Truly staggering, supported by excellent research as usual and, by the way, you’ve got a helluva following on GBNews’ FaceBook group, they like your forthright style and preparedness to take on ill-informed Lefties.
Younger people will probably never vote centre-right in 20yrs but they’re more likely to if they see someone standing up for housing they can’t afford.
Of course there is a big place for Matt on loss making GB News wonderfully well funded by foreign money. Great heavens is it OK to turn on the poor living here, while cosying up to the foreign rich who want to dictate our media agenda and don't even live in the country? There is indeed a buck in this racket.
Torr Matt is more supportive of the poor citizens of the UK than any politician. He isn’t turning on them. He’s showing how shamelessly they are being ripped off by the elites.
Extent to which they've paid into the system, commitment to our national values, the contribution they can make to our arts and cultural life and to keeping us at the forefront of science and technology, whether they seem likely to stay and serve at a time of national crisis or skidadle elsewhere. Stuff like that.
I'm a red-head. What has hair colour got to do with anything? I find your comment bizarre.
It should be people who have lived here through the devastating trauma and losses of both world wars. Doing family history on Ancestry.com has shown the extent of loss and misery suffered by ancestors of mine particularly in the First World War, with some families losing all male sons, three in one case. Without going through that, you have no idea of what 'belonging' means.
There is a lot of corporate and wealthy individual funding behind the elite and their pet causes - climate, BLM, trans, open borders. Policies like covid lockdown and net zero are great ways to transfer wealth from ordinary people to the elite. Open borders is a divide and rule tactic imposed by the elite in defiance of what people voted for.
I would love to hear someone on the left who blindly supports immigration give a specific number for how many of the 8.8 billion people in the world we are supposed to absorb into our island. Re GB News…..the left have a problem with allowing any other views and hope cancel culture will reign (in this instance through boycotting). It will never work.
Where do I start? The treatment of the British working-class by the Elite is scandalous, beyond belief, and has only been allowed because politicians have lied and manipulated. I think that the hatred of the working-class by the Elite has been the driving force, because the Elite do not see the working-class as people, they see them as almost sub-human, idiotic, uneducated, racist and, even worse, patriotic, and are more than happy to see them replaced by lovely immigrants who are far more worthy of their support and love.
The country discovered immigration when Blair appeared, and showed the Elite that they did not have to deal with the working-class, they could simply side-step them by employing foreigners who were hard-working, compliant and scared of authority. Suddenly the penny dropped: here was a path to Utopia - cheap labour which meant higher profits, no need to invest in training or new technology, because there was an ever revolving door of new arrivals to replace the ones who had had enough. The increasing numbers of arrivals needed housing, so the houses that the Elite owned rose exponentially in value, the rental properties that they owned were a greater and greater source of income as immigrants wrestled with each other to secure a roof over their heads, paying ever-higher rents, whilst living like sardines, and supermarkets rubbed their hands in glee at the increased foot-fall.
We have reached the point where the greed of the Elite has destroyed our country; laid waste to a thousand years of history, all in the name of aggrandizement, but have they thrown the baby out with the bath water? Will any rich person want to live in the country that they have created? Large areas of London are now off-limits, no-go areas for the better off. The future blue print for Britain is South Africa today, with the rich living in gated, luxurious communities, surrounded by barbed wire, protected by armed guards. Our beautiful, green, civilised, tolerant country, which millions took up arms to protect in two world wars (my grandfather and father included) because they believed that they had something special that was worth protecting for future generations has been lost; little did they know that those future generations would be invaders, invaders invited here by the Elite to replace the indigenous population.
Hard not to feel disheartened at present, Im looking at leaving, but, there isn't much point in running away and where would I go to? this is my home!. Our country has failed due to Lab/Cons, it dosent need a lefty university graduates to take the helm now, just people with great minds to push these traitors back in their boxes once and for all. lots of great minds and content creator's out there. Indigenous British have been brow beaten down for years and will continue to do so unless you rise, now is your time to do so. Have faith. we will all stick together and we've got this.
2016 article - The former Prime Minister’s wife Cherie and son Euan have become private landlords, snapping up nearly 30 flats in south Manchester, Stockport and Trafford
The more that I see and hear about Blair, the more I believe that he was the greatest evil ever perpetrated on our country. He dismantled the entire mechanism of state and replaced it with a new one, one that has made it impossible to govern our country without outside interference. See what Dr David Starkey says on the issue!
I'm part of a group that consists of at least 50% composed immigrants. All members, native or new comer, are well educated, all employed but to a man (except me) or woman see no problem with immigration being as high as it is. Interestingly, none of them connect their rent rises or inability to buy a house to the intense competition for housing. And in one debate they claimed immigrants were being blamed for shortages, but it was really the governments fault for not getting more houses built.
I've tried to explain that immigration is the only short term lever the government can control. That most people think the government's first responsibility is to protect and support long-term, tax-paying residents of the UK and that if this level of immigration keeps up there will a political revolt that will make Brexit seem like a little local difficulty.
The problem is, they either can't or won't connect the dots.
It is amazing how many adults still believe in the house building fairy. It doesn't matter that England is now more densely populated than any other European country, all we need to do is wave that magic wand.
This sums the whole problem up and is the only way the Tories have any chance in the next election. They need to copy Geert Wilders playbook and equate immigration with housing availability, this is exactly what won Wilders and his PVV the election in Holland
Correct except that it will never be the Tories who do this - even if they said all the right things, many of us would just assume they were lying again.
I'm stunned: pulling publicly available numbers together and fearlessly present the data, sickening as they are. This of course begs the question: are our 'journalists' so inept that they are incapable of doing this - or are their superiors, the chief editors, unwilling to let the truth out because it might disquiet their readers and inconvenience politicians and mandarins? That, btw, was a rhetorical question ...
It is down to the UN Compact on immigration, one of the tools that governments world-wide are encouraged to use by the UN is control and manipulation of the media, hence the over-representation of black people in advertisements.
Frightening figures. Any loyal British Government should always put the British born residents before foreign born immigrants for social housing This situation is bound to end in disaster, or civil war. People have had enough, and the silent majority may become less silent at last. How has it been allowed to sink to these depths?
I am also wondering what Nigel Farage will have to say about the goings on in politics since he vanished into the jungle. He will be horrified to see David Cameron handing Gibraltar back to the EU.
However, despite the effects and evidence you provide, the London based, university educated millennials and generation Z’s want ever higher migration and will vote for whatever party promises to deliver it, while simultaneously complaining they can’t get house. You’re dealing with articles of faith among our devout elite on one side where mere facts cannot be allowed to get in the way of progress. On the other are the more cynical elite globalists who are seeing their asset values and wealth rise. They’ll continue to milk this for as long as they can get away with it. The elite use of our ftpt system to suppress democracy has to be broken.
While we do have a massive problem with NIMBY politics which shouldn’t be overlooked either, the fact so many people are in denial over the link between absurdly high levels of immigration and the lack of affordable housing is utterly idiotic.
On the issue of Windrush and other migration from the Commonwealth, we need to stress that times have changed immensely. When this type of migration was happening, the net rate was either very low or even negative. Since the late 1990’s net migration has been at least 100k with the exception of 2020. Our political class has set up our country to fail.
The Windrush generation was very different in another way too. The people that came to my neighbourhood (Forest Gate East London , early 60s)by and large stoke English, liked us, loved the Queen, were with us at church on Sundays, families worked hard, they queued at bus stops etc. The rhythm of life seemed to continue without threat...
Thank you! I have seen all this evolving first hand: I worked for a private school for 30 years, and we had an army of cleaners who were all pensioners who worked a few hours in the early morning. They were lovely people, who really enjoyed their job because it gave them something to get up for. One day a private cleaning company came along and pitched for the contract, claiming that they could save the school money, and the school accepted. Within six weeks the pensioners were gone, probably to never work again, replaced by immigrants. The manager treated the immigrants like dirt, using fear to control them, and I have seen women in tears, having been threatened with dismissal for a triviality; in fact I had to intervene once and contact ACAS to protect one Polish woman from bullying. One large Polish man jumped before he was pushed, throwing his mop down and walking out.
It did not stop there though, the kitchen was next on the hit-list, where the French manager wished to change staff working hours to suit himself, but most of the staff were women who had prior commitments and could not change, because they had taken the job because the hours fitted in with cooking the evening family meal or collecting their grandchildren from school, commitments that generally did not apply to the young, single immigrant staff members, who were only too happy to grab a few hours overtime. The result was that the manager, went to see the (foreign) head of HR, and told her not to employ any more British people.
I don't really know what can be done, if we protest we are dismissed as racist, and I have given up writing to my MP, who is a useless 'wet' who toes the line. I knew that the Tories were the problem when the P&O ferry scandal broke - where P&O replaced British workers with Indian ones and the Government did nothing, it was obvious that they were in on it because what P&O did was illegal and the Government could have revoked their licence, but they did not. My partner's daughter who is a Lefty graduate told me to my face that she did not care about British workers....... The only answer is a radical political party, but while the majority still vote for the Lab/Con/LibDem alliance, there is no hope.
The only encouraging thing is that less courage is required to speak such obvious truths about housing and immigration today than was needed even two years ago. The political tide is turning and the Overton window is moving in the Right direction.
What Wilders has done in The Netherlands maybe Farage/Tice can do in the UK.
Had a few likes (thanks!) but no responses so far so I'll have a go...
In principle, I don't see why British citizens should pay benefits for non-citizens. I wouldn't have a difficulty, morally speaking, with telling would be immigrants that if they want to come here that they're going to pay the same taxes as everyone else but they're not eligible for the benefits. Lots of people would regard that as unfair, perhaps it is, but my view is that if they don't like it they can choose not to come. I think there is potentially a moral issue around people who come here and come to rely on benefits paid for by the taxpayer; and then taking those benefits away.
If someone has been here for 1 day (and is already claiming benefits somehow) and then is told the rules have changed, I don't think we (the British public) owe that person much. If they've been living here for 20 years, have raised kids - or perhaps are still raising them - then I think there is more of an issue. I think it would be fair to say that we have allowed certain expectations and reliances to develop and that taking away the means of such people does potentially reflect poorly on us.
But how poorly? And, for those of us who feel we owe more to our fellow countrymen than to non-citizens, is there not also a question of not making available scarce benefits (social housing, say) to British people that are currently used by non-citizens? Surely, that doesn't reflect well on us? How do you compare these moral interests?
There are some interesting questions attached about the types of benefit and the recipients.
The NHS is obviously one case. If non-citizens are paying the NHS surcharge, then they've paid. To my mind the surcharge is likely to be woefully underpriced but we can't really blame migrants for that.
Pensions are another one. If someone pays their NI, surely they have earned their state pension? NI doesn't actually go into a pot, saved up for their pension, but that's hardly the migrant's fault. Taking away a pension is particularly egregious because it requires a long time to save for one, and taking it away from someone who's saved (via NI or otherwise) for a long time means they can't save up again.
Meanwhile, is taking away benefits like this to cut off your nose in spite of your face? The major upset for me is the way England and Britain are disappearing as objects of affection and loyalty in our society. Taking away benefits from people is hardly going to engender warm feelings towards the country.
On the other hand, paying benefits to non-citizens, particularly social housing (at any time), particularly when there is an acute housing shortage really, really grates. Having a roof over your own head is one of the most basic needs - if an economic migrant can't manage that on their own, why have we allowed them to settle here? It's certainly not for our benefit.
At the very least, surely we can stop giving social housing to any more immigrants?
It would be interesting to know exactly what immigrants receive in other countries in Europe. We do seem to be overly generous and people say that is why everyone wants to come here. I was reading recently about those who emigrated from Ireland to America in previous centuries when there was no such thing as the welfare state. they went to the Irish communities in the big cities who supported them until they were able to find a job and stand on their own feet. But now the whole population is expected to support them.
on another note, an extract from Allison Pearson's column recently which perhaps indicates how much the elite's love of immigration is affecting social cohesion and generosity: '....a scandalous development at the foodbank where he volunteers. “Lately, we have been getting a huge influx of overseas mature students and their relatives seeking support. Many of them large, extended families from India, Sri Lanka and Nigeria,” says Nick, “How do we spot them? Because they are better dressed and presented than our standard local clients who are in genuine need.”
Surely, says Nick, “those students and their relatives have to come to the UK on the basis that they can support themselves? It’s not where our gifting supporters would expect their donations to go.”
Yes, and it makes me think twice before putting anything in the foodbank box at our local supermarket.
Interesting article in the Kyiv Independent, which answers your questions re benefits to migrants in other countries (in this case Ukrainians in Ireland). It would appear that they can no longer afford them!
'The proposed changes would reduce the welfare payments for Ukrainians and offer state-run housing for 90 days, after which refugees would have to find their own housing. Almost 97,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, with more than 73,000 of them living in state-provided housing, which costs the country 1.5 billion euros a year. The proposed changes would decrease the weekly welfare payments for unemployed Ukrainian refugees from 220 euros ($237) to 38.80 euros ($42).' The Kyiv Independent
Something that has crossed my mind too is that as a small country with limited housing resources it should not be possible for a non UK resident to own ANY PROPERTY. I understand that lots of property is sold off plan abroad . No property should be an" investment" for people that rarely visit.
Truly staggering, supported by excellent research as usual and, by the way, you’ve got a helluva following on GBNews’ FaceBook group, they like your forthright style and preparedness to take on ill-informed Lefties.
Younger people will probably never vote centre-right in 20yrs but they’re more likely to if they see someone standing up for housing they can’t afford.
Of course there is a big place for Matt on loss making GB News wonderfully well funded by foreign money. Great heavens is it OK to turn on the poor living here, while cosying up to the foreign rich who want to dictate our media agenda and don't even live in the country? There is indeed a buck in this racket.
Torr Matt is more supportive of the poor citizens of the UK than any politician. He isn’t turning on them. He’s showing how shamelessly they are being ripped off by the elites.
Are you saying poor citizens of the UK don't include anyone who is not born here? How does that work?
It works by making the poor who were born here pay for the poor who weren't.
What other criteria would you like to apply for 'deserving' poor? Number of children, ability to speak well, colour of hair?
Extent to which they've paid into the system, commitment to our national values, the contribution they can make to our arts and cultural life and to keeping us at the forefront of science and technology, whether they seem likely to stay and serve at a time of national crisis or skidadle elsewhere. Stuff like that.
I'm a red-head. What has hair colour got to do with anything? I find your comment bizarre.
It should be people who have lived here through the devastating trauma and losses of both world wars. Doing family history on Ancestry.com has shown the extent of loss and misery suffered by ancestors of mine particularly in the First World War, with some families losing all male sons, three in one case. Without going through that, you have no idea of what 'belonging' means.
There is a lot of corporate and wealthy individual funding behind the elite and their pet causes - climate, BLM, trans, open borders. Policies like covid lockdown and net zero are great ways to transfer wealth from ordinary people to the elite. Open borders is a divide and rule tactic imposed by the elite in defiance of what people voted for.
I would love to hear someone on the left who blindly supports immigration give a specific number for how many of the 8.8 billion people in the world we are supposed to absorb into our island. Re GB News…..the left have a problem with allowing any other views and hope cancel culture will reign (in this instance through boycotting). It will never work.
Matt please get into politics and join Reform. We need you.
I sense Matt is more SDP than Reform.
Me too - see the excellent interview of SDP leader, William Clouston by the New Culture Forum on YouTube
He can’t off course, but he is ‘massively’ useful outside !!!
Why can't he? He clearly is in the thick of politics, actively agitating for a new party called National Conservatives!
Agreed but, he creates ‘hell’ outside !!
Where do I start? The treatment of the British working-class by the Elite is scandalous, beyond belief, and has only been allowed because politicians have lied and manipulated. I think that the hatred of the working-class by the Elite has been the driving force, because the Elite do not see the working-class as people, they see them as almost sub-human, idiotic, uneducated, racist and, even worse, patriotic, and are more than happy to see them replaced by lovely immigrants who are far more worthy of their support and love.
The country discovered immigration when Blair appeared, and showed the Elite that they did not have to deal with the working-class, they could simply side-step them by employing foreigners who were hard-working, compliant and scared of authority. Suddenly the penny dropped: here was a path to Utopia - cheap labour which meant higher profits, no need to invest in training or new technology, because there was an ever revolving door of new arrivals to replace the ones who had had enough. The increasing numbers of arrivals needed housing, so the houses that the Elite owned rose exponentially in value, the rental properties that they owned were a greater and greater source of income as immigrants wrestled with each other to secure a roof over their heads, paying ever-higher rents, whilst living like sardines, and supermarkets rubbed their hands in glee at the increased foot-fall.
We have reached the point where the greed of the Elite has destroyed our country; laid waste to a thousand years of history, all in the name of aggrandizement, but have they thrown the baby out with the bath water? Will any rich person want to live in the country that they have created? Large areas of London are now off-limits, no-go areas for the better off. The future blue print for Britain is South Africa today, with the rich living in gated, luxurious communities, surrounded by barbed wire, protected by armed guards. Our beautiful, green, civilised, tolerant country, which millions took up arms to protect in two world wars (my grandfather and father included) because they believed that they had something special that was worth protecting for future generations has been lost; little did they know that those future generations would be invaders, invaders invited here by the Elite to replace the indigenous population.
Hard not to feel disheartened at present, Im looking at leaving, but, there isn't much point in running away and where would I go to? this is my home!. Our country has failed due to Lab/Cons, it dosent need a lefty university graduates to take the helm now, just people with great minds to push these traitors back in their boxes once and for all. lots of great minds and content creator's out there. Indigenous British have been brow beaten down for years and will continue to do so unless you rise, now is your time to do so. Have faith. we will all stick together and we've got this.
2016 article - The former Prime Minister’s wife Cherie and son Euan have become private landlords, snapping up nearly 30 flats in south Manchester, Stockport and Trafford
The more that I see and hear about Blair, the more I believe that he was the greatest evil ever perpetrated on our country. He dismantled the entire mechanism of state and replaced it with a new one, one that has made it impossible to govern our country without outside interference. See what Dr David Starkey says on the issue!
Absolutely bang on correct and very well said !!!
I'm part of a group that consists of at least 50% composed immigrants. All members, native or new comer, are well educated, all employed but to a man (except me) or woman see no problem with immigration being as high as it is. Interestingly, none of them connect their rent rises or inability to buy a house to the intense competition for housing. And in one debate they claimed immigrants were being blamed for shortages, but it was really the governments fault for not getting more houses built.
I've tried to explain that immigration is the only short term lever the government can control. That most people think the government's first responsibility is to protect and support long-term, tax-paying residents of the UK and that if this level of immigration keeps up there will a political revolt that will make Brexit seem like a little local difficulty.
The problem is, they either can't or won't connect the dots.
It is amazing how many adults still believe in the house building fairy. It doesn't matter that England is now more densely populated than any other European country, all we need to do is wave that magic wand.
This sums the whole problem up and is the only way the Tories have any chance in the next election. They need to copy Geert Wilders playbook and equate immigration with housing availability, this is exactly what won Wilders and his PVV the election in Holland
Correct except that it will never be the Tories who do this - even if they said all the right things, many of us would just assume they were lying again.
I'm stunned: pulling publicly available numbers together and fearlessly present the data, sickening as they are. This of course begs the question: are our 'journalists' so inept that they are incapable of doing this - or are their superiors, the chief editors, unwilling to let the truth out because it might disquiet their readers and inconvenience politicians and mandarins? That, btw, was a rhetorical question ...
It is down to the UN Compact on immigration, one of the tools that governments world-wide are encouraged to use by the UN is control and manipulation of the media, hence the over-representation of black people in advertisements.
Frightening figures. Any loyal British Government should always put the British born residents before foreign born immigrants for social housing This situation is bound to end in disaster, or civil war. People have had enough, and the silent majority may become less silent at last. How has it been allowed to sink to these depths?
I am also wondering what Nigel Farage will have to say about the goings on in politics since he vanished into the jungle. He will be horrified to see David Cameron handing Gibraltar back to the EU.
However, despite the effects and evidence you provide, the London based, university educated millennials and generation Z’s want ever higher migration and will vote for whatever party promises to deliver it, while simultaneously complaining they can’t get house. You’re dealing with articles of faith among our devout elite on one side where mere facts cannot be allowed to get in the way of progress. On the other are the more cynical elite globalists who are seeing their asset values and wealth rise. They’ll continue to milk this for as long as they can get away with it. The elite use of our ftpt system to suppress democracy has to be broken.
While we do have a massive problem with NIMBY politics which shouldn’t be overlooked either, the fact so many people are in denial over the link between absurdly high levels of immigration and the lack of affordable housing is utterly idiotic.
On the issue of Windrush and other migration from the Commonwealth, we need to stress that times have changed immensely. When this type of migration was happening, the net rate was either very low or even negative. Since the late 1990’s net migration has been at least 100k with the exception of 2020. Our political class has set up our country to fail.
The Windrush generation was very different in another way too. The people that came to my neighbourhood (Forest Gate East London , early 60s)by and large stoke English, liked us, loved the Queen, were with us at church on Sundays, families worked hard, they queued at bus stops etc. The rhythm of life seemed to continue without threat...
Thank you! I have seen all this evolving first hand: I worked for a private school for 30 years, and we had an army of cleaners who were all pensioners who worked a few hours in the early morning. They were lovely people, who really enjoyed their job because it gave them something to get up for. One day a private cleaning company came along and pitched for the contract, claiming that they could save the school money, and the school accepted. Within six weeks the pensioners were gone, probably to never work again, replaced by immigrants. The manager treated the immigrants like dirt, using fear to control them, and I have seen women in tears, having been threatened with dismissal for a triviality; in fact I had to intervene once and contact ACAS to protect one Polish woman from bullying. One large Polish man jumped before he was pushed, throwing his mop down and walking out.
It did not stop there though, the kitchen was next on the hit-list, where the French manager wished to change staff working hours to suit himself, but most of the staff were women who had prior commitments and could not change, because they had taken the job because the hours fitted in with cooking the evening family meal or collecting their grandchildren from school, commitments that generally did not apply to the young, single immigrant staff members, who were only too happy to grab a few hours overtime. The result was that the manager, went to see the (foreign) head of HR, and told her not to employ any more British people.
I don't really know what can be done, if we protest we are dismissed as racist, and I have given up writing to my MP, who is a useless 'wet' who toes the line. I knew that the Tories were the problem when the P&O ferry scandal broke - where P&O replaced British workers with Indian ones and the Government did nothing, it was obvious that they were in on it because what P&O did was illegal and the Government could have revoked their licence, but they did not. My partner's daughter who is a Lefty graduate told me to my face that she did not care about British workers....... The only answer is a radical political party, but while the majority still vote for the Lab/Con/LibDem alliance, there is no hope.
Very well said Matt! You speak for many of us.
The only encouraging thing is that less courage is required to speak such obvious truths about housing and immigration today than was needed even two years ago. The political tide is turning and the Overton window is moving in the Right direction.
What Wilders has done in The Netherlands maybe Farage/Tice can do in the UK.
Hallelujah!
Hell, I hope so !!
Matt, thanks for this excellent essay.
Would it be morally wrong simply to remove welfare support (including social housing) from non-citizens?
Genuine question. I’d be interested to hear views!
Had a few likes (thanks!) but no responses so far so I'll have a go...
In principle, I don't see why British citizens should pay benefits for non-citizens. I wouldn't have a difficulty, morally speaking, with telling would be immigrants that if they want to come here that they're going to pay the same taxes as everyone else but they're not eligible for the benefits. Lots of people would regard that as unfair, perhaps it is, but my view is that if they don't like it they can choose not to come. I think there is potentially a moral issue around people who come here and come to rely on benefits paid for by the taxpayer; and then taking those benefits away.
If someone has been here for 1 day (and is already claiming benefits somehow) and then is told the rules have changed, I don't think we (the British public) owe that person much. If they've been living here for 20 years, have raised kids - or perhaps are still raising them - then I think there is more of an issue. I think it would be fair to say that we have allowed certain expectations and reliances to develop and that taking away the means of such people does potentially reflect poorly on us.
But how poorly? And, for those of us who feel we owe more to our fellow countrymen than to non-citizens, is there not also a question of not making available scarce benefits (social housing, say) to British people that are currently used by non-citizens? Surely, that doesn't reflect well on us? How do you compare these moral interests?
There are some interesting questions attached about the types of benefit and the recipients.
The NHS is obviously one case. If non-citizens are paying the NHS surcharge, then they've paid. To my mind the surcharge is likely to be woefully underpriced but we can't really blame migrants for that.
Pensions are another one. If someone pays their NI, surely they have earned their state pension? NI doesn't actually go into a pot, saved up for their pension, but that's hardly the migrant's fault. Taking away a pension is particularly egregious because it requires a long time to save for one, and taking it away from someone who's saved (via NI or otherwise) for a long time means they can't save up again.
Meanwhile, is taking away benefits like this to cut off your nose in spite of your face? The major upset for me is the way England and Britain are disappearing as objects of affection and loyalty in our society. Taking away benefits from people is hardly going to engender warm feelings towards the country.
On the other hand, paying benefits to non-citizens, particularly social housing (at any time), particularly when there is an acute housing shortage really, really grates. Having a roof over your own head is one of the most basic needs - if an economic migrant can't manage that on their own, why have we allowed them to settle here? It's certainly not for our benefit.
At the very least, surely we can stop giving social housing to any more immigrants?
It would be interesting to know exactly what immigrants receive in other countries in Europe. We do seem to be overly generous and people say that is why everyone wants to come here. I was reading recently about those who emigrated from Ireland to America in previous centuries when there was no such thing as the welfare state. they went to the Irish communities in the big cities who supported them until they were able to find a job and stand on their own feet. But now the whole population is expected to support them.
on another note, an extract from Allison Pearson's column recently which perhaps indicates how much the elite's love of immigration is affecting social cohesion and generosity: '....a scandalous development at the foodbank where he volunteers. “Lately, we have been getting a huge influx of overseas mature students and their relatives seeking support. Many of them large, extended families from India, Sri Lanka and Nigeria,” says Nick, “How do we spot them? Because they are better dressed and presented than our standard local clients who are in genuine need.”
Surely, says Nick, “those students and their relatives have to come to the UK on the basis that they can support themselves? It’s not where our gifting supporters would expect their donations to go.”
Yes, and it makes me think twice before putting anything in the foodbank box at our local supermarket.
Interesting article in the Kyiv Independent, which answers your questions re benefits to migrants in other countries (in this case Ukrainians in Ireland). It would appear that they can no longer afford them!
'The proposed changes would reduce the welfare payments for Ukrainians and offer state-run housing for 90 days, after which refugees would have to find their own housing. Almost 97,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, with more than 73,000 of them living in state-provided housing, which costs the country 1.5 billion euros a year. The proposed changes would decrease the weekly welfare payments for unemployed Ukrainian refugees from 220 euros ($237) to 38.80 euros ($42).' The Kyiv Independent
Something that has crossed my mind too is that as a small country with limited housing resources it should not be possible for a non UK resident to own ANY PROPERTY. I understand that lots of property is sold off plan abroad . No property should be an" investment" for people that rarely visit.
Brilliant.
Thanks for your contributions to a real debate on difficult subjects.