"And, in order to get at me and brag about yourself, you've just offended others who ARE trying to get BACK into work."

No bragging, Wavey - just home truths. I've been unemployed for all of about 3 months (and that was post-childbirth) since I arrived in this country nearly 18 years ago. Even when my daughter was little and my husband worked, I was a stay-at-home mum in the day, and then went out in evenings and at weekends working in restaurants and pubs.

As a good socialist I firmly believe in the welfare state, and in the underlying principle "from each according to their ability, to each accoring to their need." But personally, I would have been very uncomfortable receiving benefit in a country where I had contributed little or nothing to the tax system.

Don't worry, I don't begrudge you benefitting from the taxes I've been paying all these years, Wavey, with all my dirty foreign labour - even though you resent my foreignness diluting your culture.