Hate how racist everything has become, and how quickly it’s happened.

[Silverbirchleaf]

I was just looking at facebook, and a ‘Sad face’ newsmaker article came up. Practically all the comments mentioned boats, asylum seekers etc etc. Its really getting me down.

Travelled to the south west last weekend. On the way down no flags on bridges. On the way back, in some areas, every bridge.

Its scary how quickly it’s all happening.

Timely article today…

This. We can't keep taking in hundreds of people every week, deporting 2 of them and housing the rest. I live I a small English village. It's the most English place you'll ever see. Young, frustrated, bored, male immigrants will never be housed here. I have to travel to my nearest market town ( by car. No buses here) to see the doctor but I can always get an appointment on the same day I call. My grandchildren will have a place at the primary and secondary schools their parents choose . Everywhere is green and clean ( horrendous flaming pot holes) . I am completely separated from deprivation , mess and hotels full of young men. I can absolutely empathise with people who feel overlooked, not listened to and marginalised in their own town. I can absolutely understand the frustration of waiting weeks to see a doctor and then hearing that asylum seekers have doctors and dentists sent into their hotels. I dare say the nice, white , middle class default of writing a stern letter to one's MP is not seen as being very effective. Putting up flags is a way for the people who live amongst this to feel 'seen'.

There’s a lot of people being told the reason their lives are a bit rubbish is the immigrants on small boats. There’s many in Kent who genuinely believe the reason their council has no money for local services is the small boats, but the reality is it’s all the baby boomers needing care. Care homes in Kent start at around £2k a month, once they’ve run through your house value (or savings if you rented), the council takes over. Those carers going in to keep some elderly in their homes etc.

But the baby boomers who haven’t succumbed to their health are a very very important political demographic. Everything is being thrown at hiding the issue.

And once you blame the “outsiders” it quickly becomes all brown people who are the problem.

Where there is poverty there is fear and racism. People are feeling poorer. And unheard.

If this government can bring about growth and prosperity to the UK the issue will disappear as quickly as it arose as we are not an inherently racist country. But I’m not sure they have the first clue how to go about it.

Why do you think an immigrant would never buy a home in your village?

My nearest, quiet, backward town has had a migrant protest. It is pretty much exclusively white and a hollowed out empty shell of boarded up shops. The opposite of the 'full' that they claim it is. There are a load of middle aged, toothless men, no doubt all welfare recipients, making out their obvious social problems are a result of migrants. I don't think I have ever seen a migrant in the town. Yes, there is social deprivation and obvious substance issues - but nary a brown face.

No I do not think that irregular arrivals via the boats is a good thing; it’s dangerous and haphazard.

However these people are not illegal. If you are in Somalia, you would have zero legal routes to claim asylum and you would have to travel illegally. But once you claim asylum, you have a legal right to be there until your claim is processed.

I don’t think vilifying these people is fair or a good thing. And I think that all this misinformation- that they are illegal, that they are invading, that they want to live on benefits, that they are all criminals ect.. is damaging and dangerous. They make up 4% of immigrants- they aren’t causing the housing crisis, they aren’t the reason you can’t see a GP.

I think we should deal with the problem but I don’t think we should demonise and dehumanise a group of vulnerable people. It’s laughable that people believe this group of people from countries with war and poverty literally carrying their belongings in a plastic bag are the reason that their systems aren’t working well. The last government must be delighted with themselves. Mud successfully avoided- the refugees took the flack.

As someone who has family who are Muslim and my grandad and his brothers are immigrants I haven't seen any racism. I don't think flying the countries own national flag whilst we've happily had the Palestine flag flying for over a year is deemed racist. We are a very accepting and integrative country, it's not a racial problem - its those who have passed many many fit for purpose countries to come here specifically and don't like the western views or values. That's a problem, a very large majority of these individuals don't want to integrate into british values or into our society that's the core issue here.
People have had enough, it's the local councils and governments problem they've let it get out of hand. We have a mass of people in the country roaming around freely whilst awaiting background checks and pose a real threat to our society, people understandably are concerned. If you actually see those who are protesting against this it's a complete mix of ethnicities, not just 'white' racist men. Even those in the Muslim community have spoken out about how much of a risk these immigrants pose that they are getting threats to their life for speaking out because these groups hold such extreme views.
What is the alternative? Nobody does anything and it's becomes a real dire situation?

I’m a boomer at 61. Not in a home.

Its not the fault of the baby boomers!

Economic times are hard. This always give way to the riight wing.

Antisemitism too. My husband and 4-year-old were verbally abused coming out of synagogue on Friday night by a gang on bikes.

Only the middle class English feel deep shame about themselves and their flag. You won't find French, Italian or Spanish like this. They all take great pride in their country's traditions and customs. I've lived in all of those countries for work.

I don't think most people are racist, no. However, large numbers of undocumented men who view unaccompanied women and girls as targets for their sexual attentions isn't on. When we apparently don't have money to pay benefits to disabled people and have housing lists with little hope of getting a house - I understand people's frustrations that we have money to pay for undocumented immigrants. Take a look at the money laundering going on on our high streets via Vape shops, Turkish barbers, car cleaning and nail salons - and all documented on BBC news. If we can't afford our own community, how and why should we afford these people who don't share our values and actually despise our kindness as weakness.

That's not what I said. I said young asylum seekers would not be housed here.

Lots of baby boomers are far too young to be in care homes! Talking of the older population, the UK made a huge mistake with the state pension, if they had gone for a wealth fund, financially the UK would be in a much better position. The UK pension is a pyramid scheme, it was always guaranteed to fail, so thats going to be incredibly complex to solve.

It’s absolutely horrendous. I saw a post on my local Facebook over the weekend calling for people to meet at 7 on Saturday to put up flags. Because the town is usually quite left leaning and well to do I naively assumed it would be to put up some flags to counteract this nonsense of St George’s flags everywhere. But no, hundreds of people in the comments agreeing to come and ‘reclaim our flag’. And it doesn’t take much (any) drilling down through the comments to see what the motivations for it are. Ill educated, and in some cases, completely wrong, statements about ‘them’ ‘invading our country’. I think the focus will be the anti fascist march on the 13th and whatever is whipped up but the flag worshippers to counteract that. And when lots of people are effectively opposing an anti fascist march what does that make them?
Im ashamed of our country at this point in time.

No you didn’t “immigrants will never be housed here”

Is that technically racism, or is it more like immigrantism?

It seems like that to me - because I've mostly seen it used by sneering right-wingers mocking 'woke lefties'. I wonder what other people think about the term 'lefties'. Maybe it's just me?!

We would still have the housing crisis: the biggest by far proportion of immigration is currently legally,but it's adding a city the size of leeds every year: that's needs addressing too.

these racists see Facebook as their bible and Tommy Robinson as their God they see Facebook as the fountain of all knowledge and truth and Tommy Robinson as their God/prophet they do not understand anything else and lack ability to think for themselves. they also lack education and common sense

The difference is the baby boomers have been paying their taxes, working, raising kids and contributing to the economy for all of their lives; they have a right to expect some kind of return at the end of those lives.

Should we throw useless, Alzheimer-riddled grandpa into the North Sea to make room for newcomers?

I am based in the far SW; we don’t have many asylum seekers or indeed, much in terms of cultural diversity. You’d be amazed at how patients will tell me that they can’t get housing/work/etc due to all the “immigrants”. And yet, when asked to actually identify anyone in the local towns and villages, they can’t.

the rhetoric is very strong, and it worries me that it sounds very like 1930s German.

All went nuts in a small town near us last night …someone posted a video of a “coachload of illegals” being dropped off at the local Premier Inn.

Cue vile Facebook posts, threatening calls to the hotel etc.

Turns out it was a group of people, stopping over for a wedding.

Seems like all groups of people of Asian descent are now to be treated with suspicion, accused of being criminals, and driven out.

It’s disgraceful

@opencecilgee @Simonjt

Figures on asylum seeker entry routes from the Home Office website.

In the year ending June 2025:

• 39% (43,600) of asylum seekers arrived on a small boat and a further 11% (12,100) entered through other irregular routes (on lorries, shipping containers, or without relevant documentation)
• 37% (41,100) of asylum seekers had previously entered the UK on a visa or other leave with relevant documentation, including those entering on an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to visit the UK from 2024 onwards
• the remaining 13% entered through other routes, such as through the common travel area without valid permission to enter, are UK-born children of asylum seekers or refugees, or were non-visa nationals visiting the UK prior to the introduction of the ETAscheme, as well as claims which could not be matched to a route of entry.

———————————-

Of those who originally enter on a VISA, and later make an asylum claim, often only because they’ve been identified by immigration, this is roughly equally split between study, work and visitor visas.

This is never really talked about but I think it’s because it’s a hidden problem compared to those who arrive on boats which is obvious for all to see.

I can see even from this thread, and the others like it why this problem is only going to get worse. You have a government that has lost the trust of the people, refusing to listen, and writing off their concerns before they have even understood or listened to the issues. Then you have the lovelies that scream
racist every time the issue comes up, and it has festered and simmered.

Labour blatantly lied and sold a fake happy ending to get into power, they have misled the entire country and now they are exposed for the fraudsters they are. The economy is tanking, a recession is looming and they have slammed the country into reverse.

The anger and frustration is palpable.

In the midest of this there are thousands of undocumented males pitching up every day being housed in expensive hotels, commiting crimes against children in places that people live, en masse they are arriving. It is completely out of control, and Labour are doing precisely nothing at all. Asleep at the wheel. And nor will they, it’s the final straw for many I am sensing.