Text size:
-
UAE
-
World
-
Business
-
Sport
-
Lifestyle
-
Arts & Culture
-
Opinion
Wafa Issa
Journalist
Our Journalists
Latest Comments
Dealga
I would like to correct the sensationalist and inaccurate impression advanced in the letter "Benefit culture familiar to Brits". In the UK according to the UK government's own figures, 3% of the welfare budget goes to unemployed claimants. A very large portion of the welfare bill goes to low paid working families in child and housing benefit. So actually working people benefit most from welfare (and their own tax contributions!). Ex-pat Brits do not pay income tax to their homeland yet many of them enjoyed excellent education and public welfare services before heading off to earn their tax free goodies in the Gulf! The biggest scandal regarding defrauding public funds in the UK in recent years was the false expenses claims by British MPs! And of course, let us not forget the generations of British taxpayers who are and will be paying for the excesses of irresponsible bankers for decades to come. So when criticising the 'benefits culture' of the UK let us correctly identify the main culprits" fat-cat bankers and MPs!
Western expat
extract "....... progress was being blocked by the number of people who saw benefits as a inalienable right and who turn down repeated offers of work."
How familiar that sounds to British working taxpayers and expats who read of tens of thousands in the UK who will not work, who have developed the "benefits culture" syndrome, of a life of indolent leisure punctuated only by the disruptive need to sign on every couple of weeks.
No doubt the UK government would be very interested if the UAE can solve their problem, for no-one in the UK seems really motivated to come up with a viable solution to the UK problem.
Top five writers in...
-
News
-
Foreign Correspondent
-
-
Business
-
Sport
-
Lifestyle
-
Arts & Culture
