
From January 2014, residents of Romania and Bulgaria—two of Europe’s poorest countries and European Union citizens—will be entitled to travel to the UK and claim the same benefits and health care. These include maternity allowance, child benefit, child tax credit, working tax credit, and housing benefit. An agency spokesman said many Roma families will come to the UK with seven or eight children and claim £3,000 a month.

The way I see it, benefits are set up by a country to safeguard their residents in times of need. Citizens pay into the scheme their whole working lives as a form of insurance against when they might need help. I advocate helping others, but can the system work if outsiders claim part of the contribution? I arrived from Australia 25 years ago and worked hard for 20 years, paying my taxes like everyone else. Now retired, my pension consists of the recorded sum and a pension payment from Australia, topped up to meet UK living standards.

Unfortunately, some of the stories are true. A small number of people do arrive in Britain to beg or steal and they have no plans work. These are influencing public opinion away from the majority of Romanian immigrants who really want to work legally and make a future in the country.
I watched a film last night, 2012. In the end, the wealthy people who had bought seats on a spacecraft ready to escape a global catastrophe allowed the clamoring multitude at the gates aboard, thereby endangering the whole flight. A consensus amongst them decided if the future of mankind was based on selfishness, it wasn't worth preserving. After the hordes rushed aboard, the spacecraft didn't meet the take-off deadline and remained on Earth, acting like Noah's Ark. I like this concept. Insurance against a time of need is worthless if we don't share our benefits. However, the whole world's population must work together.
It starts with the first step.