General Chat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25360167

Buried in the piece is the news that all claimants will have to pass the English test regardless of nationality. This is an attempt comply with EU legislation on free movement of people.

hmmm.

What about people whose mother tongue is Welsh, Gaelic ?
The catering industry will find this regulation challenging to say the least.

Then of course how sure is I.D.S. that the NEATS will fail the English test? Pretty sure, obviously. Let's hope next summer is not too hot, especially in N15.

In his usual careful way I am sure that I.D.S. will have ensured that the test is not a problem for people with disabilities, the blind, the deaf and dyslexics. There is no truth in the rumour that the tests will be run by French language experts from ATOS.

The massive fines that may well be incurred as a result of a unilateral breach of one of the most basic aspects of the EU treaty will I guess be paid for from the welfare budget.

How then do other EU states deal with the problem ?

For the most part benefits require you to have paid in at least 6 months contributions by working first. The longer you work the greater yr benefits.
There is a safety net but nowhere near the level of UK income based benefits.

Such a system could of course be introduced in the UK with out all the current mess and muddle. However the new regulations play well to the gallery - UKIP, usual newspapers and so on.

For a once great ( when anybody ? ) party to be dragged down to populism on just about every count is shameful.

:-0

If the Conservatives win the next election, in their first budget after that election, according to George Osborne - You ain't seen nothin' yet ;-)

Indeed, If .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmoHv8Mf_-o

'i' before 'e', except after 'c'. Weird spelling rule.

How many British nationals living and/or working across the EU speak the local language well enough to qualify for benefits - say such as state medical treatment? If any other EU governments try this one there will be a lot of expats hit hard

Is the English language going to pot? Language is a great resource & humans have managed to communicate for some little while now.

What surprised me somewhat was the content of an article in one of the national newspapers last year. In short, it reported that English pupils are bottom in language classes because they are regarded as the worst in learning foreign languages. There were some other items highlighted in the same piece but, as far as I can deduce, the writer wanted to emphasise that good English is not enough nowadays.

Monolingualism is a distinct disadvantage in a global market although Foreign Language Translators might prefer the status quo to maintain their own lucrative livelihood. Just watch these multilingual translating experts hard at work in the many EU conferences & debates. It is a marvel to observe them in full flow.

Mind you, that unfortunate sign language translator at Nelson Mandela's memorial service the other day, may be looking for another employer fairly soon.

Other European countries only provide medical and welfare benefits on the basis of contributions made so they do not have the same problem as the UK. Moreover very often in other EU states people pay a a basic amount through the state scheme and then top up through private assurance. Brits are treated no differently to anybody else.

All the UK needs do is to cease providing anything other than emergency help on an income rather than contributions based system.

The new DWP regulations also demand that UK nationals pass the language tests which is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Think about it.

If I.D.S. takes a hard line then this measure will very quickly shrink the welfare budget more than any "cap". It will also create a lot of anger and unfairness.

As the regulations can be read to pretty well exclude 90% of EU nationals from working in the UK Brussels will be taking the dimmest of dim views of the situation.

One of the advantages of speaking the local languages to some degree is that you can read the menu and thus avoid all kinds of unwanted surprises.

Whether working in the country or as a tourist prices drop sharply. The locals are a whole lot more friendly and often invite you to parties and such. It may be possible to get the fuzz to drop a speeding ticket. You can understand the local TV. Driving is safer.

All the same it is well nigh impossible to learn a foreign language properly without some idea of grammar. As English state education has pretty well dropped the teaching of English grammar would be polyglots do not have a very good starting point. Bringing back English grammar ( and Latin ? ) would be a great idea. Unfortunately finding primary school teachers able to teach real English grammar or a foreign language is nearly as difficult as finding numerate teachers.

There are no Brits working in the top levels of the EU Civil Service despite many applications. They fail on advanced European languages ... :-0

the basics of grammar have been neglected for a long time. I remember one of my daughters - now in her fifties -saying that the first time she heard with word "grammar" was when she started French!

When I got mrried in Spain, one of the requirements was to complete a form giving details about both my own family & those of my husband to be. It also wanted details of our income & how long we had known each other......supposedly to weed out marriages of convenience.
I had very basic Spanish at the time, so although we were legit, filling in the form was a nightmare.