I never thought I'd agree with David Cameron

NewDelhi probably wouldn't take them, they are likely to have some kind of immigration policy, unlike us.

 

Anyone who doubts what is going on in this country has only to go to their local town centre, around here you often dont hear English spoken by more than 50% of the people.
If you watch the BBC, most street interviews during news programmes are usually people that were obviously not born here.
Most schools seen in BBC news are rarely populated by kids who are white.

In fact I think the BBC go out of their way to make it look that way, I think they believe they are doing their bit for integration etc.
But actually they are doing the opposite.

 

It's not just about benefits. It's the pressure also that's put on local amenities. For instance if families arrive, the children will have to be schooled. Then the family will need to register with a doctor, a dentist.....then where do they live? Plenty of immigrants apply for social housing. It seems that they're in the country for five minutes and then they've got a house. It's not rocket science to understand the bad feeling this causes when people who are born here are shoved out of the way on a housing list. You have to live in an area where this has happened to see the effect it has.

Geographically we're a small country....we just can't keep letting people come here. We can't afford it for a start.

 

I agree up to a point, but we shouldn't underestimate the positive effect that immigration has in invigorating the workforce. Many, possibly the vast majority, of immigrants who get into the UK are desperate to make a go of their lives and to achieve economic and educational success.

You see this powerfully at work in a town like Leicester, where the well-established Asian community are a major force within the town, with a big middle-class with very British values. Many of the big houses in the wealthy areas of the town are occupied by high-earning Asians, often doing sterling work in the NHS. I can't see how we could do without these people.

Of course, if you scratch the surface of the Leicester 'Old Guard' you will hear moans about how the Asians have ruined the town, compared with the 1950s. (Perhaps they are jealous of the success of others?) From my point of view, they have given it a shot in the arm both economically and culturally, creating a varied and vibrant social mix but still distinctively British. Many Asians, especially Hindu and Sikh, are glad to be here and have every intention of contributing to society, and do so, hugely. And for many, it is the home of their birth and of their parents' birth.

So before we are quick to reject incomers as an unBritish burden, we should think of how it might benefit the country in the long run.

Considering the vast, economically-hungry young populations in other countries, that could swallow us whole in the next half-century, there could be advantages if they have a stake worth preserving in the UK. Just a thought. Change is the only certainty.

And Longk, I absolutely agree, if we could swap a few of our useless, work-shy scallies for some hard-working and studious immigrants of whatever language, that could only be a good thing. They're the real burden on society and, unlike most immigrants, will never become contributors .

 

And there lies a problem, it depends on where you look and how high up the social system you look.
Which is why the likes of DC and Co cant really see a problem, they only mix with the upper class immigrants.

 

All the more reason why DC's rule of not supporting ones that come here only to sponge should be discouraged, is a good thing.

Regardless of the statistics, there is growing resentment, because many ordinary people (like me) see first hand things like this: foreigners arriving at the doctor's surgery and being unable to speak a single word of English, so they get a free translator. Or entire streets being taken over by people who are not here to contribute etc.

I agree, that many, possibly the majority of immigrants are here to work hard, contribute and join in. I've worked with a fair few myself, and become lasting friends with a few. I would get quite upset if people suggested they should 'go home' or worse, or if they were accused of sponging etc. But that's exactly what happens if too many are spongers or are disrespectful of our 'culture' (if we have a culture). It seems to be human nature to tar entire sections of society with the same brush, so if there is a significant number of bad ones, then that whole section ends up being viewed as bad. That's far from fair, but its the way it is, always has been, and probably always will be, so it makes sense to try to reduce the percentage of 'bad' ones, so that the good ones get a chance to be seen in a less biased light.

You mentioned Asians. The section of society that government and media propaganda have for the past decade or so been portraying as potential terrorists so that society develops a hatred for them (I can think of no other explanation for why there is so much emphasis on the bad muslims and none at all on the decent ones that make up the majority, or why when reporting news involving Asian people, it is often overlooked that Asia churns out Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and atheists as well as Muslims). We should not forget a couple of important points. Firstly that until just after WW2, India was part of the British Empire. In 1946 a British army officer drew a line on a map and created Pakistan, and a blood bath, after declaring that the Muslims had to live on one side of the line and the Hindus and Sikhs had to live on the other side of the line. Both factions, who had lived together prior to that, blamed each other for being forced to leave their homes, and they fought bitterly as a result. Loads of them came to Britain to escape the turmoil, which really was there right as they'd came from the British territory, and they proved most helpful when it came to rebuilding battered Britain following the war.

We have a pop at Polish people too these days. Lets not forget that the current batch are not the first wave of Poles to come to Britain. During WW2, many Poles, wanting to help with the war effort but realising their own country didn't really have the ability, came to Britain. I saw a documentary a few years back now about that most famous of events, the Battle of Britain. The glory of British pilots in British planes defeating a technically superior enemy, but apparently we couldn't muster enough pilots to win that, so numbers were made up with Polish volunteers.

Our history is full of immigration. In my own family, I took great delight in discovering that my family is of Scandinavian origin. Apparently my ancestors were well known as slightly horrible, by they and their countrymen left a lasting legacy that we now consider British heritage.

All this and more makes it important that public perception of immigration is positive, because generally speaking, it is a positive thing. And that's why its important that our government takes steps to mitigate against anything that would contribute to the growing negative bias.

 

"We have a pop at Polish people too these days. Lets not forget that the current batch are not the first wave of Poles to come to Britain. During WW2, many Poles, wanting to help with the war effort but realising their own country didn't really have the ability, came to Britain. I saw a documentary a few years back now about that most famous of events, the Battle of Britain. The glory of British pilots in British planes defeating a technically superior enemy, but apparently we couldn't muster enough pilots to win that, so numbers were made up with Polish volunteers."

Errr hang on a minute, didn't WE declare war on Germany in defense of Poland.
Well that's what Basil Faulty said, anyway.

 

No I didn't say that. That was a quote from C1s post.

We were the safe haven for those that wanted to continue their fight once there countries were over run.
I cant see why that makes us beholding to them for helping us fight the Nazis

 

We shouldn't be beholden to anybody as I think we've paid our "debt" many times over.

And talking of skilled immigrants coming into the country and how much we rely on them especially in the NHS, why aren't we investing in our own young people and training them up to fill these highly skilled roles? It seems to me that that the powers that be rely on people coming in to the country to do these jobs as it saves the government of the day money since they don't have to spend on training. The consequence is that youngsters born here are chucked on the scrap heap.....isn't youth unemployment the highest it's been for a long time?

 

Do you think hitler would have stopped when he reached the English channel if we hadn't declared war? I don't. I think what would have happened is that hitler would have took Europe and most of Africa, with nobody left in Europe that 'liked' us, after we'd stood back and let them be invaded, we'd have no friends in Europe and no means to stop hitler taking Britain.

In short, I think if we hadn't picked the fight when we did, we wouldn't be having this discussion now because the world would be very different and quite possibly we wouldn't be in it.