To: @DR PHIL, I am not a right economist.
Ideally we should all have a sound public service sector to care for our people especially the least well-off.
That's what Nordic countries have invested in and that's what Nordic countries are preparing to dismantle knowing, sadly, as those who are now EU member nations, they are increasingly overwhelmed by immigrants who want the same; and who can blame them?
Most amusingly, many are from outside EU.
The fact is these countries increasingly realise they cant sustain the cost of such an invasion and they are making hard choices to salvage their customs and traditions, at least.
I happen to believe we had a good (never very good) National Health Service in UK and our welfare system in UK (an ideological weapon for so long) must be designed to sustain the most needy.
However if benefits are pitched too high we know its a disincentive for unemployed to seek employment; today too many people have lost self respect and no longer want a job, merely a lifesyle or minimum quality of life.
Its especially complicated in UK because we have opened our doors to immigrants from all over the world and we do so honestly and openly.
When foreigners are in UK and are injured they are rightly treated at no expense however to incorporate this into a mission statement as a supplement to our EU commitments to provide free health, education and welfare to all who come to UK is admirable but untennable.
Today in UK these services are over-stressed and a disingenuous government tries to cut costs by reducing manning or cuting jobs.
In the police force we have long ago lost our policemen on the beat and today jaded references to "community policing" distract attention from a skeleton force supplemented by widespread nationwide CCTV coverage.
People need to know their local bobby and trust in him with information important to the security and safety of the local community.
In the fire service we have stopped recruiting in favour of a volunteer force of part-timers when we must commit to permanent staff and advanced training especially during future years of threatened security breaches.
Our National Health Service is sick and there are superbugs in our hospitals which kill patients.
We are not attracting and training young people to careers in medicine and health care these once cherished careers have become the kind of jobs offered to immigrants with poor pay, poor conditions questionable qualifications and there is much stress and unpaid overtime which are inetr-related.
And we continue to cut vital front-line staff, nurses especially, to pay for more Health Service "Managers" to "better utilise" resources.
I could go on, and on.
Once immigration reaches a point of critical mass their voting power will intimidate our political masters and there will be no posibility of rectifying the situation.
However, welfare does not mean giving everything to everyone....
You talk of aunties and uncles working in a variety of jobs; I see useful productive proud people unlike the elderly in Europe who are written-off and ignored and are required to stand, "cap in hand" for government handouts.
Today, many in UK will face great hardship and upheaval as interest rates creep up, increasingly demanding mortgage repayments, mum and dad working, children unattended, increased stresses......
Perhaps these aunties and uncles should sit at home in which case they will have little purpose in their otherwise busy lives and they will die quickly from apathy.
You are too young to judge their priorities and they do not share your goals; its not all about material wealth. Its about community care, national care, and you have an intelligent government which continues to make all the right moves for its people.
