One of the reasons many people in the United Kingdom are considering emmigration is the over-bearing 'big brother' nature of the state. Since 1997 thousands (quite literally) of new laws have been passed significantly restricting the freedoms of everyday folk working hard for a living. The demographic group that pays the largest percentage of their income in taxes is actually the 'middle income' group, white collar workers. They have become the new working class paying taxes to supplement a growing tail of people who no longer pay taxes. In the 1980s when people took to the streets to protest about the high levels of unemployment there where three million unemployed, mostly aged between 18 and 25. Now the number of students in higher education (mostly aged between 18 and 25) is nearly twice that figure from the 1980s, and as far as the economy goes those people are unemployed, making no contribution to the treasury.

Increasingly, working in an inner city area with considerable deprivation I find myself thinking that many people living in the United Kingdom today have a very clear understanding of their 'rights' but feel no 'responsibility' to society whatsoever. This may come from as a result of my perception becoming jaded by watching children having children and each claiming the maximum possible from the system to fuel a lifestyle that in some cases includes foreign holidays and the kind of white goods that middle income families simply cannot afford. On a number of occasions now I have had to fill in paperwork to enable a child to get a diagnosis that will lead to the parent claiming disability living allowance. In some (not all) cases the diagnosis will be successful and has been caused almost entirely by a lack of parenting. No parenting leads to dysfunctional children who can be labelled as ADHD or ADD and then the parent can claim disability living allowance. The obvious lack of fairness in the system is made real for me in that this is the same sum of money that my father received for caring for my mother when she was bed bound and required 24/7 nursing care.

So, how does this slightly political rant connect to the Spain move? Two days ago I was fitting carbon monoxide detectors to each floor of the house. This is a legal requirement in order to let property in the United Kingdom. The detectors themselves are not that expensive at £15 each and are easy to fit yet I still found myself becoming angry at having to fit them. The house contains a modern boiler in the attic which is a sealed unit and consequently not capable of pumping out carbon monoxide, and a modern gas cooker in the kitchen. Both of these appliances have been serviced annualy by British Gas. In the eight years I have lived in the property I haven't installed carbon monoxide protectors, nobody has told me I needed to, no law has enforced me to do so. I guess, consequently if something went wrong and there was a leak of carbon monoxide the only person responsible would be myself. How then, when renting the property, does the installation of carbon monoxide protectors become the responsibility of anybody other than the family living in the property? There is a 'right' to expect that all measures will be taken to protect the safety of the tenant who has no 'responsibility' for his/her own safety at all. If a device costs fifteen pounds and a person deems it a worthwhile investment for their family's safety then it seems reasonable to assume they will take the necessary steps to provide that safety device. We are living increasingly in a 'blame' culture that has the lawyers dancing in delight everytime somebody trips over a paving slab. If somebody trips over a paving slab they should have been looking where they were going! Not claiming against the council for the slab being slightly raised.

One of the best incentives for keeping young professionals in this country, working for this country and paying taxes to this country would be to take away a number of the laws that reduce personal responsibility and demand a whole lot more responsibility from individuals. I know the concept of central government not being responsible for everything terrifies Gordon Brown and his socialist colleagues but until they realise that the government's attempts at control have failed to provide the society for which they were aiming things can only get worse.