to wish I could vote ukip loud and proud

[Mumof4worried]

I've nc for this, as I generally have to in life.

I'm voting ukip, I live in Peterborough where we have had massive immigration. The affects have been huge. Enlargement of EU distroyed dh building business overnight. The schools are close to bursting and have to do a school run to two different schools, had a 5 hour wait in a and e. Teenage son struggles to get part time farm work like I did when I was a teenager. House prices are out of control, god knows how any of mine will ever leave home.

I'm not saying all of these are 100% to do with uncontrolled immigration, but it has Made the problems so much worse.

I'm not racist, most of my friends are 2nd gen Asians or homophobic, my brother and his husband visit a lot.

I just want an oz type points immigration system. I don't care that lots are highly skilled, that is often very bad as it leads to a brain drain in other countries and my children will have to compete with the worlds most ambitious and motivated people.

I just want to be able to express these thoughts but I'm shamed into hiding them by the media.

I don't really give a shit whether there's an Australian style points based immigration system, but even the most hardcore supporter of such a system would usually not vote for a party which wants to kill disabled children to get it. Have you not researched UKIP and their vile policies/press statements before? If not, you should really not be voting until you have done so.

I don't give a fuck about 5 hour wait times in a and e or having my DC go to school with children who don't speak English. I do give a fuck about my country being ruled by intolerant, xenophobic morons.

Scatter you still haven't answered the Q- what do you define as a British way of life?

I can guess you mainly mean, White.

I cannot tell you how deeply this sentiment angers me.

When you state that 57% of birth in London are to foreign mothers, how can you not grasp that those children will be British even with all their 'foreign' heathen ways!

I am one if those children, a brown one at that. My parents came here as doctors (working for, yes you guessed it the NHS!) and now consider themselves British. My DD is mixed and looks very white, would that be okay in your books? if the changing colour/creed demographic scares you (and that's basically what you are saying) then so be it.

I wasn't making fun of birth marks - hth

Oh for goodness sake she wasn't making fun of birthmarks she was saying Farage is the antichrist!

which is possibly only insulting to Satanists

Please, please, please can any of you UKIPPERS define very precisely what you mean when you say 'British Values'?

Of course you should vote for which ever party you choose. This is your very hard won right.

I have to say UKIP scares me though. I've lived in the UK for over 20 years now and have never felt as unwelcome as I do now. And I fear for my family's future here.

Some time last year, a UKIP member talked about sending people back. Nigel F hastily denied this was party policy but somehow that has not made me feel better. Now the debate is about non UK nationals (or sometimes, it depends who is talking) non UK residents, paying for NHS care...

It is that carelessness that worries me most.

And of course I could apply for British nationality (if I pass the language test first...) but the more unpleasant the tone of the debate gets, the less I want to.

I think they mean the classic British values of tolerance, inclusion, generosity and team spirit.

That must be it.

From taxes. Which immigrants, as an group, contribute to more per head than the indigenous population.

All of this stuff about 'free housing and healthcare' etc is totally misleading. Not only do immigrants as a group contribute more in the tax take that funds state services, but the vast majority of immigrants from outside the EU have 'no recourse to public funds' stamped on their passports. So they contribute to the state coffers in the form of taxation, but don't take anything out of it because they are not allowed to.

And as another pp said, asylum seekers are already strictly controlled and monitored, and get very minimal benefits while their case is being considered - something like £30 a week.

Illegal migrants get nothing.

Peterborough's always been known for its cheap housing

He hasn't even got a bloody birthmark though! It wasn't about his appearance.

I read it as a reference to The Omen where the son of the devil has a '666' birthmark under his hair. (Spoiler alert.)

ODFOD

I agree with cruikshank

There's a shocking lack of information out there about how the system works, with people thinking immigrants are entitled to far more than they actually are (in many cases, nothing at all)

Just wondering - do my children count as those which are clogging up school places and other public resources, seeing as their mother was "foreign born", or not, because their dad is English? Also, since I naturalised, does the foreign-born-ness still count? How many generations back does one go?

No canvasser ever knocks on my door so can 't ask them

scatter, I'll join the chorus of people asking for your definition of 'a recognisably British way of life'.

The posters who added comments about Italian/French etc immigrants weren't 'making your point for you by highlighting differences between cultures.' They and I were highlighting how silly it is to reduce any culture or country to a short and sweeping stereotype.

These posts are not proof or illustration of your point; they are proof/illustration that people can recognise a racial stereotype when they see one and may choose to respond to it by making jokey comments, using other racial stereotypes, to highlight just how meaningless these stereotypes are. I'll assume that you are able to appreciate the difference.

As for direction of travel, there are many Brits living overseas. I find it interesting that they are generally referred to not as 'immigrants' but as 'expats', which has a rather different connotation.

I live in a place near Peterborough. We have a UKIP candidate that looks the spit of Dr Evil and every local newspaper for months has had a sleeve of the most badly punctuated, scaremongering crap from him. Lowest point was him using the poppy as a symbol on his nonsense, without realising that it was a trademark, for which he was duly blasted by many.

It's amazing, because I find that the Fens are FULL of crop and field work, but that no bugger but the immigrants will do it because its low paid. It's always advertised round the Fens. Skilled jobs are harder to come by outside of Cambridge.

Likewise, I teach in the area and whilst I agree that schools are at bursting point, this is largely because new housing estates were flung up and the money promised for school expansion by the last Labour government was removed by this one. That is CERTAINLY the case for Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. The whole population has grown as a result of the Eastern England Development plan, in place this last 10 years, and the boom in Cambridge, particularly around the silicon stretch. As no-one can afford Cambridge, the incomers have gone to Peterborough and the surrounding towns where renting is possible.

I have many Eastern European friends, teach many immigrant children, and believe sincerely that they have vastly helped improve my area, which prior to their arrival was even more small minded, racist and poverty stricken than it is now. Half the shops on my small high street are run by Poles and Lithuanians, who have worked hard to bring us back a butchers, grocers, and hairdressers to a dead road. I didn't see any locals trying. There is not one local businessman who will tell you otherwise. Similarly, the farms absolutely rely on the field workers who can be bothered, and i'm afraid many locals botn and bred won't lower themselves to do the work.

I am totally ashamed of the people in my locality who in all probability will vote the dicks in. You will reap what you sow. Have you even LOOKED at their education policy? Such as it is? Their equality standpoint for women? Their financial plans for the NHS? It barely stands up as piss poor rhetoric, let alone a policy.

If you want to vote Ukip then do it. It's your choice.

phlebas, that's a great post. Thank you.

it was a reference to 666 the mark of the beast - and here's me thinking this was a Christian country - does no one read the Bible these days

In no way was I 'making fun of birth marks' - thanks

I find it concerning that no one can discuss immigration fears without getting pilloried

There are a lot of hypocrites on here

And no - not voting UKIP

I love the people coming on the thread to explain to the OP that they can vote for their own choice of candidate.

Thanks for the heads up!