The anxiety of living in a totally useless state.

Before I had a debit card, I used to save up my loose change and count it into money bags that I obtained from my bag. It was with the intention of depositing that money in my bank account. However, if I was strapped for cash, I would occasionally use my bags of loose change to pay for items at my local convenience store. Sometimes, if the shop was running low on loose change, they welcomed it. Admittedly, I wasn't popular if there happened to be a queue of customers behind me.

It's possible that the man in that shop may have been in a similar situation, and that his loose change was his only means of payment.

One of the reasons why the UK relies on foreign nationals to fill NHS positions is because many UK nationals have been lured abroad to do those jobs. For example, I have one cousin who worked as an NHS radiographer. She now works for a private healthcare company due to better pay and working hours, and considerably less stress. Another cousin used to work as an NHS paediatric nurse. She's now living in Australia (same job) and has no plans to return back to the UK (and the NHS).

I don't want to give much opinion on the motivations of asylum seekers. I don't know them or what they've been through. I know that some men come alone to try and send money to their families or to find a place to live and then bring their family. 

I have no idea what the solution is for these people. It's horrific that they have to make the journeys that they do to survive the horrors they have left behind. And they are humans and they do need to go somewhere. But I'm also aware that they often come to UK because other countries have stricter rules and we are seen as a good option. I truly believe that other countries need to step up as well so that there are more options of places for them to go.

What I do know is that there has to be a better option than the racism that is currently being thrown their way. I'm so sick of hearing about "our country". We're all descended from immigrants at some point in our history. There is no issue with immigrants coming over to our country. The issue is the shear numbers that are currently coming. They can't be processed fast enough and as you say the benefits can only run so far and if that is further limited we'll be hurting others too.

Expecto_Patronum said:

This!!! And that a minority of British people can also be violent and physically assault people. That isn't an immigrant trait.

Exactly. Some of the nastiest people I have ever met are Brits who would be the first to wave the St George flag and shout at me to go back to Jockland (since I'm Scottish).

There is some cause for concern from the makup of the immigrant groups as we seem to see a unusually large number of younger males who are seeking economic opportunities rather than fleeing oppression and I do feel this should be considered when processing their asylum status.

While out benefits system is as generous as it is then we will remain a juicy target for these groups but to change it would hurt many autists so it is a double edged sword.

I really don't know what a solution would be to this.

This!!! And that a minority of British people can also be violent and physically assault people. That isn't an immigrant trait.

I was avoiding commenting on any of this as most of the opinions were swinging the other way. I'm glad to see that someone's thoughts align with my own.

Robert124 said:

I'm puzzled.

He had probably emptied his savings jar at home - back when I used to pay for things with cash this was a common enough thing for me to do, but I usually took it to the bank.

They didn't, she and I and the people behind me just waited patiently while he counted it.  It looked as if he had well over £50 in the bag in just 5p and 10p pieces.  I'm puzzled.

They could have told him to go away as 5p and 10p coins are only legal tender up to £5 and so for anything more they don't have to be accepted.

Its a mad world out there and I can't make sense of what is happening.  For instance,  today I was in a shop and the man in front of me paid a bill of £9.27 in 5 and 10p pieces.  He took out a bag full of small change and slowly counted the 5s and 10s while a long queue built up behind us.

I am sorry that you experienced that—it must have been terrifying. 

My objection is to categorising immigrants as one group. It creates a distorted narrative about individuals that is just as harmful as those that claim autistic people are violent. Some may be violent, but most aren’t.

Some immigrants are escaping unimaginable horrors and almost certain death in places like Afghanistan and elsewhere. We should have safe routes for such people to claim asylum. There should be effective control on others coming into the UK, but nobody who is in need of asylum should be turned away. The government needs to continue to work with Europe on this. Immigrants have contributed enormously to Britain and I value their contribution. 

I don’t think you understand, I have first hand experience and have also been physically assaulted in the street by immigrants. I don’t watch tv. I also don’t protest against it,  I feel like the loopholes in our democracy are being exploited and not helping people who are already in the (metaphorical) queue already. 

Your point: They know who came and was awaiting a court case and went AWOL, those who overstayed their visas or simply came for a holiday and never returned. There are whole communities living under the radar, just going for a walk at 4.30 -5 am where I live there are hundreds of people on the streets and communing under bridges. So it is clear there is big business in concealing it.

pietro_21 said:

There is little need for many of these mostly young men to seek asylum

We don’t know who all asylum seekers are because the government hasn’t processed them. This is what I mean in my post about the media giving people a distorted vision of reality.

The UK needs some kind of security dome or drones along the coastline, we are at war/from within at the moment as we have no sea defences.There are also lacksidasical people still working at the Home office who should have taken action 2 decades ago.

There is little need for many of these mostly young men to seek asylum. There is also a kind of viking metality of pillaging going on with and of their attitude towards British women. This should be of concern if targeted young impressional women and girls are seen as their ticket to asylum or citizenship.  If this reads as right wing I am definately not, we are currently on warfooting imo.

I definately don't think we are bankrupt as we have to power borrowing accepted from many sources, it is a kind of permanent debt I suppose but that is how superpowers work. 

The irony of this Banksy peice is topical.

Many of us are uncomfortable or anxious because of the economic and political situation in the UK and the world, but it isn’t true that the state is bankrupt. 

I would like the media to give more weight to the issues that are having greater repercussions on the many. While some concerns are newsworthy, the British media has often neglected to report more deserving and impactful issues. This is contributing to some having a distorted vision of reality.

Finding solutions to the widening gap between the richest and the poorest of our society would be a top priority. Perhaps tax the highest earners more, and raise the income tax threshold, and offer benefits such as free prescriptions, childcare & so on, for lower earners. Those unable to work should receive benefits fit for purpose in a way that would protect their dignity. 

We are living in a global society and it would be simplistic to believe that one person has a solution. Workable policies can only come about through the work of creative and imaginative thinkers from diverse backgrounds.

HighToryPsychic said:

that means they could keep 8-12 boats operational to attack Britain and blockade us, starve us out. And there is nothing we can do about this

This is the state of the navy now. It has been administration after administration that cut the budgets of the military so there is no single party or agenda to blame. It is a reality - we are not significant military power and have not been for 50 odd years.

Military spending is a totally different ball game these days as we rely on much fewer, hight value items to wage war with and the conventional forces of soldiers with guns are largely obsolete in defending our country as we are unlikely to experience a conventional invasion.

Our contracts with foreign suppliers leaves us open to their price gouging and the political agreements resulting in being willing to overpay for something rather than make it ourselves.

HighToryPsychic said:

The state is basically bankrupt

To be fair we have been since the 2 world wars. We got so far into debt then that it crippled us as an economic power and we never recovered from it. There have been some better times and some worse times but we have always been in debt since then.

HighToryPsychic said:

what do you think could be done to improve society? 

Maybe we should nationalise all the landed gentry and turn their estates over to government run farming to help reduce the national deficit.

Implementing price controls on medications and treatments should reduce the overheads for hospitals and allow the budget to stretch much further, including raising wages to attract home educated doctors.

Unfortunately we do import a lot of the lower level staff such as carers, orderlies and nurses because foreign workers will accept the salaries for these roles when the domestic labour supply will not. This is simple market forces - pay better and you will encourage the domestic supply to take up the roles and if you make it harder for imported labour to come in then you shift the whole supply/demand equation.

I meet a lot of care workers visiting my mother and got to know some of the management of these companies who told me that they just cannot get UK staff to take the work - they are either unwilling to do the tasks (consider helping an elderly patient wipe their bum) or expect a high salary for it. Foreign workers typically do not have these same qualms and actually make good carers while the Brits are often entitled and opinionated.

This is all based around my experiences in Scotland.

Maybe making unemployment benefits harder to get when jobs are available would be one approach but this has plenty of pitfalls - especially knowing how much autists struggle with personal interactions and sensory issues making them unsuited to jobs like these.

I don't think there is any simple solution to any of this.