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It's insane how hard it is for people to come and work in England from abroad. I think the minimum wage threshold required by the home office is a salary of £55k.
You have to ensure people can look after themselves though and won't be a burden on the state. Enough people who were born here already are without adding to their numbers.

Not that I blame those people for their circumstances mind, that's the wonderful power of globalisation at work that ensures it's not profitable to employ people in manual jobs (or even white collar jobs now) in the UK, and a system that measures success by growth so encourages people to create more useless people.
 
But do you really need that much to not be a burden to the state? It still seems like our home office hates foreign people to be honest. My friend's boyfriend is from an Indian slum, so has basically no money and no chance at upward mobility due to being in a low caste. The Home Office won't even grant him a holiday visa, my friend made a special application and had numerous people vouch for him, still denied. He will never set foot on English soil because our government despises the poor, and especially the poor and foreign.

Though I do agree there are too many here who need help badly and are not getting it. But the tories are a burden to them rather than the other way round, considering how little welfare our state is actually providing at the moment.
 
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But do you really need that much to not be a burden to the state? It still seems like our home office hates foreign people to be honest. My friend's boyfriend is from an Indian slum, so has basically no money and no chance at upward mobility due to being in a low caste. The Home Office won't even grant him a holiday visa, my friend made a special application and had numerous people vouch for him, still denied. He will never set foot on English soil because our government despises the poor, and especially the poor and foreign.

Though I do agree there are too many here who need help badly and are not getting it. But the tories are a burden to them rather than the other way round, considering how little welfare our state is actually providing at the moment.
To be fair and honest tour friend is better of not coming England is a shithole anyway and getting worse ...I'm opposite....I want out of this country
 
It's not just about being a burden on the state it's also about not flooding the market with low skill workers and taking jobs away from the uk residents of who rely on them. But I do sympathize with your friend and her boyfriend, must be very difficult for them being apart :(
 
He will never set foot on English soil because our government despises the poor, and especially the poor and foreign.
Unless they get married, in which case I believe it’s fairly straightforward.

A borderless world will be great... when global economic equality is acheived so that it doesn’t ruin some countries economies via brain drains and make others so expensive and overcrowded poor people can barely afford to live in them (like the UK). Freedom of movement in Europe is/was largely a positive thing but it worked (just about) because the economies were similar enough that it didn’t have too terrible an effect, though Eastern European countries certainly did suffer from their young and bright leaving for better salaries. I think the reality of the situation if we said anyone could come here to work even on a fairly modest salary would be to make life for the already poor and unemployed in the UK a living Hell, as demand for already expensive and overcrowded housing would go up even further as would competition for jobs.

In a wider sense, I think an odd thing has happened with the whole immigration and borders debate which is that the liberal left, in the name of compassion which I believe is well meaning, have essentially become stooges for a hyper-capitalist verging on social Darwinist globalisation in which the poor and ordinary people are pitted against each other in a race to the bottom for wages that is increasingly turning people (and not just poor people) into virtual slaves.

Before the last US election, I remember watching a news item in which a local level Democratic politician somewhere near the Mexican border, arguing against Trump’s rhetoric, stated that illegal immigration is more or less essential for the economy because employers can pay illegal immigrants less. Which, when you think about it, is absolutely horrifying. I’m sure it wasn’t what she meant, but that’s basically arguing in favour of having a slave caste who have no rights under the law to be paid minimum wage, recieve healthcare benefits or really, even to go to the police if they’re the victim of a crime. That’s some pretty stiff competition for a local workforce who, y’know, actually have legal rights.

Who would an employer rather have, an employee who knows their rights or a slave with none? Which would the global elites currently sitting in Davos rather we all became? That’s the angle at which I look at the immigration debate and while I might despise the racism and xenophobia of the right I also have to shake my head at the “everyone welcome” attitude of the left because I don’t think they realize quite what they’re arguing in favour of. And it most certainly isn’t any form of socialism, because that needs to include solidarity between workers which has all but been destroyed.

Instead what we have is cut-throat competition for jobs and wages where someone from a poor country is generally willing to be paid less than minimum wage, as long as they’re better off than they were in their home country. And the corporations rub their hands with glee, because it’s not expensive to pay someone so they’re marginally better off than they were starving to death or dying in a war. But does everyone in the UK want a standard of living which is marginally better off than starving to death or dying in a war?
 
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@ayase
On the marriage point, apparently it's not any more straight forward, I think something similar to the same salary requirements still apply. I believe it was straightforward up until a few years ago when the rules where changed, ostensibly due to a proliferation of sham marriages (though if I'm honest, I do know someone who partook in one of those for a payment). If it were as simple as it used to be my friend probably would have already married him by now. But it would have been nice even just for him to be able to come on holiday over here.

On the rest of the post, you make a compelling argument, as you're right about the damage of brain drain and how unfair globalisation has really turned out. I'm not capable of arguing against any of that to be honest, and it fact, that brings me a very related thread I've wanted to create recently and I'm going to create it after I post this. Post in that thread too!
 
Just found out Ursula Le Guin passed very recently. What a loss. Such a lovely writer, I really believe she makes anyone who reads her work a better person.
 
So I had a bit of terrible news today that's causing me some inner turmoil. The news was that my uncle unexpectedly died this morning, causes still unknown, at least to me, and unless I'm misremembering, he didn't even reach 50. Of course this is awful and tragic, but I'm really worried at the fact I'm just not feeling anything. I'll admit I've never been close to him, but I've known him for my entire life, and he's a direct member of my family, not some obscure relative, yet when I was told the news, I just didn't feel like I thought I should. I haven't cried, or mourned or even felt overly down or sad. I've been accused of lacking empathy before on numerous occasions, but does this cement the fact that I'm just not capable of feeling in the same way most people would? I want to cry and feel upset, that's the normal reaction to someone they know dying, but the emotions just aren't there. I feel like some kind of heartless monster for reacting in such a nonplussed way and it's honestly freaking me out. Makes me wonder if my status as a societal outcast is somehow linked to my abnormal emotions or something. I don't know, I'm probably rambling at this point...
 
So I had a bit of terrible news today that's causing me some inner turmoil. The news was that my uncle unexpectedly died this morning, causes still unknown, at least to me, and unless I'm misremembering, he didn't even reach 50. Of course this is awful and tragic, but I'm really worried at the fact I'm just not feeling anything. I'll admit I've never been close to him, but I've known him for my entire life, and he's a direct member of my family, not some obscure relative, yet when I was told the news, I just didn't feel like I thought I should. I haven't cried, or mourned or even felt overly down or sad. I've been accused of lacking empathy before on numerous occasions, but does this cement the fact that I'm just not capable of feeling in the same way most people would? I want to cry and feel upset, that's the normal reaction to someone they know dying, but the emotions just aren't there. I feel like some kind of heartless monster for reacting in such a nonplussed way and it's honestly freaking me out. Makes me wonder if my status as a societal outcast is somehow linked to my abnormal emotions or something. I don't know, I'm probably rambling at this point...
Sorry to hear. I find that that kinda stuff normally hits at the funeral, just being told something doesn't really have the same effect as being exposed to it first hand.
 
Sorry to hear. I find that that kinda stuff normally hits at the funeral, just being told something doesn't really have the same effect as being exposed to it first hand.
Sorry to hear that. Yeah the funeral is where it'll hit. It was with my grandmother.
The lyrics of the song you posted seems to suggest it has effected you in some way though.
 
So I had a bit of terrible news today that's causing me some inner turmoil. The news was that my uncle unexpectedly died this morning, causes still unknown, at least to me, and unless I'm misremembering, he didn't even reach 50. Of course this is awful and tragic, but I'm really worried at the fact I'm just not feeling anything. I'll admit I've never been close to him, but I've known him for my entire life, and he's a direct member of my family, not some obscure relative, yet when I was told the news, I just didn't feel like I thought I should. I haven't cried, or mourned or even felt overly down or sad. I've been accused of lacking empathy before on numerous occasions, but does this cement the fact that I'm just not capable of feeling in the same way most people would? I want to cry and feel upset, that's the normal reaction to someone they know dying, but the emotions just aren't there. I feel like some kind of heartless monster for reacting in such a nonplussed way and it's honestly freaking me out. Makes me wonder if my status as a societal outcast is somehow linked to my abnormal emotions or something. I don't know, I'm probably rambling at this point...

I wouldn’t worry about it or read too much into it. From my experience indifference is a normal reaction to someone dying when you are not close to them. Ultimately you weren’t close so frankly why should their death have much of a bearing on you? Not trying to be offensive here, it’s a genuine question.
 
I want to cry and feel upset, that's the normal reaction to someone they know dying
Not necessarily. I wouldn't worry about it Lemon, everyone deals with these things in their own way and it doesn't have to be an outpouring of grief. I think only the death of one of my grandparents (and one of my cats) actually made me cry, and I've lost all my grandparents. I feel like of course it's sad and while it can be shocking, there's not really much you can do about it is there? I think my normal reaction to death is just to sigh and have a moment of contemplation. Occasionally I'll get a little teary eyed when remembering people (and cats), but there's no real mourning period.

Yeah the funeral is where it'll hit. It was with my grandmother.
Equally it might not, I felt a little awkward when I was the only person at the burial of my grandmother who wasn't crying. I'd come to terms with it far in advance of that point. Still, stiff upper lip, we're British aren't we? And a part of me likes to think she might have been a little proud of that...
 
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Sorry to hear. I find that that kinda stuff normally hits at the funeral, just being told something doesn't really have the same effect as being exposed to it first hand.

I've been fortunate enough to not have had to go to a funeral before now, so perhaps you're right.

Sorry to hear that. Yeah the funeral is where it'll hit. It was with my grandmother.
The lyrics of the song you posted seems to suggest it has effected you in some way though.

The song was a total coincidence, honestly. I didn't even think about it until it came on shuffle and it struck me how relevant the lyrics were, especially considering his age.

I wouldn’t worry about it or read too much into it. From my experience indifference is a normal reaction to someone dying when you are not close to them. Ultimately you weren’t close so frankly why should their death have much of a bearing on you? Not trying to be offensive here, it’s a genuine question.

Not necessarily. I wouldn't worry about it Lemon, everyone deals with these things in their own way and it doesn't have to be an outpouring of grief. I think only the death of one of my grandparents (and one of my cats) actually made me cry, and I've lost all my grandparents. I feel like of course it's sad and while it can be shocking, there's not really much you can do about it is there? I think my normal reaction to death is just to sigh and have a moment of contemplation. Occasionally I'll get a little teary eyed when remembering people (and cats), but there's no real mourning period.

Thanks guys, it's good to know that this kind of reaction might be more normal than I initially anticipated.
 
Cats are getting increasingly on my nerves lately, first they knock something off a unit, then they fall down the back of it getting themselves trapped. I then move that, which is full and pretty heavy. Then I sit down and start relaxing and... they throw one of the gerbils tanks on the floor, luckily it survived (the gerbils don’t get along these days) but that was more of their sh*t I had to go clean up. Someone want to adopt them all? Anyone?
 
Then I sit down and start relaxing and... they throw one of the gerbils tanks on the floor
I'm told I say some peculiar things but is Isis really a bad name for a Syrian hamster? I was thinking of getting one the other day and suggesting the name made people...sort of gasp :oops:
 
terrorist-hamster.jpg
 
So it's been a while since I have last talked about my job hunting ventures. Last week I went through my 5th job interview for a Web Developer position in Sheffield. This caught me off guard because I didn't think there were any positions available at all in the area. A recruitment agency contacted me on whether I was interested and I accepted it, and then the interview process went next.

Long story short I did not get the job, but here's the interesting part - I almost did. The interview lasted an hour and I left with a positive attitude, and this was primarily because he actually wanted to look at my portfolio work and understand what I did such and such. Pretty much I ticked all of the interviewer's boxes with the exception of Frameworks. It's because of my lack of knowledge in Frameworks resulted in somebody else getting the position, and I've accepted the outcome. But when I received the feedback from him, it turns out that I would have gotten the position had I gained some knowledge of Frameworks.

Here's my thoughts on the other interviews from the past:
1st Interview (August) - Pretty awful, didn't have the skills for it
2nd Interview (September) - Very good, until the last couple of minutes
3rd Interview (October/November) - Didn't reach the final interview stage because of the Assessment Centre
4th Interview (November) - Pretty awful, wasn't the right role for me
5th Interview (January) - Very good, just needed Frameworks knowledge

So anyhow I'm back to square one, but this interview just shows that I can still get one at this time of year. Thanks to Craig & Teapot I have installed WAMP on my laptop to continue more ventures into web. I'm also planning on modifying my portfolio a fair bit to make it look nicer and add some new stuff (like going into detail on what I know about the tools, which will likely come in handy for future events). I still got my Krystal web host server which I still intend on keeping because it does the job, and I also have my driving lessons going pretty well thanks to my new instructor (after the last one pretty much broke me).
 
So ermm was wondering...sounds a bit of a join but just abit bored and been looking at properties abroad...why are properties in Spain seem cheap? You can get a good looking apartment for about 50 thousand?
 
So ermm was wondering...sounds a bit of a join but just abit bored and been looking at properties abroad...why are properties in Spain seem cheap? You can get a good looking apartment for about 50 thousand?
Well one reason is high unemployment, but the other is that our housing market is ludicrous because UK housing is used as an investment by both individuals and organisations worldwide. It keeps going up in value due to high demand and short supply, something the goverment refuses to remedy because they’ve sold homeowners (and said investors) the idea their property will always increase in value.

It’s bloody stupid. Housing pretty much anywhere else in the world (with the exception of Japan, which has a similar problem, and rich people’s paradises like Monaco) is more reasonably priced than ours. Certainly in most of Europe it is.
 
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