To not like this Idea of a new multicultural Britain

[monkeyfarm]

I suspect this probably won't go down too well but I'm just being honest as I'm interested to see if I'm the only one who feels this way?
I hate how things are changing, how I can be in a store feel like I'm in eastern europe, why are we one of the only countries that do this? why can't we take a leaf out of the book of Australia and open our doors to people who have something to contribute and not just all and sundry?
Am I on my own in feeling this way?

I agree with you OP. Why, where I live in St Albans I know for a fact that there are people from Swansea, Lincoln, Bromley, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Falmouth, Newcastle and loads of other places.

You can be in a shop here and the weegie accents can be so thick you could think you were in Scotland!!! The local shops even sell their special food down here. Haggis, I think they call it. I think they should all go back to the towns they came from unless they can prove that they're going to benefit St Albans by moving here.

...or are we only talking about moving between countries, and not between towns? If so then what, when it boils down to it, is the difference?

My DH is an immigrant. He also speaks fluent English as do all his friends and their wives. He will happily discuss the weather, politics and football.

My children are bilingual and native level English speakers (because they were born here). Current interests include Football, Dr Who, Harry Potter and Mike the Knight I'm sure they could find something to talk to the other children in the playground about and would do so in English.

Furoshika - I didn't say they achieved that state in a happy and loving way...

Burma is taking a leaf from that book too.

Why do you say they don't contribute? Foreigners are not entitled to benefits.

And a big fat fae at your user name.

Humanity didn't evolve here so we're all immigrants! Don't make me get my Dane Axe, now ... ( channelling berserk scandinavian forebearers emoticon )

Snowprobs, Australia isn't really sparsely populated; everyone is crammed into the small habitable bits. Yes, Australians can be really racist, but it's also multicultural, especially in the cities, and it's multiracial too. Much like here.

madonnawhore - Life moves on whether we like it or not and as such yes we do have to embrace that.

No - not scared by change and things will never go back to the way it was. I do think communities were friendlier years ago and that is a combination of many things not just the fact that there are so many languages spoken in one street that people cant all communicate together properly. It's sad and I do not wish for any my comments to be construed as racism where I'm just stating facts.

Life moves on, not always for the good and things suffer but of course we all have to live side by side and make the best of things. I still don't overwhelmingly see that the OP was deliberately being racist as I'm not. I don't feel threatened by anyone. I admire the work ethic of a lot of minority sections of the community - its just that I think the OP thinks change IS difficult when you're an original English speaker and 'newcomer's who haven't seen the changing trends wouldn't know how she feels.

It would be nice though if everyone who decided to live in the UK learned to speak English since it would make life easier...

It really shouldn't take 10 minutes for one person to pay for their petrol but of course if you don't understand what the person on the tills is saying and they in turn haven't a clue what you are trying to say everything will take longer. And will most likely involve pointing and gesturing... It took 15 minutes to pay for fuel this morning thanks to language barriers and the eventual help of someone who spoke both languages

Wouldn't it be nice if all the ex-pats learnt the language of the country they chose to live in.

Historical Mumsnet
Ye Olde AIBU

Danegeld - why do we have to subsidize our European neighbours? AIBU

Why can't the Normans learn our language and integrate properly?

The local market is full of Jutes WWYD?

If it wasn't for multiculturism, we wouldn't have Chinese, Italian, Indian foods. We wouldn't have Ikea or apple. We wouldn't have maserati, Nissan or Volkswagen. We wouldn't have mo Farah (that's right isn't it? Didn't he emigrate here as a child and get citizenship or am I way off the mark??)
We would have Mary portas, queen of shops...

Patriotism is the virtue of the viscious

So what about those many countries in Africa and Asia which have been multilingual for a long time, happyinherts? Are they less inherently friendly? Can't children manage to play in the playground? Monolingualism is not actually the norm in most of the world.

and 15 minutes patience was clearly something you just couldnt muster NothingIsAsBad...

Well I like Britain being multicultural. I'd prefer all our home grown BNP racist shitheads to fuck off somewhere else.

And if we are net importers form the Eu, then we should make ourselves more competitive as a manufacturer. IMHO, immigrants are likely to help with that.

Grimma, and others, glad some of you know about the First Ally (Poland). I was in Warsaw in August, and lots of Poles just assume no-one from England will be aware of what they did. And besides, I adore kielbasa.

OP do you order takeaways at weekends? Do you use products made in China?
You are then full of double standards id you only realised the error of your post saying immigrants have no place in UK, or maybe you were trying to say something else? But like someone said upthread, you can stay behind your net curtains for your future years while society moves on, grows and provides a life exchange for other humans from different towns and countries. Embrace it! Dont be so afraid!

And in terms of the language barrier, I know someone who taught English in her native country, she speaks fluent English with a slight accent and she still gets abuse from people saying they don't understand her!

Maybe it's because I'm quite happy in my own company, but I genuinely don't mind if someone doesn't speak English and doesn't want to talk to me.
Admittedly you need English for most business transactions. Who is giving someone a job in a petrol station if they can't do the job? Where does the fault really lie?

OP, it's not an idea, it's a reality, and has been for a while already. Get over it.

happyinherts, 'The old days of knowing your neighbours and being able to chat over the fence about family life, whatever are gone because of this communication issue'.

No one's told me that, or my neighbours who include people who are from or have a family background from Turkey, Pakistan, eastern Europe, southeast Asia, Israel, central Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.

We must have not got that memo.