Gurkha's

[yeo]

I don't see how this makes them unworthy of a pension? Fighting for our country, by whatever commanded means makes them eligible in my eyes. Are they guilty of atrocities that have had little media coverage? I fully admit I have not researched the subject in depth.

they get a Pension dont they?

Way I see it they signed up to fight to improve their lives.They get a  pension that is considerably more than they could expect in any other job in their home country.They never signed up to fight for Britian under the understanding they could come and live here afterwards so why has that changed?

It does ironically seemed to be used as an arguement against immigration though.We let so and so in why dont we let them in,blah blah meh..

[axs]

I'm sure a while ago it was in the news that ghurkas living in this country got an inferior pension compared to British Army troops?

[nevillew]

Do you think they'll set up a kukri school ?

[sheepshagger]

hope so - i like kuking

Especially cakes.....

[Lumps]

I don't see how this makes them unworthy of a pension? Fighting for our country, by whatever commanded means makes them eligible in my eyes. Are they guilty of atrocities that have had little media coverage? I fully admit I have not researched the subject in depth.

I didn't say it did. I was just trying to work out why people, including me, feel a sense of sympathy for this group of people, and just seem to lightly skip over the fact that essentially they're mercenary soldiers, a group of people that are generally regarded unsympathetically.

The very word mercenary gets bandied about as a term of abuse about all sorts of people, including footballers, and these people are actual mercenaries and everybody things they're great.

I think it's because they're cute little fellahs and they carry the bendy knives and wear the funny hats with one side of the brim folded up.

Lighten up eh no-one was slagging off the Gurkhas.

[nevillew]

You've missed the archetypal toothy grin in that list of attributes there Lumps.

[Colin Todd]

Lumps telling someone to "lighten up" 

[Lumps]

Lumps telling someone to "lighten up" 

I hadn't missed the irony myself. Fuck it I'm in a good mood!

[Phil_S]

The point is that they have given something for/ to this country & have done for 200 years or so.
Sure they are paid for their work, & they get a pension, (which I think is about a quarter of the pension our troops get). 
I understand that troops from the commonwealth have the right to reside after 5 (or maybe 10) years service, why can't they be treated the same.
They are no more mercenary than the many overseas people who work in the health service.
What really annoys me though is that there are so many people that we DO allow to stay, who have contributed NOTHING, to the UK.  A few high profile examples are Abu Hamza's hareem, the Afgani Hi jackers, the Somali who killed someone driving with no license or insurance etc etc etc.

To me this is just another example of how Brown & his cronies are so out of touch with the people of this country. They do nothing about killers, murderers, & terrorists here, but treat those who put their lifes on the line for this country like shit.

[ron dodgers]

there is another side to this in that in Nepal an ex-army pension (even the lower one given to Ghurkas) is a lot of money. These guys will go on to open businesses that add value to the Nepalese economy - a mass migration to here may cause problems and we also don't know what the Nepalese government have been lobbying for.
Just a thought.