The Telegraph, did a survey not so long ago to find out in which country expats were happier, taking into consideration; cost of living, social life, climate, red tape and all the other usual determining factors and guess which came up tops? yes Spain.

So I thought I'd see if the results were accurate or not.... please cast your vote and leave a comment.

Roland Smith, a fellow at free market think tank the Adam Smith Institute, said that many British expats have concerns about whether they could stay in Europe  after Brexit. 

But Mr Smith said: “That one has been knocked on its head by all sides. No-one is suggesting that people will be repatriated from anywhere. It would be impossible to implement but also incredibly damaging economically.” 

Mr Smith said: “There are rights issues to do with healthcare and access to the host country’s benefits system. 

"I think these are quite minor in the grand scheme of things. Some people would say healthcare is more of an issue.” 

Mr Smith said that he strongly believes Britain would become part of the European Economic Area (EEA) in a similar way to Norway and Switzerland. 

As a result, his opinion is that “not very much” would change for expats. He said: “They will carry on pretty much as before." 

But a Government paper on Brexit has warned there is no guarantee that expats would keep the rights to work, reside, own property and use public services such as healthcare. 

It said: “UK citizens resident abroad, among them those who have retired to Spain, would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed. 

“At the very least, any terms which the UK seeks for its own citizens would have to be offered to EU citizens wishing to come to or stay in this country.”

Asked what would happen to expats after the Brexit, EU spokesman said: “Expats rights will be grandfathered due to the Vienna Convention.”

The Vienna Convention of 1969 states that people keep the rights that they once exercised under a treaty, even if that treaty is later terminated. 

Therefore expats in Europe would retain their “acquired right” to stay there, but it would not apply to people who move abroad in the future. 

Mr Smith said that these “acquired rights” include British expats’ rights to live in another country and own property there. 

But he said: “They are quite basic. The rights do not cover healthcare or benefits. That is the legal view of the legal profession.”

So how do you feel about all this uncertainty? Are you thinking about moving back to the UK before the Brexit or are you happy to stick it out as long as you can?