My name is Javier and I'm in my thirties. I left Spain three weeks ago because in my country there isn't work, there isn't a future....

I have a degree in History of Arts, a Postgraduate Course on Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language and  a handful of more qualifications. I speak Spanish and  Catalan and I can manage in French and English. So what? There is no work [in Spain] even as a kitchen porter.

So after two years unemployed, hanging around, I made up my mind and I took a plane to Manchester. Why Manchester?  London is too expensive. So it was Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool...  I didn’t care. Now I keep looking for a job. Of course I’d like to find a position as a Spanish Teacher but I don’t mind, I’m looking for ANY job. At least I could practice my English and earn some money. But things are also difficult here. There are a lot of Spaniards who want to find a job and it’s hard work to understand English by phone, especially Mancunian accent.

At the moment I’m giving some Spanish private lessons but it’s not enough to survive. If I don’t find anything I will have to go back to Spain,  but to doing what? There’s nothing to do if you don’t have a job. In the meantime you can see how the biggest companies and banks are getting fat, and you think: this is  not a crisis, this is a f**** fraud.