Ruairi - yes, I think there is more lack of respect (which is presumably what you meant 😉) in some quarters here than there is in parts of Europe. The reasons for it are obv.not simple but IMO include (a) the fact that there's a certain bolshiness in the British character at times - for which the world had cause to be grateful in the 20th century, but which is somewhat less of an advantage in peacetime - and (b) the fact that we're a VERY crowded little island which (c) nonetheless gets more immigration than it should, partly because of past government policies and partly because we're known as a soft touch by economic migrants from all over.
Ct - the class envy stuff is mainly a facile excuse being put by venal, mindless thugs as a smokescreen for thievery and general indulgence of their baser instincts. Among them are a small rump of anarchists out to exploit the situation for their own ends who, I suspect, have been busy spreading their poison into the kind of vacant minds only too ready to parrot it back in order to salve what's left of their own consciences.
And yes, entitlements do beget some people who regard themselves as automatically entitled. That of itself does not invalidate their provision, though it certainly does demand that such provision be targeted and properly administered. The fact that there will always be some weak-willed and dishonest people who abuse benefits cannot, it seems to me, justify leaving in the cold those who genuinely need the benefits in question.
Ct - the class envy stuff is mainly a facile excuse being put by venal, mindless thugs as a smokescreen for thievery and general indulgence of their baser instincts. Among them are a small rump of anarchists out to exploit the situation for their own ends who, I suspect, have been busy spreading their poison into the kind of vacant minds only too ready to parrot it back in order to salve what's left of their own consciences.
And yes, entitlements do beget some people who regard themselves as automatically entitled. That of itself does not invalidate their provision, though it certainly does demand that such provision be targeted and properly administered. The fact that there will always be some weak-willed and dishonest people who abuse benefits cannot, it seems to me, justify leaving in the cold those who genuinely need the benefits in question.
