Recession? What Recession?

don’t forget the brits that worked abroad in the early 80’s because unemployment was simmilar to what it is now !!

those who live in glass houses !!

at times the uk has been just the same but we convenietly forget when we have an axe to grind !!

my brother worked in the forces in germany he put what was necessary into the german ecconomy but mainly he saved to give his family a better life in the uk !!

the difference is ???

The difference is he was being paid by the British government, not the German one.

@ppp.

Hi. Do all the Xpats who live in Spain and Aus get the same benefits as they would, if they had stayed here?. I know those who live in Spain, get the Winter fuel allowance:rolleyes:.
I agree with it being given here in the U.K. as in the Winter, whilst working folks may work in a heated office and such, the Pensioners are forced to stay at home all day, so they do need the heat, As somewon said last year, it’s a choice of “Heating, or Eating”.
But why should X pats get the allowances when they chose to leave the U.K.?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

i agree there are plenty of bennefits that should be attaked before attacking bennefits that are actualy needed

like you say heating allowances being paid to those in spain , but my main concern is child bennefits etc being paid to the well off that don’t in reality need it

to some bennefits are a lifeline to others they are the difference between buying a new car and having to decide wether to have a baseline model or buy the ghia model with the bennefits and that is an unsustainable situation that was fine when we were a country of plenty but needs to stop pretty swiftly now we are not !!

Paul178 @ 7.

Paul, have you stood at the counter at the Post Office on a Monday?. If so, you will have seen many of these workers sending money “Back home” Lincoln .7

my brother worked in the forces in germany he put what was necessary into the german ecconomy but mainly he saved to give his family a better life in the uk !!

the difference is ???

i can only post from observed behaviour the organisation i work for has a mixture of brits and immigrants

the immigrant

the biggest percentage are punctual , polite , take pride in what they are doing ( often juggling college or university in a “job” related subject , are not shy of overtime , do not pick and choose tasks while there , are smartly dressed ( even if not to our tastes ) and try to get along with everyone

then you get the brit

more often than not they will be late if they can bother turning up atall , they will probably have a bad work attitude , in what they class as menial work they don’t give a c**p about work standards just mooch around till payday , more often than not they take university courses that are well above what thier realistic employment actualy is having this makebelieve world of employment where thier first job is going to be the chief executive with a 100’s of k sallary , they begrudge being there to do a normal weeks hours believing employers should revolve around tasks they want to do during work hours let alone mentioning overtime to them , dress wise often they are wearing sports gear often with t shirts with offensive slogans
and often can’t get on with workmates

i have recently worked in an area within my company and was working with a brit that tiked most of the above boxes and p***ed most of the staff off around him i now work in an are of the company that has mostly older generation brits but outnumbered by immigrants the workplace attitude could not be better !!

i’ll leave with a conversation my brother had in a local pub where he lives in a south wales rural area

man , your place has been taking on recently hasn’t it ??

brother ..yes

man taken on immigrants haven’t they ??

brother yes

man bl**dy typical employers giving our jobs to immigrants !!

brother did you apply ??

man no !!

brother well it isn’t your job then d**k head now **** off and leave me alone !!

PPP

First of all I found your stats fasinating…….many thanks.

Alas with regard to UK ex pats……

If you started by bringing home those from the middle east alone the numbers would be very large indeed. I would be very surprised if the total numbers of Brits working abroad was much less than 2 million. Have you any idea how many Brits live and work in Spain and France alone ?

@ppp.

Hi. Do all the Xpats who live in Spain and Aus get the same benefits as they would, if they had stayed here?. I know those who live in Spain, get the Winter fuel allowance:rolleyes:.
I agree with it being given here in the U.K. as in the Winter, whilst working folks may work in a heated office and such, the Pensioners are forced to stay at home all day, so they do need the heat, As somewon said last year, it’s a choice of “Heating, or Eating”.
But why should X pats get the allowances when they chose to leave the U.K.?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Being late isn’t that big of an indicator, maybe they just find it hard to get up in the mornings? Going to bed during the work day, or no turning up at all, is really rather taking the pi$$.

Here is how the benefits is spread out (for 2011). The group blamed for benefits the most is the unemployed worker “too lazy to get a job”, but this is clearly a prejudiced view, not based on fact. With the state pension, pension credit, and winter fuel allowance, the pensions are by far the largest cause of our benefits bill. The “too lazy to work” worker is responsible for a part of Jobseeker’s allowance and a part of housing benefit, a fraction of the pensioners. Tax credits is probably one of the easiest to make savings in, though Labour would oppose it I’m sure!

…….and if all the Brits working abroad were forced to return to the UK the unemployment rate would be ?

Given many of the countries they went to, such as Aus, run a work permits scheme, it would probably be neutral or improve the employment figures!

There are about 5.5million brits living abroad (according to the BBC)… I dont know how many of then are working.

Paul178 @ 7.

Paul, have you stood at the counter at the Post Office on a Monday?. If so, you will have seen many of these workers sending money “Back home” was it not Gordon Brown, who stated that thee money they spend would benefit the British economy?. I can’t see how.
At our local branch of Tescoes, you will see dozens of them waiting to go and shop for food that has been reduced, ie sell by date, so they can get it cheaper.
There is a Hostel some 3 miles away from Tescoes, and they walk there and back carrying their shopping.
As for these farmers, all or most of them have top of the range, Range Rovers, they can afford them, when you think just how much VAT they can claw back, plus their servicing diesel/petrol etc.
There have been many times that raids have taken place by the relevant Authorities and Police who swoop on fields, and they always pick up Immigrants who shouldn’t be here.
As for stopping our younger generation from getting on the bottom rung of the housing market, nearly all the houses on the Market around here are “For Rent only”, my son in Cornwall lives in a rented house, and if he had the means to find a large deposit, plus all the fees that go with it, he has worked out he could get a decent house and pay less in Mortguage, than he has to in rent. He, like so many, works all the hrs God sends to bring in enough to keep his wife and two daughters heads above water. He works at one of the top 3 Super markets, they have cut back on the shop floor workers, and have just sacked their H.R. chap and the Area Manager. As he is at managerial level, he to is worrying that he and others at the same level, will lose their jobs.
So, everyone at the store has to do more work for those that have been forced to leave.
It’s a sad old world, I would like to see the Boarder Control beefed up, and more thorough checks made to prevent, for example those who get a 6 months work permit, then disappear into society when it runs out.

According to last weeks News on TV 145.000 have gone down this route, and have been lost in the system.and so it goes on.
I agree with most of the comments here, but what is the answer?. They seem hell bent on taking it out on the elderly, just because they are living longer these days, this could be ballanced out if this Governmentt sent back all the illegal Immigrants, but they can’t can they, due to their failure to be able to control the situation.I have been told by a Relative that their Aunt is in a Care home at £500.00 per week, how can that be justified, when the State Pension for most is just over £120 per week, and that person has to pay Council Tax, Water Rates, Gas, Electricity, and other major bills, and thats not even taking into account food to live on.As I understand it, they are even talking about stopping the free prescriptions in the future, I suppose it will help get rid of us “Golden Oldies” quicker,,

Jim.
Lincoln .7

Presumably they get minimum-wage?

The majority of these agricultural workers are gang master workforce, while it’s true they will be paid minimum wage, there will be deductions for lodging, transport sometimes for food and power.

In many cases the farmers/ growers are also the gang masters, quick example that I did know about, average three bed semi with 8 workers resident, each one paying £100 per week for lodging only.

This house was in rural West Lancashire, £800 per week rent makes a damn good subsidy to offset wages, particularly when these 8 workers were classed as students, the employer giving them time off on Friday afternoon to attend language classes and picking up a subsidy for doing so, and that was just one house, in total this employer had a full time staff of around 24 rising to over 50 at certain times, all housed in his property much of it ex holiday caravans.

I don’t know what current regulations are, but this employer employs just 8 British staff and any applicants from local people will not get past reception desk, because he cannot defray wages against other charges not because of the quality or otherwise of the workforce.

#8 so would I if it went to the workers not the Farmers new 4×4

…having a ready source of employees that will work for less drives down the earnings…

Presumably they get minimum-wage?

Farmers need to get their act together and say to the likes of Tesco etc, thats the price of milk for instance take it or leave it…

Except that milk (like everything else) can be imported…..but I don’t know where from (France?) or how it can be cheaper to do that?

Actually, I tend to agree; I do not see how the supermarkets can justify buying milk at below cost.

From a consumer point-of-view I would gladly pay five pence more a pint…..if it went to the producers!

Jím if instead of constantly moaning and begging for Government handouts and stood up to the supermarkets perhaps they could pass some of the cash on to British workers with a living wage. That might enable them to get on the housing ladder and give them more incentive to workand put more money in the economy and not send it home to Eastern Europe
Farmers need to get their act together and say to the likes of Tesco etc, thats the price of milk for instance take it or leave it instead of hand wringing about losing 2p a pint. If the NFU got tough and got everyone to boycott selling under cost things would change its just they can’t be ar@ed to do it.

There was a item on about Boston in the midlands a while back and they interviewed some slob in a vest and he was moaning that he couldn’t get a job because of the immigrants taking all the jobs, so was forced to live on the Rock and Roll….

When the reporter suggested why he didn’t go picking fruit etc, he replied… What for the wages that lot get? In a way I could actually understand where he was coming from because having a ready source of employees that will work for less drives down the earnings, but on the other hand I thought well, they should cut the benefits he gets so he would have to take a job instead if the rest of us paying him to stay at home.

C.D.

Warren, As you are aware, I live in a prdominately agriculteral area. “Work, or don’t want to work?.”

We have a mass of Lithuanians, Poles, Ukranians, working on the fields gathering produce etc.
They work for 12 hrs a day, just about 7 days a week. The other day, travelling home from shopping, we passed many a field, where they were working, (You can tell by the way they are dressed, that they are from these places). The thing is, that it was raining like hell, but they were still working, I cannot envisage many of “Our” youth of today working in such conditions.
I have found that most are very well mannered and polite, which is more than you can say for some of ours on a Friday and Sat night, at least they are prepared to work, and for not that much money either, most of them work piecework for money.
Sadly, the show us up in a poor light.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Well if the ones in Spain came back we would be back to conventional Bank Robberies!:D

Fair point. Don’t know; show me some figures?

…….and if all the Brits working abroad were forced to return to the UK the unemployment rate would be ?