Emigration soars as Britons desert the UK

[63DH8]

Please note: This was published in 2007.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1569400/Emigration-soars-as-Britons-desert-the-UK.html

Britain is experiencing the greatest exodus of its own nationals in recent history while immigration is at unprecedented levels, new figures show.

Last year, 207,000 British citizens - one every three minutes - left the country while 510,000 foreigners arrived to stay for a year or more.

The British made up more than half of the 400,000 moving abroad - yet only 14 per cent of immigrants were UK nationals coming home.

The figures do not include hundreds of thousands of east Europeans who have come to work in Britain in the past two years.

This is because most are coming for less than 12 months and do not show up on the statistics.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that only one sixth of the immigrants in 2006 were from the states that joined the EU in 2004.

The biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000.

Since Labour came to power in 1997, 1.8m British people have left but only 979,000 have returned, Over the same period, 3.9m foreign nationals have come to Britain while 1.6m have left.

More than 50 per cent of the British emigrants moved to just four countries in 2006 - Australia, New Zealand, France and Spain. Eight in every 100 went to the USA.

The ONS said that overall last year there were 591,000 immigrants to the UK and 400,000 emigrants, both the highest figures ever recorded.

Net immigration - the difference between those leaving and arriving - was 191,000.

The departure of so many Britons is exacerbating the demographic and cultural changes caused by high levels of immigration.

Recent figures showed that despite high levels of emigration and a low birth rate, the population is still growing rapidly because of immigration.

It is growing by the equivalent to a city the size of Bristol every year.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: "Two thirds of yet another record level of arrivals come from outside the EU. They could and should be subject to much tighter controls."

He added: ''This gives the lie to claims that nothing effective can be done about immigration because of our membership of the EU."

Damian Green, the Conservative spokesman, said: "These figures prove that immigration is still running at unsustainably high levels.

"This is the direct result of the Government's 'open door' approach which has totally failed to consider the impact of immigration on public services, housing and community cohesion."

Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said the Government had no clear idea of where all the immigrants were going and their impact on services.

"No-one has a real grasp of where or for how long migrants are settling so much-needed funding for local services isn't getting to the right places," he said.

"The speed and scale of migration combined with the shortcomings of official population figures is placing pressure on funding for services like children's services and housing.

''This can even lead to unnecessary tension and conflict."

While immigration is the highest in the country's history, the emigration of UK nationals is running at its greatest level since before the First World War.

Little research has been done into the reasons for the exodus of Britons, though it appears more are going abroad to retire though many younger people are leaving to work.

A study last year by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggested that one in 12 UK nationals may now be living abroad.

There are 250,000 second homes owned by British nationals in France alone.

Surveys indicate that another one million are set to pack their bags for good over the next five years and a further 500,000 live abroad for part of the year.

Danny Sriskandarajah, of the IPPR, said: "The UK is seeing revolving turnstiles and not over-run floodgates.

"More people are on the move than ever before, with a million emigrants and immigrants crossing our borders last year."

He added: "It is also clear that immigration is an economic phenomenon, with almost half of those immigrating and emigrating doing so for work-related reasons."

More British live abroad than any other nationality. There are 41 countries with more than 10,000 British living there and another 71 countries with more than 1,000.

The levels of emigration are now back to those last seen in the late-1950s and early 1960s, when the "£10 Poms" left in their droves for Australia, enticed by subsidised travel and settlement.

The last exodus on a similar scale was before 1914, when the outflow was running at 300,000 per annum and more young men were leaving the country every year than died on the battlefields of Europe.

Between 1853 and 1913, more than 13 million British citizens left, mainly for North America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Some came back; but cumulative net emigration was equivalent to 13 per cent of the population, mostly those aged between 18 and 45.

However, there was little immigration then: the population grew because of a high birth rate.

The difference of around three million between the emigration of British nationals and immigration of foreigners represents a five per cent turnover of the entire population in ten years.

Previous immigrations did not exceed one per cent over fifty years. This turnaround in population has inevitably changed its ethnic composition.

Over the last 20 years, the white British population has decreased slightly while the number of ethnic minority Britons has doubled.

Looking ahead to the next 10 years, the white ethnic group will remain static while the number of Asian non-dependents alone will increase from 1.5 to 2.5 million.



http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/emig1107.pdf

[L1A1Rocker]

Wow, Sharia law anyone?

[Charliebravo]

i'm sure they won't mind being slaves to their new Muslim overlords. To refuse would be racist.

[sevlex]

I am sure Joey is looking forward to being a minority and dhimmi. It's a white-guilt thing, you know.

:coffee:

[El Jefe]

I'm sure Achmed will treat Joey well.

[Syph]

Wow, Sharia law anyone?

You should all be aware that "the biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000." The three latter countries are some of the most secularist countries in Eastern Asia. This happened in the 50's and it's happening again now.

English out to Oz and NZ
Old Colonials into the UK.

Sharia law my ass!

[Tx Dogblaster]

You should all be aware that "the biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000." The three latter countries are some of the most secularist countries in Eastern Asia. This happened in the 50's and it's happening again now.

English out to Oz and NZ
Old Colonials into the UK.

Sharia law my ass!

This is the reason that we see so many pictures of Haji's in UK streets with their faces covered and protesting with signs calling for violence. I bet THAT didn't happen in the 50's...

[alismith]

I am sure Joey is looking forward to being a minority and dhimmi. It's a white-guilt thing, you know.

:coffee:

Nah. I think Joey's studying to be an Imam. He has all the rhetoric correct and is toeing the Islamic line pretty well.

I just hope those Brits continue to emigrate out and don't come over here. We have enough politically correct liberals already. (Maybe we could find a way to send our liberals over there to offset their immigration-emigration discrepancies.)

[El Jefe]

You should all be aware that "the biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000." The three latter countries are some of the most secularist countries in Eastern Asia. This happened in the 50's and it's happening again now.

English out to Oz and NZ
Old Colonials into the UK.

Sharia law my ass!

They're not going to ask you, Syph, they're going to tell you, then enslave your naive ass.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2430/150607marcvalleeislamis.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/i/150607marcvalleeislamis.jpg/)

[mriddick]

My friend there has all intents to retire and head to Australia. I think alot of retirees are planning on leaving.

[Charliebravo]

My friend there has all intents to retire and head to Australia. I think alot of retirees are planning on leaving.My best friend married a British girl. Once her parents retire, they're coming to Texas. Good folks. You should hear them bitch about the cancer of liberalism that's taken hold in Britain. Also, anytime they visit, the first order of business is to drive to the nearest shooting range, rent a pistol, and blast for hours.

[mriddick]

My best friend married a British girl. Once her parents retire, they're coming to Texas. Good folks. You should hear them bitch about the cancer of liberalism that's taken hold in Britain. Also, anytime they visit, the first order of business is to drive to the nearest shooting range, rent a pistol, and blast for hours.

I hear you, my friend gives me a list of firearms he wants to shoot, I pick them up and we normally spent 3-4 days at the range shooting them. It must suck to fly over here just to shoot. You should hear his stories of what it takes to own a BB gun in his area of London alone...

[HDR]

English out to Oz and NZ
Old Colonials into the UK.

Sharia law my ass!

After "they" have the majority; it will be Sharia law.

AFA your ass, don't let it be last to leave..

[Dr. Gonzo GED]

The three latter countries are some of the most secularist countries in Eastern Asia.

Which is probably why they are sending all their rejects your way.

[Lysander]

Sounds to me like working Britons know the answer to "What is so bad about a welfare state?"

[sevlex]

Sounds to me like working Britons know the answer to "What is so bad about a welfare state?"

This.

[Guns Network Staff]

So is this muslim revenge for the christain crusades. Seems like the MUSLIM CRUSADES to England come back to teach them a thing or two.

I have a close friend over there for the last 3 months, he owns apartments and townhomes. He said that the blood is boiling over in the UK and muslim blood may be spilled soon.

He owns 4 town home buildings and 2 apartment complexes no muslims are allowed to live in his properties. He turned down a saudi offer for four times paid all up front. His properties are in the wealthier areas of London and northern areas.

[Integratedj]

Sounds to me like working Britons know the answer to "What is so bad about a welfare state?"

Yup. It's unfortunate that the people who insist on a class warfare mentality refuse to see the reality of things. That's ok, Starvation is a good teacher/mediator for the dumb as fuck among us.

[63DH8]

You should all be aware that "the biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000." The three latter countries are some of the most secularist countries in Eastern Asia. This happened in the 50's and it's happening again now.

English out to Oz and NZ
Old Colonials into the UK.

Sharia law my ass!

The people from those countries you mention aren't out to take over other countries like the muslim countries. Look at the protest signs the muslim protesters are carrying; They're out to take over your and other countries by forcing their relgious laws on their host countries. None of the countrymen from the countries you mentioned are doing the same.

[swampdragon]

So is this muslim revenge for the christain crusades. Seems like the MUSLIM CRUSADES to England come back to teach them a thing or two.

I have a close friend over there for the last 3 months, he owns apartments and townhomes. He said that the blood is boiling over in the UK and muslim blood may be spilled soon.

He owns 4 town home buildings and 2 apartment complexes no muslims are allowed to live in his properties. He turned down a saudi offer for four times paid all up front. His properties are in the wealthier areas of London and northern areas.

I guess the Muslim blood will be spilled with plastic ninja sporks from McDonald's?
Nobody has any guns.
lol...

[63DH8]

I guess the Muslim blood will be spilled with plastic ninja sporks from McDonald's?
Nobody has any guns.
lol...

That's where the Sikhs come in with their "ceremonial" swords. British Columbia had several confrontations between Muzzies and the Sikhs. No-one saw a thing! :coffee:

[swampdragon]

.... No-one saw a thing! :coffee:


:laugh:

[63DH8]

:laugh:

You do know that, for a Sikh warrior to go to heaven, he has to kill a muzzie? At least that's what I was told by a sikh we had at Ft. Lewis back in '90.

[swampdragon]

You do know that, for a Sikh warrior to go to heaven, he has to kill a muzzie? At least that's what I was told by a sikh we had at Ft. Lewis back in '90.

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Maybe we should recruit more Sikhs....lol

[Nimbly]

The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Maybe we should recruit more Sikhs....lol

I know many. Good people.

[Syph]

They're not going to ask you, Syph, they're going to tell you, then enslave your naive ass.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2430/150607marcvalleeislamis.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/i/150607marcvalleeislamis.jpg/)

Wow, I'm quaking in my boots from 3% of the population. With signs!

[Joey]

Wow, I'm quaking in my boots from 3% of the population. With signs!

http://politicsworldwide.com/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

I know. All these big, tough, hairy, gun-owners having kittens about a few excitable Koran-wallahs with beards. But America's still deep in a collective nervous breakdown over 9/11. They really thought they could run about the globe causing mayhem and not get blow-back. Well tough titty. What you reap your sow. Suck it up and stop snivelling like schoolgirls.

They created Osama, armed him, funded him, appeased him, then failed to catch him when the worm turned, and now keep the Al-Qaeda flame burning with their ludicrous Muslim-hate.

When I compare loony British Muslim extremists with their banners to loony Yankee Tea Baggers with their banners, the two sides clearly deserve each other. They're cut from the same cloth, with Sarah Palin as the Tea Bagger's Grand Mullah. Can't some sort of exchange be organised?

[Oswald Bastable]

Can't some sort of exchange be organised?

Oh, probably. For you we might be able to get half a goat and a broken hookah. Just for you we'll be sure it's the back half of the goat.

[Joey]

Oh, probably. For you we might be able to get half a goat and a broken hookah. Just for you we'll be sure it's the back half of the goat.

LOL You're obsessed with buggery and sex with animals. Is it an upbringing thing?

http://www.moviemobsters.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/deliverance.jpg

[Oswald Bastable]

We'd get the back half of the goat so we could remember how you looked in life. :)

[HDR]

I guess the Muslim blood will be spilled with plastic ninja sporks from McDonald's?
Nobody has any guns.
lol...

Remember Northern Ireland?

[chiak47]

It used to be an Empire...Now.. pffttt

[Nimbly]

LOL You're obsessed with buggery and sex with animals. Is it an upbringing thing?

http://www.moviemobsters.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/deliverance.jpg

I thought goat humping was a Welsh thing. Before you get to high on your stuck up British horse, remember this country was started by England, it beat England then defended England. There were only 19 terrorist that killed all those innocent people on September 11th, so it would be wise not to get complacent on who is allowed in your country. Just look at the British Empire. The 'American Imperialist' could never manage to be up in as many people's business as your country is or was.

[Joey]

I thought goat humping was a Welsh thing.

Sheep actually.

Q. Why do Welshmen wear boots three sizes to large?
A. So they can fit the sheep's back legs in.


Before you get to high on your stuck up British horse, remember this country was started by England, it beat England then defended England. There were only 19 terrorist that killed all those innocent people on September 11th, so it would be wise not to get complacent on who is allowed in your country. Just look at the British Empire. The 'American Imperialist' could never manage to be up in as many people's business as your country is or was.

I agree. I crack jokes here about Americans, Gunsnet members crack jokes about Brits. It's harmless fun. If some silly Yank (or Brit) ever takes it seriously I'll be the first to point and laugh. In fact, please someone take the banter seriously. I'll chase you round the forums laughing like a drain.

I've endless respect for the Yanks who helped Britain out in WW2. I was on holiday last year in East Anglia (South-East England) where much of the US 8th Airforce was based. Those guys' money is still no good in local pubs when they return with their buddies and families. The Brits won't forget what they did.

http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Molesw-hellsangels.jpg/300px-Molesw-hellsangels.jpg

http://asmba.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834515e8769e20128765f46b4970c-500wi

http://pricehomepage.net/Dscn0333.rev.jpg

A US Veteran attending the Rededication of the American Air Museum at Duxford, England.


But that doesn't mean we can't crack jokes here. I'm damned if I'm posting on Gunsnet like I'm in church.

[Bluedog]

Wow, I'm quaking in my boots from 3% of the population. With signs!

3% can be pretty powerful, when the other 97% respond by falling to the ground in a fetal positiion and pissing themselves. The Muzzies don't have to fight you pussies. You'll gladly stick your neck in the noose for them.

[Joey]

3% can be pretty powerful, when the other 97% respond by falling to the ground in a fetal positiion and pissing themselves. The Muzzies don't have to fight you pussies. You'll gladly stick your neck in the noose for them.

Bluedog, my friend, you're either misinformed or telling fibs. There have been huge numbers of successful prosecutions of militant Muslims in the UK. This little lot, for example...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_v_4efckIK0E/SV12SEo1vGI/AAAAAAAAAD8/14uSM-UFFy4/s1600/behead-those-who-insult-islam.jpg

... were tracked down by the police, got before a magistrate, tried, convicted, and given heavy sentences.

You've been either stuffed, like a turkey, with misinformation, or are dirty liar. Which is it to be? I suspect you're a...

http://c1.planetsave.com/files/2009/11/turkey.jpg

(((Bluedog))) http://politicsworldwide.com/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[Bluedog]

So joey, what constitutes a "heavy sentence" under UK law?

[Joey]

So joey, what constitutes a "heavy sentence" under UK law?

Well Mr Turkey, that depends on the crime.

[sevlex]

So joey, what constitutes a "heavy sentence" under UK law?

Spend a few years in prison teaching petty criminals the jihad way. Richard Reid, anyone?

:coffee:

[Joey]

The irony is that the British Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, an experienced, middle of the road Conservative, was in Wormwood Scrubs yesterday, one of London's nastier Victorian jails, and said there were far too many people there.

British government policy is all about clearing out the jails, rehabilitating the drug and alcohol addicts, getting them doing something useful rather than sitting in jail on their bums at vast expense to the taxpayer.

[Bluedog]

What was their heavy sentence? How much time did they get? Are they out yet? Have they been rehabilitated?

[Joey]

What was their heavy sentence? How much time did they get? Are they out yet? Have they been rehabilitated?

Don't know mate, Google is your friend. But I remember thinking when they were sentenced: "Christ, they've thrown the book at them." Seriously, if a Muslim nutter stands up in a public place in Britain with a placard advocating someone's murder, he'll be arrested. The notion that the British state is "soft on Islam" is a lie put about by idiot white racists who want to provoke a race war, e.g. the English Defence League:

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01537/edl2_1537927c.jpg

[Bluedog]

So let me get this straight. You are arguing that GB is touch on radicals, and in support of this, you offer evidence, that you "don't know, mate"?

[JAMC]

Sounds to me like working Britons know the answer to "What is so bad about a welfare state?"
Not quite.

There are two forces driving emigration by British citizens;
1. Youth unemployment, which is in danger of becoming endemic.
2. Baby-boomers cashing in their ex-council house-price inflation bonanza and retiring to the Spanish medeteranian costas.

Whether or not you consider Britain to be a stalinist regime run by marxist bigots or a middle-of-the-road, moderately conservative spent force, the fact that there are more than twice as many huddled masses trying to get into Britain as there are trying to get out would indicate that it's getting something right.

[Charliebravo]

Whether or not you consider Britain to be a stalinist regime run by marxist bigots or a middle-of-the-road, moderately conservative spent force, the fact that there are more than twice as many huddled masses trying to get into Britain as there are trying to get out would indicate that it's getting something right.I'm guessing that they're coming for the freebies.......and potential conquest.

[JAMC]

It used to be an Empire...Now.. pffttt
Empire is overrated. You'll come to see this one day also. In the end all nations become like Belgium; completely disinterested in macho national posturing and focused entirely on the truly important things in life - beer and chocolate.

[El Jefe]

Not quite.

There are two forces driving emigration by British citizens;
1. Youth unemployment, which is in danger of becoming endemic.
2. Baby-boomers cashing in their ex-council house-price inflation bonanza and retiring to the Spanish medeteranian costas.

Whether or not you consider Britain to be a stalinist regime run by marxist bigots or a middle-of-the-road, moderately conservative spent force, the fact that there are more than twice as many huddled masses trying to get into Britain as there are trying to get out would indicate that it's getting something right.

The welfare state is the answer to both issues. Those from genuine shitholes want in on the gravy train, those trying to get ahead on their own don't want to pay for it. It's the same as the invasion from either coast into the heartland here.

[JAMC]

The welfare state is the answer to both issues.
The root cause of both problems is not the existence of the welfare state, the root cause of both is the gradual destruction of the welfare state by degree over the last 30 years. We've not had a fully-fledged welfare state (in the truest sense of the term) in Britain since the early 1980's, although some of the fundamental building blocks are still in place.

The rolling back of the welfare state is the direct cause of the second problem - the flow of retiring baby-boomers from the UK to sunny Spain. The vast majority of those selling up and emigrating are only able to afford to do so because the price of their formerly state-owned houses has been deliberately inflated by successive governments trying to capture the baby-boomer vote (which is more numerous than any other generation).

It was a cornerstone of the original welfare state that sufficient quantity and quality of housing should be constructed by the state to try and eliminate the problem of overcrowded inner cities (most of which had been flattened in WW2, creating a desperate housing shortage) and to protect the population from the slumlords of the 1930s. In the 1980s, Thatcher introduced the right to buy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_buy_scheme), selling off a massive proportion of the country's housing stock at anything up to 60% less than their true market value. The motivation was two-fold; to get the responsibility for building and maintaining housing off the government's books, and to turn the former council tennants into obedient, debt-laden property owners.

30 years of selling the country's housing stock into private hands, with virtually no replacement building activity being permitted (as the population continued to rise) constricted the supply in the face of rising demand created a gulf in prosperity between those able to take advantage of the policies of the 1980s and those that followed in the baby-boomers' wake. That is how someone that purchased their council house in 1984 for $25,000 can sell it now for $350,000. That is how one generation has manoevered itself into a position where it can sell up and move to Spain at the expense of those trying to follow in their wake.

Youth unemployment is a huge problem and the repealing of the welfare state, or rather the steady growth of individualist attitudes in British society over the last three decades plays a large, but indirect part. Dire economic management and a crumbling education system has played a much more direct role.


It's the same as the invasion from either coast into the heartland here.
I'm not familiar with the trend you mention. It sounds like those from the east and west coasts with more money than sense are buying up large swathes of the middle in an attempt to live the rural idyll. I have a mental image of someone dressed in dungarees driving a tractor while updating their linkedin profile from an iPhone.

[Integratedj]

I know many. Good people.

As do I, and the sentiment is the same.

[American Rage]

Wow, Sharia law anyone?

Combined with Liberal Government!



Rage

[Joey]

Wow, Sharia law anyone?


Combined with Liberal Government!

I'd welcome some aspects of Sharia law being codified and made part of British law. The main argument in favour:


I wonder whether in some respects there are aspects of Islam that hold up a rather unflattering mirror to some of the values we take for granted and think of as Western. Taking the issue of Sharia, it's normally portrayed in the media as being something to do with oppressing women - but it's actually a much more general system of law whose interpretation is a matter of debate and change.

To give some examples - Sharia principles on money forbid usury and gambling, and require those who live above subsistence to support those less fortunate than themselves. What this means in practice varies - there are for example various ways in which Sharia financial instututions can offer mortgages, all resting on the principle that usury is wrong and that the bond between the institution offering the mortgage and the person taking it out is one of mutual obligation and personal relation. It does seem to me that the application of Sharia principles to international finance - service instead of greed, profit for its own sake is immoral, no gambling - would have meant that we would not be facing economic meltdown now.

And the Sharia attitude towards the obligations of the rich towards the poor are instructive too. It requires the contribution of a percentage of wealth (not income) from the affluent to support the poor, and the poor receive this as a matter of right. Not charity, not as a symptom of failure - universalism, under challenge from Cameron and Clegg who tap into media tropes about the workshy and lifestyle choices, is a Sharia principle. "We're all in this together" sounds a lot more credible coming from an Islamic banker than from a gang of hooning Old Etonians.

None of which is to argue for a wholescale adoption of Sharia - you'd have to codify it first, for a start. It's simply to state that Islam in the UK can act as a radical challenge to some of the things we take for granted, and, over time, it seems reasonable to expect that these challenges will become part of the rich mix of Britishness.

Source (http://politicsworldwide.com/viewtopic.php?p=9538#p9538)

What are you frightened of? Surely US white Anglo-Saxon culture is sufficiently robust to absorb good aspect of Sharia law while rejecting the bad?

[Lysander]

Not quite.

Whether or not you consider Britain to be a stalinist regime run by marxist bigots or a middle-of-the-road, moderately conservative spent force, the fact that there are more than twice as many huddled masses trying to get into Britain as there are trying to get out would indicate that it's getting something right.


So employed, or those who have worked and are now cashing out (key word there, cashing) are leaving and being replaced by those who want to suck at the teat of the government fed upon by the labor of the productive, and you tell me my logic was wrong? Sounds to me like you perfectly illustrated my point for me.

Blood sucking leaches do tend to swarm upon a source of food.

[Schuetzenman]

i'm sure they won't mind being slaves to their new Muslim overlords. To refuse would be racist.

And since they virtually banned firearms ownership, the Muslims will have an easy time of wiping them out and enslaving them.

[insider]

Run Awaaaay!
http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/ae131/timothympierce/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-02-.jpg

[mriddick]

I'd welcome some aspects of Sharia law being codified and made part of British law. The main argument in favour:

And the Sharia attitude towards the obligations of the rich towards the poor are instructive too. It requires the contribution of a percentage of wealth (not income) from the affluent to support the poor, and the poor receive this as a matter of right. Not charity, not as a symptom of failure - universalism, under challenge from Cameron and Clegg who tap into media tropes about the workshy and lifestyle choices, is a Sharia principle. "We're all in this together" sounds a lot more credible coming from an Islamic banker than from a gang of hooning Old Etonians.




What are you frightened of? Surely US white Anglo-Saxon culture is sufficiently robust to absorb good aspect of Sharia law while rejecting the bad?
Travel your normal muslim country living under Sharia and tell me the whole aspect of the "good" outweighs the "bad". Tell me the rich help the poor to any real degree that actually helps. Considering they've had some outstanding wealth in the last few decades there's still alot of poor in islam...

[Joey]

Travel your normal muslim country living under Sharia and tell me the whole aspect of the "good" outweighs the "bad". Tell me the rich help the poor to any real degree that actually helps. Considering they've had some outstanding wealth in the last few decades there's still alot of poor in islam...

Couldn't agree more. It would take a stick of dynamite to get me to live in Saudi Arabia. But that's no reason to get wet knickers whenever Sharia law's mentioned.

I don't know about the US, but the British gutter media shout "Sharia Law!" to frighten the horses. They never say: "How about outlawing usery? Get rid of some of those casino capitalists in the City of London that have tormented us so..."

[Charliebravo]

They never say: "How about outlawing usery? Get rid of some of those casino capitalists in the City of London that have tormented us so..."You know as well as I do that Muslims with money don't lend it out for free. Rather than the buyer paying 5% interest on a mortgage, the lender simply buys the house for $100,000, then sells it to the purchaser for $200,000 interest-free. It's all a semantic shell game. They're still paying interest whether they admit it or not.

[JAMC]

So employed, or those who have worked and are now cashing out (key word there, cashing) are leaving and being replaced by those who want to suck at the teat of the government fed upon by the labor of the productive, and you tell me my logic was wrong? Sounds to me like you perfectly illustrated my point for me.

Blood sucking leaches do tend to swarm upon a source of food.
You may have had a point if the "employed" financed their Spanish retirement with savings set aside from a salary earned as a result of hard work and honest labour over the course of their working lives, instead of artificially created inflation on the value of an inert asset that they themselves didn't create.

Other people, now in their 80s and 90s - many languishing in state-funded retirement homes and forgotten by their Spain-bound relatives - built those assets from nothing. The current group of retirees heading for Spain have performed nothing more than the role of speculators. If anything it is they who are the blood sucking leeches, having sacrificed the prosperity of the next generation so that they may enjoy a pampered retirement in the sun.

The baby-boomers did of course earn a salary throughout their working lives, but the emigration you're witnessing is driven entirely by the turbocharging effect of house-price inflation - without which the vast majority of retirees would not be able to afford to emigrate.