Interesting thread. I agree with Jay W comments as well.
Large parts of southern spain (not just marbella ) a ghettoes of English (and germans/dutch etc). Spain loves it generally as the incomers have sold their (expensive) houses in Britain and arespending here instead. That is good for the economy in general. The only downside is a lot of the people are old at or near retirement and when they are eligible (65) they become a drain on the Spanish health system.
What is interesting is younger expat people are eligible for virtually NOTHING from the Spanish social system. It is hard to get a proper job. The Spanish give them to their family/mates and a lot of civil service jobs are like they were in Britain 30 years ago. Dead wood, plodders, jobs for life, promotion earned on length of service not ability.....
What is wrong is that the British benefits system is totally over the top. Years ago, I fell on hard times after losing my job. I qualified for naff all as I had some savings. I too think it is a bit poor that people with nothing seem to be able to get loads. The only way to change the benefits system is through the ballot box.
There are loads of low paid jobs in Spain in farming. People Q up outside labour exchanges and are picked up by gang masters at the crack of dawn and driven long distances in some cases to work all day in plastic greenhouses in this heat, picking fruit and veg all for 4 or 5 euros an hour NOT paying toward the state social or benefitting from it.. Then they Money transfer it back to the home country at one of the many shops that specialise in doing just that. Some even have their own newspapers in Romanian, Peruvian etc
varche