Are you ready to welcome the apparent flood of bulgarians and romanians....

Well said Maggiemaybe.

Yes, of course I have! Have you ever looked out from the top of the Shard and seen city sprawl?! Frightening.

They can hardly build on the north York moors. Or the bumpy bits of the Peak District. It's the bits in between that are disappearing. Towns are joining up.

Have you actually taken a plane ride across this crowded isle jingle. From the air it is mostly fields. Just because cities like London are populous does not mean that the country is overcrowded.
It is interesting that even in some areas where there is very little work, jobs are given to polite, hard working Europeans. e.g. ferries to Ireland. I can understand why politicians get frustrated that locals are not taking these jobs . They either don't want the jobs (unsocial shifts and sometimes the customers even throw up) or they are insufficiently hard working and charming maybe? I guess that many EU people in customer service are very well educated as well.
In my experience recruiters and managers would prefer to give jobs to locals, all other things being equal.
Maybe the education system is focussing on the wrong things? Or UK parents are willing to let young adults mooch around the house getting waited on rather than insisting they get out and take the work that exists.

Lazy stereotyping of all people from Central Europe as hard-working, dependable and eager to please is every bit as ignorant as saying they are all coming here just for the benefits they can grab.

And the same applies to "our lot". Plenty of hard-working people have been thrown out of work through no fault of their own. I find it quite shocking in the 21st century that some seem to think they should be happy to work for a couple of bob an hour and a pat on the head.

I worry because this island is already overcrowded and countryside is disappearing to make way for more housing.

I accept free movement between UE states, but confess that I don't believe people should be able to arrive here from other EU counties, and get benefits, including housing/health/ etc instantly.

I suppose it depends on whether you are concerned about employment prospects and working conditions of the present population or getting cheap labour on a 24 hours per day basis.

They have child [viritual] slave labour in India which allows them to outbid English manufacturers for things like trainers but surely we don't expect to adopt these practices ourselves in order to compete.

Different culture, different standards. It seems there is concern at the growing number of Romanian families where both parents leave their children to live and work abroad and the effect this will have on the children.

It is not good news for the indiginous population if large numbers of desperate impoverished immigrants who are willing to work in what we consider to be unacceptable conditions for low pay and live in sub standard housing are about to arrive here in large numbers.

panic hits Downing Street

Why do you think dishface Cameron is trying to rush through the thing about having to have lived here for a certain amount of time before benefits can be claimed?

ninny these workers will get up early in the morning and work at jobs that some unemployed people turn their noses up at and I must say they work very well,the floor tile layers who fitted my DDs kitchen had the job done in a day and the completed work is fabulous.

It is not true that 'our lot' do not want to do cleaning and construction jobs.

'Our lot' may not want to work for £2 an hour though or live crammed into someone's shed in vastly overcrowded unhygienic conditions.

I think anecdotal evidence about how lovely and hard working some Romanians are isn't the point.

In today's newspaper there is a report that agencies are being set up here to advise the new influx on how best to claim benefits with the agencies taking a cut for their services.

jingl I'm another World Servicer!

I can't imagine the majority would come here solely to live on benefits, not unless they've been grossly misinformed.

Rather like the Poles who came in very large numbers, I'm assuming most are coming to earn a living.

Where are they all going to live is the big question IMO.

ninny they do the jobs eg cleaning that our lot do not want to do. Most of the men appear to be employed in the construction industry. Certainly in London there are plenty of houses and flats for rent.

Where are they all going to live and if indeed they are all looking for work, where will they find employment, we have enough unemployed already.

My cleaners come through an agency and my last cleaner was also Romanian. When she first came to this country, she worked in a cafe for £2 an hour, doing everything from serving at tables to cleaning the loos. She worked every hour they were open 7 days a week. She then moved to an Indian family who had a cafe or restaurant and her wages were doubled but again, she was exploited. Very unfair.

I'm not sure about that first sentence Riverwalk.

Maybe I've been listening to too much night-time World Service.

I assume most of them will be coming with the intention of working, not to claim benefits.

The winners will be employers who pay the minimum wage; the even less scrupulous who pay cash in hand; and landlords who turn garages and sheds into illegal dormitories.

The losers will be those already in long housing queues and have children in over-crowded schools.

The Big Issue seller local to me is Romanian. She sounds very sweet when she pleads "Big Issue, Big Issue?".

I have a Romanian cleaner and it would be difficult to find a more pleasant hard working girl. She came to London because the streets here as everybody knows are paved with gold. She is finding it difficult but is coping.

According to the paper this morning all the coach seats from Sofia are booked until 9 January - 1-way. Airlines Easy Jet and Whizz are reporting full planes too so it looks like there will be an influx. There are Bulgarian agencies explaining how to claim benefits in the UK to make it all easier for them.

My DH says we have enough left-overs in the fridge to feed most of them so that should help too.

We have Romanian neighbours. They are very sweet and quiet. He is a hospital consultant. I expect his patients are glad he is here.
I was talking to someone yesterday who said "have you noticed how much customer service has improved in the south of England since the central EU people arrived" I had to agree.

article here

Sorry for the surfeit of "apparents" there