Are foreigners taking away British jobs?

The Labour government is beginning to sound more and more like the Conservatives.

Previously they claimed that 54% of the total 2.1 million jobs created in the last 10 years since 1997, had gone to foreigners. However, there was a lot of commotion when the Statistics Commission revealed that results of a study that showed that in fact, the proportion of new jobs going to foreigners was as high as 81% out of a lower estimated total jobs created (1.7 million).

Now they are thinking of putting up a number of restrictions on immigrants entering the UK including limiting the number of months you can stay on in the UK on a tourist visa from 6 to 3 months. They are also planning to charge a flat levy on "non-domiciled'' residents.

The trouble is that when you say "foreigners", most locals automatically assume this to mean Africans and Asians.

I am not implying that the results of the study is wrong but I won't be surprised if majority of the "foreigners" were actually from EU countries and the East European countries in particular. A solution would be withdrawing from the EU and that is one possibility that is definitely not going to happen.

Another thing that is not clarified are the nature of the jobs created. One of my friends mentioned that the jobs that were taken over by foreigners were probably the menial and hard labour jobs like cleaners and jobs at odd hours, that locals are hesitant to take up. For professional positions, I know that for a foreigner to get a job here in the UK you would either have to be extremely highly qualified or work in a foreign owned company including the MNCs, which usually have a fair employment policy based on merit.

Of course the locals are concerned with the news and this in turn may have led to a negative perception towards foreigners.

One of our friends who's doing a PhD in Birmingham was recalling an incident where a colleague joked about "foreigners like you are taking my jobs".

"It's the opposite. I am actually subsidising your studies here", my friend retorted, which is kind of true in a way as British and EU students pay only about one third of what we foreign students pay for our studies.

Talking about employment, it not all that bad here in the UK as compared to some other countries around the World. In fact the total unemployment has fallen to 1.64 million, the lowest since 1975 (32 years).

Health insurance from BUPA

Like a new comers to the UK, we had the misconception that health care is totally free in the UK. It isn't. Sometimes you may find that you want to go to private specialists and the costs can be prohibitive. I am not saying that the service provided by the NHS is bad, it's just that you may want more exclusive treatment rather that those offered by your GP and if you have problem, do not want to be in queue and wait for months to get an appointment in the local hospital.

That's one of the main reasons that you may want to take out Health insurance here in the UK. BUPA is a global health and care organisation that has been operating for over half a century. They are one of UK's leading provider of private health care insurance and health care services. There are many other companies out there offering cheap health insurance but most of these are "one size fits all" deals that may not be a very good idea as different people have different needs and requirements. Obtain a free health insurance quote by contacting them today. You can choose from five different levels of health insurance cover.

Do check out their Health factsheet which has info on almost every medical condition.

Christmas cards

My daughter is delighted. She received loads of Christmas cards from her friends and teachers - for the first time in her life.

We didn't receive that many cards. With the advent of email and e-greeting cards, I guess the tradition of sending cards on festive occasions is slowly dying. It may be the environmentally friendly way as well but I sometimes do miss receiving loads of cards during festive occasions.

What most males dread

My fate one day

Apart from impotence, I think the other thing that most males dread is the upward creep of their hairline as they get older. Some men lose it later, others much earlier. There are various reasons we lose our hair including medical conditions as well as bad diet and stress. However, the main reason appears to be androgenetic, also known as male-pattern baldness, caused by hormones called androgens and genetics.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn't concerned as well. It's in my blood. A guest who was invited to one of our family reunions remarked that most of the men in our family - from grandfather, to uncles and sons, looked similar. I pointed out that it probably might be their shiny heads. Some had even shaved it to a fashionable bald look. Even though I still have a thick tuft of hair in place, I know it will be gone one day or the other.

Anyway, it's kind of comforting as I look around my classroom to find out that I am actually doing quite well in that area as compared to some of my colleagues. I guess a PhD does that to people. The topic did come up once in a while and the issue of treatment was often discussed. It was clear that some had even tried various potions and so called miracle drugs without any success. I guess we sort of agreed that hair transplant might be a more effective solution.

Is there any hope?

Monday morning blues

Or should I say red?

Woke up this morning to find this...


(that's frost on the windows)

Like a lot of people in the UK, we usually park our car by the pavement or the sidewalk, as it is known in the US. Well, someone broke the side view mirror on the left of our car.

Must be one of those B"£$%^& kids on the way to school.

Later went to my favourite garage here in Coventry - Taxi & car repairs on Stony Stanton road. Isfaq, the owner of the garage, fixed it for free. Thanks a lot.

Scotland trip cancelled

We were all set to spend a week in Scotland. Had a cottage booked, serviced the car and even bought snow suits for any eventuality - we were hoping that it might snow over there. However, it appears that we won't be able to go. My son is teething - he has four new teeth coming out and is in a great deal of pain. He is not eating and drinking much and we were quite worried when he came down with fever day before yesterday

We had hoped that he would get better by today but that was not to be. He's in a bad mood the whole day and it really breaks my heart to see him grimacing with pain. So we finally decided to cancel the trip. A call to a friend also confirmed our fears - that the money won't be refunded.

It was a bit of a downer but I tried to look at the bright side - we saved on fuel and other expenditure and it's probably too cold to enjoy ourselves over there. A case of sour grapes, I know but it certainly helps us feel better a bit.

Financing a car

One of our friends was recounting how they bought a car and to finance it, took out a loan. The interesting thing was that their decision was based on the advise of the salesman at the dealer where they bought the car. According to them, the salesman made it sound so attractive and that they were the best deal around. However, as they later found out, that was really not the case.

It's not surprising as I also financed my previous car - Proton, with a bank recommended by the dealership. Talking to a few other friends also confirmed the same thing. That is apart from a few other guys who were wiser because of prior experience. They had done their research and went with a lender that gave them the best deal.

It's amazing with a wealth of information at our fingertips on the web we still depend on the salespeople at dealerships for our financing. There are numerous sources on the web that can provide comparisons between the various offers available.

If you are looking to finance car purchases, do check out the the car finance section of the Motors Today (http://www.motorstoday.co.uk) website. They have links and information relating to loans, insurance and a link to HPI, a UK Company specialised in checking the histories of used cars.

They also a car tax calculator that will show the tax payable for the next three years. As for insurance, the company has paired up with Money Supermarket so that you can instantly compare quotes from leading UK motor insurers.