Wanted down under

I have over the years occasionally managed to watch this offering which forms part of the BBC's daytime schedule. The cynic in me wonders how staged everything is and the human in me wants to throw something at the screen almost every time I watch the program.

The premise underlying the program is to give a family of Brits the opportunity to sample life in Australia or New Zealand over a week and at the end of the week the family makes a decision as to whether they will move. The program, now in its fourth series was first presented by Nadia Sawalha, the grand dame of daytime telly in the UK. The family met in either Australia House or its Kiwi equivalent and were given a choice of lifestyles and a job to go with it. The choice was from city, country and coast. Initially the family chose which avenue they would go down but lately the program makers make the decision.

The family then go and try out the country and lifestyle of their choice. The first trial is to look at property bearing in mind potential available budget from the sale of their UK property. As with any property related items most of these people seem to be able to afford exorbitantly high budgets given their actual jobs. You don't actually need to go Down Under to know that you get more for your money in property terms there. Property prices in the UK are extortionately high for what you get, largely down to the likes of Phil, Kirsty, Lucy and Martin to name but four.

In the UK a house is now seen as an investment rather than a place to live. But this is a topic for another day.

The drawback to Down Under is if you decide to come back to the frozen north. The exchange rate is not great coming back and so unless you are extremely fortunate you will not be able to afford to come back to the 'luxury' you left.

Next is trial by job. Again it is generally well known that pay may not be as good Down Under but that the payoff is in terms of work/life balance. Cost of living for some things is good for some things bad but again ultimately you weigh up the pros and cons of the venture. Lifestyle Down Under is generally better than it is in Britain with a more outdoors focus and sport and encouragement to try things.

Lastly you undergo ordeal by DVD of messages from home from people you only saw a week or so ago. Always there are tears and self interest with parents and friends saying we don't want you to go but it's your life. Almost every program features a stroppy teenager who wanders round being moody and miserable and wants to listen to The Cure in their bedroom for five years.

Is the program bad? No. The problem is the participants who do not appear have spent as much time researching all of this, which they could do without going (except the job obviously), as I do contemplating cutting my toenails (which isn't very much). I have family in New Zealand and I wouldn't dream of making a decision on such a move unless I had spent several weeks out there first. After watching the program I am generally left with the opinion that many of the participants are attention seekers who want a free jolly to Oz or NZ at the licence fee payer's expense.

Films of the week (w/e 27/08/2010)

Well out of the dross I have picked out five of the best offerings available on Freeview in the UK next week.

The Bourne Identity is the film that is credited with helping to save the James Bond franchise (at least until MGM ran out of money). If you have read the book throw it away as it bears little or no resemblance to that. As an all out action film it is terrific the camera work and direction is outstanding and Matt Damon who links to one of our other offerings this week, is excellent as the agent with amnesia. I watched it again recently on DVD and it is well worth it. The supporting cast are excellent (Brian Cox, Clive Owen to name but two). The times are on the side panel of this blog.

Sunday night we have Excalibur. I first saw this film as part of film director Alex Cox's BBC2 series Videodrome I think it was called. It is a British take on the Arthurian legend backed by American money shot in Ireland by John Boorman. At times it is breathtaking in its imagery and its acting. The stand out actors are Nicol Williamson as Merlin and Helen Mirren as Morgana. They were allegedly cast deliberately because they didn't get on following a previous film they had worked on together. Whatever the reason Williamson in particular throws himself into the role with gusto and captures the part bumbling part menacing nature of the magician. Perhaps if the BBC had shown this to the new version cast it might have improved somewhat.

Monday night is Highlander night. I shall declare an interest here. This is in my top two films of all time. I love the notion behind the whole film and frankly I don't care what reviewers say about it. Having held a claymore and exclaimed 'There can be only one' at a museum in the Highlands of Scotland I somehow feel part of it all. This film will not change your life, it will not spiritually uplift you or make you a better person but it is incredibly good fun. Sean Connery and Clancy Brown are brilliant as the mentor and the villain respectively. Also look out for a blink and you'll miss it appearance by Hugh Quarshie and Celia Imrie both of whom have done alright for themselves. The head of the NYPD investigation was in Police Squad the spoof US detective series with Leslie Nielsen and keep expecting him to freeze and everything to carry on around him. Go on and have some fun with this.

On Friday night we have two offerings. Firstly there is Team America: World Police. This little gem is from the team that brought you South Park and is a pastiche of the British series Thunderbirds. If you can't stand South Park then you won't watch this. It is one of those films that you watch and start laughing but then think should I be actually laughing at this. It is outrageously funny in parts and if you do have a sense of irony you will love it. This is the other film with a Matt Damon connection as it features a puppet of him.

Lastly we have Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Donald Sutherland and Morgan Freeman. It is worth checking this one out as it rises above the usual dross of this type of film. Sutherland is brilliant as a general bent on covering up the outbreak of a virus at any costs. A marked contrast with his role in MASH many years previously.

The end of an era (or should that be error)

A few weeks ago I handed in my resignation in preparation for starting teacher training in a few weeks time. The timing afforded me the opportunity to spend most of the summer holidays with my kids and also to avoid the headache of having to deal with people at year end who patently had no understanding of what it was I did.

I had worked at the university for nearly ten years, the longest I have ever been in one job except for my very first job. This strategy may well turn out to be a bad idea as in twelve months time I might end up being one of the most qualified people in the unemployment queue. In my time I have come up against the entitlement culture and routinely found those that adhered most to it probably had no business being in a university as they weren't academically up to it on the evidence of their applications. They also demonstrated a distinct lack of thought and planning in any aspect of their lives and blithely assumed that just by having a pulse they should be given stuff.

I am going into teaching for a number of reasons. Firstly I think I would be good at it. Secondly I think my maverick attitude is just what the system needs. Thirdly I want to try and do my bit to change the way the kids of the future think and to put my knowledge and experience to good use. If that doesn't happen then I am going to take my qualifications and skills and go and live on a remote island somewhere possibly in a cave as that will be just about all I will be able to afford.

In Britain today, and in fact for generations, there has been a prevailing attitude that knowledge, learning and respect for the law should be scorned. Those who demonstrate these characteristics are ridiculed, bullied and humiliated. Celebrity culture is all that pervades our society and for all their protestations to the contrary many politicians and teachers have helped to foster this. My heart sinks whenever the latest A-Z list celebrity is the top item on the news because quite frankly like the majority of the populace I couldn't give a damn about their lives.

So come the revolution 'celebrities' will be the first against the wall to paraphrase the late great Douglas Adams.

So whilst I am sad to be leaving a job that I enjoyed for the most part and am also concerned that I am leaving behind security I am looking forward to the chance to spread my wings and challenge myself in a new career possibly in a new town so that I can help to give my family a better life.