Article on t'BBC:
Two points: one, it isn't anyway, it is a political union of three (three and a half) countries. Two, am I alone in seeing this whole immigration thing as being the wrong way around? Shouldn't the UK be encouraging people to come AND WORK for the benefit of the nation? As I see it, I'd be happy to have anyone come, provided they did some serious work and provided income, and future generations (yes, I know I'm in France, but I'd apply the same here too). The best way to discourage the "freeloading" attitude would be to, well, stop freeloading. And the way to do this is to reduce the welfare state - no (effectively) indefinite income support, only basic healthcare (i.e emergencies, childbirth and chronic illnesses for which private health insurance is unavailable). No crappy local "services" like subsidised child care for black one-legged lesbian males.
In other words, you come, you work, you contribute, you can stay. No job, no money, no thanks you can go. Cut down the tax burden for the working man, make people pay their own way. I bet you'd see a lot more families staying together, looking after Granny, looking after the kids
- just like the Asian families do (on the whole - I lived in Nottingham where the Asian population looked after it's own, although they had shocking habits as regard waste disposal), and less dependence on "oh, the council/government will sort it out for me". You can bet that, in the event of benefits being cut back, they won't suffer as much as the useless white loafers.
Stuart
And I'll get Nige's reaction in first: f*ck, toss, cockwit :)