Should I stay or should I go? This has been the question on many expats’ lips in recent months as they struggle to maintain a decent standard of living amid poor exchange rates and the general economic downturn.
Experts will ponder that very question in two public debates in Limassol and Paphos next week when they discuss the motion, ‘This house believes that despite the current economic difficulties expats are best advised to remain in Cyprus’
Below are the main arguments - for and against - that will be presented.
IN 1982 The Clash had a hit with “Should I stay or should I go”. The song included the lines, “If I stay there will be trouble an’ if I go there will be double.” It is my belief when a stay or go question is addressed to expat life in Cyprus, in most cases the reverse is true and going could well mean double the trouble of staying.
A good place to start this debate is by accepting, and I do, that there can be good reasons for returning to the UK to live, a broad range of family reasons for one, including possible long term healthcare. Sadly Cyprus does not yet offer much choice for sheltered housing for example, but even that is because families look after their older members in Cyprus.
What is not a good reason for returning is economics. We could discuss at length the exchange rates. I can show that these are cyclical and that actually the rate at the moment is very little different from when I first bought a house in Cyprus in 1988. The cost of living? I can show you that a basket of shopping at ASDA is marginally more expensive than the same from Carrefour. The personal tax rates and utilities bills and community taxes are all cheaper in Cyprus - there isn’t even a TV licence to buy! But like all statistics, in quoting them, we can normally produce whatever results we want to. The question is more fundamental than economics.
Before considering whether you should go back ask yourself: “Why did I come to Cyprus in the first place?”
I find it difficult to believe that anyone would answer “because of the exchange rate”. Is the exchange rate then a good reason to return? Most of us came to Cyprus to live because of the quality of life, and to me that means things like the weather, being able to go out 365 days a year without twelve layers of clothing, being able to walk through a shopping centre without getting mown down by skateboards or abused by hoodies, being able to leave a restaurant after dark without an armed guard and being able to leave your nice new car in the street without it being stolen or vandalised.
Of course it is true that there are still rural areas in the UK where there is still a community spirit and people still feel safe going about their day-to-day lives. The numbers of such places are sadly dwindling, and in many areas if you strike up a conversation with a stranger or they with you, the probability is that one or both of you will be considered suspect.
Even in the best of British communities, what would be the chances of dropping a purse or wallet and having it handed in - complete with contents? Do you know anywhere in the UK where a restaurant could leave tables and chairs out all night and they still be there in the morning, or a supermarket not find half the trolleys in the river? And what of the shops with goods and produce on the streets? My local DIY shop leaves lawnmowers, ladders and endless other tools unlocked at the front of his shop while he goes to lunch – and they are still there we he comes back!. When was the last time you went into a UK bank without having armoured glass between you and the teller.
Sadly some of the bad and the ugly has also come to Cyprus. More and more graffiti is evident on walls (mainly football based it must be said), but the streets are still more pavement than chewing gum. My daughter, who lives in Paris, observed on a recent visit, that, despite appearances, young people in Cyprus are still polite and are more likely to move aside for you than to step in your way.
Yes we all complain about things - sometimes with good reason. Cyprus is not Shangri-La. We complain about driving standards, try driving through London, Manchester or Birmingham. And remember a that traffic jam in Cyprus is when there are more than twenty cars in a line at the lights, not a twenty mile tail back on the M25.
What I ask is that when you consider going back to live in the UK think very long and hard, and ask yourself some fundamental questions. One of the most important is: “Why did I come here in the first place - and has that changed?”
If in the end you still want to return and if you still think of the UK as “home”, then maybe Cyprus is not the dream that you wanted to live. If that is so then of course you should return. But acknowledge, to yourself at least, that you are going back because you want to and not because you have to. The UK grass may look greener, but it isn’t necessarily as well tended and neat as it appears.
THE GREAT DEBATE: STAY OR GO?
Experts Sam Orgil from ProACT Partnership and Ross Pays of The Financial Advisors Association debate the motion ‘This house believes that despite the current economic difficulties ex pats are best advised to remain in Cyprus’. Journalist Chris Hopkins chairs the debate and invites presentations from the experts and retirees on the panel as well as questions from the floor.
Wednesday 22 April 7pm at the Royal British Legion Club, 23 Amblakia, Potomas Germasogia, Limassol. Entrance: €5 with profits and raffle to charity. Reservations essential - Tel: 25583872, 96502423.
Email: andrewoliver9@yahoo.com. www.starsdinnershow.com
Thursday 23 April 7pm at the UKCA Club, Coral Bay Road, Paphos. Entrance: €5 with profits and raffle to charity.
Reservations essential - Tel: 96502423.
Email: andrewoliver9@yahoo.com. www.starsdinnershow.com
The debate starts with a ballot of the audience to determine what proportion support the motion, then an introduction from the Chairman welcoming the audience, presenting the motion and introducing each speaker. He then calls on the first expert to speak for 5 minutes for the motion and the second expert to speaker for 5 minutes against and then each other panelist to speak in turn for and against. After each speech the chairman will cross-examine each speaker for a few minutes.
After a short break, members of the audience are invited to put questions to the panel and then each speaker makes a closing statement of 2 or 3 minutes followed by a second ballot. The motion will be carried if the majority of the audience agrees with it. However, the team that wins will be the one that has changed the opinion of the audience the most in their favour.
Ross
Pays is the Chairman of The FAA based in Cyprus. FAA offer advice on wills,
tax registration services, home, health and car insurance, investment
services and tax planning, including Inheritance Tax Planning, together
with full accounting services.
Visit Ross Pays website at www.rosspays.com, Telephone 00 357 25 82 58 76, Fax 00 357 25 33 35 93 or
e-mail ross@rosspays.com
Initial consultations are free and no obligation and
fee quotations will be provided in advance for all services.
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