"(which is tied into the aspiration that many hold to have a united Ireland)."

A Northern Irish resident having passport checks into the UK, but not Ireland would appear to be a step in that direction.

<i>A Northern Irish resident having passport checks into the UK, but not Ireland would appear to be a step in that direction.</i>

But Northern Ireland residents are resident in the UK so they cannot go 'into' it.

And any steps in 'that direction' would doubtless lead to major Trouble.

Waring says then there would be border controls between Ireland and U.K.

yeh if Ireland joined Schengen but only if Britain insisted on being about the only significant european country not in Schengen

and it sees the rationale for British thinking is that no other nation can do it as good as the British do - tell that to the Dutch, Swiss, Germans and even Swedes and others.

putting up controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland makes a mockery of the UK-Ireland accords - guess they don't trust the irish either

No Caroline, that is the UK I'm thinking of.

I guess we are out of the Schengan because we can be.

We have always seen trouble coming from across the North Sea or the Channel (we normally export it across the Irish Sea). Based on that our Island Nation is going to struggle with taking down that barrier.

Finally I think most Brits would trust the Germans to keep good barriers; the chance they would trust the Greeks or the Italians...

zippo, it's easier for British folk to get to the South of Spain than it is to get to the South West of England - plus it's cheaper &amp; the weather is better.

About the thousands of would be immigrations who've used Sandgatte near the French entrance to the 'Chunnel' as a staging area to ultimately sneak into the U.K.

I've often wondered why they all wanted to go to the U.K. and not be satisfied in one of dozens of other EU countries

i thought perhaps it was the language - many SE Asians speak English and also that many of these types have family in the U.K.

but now it's clear thanks to flanneur's post that only in the U.K. can they find jobs

because in most of the EU countries, like France and Germany, workers are much better compensated across the board than in the U.K.

In France we know that Sarkozy is battling restrictive laws that make businesses aloof to take on young employees especially as they can never terminate them and always have to pay their liberal benefits package - even a McDonalds burger flipper i believe is covered under this if they are over 22

so Britain, with its obviously lower wages and much less benefits can absorb these folks as cheap labor - again economy is booming for the capitalists but the poor bloke made redundant by cheap labor competition pays the price and ends up on the dole.

That's why there is a gaggle of immigrants in Sandgatte waiting to get to the promised land

Sangatte was closed by Sarko a while back.

I think the popularity of the UK is due to the welfare system.

Wages are generally higher in the UK, plus there are also established immigrant communities.

They tried a few years back to disseminate immigrants around the country, but if there is an Ethiopian community in a given area (for example) that is where the Ethiopian immigrants want to go.

&quot;In France we know that Sarkozy is battling restrictive laws that make businesses aloof to take on young employees&quot;

This is a very real problem. Even well-educated young people have incredibly difficult times finding work in France and Germany.

And it isn't just illegal immigration that is heading into the UK. Plenty of other young people from the rest of the EU are flocking to London in search of the opportunity to start a career. It is a large part of the reason London is such an exciting place to be right now.

It isn't an accident that France and Germany have unemployment rates nearly double those in the UK and Denmark, it is precisely because of the ridiculous labor laws. The laws are great for those that are employed, but stink for everyone trying to get into the workforce, be they immigrants or just young. I hope Sarkozy can accomplish what he is trying to do and give France a chance to be a dynamic country again.

&gt;This is a very real problem. Even well-educated young people have incredibly difficult times finding work in France and Germany.

Oh really?
It runs absolutely counter to my personal experience.
(I did enter the &quot;labor force&quot; this spring)

&gt;It is a large part of the reason London is such an exciting place to be right now.

On this, I may agree.

&gt;It isn't an accident that France and Germany have unemployment rates nearly double those in the UK and Denmark

August 2007
Unemployment
DE: 6,3%
UK: 5,2%
Austria (with labour laws closely mirroring German ones): 4,3%

Source: Eurostat

You are oversimplifying things.

&gt;it is precisely because of the ridiculous labor laws.

See Austrian example.

In my current issue of <i>The Economist</i>, I see unemployment rates (national definitions) as follows:

UK 5.4 (September, latest 3 mos.)
France 8.1 (Q2, new series)
Germany 8.6 (November)

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls...2007-EN-AP.PDF

It can depend on the way the unemployed are counted. How few hours per month do you have to work to be considered unemployed in UK? In Germany it is 10 h/month, in Switerland just 1 h/month. Different counting will yield different employment rates.

Unemployment in Germany by federal states:
http://www.spiegel.de/flash/0,5532,12125,00.html
Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg: 4,3%
Bavaria: 4,5%

Strangely, the same labour laws are valid there as in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (14,6%) and Sachsen-Anhalt (14,3%)

How about an explanation?

Btw. according to this statistics the overall quota for Germany is 8,1%.
In 2005 it was 12,1%; in 2006 around 10%.
The major elements of labour laws were not touched - the argument that you need hire &amp; fire labour legislation to get low unemployment seems to be plainly wrong.

flanneur's going to love today's announcement by US Customs that now all ten fingerprints will be taken from arriving foreingers rather than the current two

Lots of Brits would only like to have the middle fingers fingerprinted i think

Middle and index, for us traditionalists, actually.

&gt;- in reverse, Patrick?

Zippo, we must know very different people, then. I don't know a single person, however humble their job, who doesn't travel abroad at least once a year, and very few (generally elderly grandmnothers) who don't go at least twice a year.

Does abroad mean going south of the border to England?

No - or south two borders to my PILs in Wales