Xenophobia?

[Tiberius]

Is benefit fraud the bar then for being crowned a lord of welfareland? We have plenty of that here. Alot of it has to do with people having jobs but not reporting it so they can get both checks for as long as possible (I've been told that eventually this gets found out - provided that they don't work under the table - and that they then get sent a bill and/or court notice).

I'm not even sure there are "official" definitions for what a welfare queen/king is. In my opinion, committing benefit fraud does not automatically make you a welfare queen/king. A lot of welfare queen/kings commit benefit fraud in some way, but some of them legitimately get the money (they just exploit services in ways that honest people would not). For instance, having a lot of children in order to get moved into larger and more luxurious accommodation by councils.

The young couple I mentioned in the report were idiots and hopefully will get caught. The guy was claiming jobseekers allowance but not going out to look for jobs. You aren't supposed to do that.

If no benefit fraud is occurring, does that disqualify someone as a welfare king/queen? For example, the people in the article cited were very open about their situation and intentions. Were they cut off? Was any fraud involved?

I haven't followed up on them, but I presume an investigation was launched, given that they were abusing the system.

(and no Tibs, lol, I don't seek ways to defraud the system, but I do wring every dime out of it that I have a claim to, would be ignorance not to do so)

Totally agree with you. If the money is available and you have a legitimate claim to it, use it. I object only when people start altering their situation to gain extra benefits, or keep claiming benefits when they aren't entitled to them anymore.

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Well, you learn something new every day. So, The Times is a British newspaper? And I take it that it's a good one? Is it better than The Sun? Because that's my favourite.

The Sun is a piece of crap.

Also, the article is only available in its entirety to subscribers, so it doesn't prove anything.

Sorry, but the presence of a paywall does not refute an article's claims. Have you looked at most sources on Wikipedia? They often cite books which you would have to buy in order to check the fact. That doesn't somehow mean the fact isn't true.

Anyway, all I'm saying is, paranoia is not a nice place to live.

Right, and you haven't provided any evidence that I'm being paranoid. I've cited respectable newspapers and government reports which suggest that benefit fraud is real, and that immigrants have been (until recently) taking a larger number of jobs than British people.