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[quote user="LanguedocGal"][quote user="oakbri"]

 My wife is not from the UK and has never lived there....

Last year I took my wifes parents to the UK for the first time. -----

 I was saddened by that remark but must admit, in contrast to where they are from where obesity simply doesn't exsit in the younger population...

 Personally I don't think multiculturism works----,

[/quote]

In my experience, multiculturalism works when extremists of all kinds are kept at bay.

Oakbri, I was interested by your claim of ''Personally I don't think multiculturism works...''.   However, reading your post, you say that your wife is not from the UK etc. I assume, therefore, that you married someone not of your ''culture''. I fail to understand your comments unless you can give me a definition of multiculturalism that I do not know.  I hope you realise that a marriage between a French and a Brit or a French and an Italian is actually multicultural (though not multiracial if they are both of the same colour).

Are you saying that your marriage is a failure?

So, as many people tend to write often on this forum... I'm confused.[8-)]

[/quote]

Hi LanguedocGal

No my marriage is great. I think you are (or I am) confusing multiculturism with differing nationalities. For example, I have a different nationality to a Scotsman, but our culture is very similar. I guess it all comes down to how you interpret the word culture. However I do accept your point.

Maybe my terminology was wrong. I don't know what you call it when you try to get different people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds with vastly different and largely incompatable religious and political ideologies to live together. I personally don't think it works. Maybe someone can tell me where it does work. It certainly doesn't here in France otherwise the regular riots in the suburbs wouldn't happen and Jean Marie Le Penn wouldn't have come so close to ousting Chirac in his last election.

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But the fact is that you do not live in the UK Oakbri and therefore are unlikely to experience the day to day experience of ordinary life here and now. The things you talk about made 'the news' because they were extremes. Events and happenings you may hear about are often because they are different and unusual and are often negative.

Britain has been a multi cultural society for hundreds of years and I'm afraid your comments about Muslims made be think about a time when catholicism was banned or thought ill of. Many people are Muslims, but make no mistake they are British.

I think I'm a Christian, but there are many forms of Christianity and  acts carried out in the name of Christ that have no relation to my own ideas, the same is true for Muslims there are a wide differences, but of course it only serves the trouble makers to sight extremes.

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In response to oakbri

I left the UK in 1993 and have been fortunate enough to have had the chance to live in the four courners of the globe since. I arrived in France in early 2002 due to work. I do not believe I view the UK with rose tinted spectacles, but there can be no doubt that things have changed for the worst.

And what changes might these be?

Apart from my all to infrequent visits, my view of the current standard of life in the UK comes from Sky news and reading the Daily Mail, which I accept both have their own agendas. My wife is not from the UK and has never lived there, and sadly as her information comes from the same sources as me, has said that we cannot ever live there.

Well, you know what to do – start taking your information from other sources. I have little time for Alistair Campbell, but he was spot on when he said that the Daily Mail presented some of the nastier aspects of human nature as middle class virtues.

In my view the UK has gone from being a once respected nation, to a nation of couch potatoes, second rate medical care, third rate transport system and has a government bent on destroying it even further. It is also the only country I know where displaying the national flag is almost an offence.

As for second-rate medical care, my GP practice has 7 partners – each with a specialist interest. It offers well-woman and well-man clinics, specialist services for diabetics and asthmatics, minor surgery, domiciliary nursing, travel advice and vaccinations, child development clinics, counselling - all free - and a pharmacy. There is more to health care than hospitals, and my own observations of British hospitals, in relation to my family’s experiences, is that they are clean, caring, competent places. Much has been made of the UN survey a few years ago which showed France in first place and Britain at 19. I have been informed by a respected statistician that had the arbitrary weighting system been slightly different the two positions may have been exchanged.

How do you determine whether a “transport system” is third rate? What do you mean by “transport system”, anyway? Roads systems? Canal systems? Bus services? Airports? Rail networks? Cycle paths?

What are the grounds for your strange statement about “the national flag”?

Forgive me for not addressing your comments about the ubiquity of obesity among young people or cycle helmets (would you like to clear up scrambled brains from the tarmac?)

The other problem in the UK is the governments absolute mission to apease all faiths and minorities at the expense of our own cultural heritage. I believe it is a governments responsibility to preserve our culture, not feel embarrased by it, and they should be held to account.

What do you mean by “culture”? How well acquainted are you with the works of Milton, Keats, Purcell, Dickens, Turner, Pugin, Elgar and Aphra Behn? What can you tell me about the work of Newton or Clerk Maxwell? What contribution do you think that Thomas Paine and John Stuart Mill made to the understanding of liberty?

Or, if you are talking of the presence of non-White Anglo Saxon Protestants, how far back in your family history do you have to go before you find immigrant genes? You are, by your own admission, married to a non-Briton. Your children will be of mixed cultural heritage.

You seem to have a one-dimensional view of multiculturalism, which seems to be related to Islam. (You realise, of course, that the Islamic population of France is about twice that of Britain? Or that no French state school will do a nativity play?) Multiculturalism has made London one of the most exciting cities in the world.

I am fed up with facile condemnation of Britain which seems to be based on tabloid thought processes. I live a very good life in England, in the Midlands, not far from Birmingham, and am very pleased to be able to spend time in France, not far from Agen, I wouldn’t dream of trying to use one to denigrate the other.
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[quote user="oakbri"]

A friend of mine was telling me how his young son brought a letter home from school saying they were taking the children to visit a mosque "in order to give a balanced veiw of faiths", my friend bumped into the headmaster outside the school and said that it was fair enough but asked when were they going to visit a church as well, the headmaster said they were not, as it might offend the parents of the muslim children. [/quote]

Can you provide the name of the school and headmaster by any chance.  I would love to take this up (as unbelievable and hearsay as it sounds [;-)])

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Hi Russethouse

I agree, as I originally said, my information comes from Sky and the Daily Mail, and as I also said they do have their own agenda. I don't pretend to have hands on experience.

I was making a point on the 2 main themes of this post. Firstly I do believe life in the UK has deteriorated. When I was young prescriptions were free for everyone as was dental care. You now have to pay for prescriptions and, unless you have been registered with your dentist for a long time, you would be hard pressed to find one to take you on under the NHS. Also our road and rail systems are poor and children are no longer as active as they were, certainly there was not the constant media reports of obesity, as a nation we are becoming more like the Americans each day.

Secondly I was remarking on the original theme of the post regarding the ludicrous and unforgiveable practise of changing our customs to not offend newcomers. I am afraid I am of the belief that if they don't like get them a taxi to the airport. I firmly believe that the government policy of disregarding our heritage to prevent from offending anyone is actually breeding resentment and dividing people even further.

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[quote user="oakbri"]

Secondly I was remarking on the original theme of the post regarding the ludicrous and unforgiveable practise of changing our customs to not offend newcomers. I am afraid I am of the belief that if they don't like get them a taxi to the airport. I firmly believe that the government policy of disregarding our heritage to prevent from offending anyone is actually breeding resentment and dividing people even further.

[/quote]

At the risk of opening an already festering would, it would be interesting to understand how you would align the comment above with the reaction of huge numbers of British migrants to France to the French government's decision to amend its healthcare legislation to their detriment. As I understand it, the action taken by those British people directly affected was precisely a demand for France to "change its customs to not offend newcomers" and boy, did that "breed resentment"!!!!!!!

Maybe those who have "got a taxi to the airport" should be politely asked to refrain from commenting on so many things that, by their own admission, they know nothing about (other than what they've been able to glean from the media).

By the way, excellent post, clarkkent.

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Oakbri, there were only 5 years during which prescriptions were ever free for all - for 3 years after the inception of the NHS, and for a couple of years in the 1960's.

A few pages back, I posted a reply to Gluestick which I quote here.

[quote user="Tresco"][quote user="Gluestick"]...Of course there are many Muslims in France: that said, however, they are not able to bend government's will to their cause in the way they have certainly achieved this in the UK.[/quote] (My bold)

How have Muslims in Britain bent the Governments will to their cause?

[/quote]

I never got a reply but I'll try again as you've made a similar assertion here;

[quote user="oakbri"]...I firmly

believe that the government policy of disregarding our heritage to

prevent from offending anyone
is actually breeding resentment and

dividing people even further.[/quote]

Please can you point me in the direction of the Government policy to which you refer?

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Clarkkent

The changes I feel that have happened in the UK are mainly to do with the yob culture, the degradation of the NHS etc etc, all things commonly written about in the press. But I agree with you, It would be good to get information from other sources, but whichever source you use it will be biased to their own agenda.

The medical care has in my view gone down due to underfunding and overload. Your doctor sounds wonderful but I don't think that represents doctors as a whole. My fathers doctors certainly isn't as well equipped as yours.

My view of the transport system is solely down to my personal comparisons when visiting other countries. Our rail system is not worth a mention. The roads are vastly overcrowded, I have spent enough hours trying to navigate the M1, M6 and M25 to tell me that. also the governments preoccupation with making money out of speed cameras mean most peoples attention is on their speedo rather than the road in front of them, leading I believe , to a degradation in road safety. Don't think I think France is better, whilst their roads are much better and their TGV system is a distant dream for us their bus system to non rural areas is very poor in comparison and their road death rate is deploreable. Airports are probably better off not being mentioned, if you have tried flying out of Gatwick or Heathrow recently you will know why.

My comments about the national flag again, comes from the media reporting on councils being reluctant to show it, I apologise if they were lying.

My mention of cycle helmets was little more than a joke, we didn't wear helmets as kids because they didn't exist. Amazingly I survived. That said they are a good idea and I would not let my child ride a bike without one, I can't say many other health and safety rules are that helpful.

Whilst I am sure everyone is impressed by your knowledge of our great writers and thinkers I am not sure what relevance it is, I was talking about Christmas as that was the original post. By the way I don't know much about them, I went to boarding school and our headmaster had us study Sheakspeare, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Pasternak, he obviously thought they made better reading.

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[quote user="Tresco"][quote user="oakbri"]

Tresco

Sorry change that to read policies not policy.

[/quote]

OK. [:)]

Please can you point me to Government policies 'of disregarding our heritage to prevent from offending anyone...'
[/quote]

Tresco

The origianl post was about schools cancelling nativity plays and changing various customs so as to not offend anyone. I expect schools would only do this on an order from the department of education, which in turn acts on government policies.

By the way, the clumsy way the government is trying to force muliculturism on the UK as failing both ways with the muslims also feeling marginalised by the policies, for example see http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/243.pdf

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="oakbri"]

Secondly I was remarking on the original theme of the post regarding the ludicrous and unforgiveable practise of changing our customs to not offend newcomers. I am afraid I am of the belief that if they don't like get them a taxi to the airport. I firmly believe that the government policy of disregarding our heritage to prevent from offending anyone is actually breeding resentment and dividing people even further.

[/quote]

At the risk of opening an already festering would, it would be interesting to understand how you would align the comment above with the reaction of huge numbers of British migrants to France to the French government's decision to amend its healthcare legislation to their detriment. As I understand it, the action taken by those British people directly affected was precisely a demand for France to "change its customs to not offend newcomers" and boy, did that "breed resentment"!!!!!!!

Maybe those who have "got a taxi to the airport" should be politely asked to refrain from commenting on so many things that, by their own admission, they know nothing about (other than what they've been able to glean from the media).

By the way, excellent post, clarkkent.

[/quote]

Sarkozy has done the right thing, why should France pay for the healthcare of non-contributors.     However, his ruling is against the grain for those who had no other option other than to join the CMU, they went along with the rules as stated, and the goalposts have been moved, hence it will cause hardship.     Lots of people worked out their budget and its been blown through no fault of their own.  On the other hand we have the UK Government handing out our paid-in contributions and taxes (yes some of us have to pay tax in the UK so it does bother me where my money is being spent) as below, figures by the Institute of Public Policy Research.   

1. Proportion of population claiming Income Support by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 4%

compared with the highest 3 ... Bangladesh 11% / Turkey 21% /Somalia 39%.

2. Proportion of population claiming sickness and disability benefits by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 6%

compared with the highest 3 ... Kenya 8% / Cyprus 9% / Pakistan 10%.

3. Proportion of population claiming child benefit by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 14%

compared with the highest 3 ... Pakistan 29% / Bangladesh 33% / Somalia 40%.

4. Proportion of population claiming unemployment-related benefits by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 1%

compared to the highest 3 ... Bangladesh 5% / Somalia 5% / Iran 5%.

Why do these people head for the UK, the above speaks for itself.    If the benefits were'nt on offer there'd be big changes, until those changes happen (if ever) there will be resentment.     Good Luck to all those currently affected by the healthcare changes in France, and there are many, just look at the number of viewings to that thread.

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So, if I understand you correctly.....you'd like the UK government to "move the goalposts" and "cause hardship" for the people cited in your statistics, but you are not in favour of Mr Sarkozy being allowed to do that for British residents in France? Nice argument.

Incidentally - income support. If my understanding is correct, this is paid to people who are earning an income which is below the minimum threshold. So the statistics you cite above would indicate that the highest proportion of the population of people being paid rubbish wages is actually the migrant population. I dunno, lies, damned lies and statistics, eh? Presumably, many of "these people" are paying their taxes too, or should we simply tax them and then refuse to give them anything back?

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Why do these people head for the UK, the above speaks for itself.    If the benefits were'nt on offer there'd be big changes, until those changes happen (if ever) there will be resentment.     Good Luck to all those currently affected by the healthcare changes in France, and there are many, just look at the number of viewings to that thread

I guess you are assuming that all the people claiming are and always have been, non contributors then ?

And of course, if you have read the much viewed thread you will know that the British in France DO contribute too. !

 

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Oh not these jolly statistics again. (imagine a bored smiley here)

 Can someone please explain why these stats tend to be trotted out (I'm sure they've been on here before) by people who do not actually understand them?

Marton, do you understand these Stats? If so could you explain them to prove that you do? You may think that they support your anti immigrant ''freeloader'' argument, but when you really understand them, they don't. We've seen them before. 

Tell me, do you represent the good o' quality monocultural element of the UK that the nation should be aspiring to resemble? (another yawn smiley).

Edit: thank you, Betty, you beat me to it.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

Why do these people head for the UK, the above speaks for itself.    If the benefits were'nt on offer there'd be big changes, until those changes happen (if ever) there will be resentment.     Good Luck to all those currently affected by the healthcare changes in France, and there are many, just look at the number of viewings to that thread

I guess you are assuming that all the people claiming are and always have been, non contributors then ?

And of course, if you have read the much viewed thread you will know that the British in France DO contribute too. !

 

[/quote]

I am aware of that, I am also aware that there are non-contributors as you must be.

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Marton

I can see what you're trying to get at but you won't get there using these figures because, as Betty rightly points out, it's the use of statistics to tell lies.

I roughly know what 6% of the UK population is but what the devil is 39% of the UK Somali population or 9% of Cypriots or 5% of the UK Iranian population?

As for the high figures for child benefit I thought that was exactly what the UK was trying to achieve; producing workers for the future.

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[quote user="LanguedocGal"]

Oh not these jolly statistics again. (imagine a bored smiley here)

 Can someone please explain why these stats tend to be trotted out (I'm sure they've been on here before) by people who do not actually understand them?

Marton, do you understand these Stats? If so could you explain them to prove that you do? You may think that they support your anti immigrant ''freeloader'' argument, but when you really understand them, they don't. We've seen them before. 

Tell me, do you represent the good o' quality monocultural element of the UK that the nation should be aspiring to resemble? (another yawn smiley).

Edit: thank you, Betty, you beat me to it.

[/quote]

Just imagine an even more bored smiley is my reply to you.

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Morton, can you point me to your source of those statistics?  I can find several forums quoting them in the same format as you (hugely edited to highlight certain groups, and without the supporting notes) but the actual report itself http://www.ippr.org/members/download.asp?f=/ecomm/files/britains_migrants.pdf&a=skip  doesn't quite read the same way.

Have you read the report, or are you quoting another forum?

 

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Really fascinating, Cathy.  It's also interesting to note that 13% of the French population in the UK is "inactive" (presumably getting free NHS care).  Also that the figures are lower than I expected because a European parliamentarian recently told me that there were 200,000 French citizens in London alone, whereas the document says 108k in the whole of Britain.

I shall read this more fully - loads of good stuff there.

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[quote user="oakbri"]

The origianl post was about schools cancelling nativity plays and changing various customs so as to not offend anyone.
[/quote]

This was the original post.

[quote user="Marton"]Nativity plays banned, Xmas back instead of Christmas, changing carols to suit the multi cultural society but  when a teacher substitutes a "partridge in a pear tree " for "corncrake in a palm tree" because she doesn't want to step on any toes, then that, for me, is the end.  When are true Brits in Britain going to get some backbone and declare enough is enough.[:@] 
[/quote]

No real evidence was provided to support these claims.

[quote user="oakbri"]I expect schools would only do this on an order from the department of education, which in turn acts on government policies.[/quote] (my italics)

No, you are wrong about that.

[quote user="oakbri"]...By the way, the clumsy way the government is trying to force muliculturism on the UK as failing both ways with the muslims also feeling marginalised by the policies, for example see http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/libimages/243.pdf[/quote]

Ah yes. That report was the source of a few juicy headlines at the time, but it was found somewhat lacking when it came down to some of  its 'results' and the conclusions  that flowed from them.

No information about the methodology used (or even the questions asked) was released, despite requests, so it's impossible for anyone to judge the validity of the conclusions they arrived at.

We just have to take their word for it.

'They', being the people who were also involved in another debacle. This time the report was titled The Hijacking of British Islam.

Those 'independent' Think Tank People got into yet another little scrape with their 'methodology'. They threatened to punish Newsnight with the full weight of the law, but so far they haven't got around to it. I wonder why?

You can read a little about it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/12/disastrous__misjudgement.html

 

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[quote user="oakbri"]

Clarkkent

The changes I feel that have happened in the UK are mainly to do with the yob culture, the degradation of the NHS etc etc, all things commonly written about in the press. But I agree with you, It would be good to get information from other sources, but whichever source you use it will be biased to their own agenda.

The medical care has in my view gone down due to underfunding and overload. Your doctor sounds wonderful but I don't think that represents doctors as a whole. My fathers doctors certainly isn't as well equipped as yours.

My view of the transport system is solely down to my personal comparisons when visiting other countries. Our rail system is not worth a mention. The roads are vastly overcrowded, I have spent enough hours trying to navigate the M1, M6 and M25 to tell me that. also the governments preoccupation with making money out of speed cameras mean most peoples attention is on their speedo rather than the road in front of them. Don't think I think France is better, whilst their roads are much better and their TGV system is a distant dream for us their bus system to non rural areas is very poor in comparison. Airports are probably better off not being mentioned, if you have tried flying out of Gatwick or Heathrow recently you will know why.

...

Whilst I am sure everyone is impressed by your knowledge of our great writers and thinkers I am ot sure what relevance it is, I was talking about Christmas as that was the original post. By the way I don't know much about them, I went to boarding school and our headmaster had us study Sheakspeare, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Pasternak, he obviously thought they made better reading.

[/quote]

 

Oakbri

Newspapers write news. News is anything which is unusual or noteworthy. The skill of some newspapers is to present the unusual as though it were commonplace. By doing this they ensure that their readers remain in a state of low pressure rage and will buy tomorrow's edition so that they can maintain this strangely pleasing condition. Much has been made, for instance, of the knife culture recently. Last year, I was asked by an English resident of France if I was worried about going out because of all the stabbings. I recall reading that even though knife crime had increased in England it was still much below the level prevailing in France.

As for yob culture ... 'twas ever thus. Did you know that in Medieval France the English footsoldiers, the heros of Crecy and Agincourt, were known as the Goddams because this was the only word French peasants heard as they marauded their way across the countryside? A tiny minority of the British population have always behaved badly. Jeremy Paxman in his book "The English" writes about this phenomenon. By the way, how do you feel about the French practice of car torching? Isn't this a manifestation of yob culture? It certainly isn't a feature of English New Year celebration.

Have you travelled in Britain by train recently? Over a decade ago, John Major's government wrecked a respectable national railway system by imposing the most idiotic "privatisation" programme ever dreamt in the mind of man. John Prescott notwithstanding, the British railway system has been steadily hauling itself back into a position of respectability given the history of non-renewal of the Victorian infrastructure.  I travel by train two or three times a year in Britain, and in general it is becoming an agreeable experience. Of course, French motorways ration use by price, but I have spent some worrying times on A10 when mile long lines of Spanish trucks ferrying melons to northern Europe reduced the carriageway to a single lane raising the blood pressure and rage of the boy racers who cannot bear to have anyone slowing them down. And I have experienced megabouchons ...

I was not trying to impress anyone with my knowledge of great writers and thinkers but trying to make the point that culture is not a simple thing of being white or whatever. It is the accumulation of a myriad of things - big and little - and is constantly changing and adapting. There is much that is good and positive in Islamic culture ("algebra" and "alcohol" both come from Arabic) and there will be accomodation on both sides. One of the most important contributions to world culture is the English language. Once upon a time French was the world language, but its "owners", the French tried to control and preserve it as a symbol of their culture. In world terms it is now of little importance and gradually losing ground. Portuguese is more important than French.

That there are reports of supposed foolish actions by a small number of confused public officials is not an indication that the government is throwing away our heritage.

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[quote user="Clarkkent"] 

That there are reports of supposed foolish actions by a small number of confused public officials is not an indication that the government is throwing away our heritage.

[/quote]

There is some free space on the wall I'm banging my head against regarding this point, Mr Kent. I'll keep it for you just in case.[:)]

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OK, I've been through where Marton got these entirely spurious figures from, which is a report done for the IPPR for a Channel 4 Despatches programme. In order to show just how easily snyone with an agenda can take statistics out of context and manipulate them to provide fodder for their own argument, however tenuous that argument may be, I reproduce them below with the notes to the tables from which Marton so selectively "lifted" them. I've added the real meanings of the percentages (in brackets) and would recommend that if you're interested, you have a look at the report itself, particularly the bits pertaining to average incomes and average rates of tax and NI being paid by each group. It's a real eye-opener, very interesting, though really not suitable for proving Marton's agenda!!

1. Proportion of population claiming Income Support by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 4%  (being 4% of nearly 53 million people)

compared with the highest 3 ... Bangladesh 11% (being 11% of a total population of just over 208,000 or 0.35% of the UK population) / Turkey 21% (being 21% of a total population of just over 69,000 or 0.12% of the UK population) /Somalia 39%.(being 39% of a total population of just over 82,000 0r 0.14% of the UK population)

 The report goes on to say, in relation to this information

Of all of the groups, those born in the US, the Philippines, Poland, France and Australia are

the least likely to be claiming Income Support. Somalis are the most likely to be claiming it,

due to the high incidence of poverty among this group. It is interesting to compare these

figures with those for the (largely UK-born) population of some of the UK’s most deprived

areas. For example, in the 15 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland, more than 40 per

cent of children are dependent on a parent or guardian who is in receipt of Income Support

(Scottish Executive 2005). Significantly, though, the majority of groups have lower income

support take-up rates than the UK-born. Of the groups with higher rates of Income Support

claims, many are likely to be recognised refugees or naturalised British citizens.

 

For this next bit, the report explains:

 

Table 5.11 presents data on sickness and disability benefit claims by country of birth. This

includes payments such as Incapacity Benefit and other benefits paid to people who are

unable to work because of a long-term health problem or disability

2. Proportion of population claiming sickness and disability benefits by country of birth 2005/06

UK = 6% (of 53 million)

compared with the highest 3 ... Kenya 8% (of 123,000) / Cyprus 9% (of 64,000) / Pakistan 10%. (of 300,000)

The variations between country-of-birth groups in Table 5.11 are narrower than is the case for

Income Support, but there are still substantial differences. Polish-born people are unlikely to

be claiming any form of disability benefit, which reflects both their ineligibility for many of

these benefits and the generally youthful nature of this group. Irish-born people, by contrast,

with the highest average age of the groups studied in this report at 56 years, have a greater

tendency to claim benefits available to people with a long-term sickness or disability. Other

groups with relatively high rates of disability include settled communities such as the Pakistani

and Cypriot born. In 2001, according to the Census, 30 per cent of Irish-born people in

England and Wales had a limiting long-term illness (LLTI). Twenty-three per cent of the

Pakistani born and 25.3 per cent of the Cypriot-born had LLTIs. This compares with 18.2 percent of the UK-born population.

3. Proportion of population claiming child benefit by country of birth 2005/06

 

UK = 14% (of 53 million)

compared with the highest 3 ... Pakistan 29% / Bangladesh 33% / Somalia 40%.

 

Because Child Benefit is available, obviously, to people with children, the proportion of each

country-of-birth group in receipt of this benefit is affected by the groups’ age and family

structures. The group with the highest proportion claiming Child Benefit is the Somali-born,

who have an average age of 31 and are the youngest of the country-of-birth groups featured

here. The second and third highest proportions are found in the Bangladeshi and Pakistaniborn

groups, which tend to have larger family sizes than the national average. At the other

end of the spectrum, the American-born are the least likely to qualify for Child Benefit, Polishborn

people are less likely to have families in the UK and are therefore unlikely to qualify, and

the high average age of the Irish-born means that a small proportion of this group have

dependent children and again they are therefore unlikely to qualify. People born outside of the

EEA who are claiming Child Benefit are likely to be naturalised British citizens.

4. Proportion of population claiming unemployment-related benefits by country of birth 2005/06

One of the primary public concerns around migration is the belief that immigrants are a drain

on the public purse, despite research evidence that suggests otherwise (Gott and Johnston

2002, Sriskandarajah et al 2005). In the lead-up to EU enlargement in 2004, for example,

much of the media attention was focused on the possibility of migrants from the new member

states coming to the UK solely to claim benefits. Even post-enlargement, there have been

claims that these migrants are a drain on the public purse, with the Daily Express claiming

that they are ‘costing the taxpayer £77 million a year’ (Whitehead 2007)

UK = 1%

compared to the highest 3 ... Bangladesh 5% / Somalia 5% / Iran 5%.

The table reveals that even where there is a relatively high level of unemployment among

some groups, the proportion of people who claim unemployment-related benefits is very low.

For example, while 4 per cent of the Polish and South African-born populations are

unemployed, the proportion of those populations claiming unemployment benefits rounds to

zero. This is likely to be because of ineligibility for benefits, whereas some of the groups with

higher proportions claiming unemployment benefits are likely to be naturalised British citizens.

 

To be clear.....red bits are mine, italic bits are those omitted by Marton in presenting the stats

 

Edit: Yes, it's the report Cathy published the link to while I was having fun doing this. Let's ban the Irish, I say (JOKINGLY!!)

 

 

 

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