[SteveHants]

Lets assume that the money we give to India is a a foreign policy excercise, given that their nearest neighbours seem to be producing the people that are the most likely to be wanting to bomb us a the moment.


How likely do you think the following situation is?:


Insurgent 1: "I hear that the British have decided to stop meddling in the middle east and have said they are very sorry about all that colonialism"


Insurgent 2: "Oh, thats okay then, I'll cross them off the "suicide bomb" list then"


I agree that is unjust that we have people dying of cold in our country and people living on the streets, but this does not mean we should abandon our foreign policy. What we could do is build more council houses and increase the state pension by increasing, say, income tax, given that the divide between the rich and poor has been growing at at an alarming rate since the 1980s.........

[Castle Farm]

We live on an Island and with the detection systems we have we could prevent anyone slipping in to the country other than by the proper routes.

Bring all British troops home (saving millions of pounds) and put them on security duty around the ports and airports.

Go through the UK and remove (not lock up for months at our expence) everyone that is not supposed to be here and kick them out of the country.

[rispainfarm]

Its about time we looked after ourselves like the french do. Stop immigrants coming in right now. Stop sending aid to counties that are so corrupt. Stop sending aid to the african children when it should be going to our own children in need. (yes you will all hate me for that) but my husband was brought up in africa and knows first hand that aid will not solve the basic problem that africa has. Stop giving benefits to lazy sods that have never done a days graft in their lives. They will soon start looking for work if they are starving. And support our own farmers for a change and not bow down to eu pressure.  There rant over 

[SteveHants]

Its about time we looked after ourselves like the french do. Stop immigrants coming in right now.

Even the skilled ones that we are actively encouraging to enter the country? Should we stop the almost as many who are emmigrating at the same time?

Stop sending aid to counties that are so corrupt.

Like India? 

Stop sending aid to the african children when it should be going to our own children in need. (yes you will all hate me for that) but my husband was brought up in africa and knows first hand that aid will not solve the basic problem that africa has.

Nobody has said that our own suffering children should be denied help - the two are no mutually exclusive. Raise income tax and use the money to pay for social programmes. It probably wont solve the problems Africa has, however, we played a massive part in making Africa the mess it is today.

Stop giving benefits to lazy sods that have never done a days graft in their lives. They will soon start looking for work if they are starving.

You've never been on the dole, have you?


In this country there are a good few million less jobs than there are people of working age....you'd have those people starve, when so many have so much?


What a pleasant person you are.

[rispainfarm]

We should be more like australia steve, they have really strict policies, They have their own problems of course, but to be accepted over there, you have to meet a strict criteria. If we need skilled outsiders and can't fill them over here then fair enough, but we let every tom dick and harry in. And lets face it most of us who do emigrate have the means to support ourselves, its not many that go over there with no money etc to live a better lifestyle. For one thing getting benefits in Europe is nigh on impossible hence the reason most immigrants come over here. We offer free health, housing benefit etc wheres other countries would not be as soft.

Secondly Africa will always be a mess with or without our help. I really don't agree we should keep sending aid to save the children over there. I know that sounds awful but what are we trying to achieve apart from humanitarian reasons. Do they send aid to us or do we get aid from richer countries to help save our children.

So you don't mind your taxes going on benefits to people who don't want to work and will do anything to get out of work. I am not talking about the people who have been made redundant or are trying their utmost to get work. They are a different kettle of fish. I am talking about the thousands of people who refuse to find work and will do anything to avoid it. And why should they most are getting more money that the lower paid workers. Why should I worry about those sort of people starving they don't as they know the likes of you and me will be paying for them. Did you know that many employess in the seasonal work industry refuse to take on english people as they have the wrong work ethic, they either don't turn up or are slack when they do. I know such a person who clocks off at four and will not work a minute over unless he gets overtime. Eastern Europeans such as the poles etc come over here and they know how to work so no wonder they are taking the jobs supposedly the english. And yes when I was younger I was on the dole in the 70's and I remember trailing the streets knocking on doors of restaurants etc for work, you don't see many people now doing that.

[Moleskins]

I'm pleased so many of you think it's ok for someone who hasn't paid into a system to make claims on it.
I'll be round shortly to have a slice out of your pension scheme. 

[rispainfarm]

im not sure the american indians or aborigines would agree with you there, or all the africans we traded as slaves.

Hi DITW  Its interesting you should mention the aborigines. I saw first hand the situation with the aborigines when I lived and worked out in the outback many years ago. I don't know much about the situation but can only tell it from what I saw and from what I heard and learnt. Nowadays there is only a small percentage of aborigines that are true blood. Aborigines are hunter gatherers and literally have trouble settling down and running any kind of business. As late as 1976 they were not recognised as australian citizens and to be honest, many white people still now don't treat them as such. I remember being appalled at my boss calling the young men bucks and they would be made to sit at a different table from the white workers everynight. Even today there are pub or bars that have white and black sides. The majority of aborigines have problems with drink and drugs, not only in the towns but the countryside as well. Interestly it is the "half breds" that suffer the most, true aborigines tend not to suffer from this fate. Aborigines are by nature a lazy person, and even when doing things they are good at such as working sheep, tracking or mustering cattle will do their utmost to do the barest minimum. They are literally given stations  usually ones that are profitable and within a few years will run the station into the ground. Our station had one such one as a neighbour. Aborigines get benefits for all sorts of things, (guilt money maybe) even owning a dog as this is their culture. At polling times they are flown in from the northern territories to the nearest polling station in order to get their votes. There is no doubt they have been treated appallingly. Many children were snatched away from their parents and placed in white homes or orphanages to try and educate them into the white way of thinking. And they are still treated appallingly today. However there is no doubt that aborigines are finding it difficult settling in the modern world. Many of the prisons are filled with aborigines rather than white australians. I believe that ever since whites landed on the shores, they have wished the problem of the natives would just disappear.