to be a bit unhappy about Harems being supported by the taxpayer?

[pankhurst]

I am ardently against polygamy. Sorry. I think it's discourteous and (because usually male advantageous) sexist nonsense masquerading as religious right.

I found out that men with multiple wives under islam will have benefits for all of them.

AIBU to be concerned about this? If I were a muslim man on benefits and I wanted to, there would be NOTHING now to stop me bringing four wives in.

I don't want my children to grow up in a country where harems are even 1% of the population. I really don't. I would prefer more obstacles rather than making it easier.

Or did I miss the point somewhere? Help?

Well Xenia, you would probably end up much better off as each of your young Saudis could claim as an individual in their own right!

The State pays out far, far more in fraudulent claims by couples claiming they are not together for benefit purposes, than it does for the tiny proportion of polygamous families.

i take your point, wabbit, i think it is about context. if 185 000 people or whatever the statistic was lower dwon are abusing the system in a didffernt way, then it is a reference point isn't it>? lets talk ahout all the issues, within a frame of reference.
i am not trying to stifle debate or say we can only talk about certain issues, not at all, it is providing a reference.

i take your point, wabbit, i think it is about context. if 185 000 people or whatever the statistic was lower dwon are abusing the system in a didffernt way, then it is a reference point isn't it>? lets talk ahout all the issues, within a frame of reference.
i am not trying to stifle debate or say we can only talk about certain issues, not at all, it is providing a reference.

Totally not on.
I'm muslim and I just do not get the way western societies deal with their muslim populations.
In muslim countries women are battling to outlaw or severely restrict such practises (polygamy/divorce rights/honor crimes just to name a few issues), and in western countries they are just accepted ,even given a legal framework?

SLIM22 ! thank you!

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But what would the alternative be? To only allow one wife per polygamous family? What would happen to the other wives then? They would have to claim separately, which would cost the taxpayer far more. After all, if they have a legal right to live/remain in the UK then they have a legal entitlement to State benefits.

It seems as if the Govt are trying to deal with this issue in a way that has as little cost as possible.

ok , wabbit, fair dos

i think this thread has been really useful - at the beginnig i didn't know why they were doing it? I asked about why it was 'the best thing' but it makes sense if they're just focusing on the budget.

could there be a higher cost than the money though? like a societal cost?

What you have not noticed the "societal" cost yet?

Ok let's wrap it up ladies, this is going to go downhill.

what do you mean slim22?

'societal' is the wrong word?

It's a nice word, though

what's the right word??

social?

Never seen a discussion where islam is part of topic go well.

Very difficult to communicate on this issue without offending.

So decided to stop lengthy discussions in cyberspace. I have plenty of opportunities to discuss this in RL as it is!

Ok Lulumama, just got back and read your earlier message relating to me.
As I understood it, the thread was about someone being annoyed that a man could claim benefits for each wife he took, and I fully agree with her, I feel that it's completely wrong. Now as far as I can tell, that doesn't read as me blaming all of societies ills on immigrants/muslims, as you put it. I was sounding off about one thing, yes it's a small thing in comparison and as FAQ kindly pointed out, there is a lot more going off in the world to get pissed off about. If this thread had been about that at the time I joined in then fair enough but it wasn't and I'm seriously annoyed that you used my post to widen the debate to include other things and imply I was being narrow-minded.

Just to sum it up - as Desi said - , the law must be a level playing field, end of story.

well it went well for me.

i learned to spell and i got some new vocab. i also learned a couple of good one-liners.

and i'm writing to my MP about it. enunciatingly.

Oh I find societal quite good, not sure it's in the dictionary tho......I'm not a native speaker so I'll leave that up to you...

Not sure you can use it as an adverb, p/hurst!

and societal is in the OED, for completeness

However, housing benefit for more than one wife even if say second wife abroad would surely be for the same home? If you're going to get up in arms about problems with the benefits system, how about swotting up on what those benefits are? As other posters have pointed out, benefits are less and indeed may not be paid for a spouse or cohabitee than for someone who lives under the same roof such as an adult child, or for instance, a lodger.

There might actually be employed polygamists whose second wife if treated as a wife under benefits regulations wouldn't get benefit if her husband's income was too high.

for completeness, here is post 200

xx