To timidly suggest that Nigel Farage is not a racist

[Millyonthefloss]

Can I just start by saying that I am not a racist. Thanks.

This is my AIBU.

Lots of people on mumsnet say Farage is a racist.

But this is what I think.

He is a geezer. He is a city boy. He smokes. He wears dodgy coats. He looks weird. He says non PC things, like my FIL does. He doesn't like overcrowding and change.

But I am beginning to think that he is not a racist.

What he is in fact is a man with an absolute obsession with British parliamentary democracy and an absolute hatred of EU waste, extravagance and unaccountability. He is totally obsessed with getting the UK out of the EU and independent again.

He is enraged and infuriated by the wasteful things the EU does like moving the EU Parliament from Strasbourg to Brussels all the time and wasting millions and millions of British taxpayers money that could be spent in his beloved UK.

I don't even think he is that interested in immigration.

But he is so obsessed with his aim of UK independence that he will work with anyone. So when free movement of labour became the big issue - years after he started his campaigns - he was willing to embrace it. And there have therefore been racists in UKIP. He is not choosy.

But I don't think Farage himself is a racist.

He seems to be genuinely delighted now that he can stand on a platform with Kwasi Kwateng or Frank Field.

He does his weird grin when he is with people like them.

All he wants is UK independence.

What do you think? AIBU?

You are absolutely right.

Let's change "They" to "A considerable, not insignificant number, of immigrants" ....

Why should all children speak only English at school?

Here are a couple of examples:

Sally-Anne, a tall willowy blonde girl in a short skirt, knows that some of the boys or girls of a different nationality who dress differently are pointing and sniggering at her. She can hear them speaking and it's obviously rude but she can't complain because she can't understand the language. Would they say "Sally-Anne is a slut" to her face or where they could be overheard by a teacher? Of course not.

John is a short fat spotty kid lacking in confidence. The other boys are laughing at him, pointing and obviously talking about him in the changing rooms and making him feel miserable, frightened and humiliated. Would they say "John is a snivelling, spotty, ugly kid [or probably something much more derogatory] to him if they could be overheard and understood by a teacher? Of course not.

It is not necessary if you are at an English school to speak in any other language but English.

Nigel Farage was also asked whether he feels awkward or imcomfortable when his wife talks in German to his children . Obviously he said "no". It's ok for his close family to converse in a different language but other ethnic minorities doing it between themselves makes him feel uncomfortable.
Is he racist ? Yes I think so. watching him the other night on 'Cameron and Farage' telling an ethnic lady to 'calm down' in a very condescending tone, to which the presenter responded with 'she is calm', he is not only racist, he is sexist as well.

Oh dear this thread has really brought the ignorant out of the woodwork.

Cleo - what a ridiculous post.

Maggie FYI racism is NOT just about hatred of a different skin colour. FFS I'm beyond irritated that in 2016 people are still so poorly educated.

Cleo1303 By that logic deaf children would be banned from using BSL.

But Cleo, what about a child brought here from another country by her parents, is nervous and has been through at least a huge upheaval, at worst a terrible ordeal. She's in a scary school surrounded by many children who all know each other, all conversing in a language she doesn't understand. She's overjoyed to discover another child speaks her language! ...but she is not allowed to speak to her. Subsequently she cannot speak to anyone.

It's not her fault she doesn't speak English - she's a child. What would you have her do? Would you punish her for talking to her peer?

Perhaps segregated school Ego? Perhaps there should be some sort of ...ghetto...

cleo What percentage do you mean by a considerable amount ? Have you actually ever bothered talking to any of them ? My experience of immigrants is that they are hard working and do not claim benefits. All of the immigrants I know speak English very well.

Of course people who were born here should have free access to schools and hospitals. That is their birth right. They, or their families will have paid taxes over the generations to build the infrastructure, the schools and hospitals, so yes they should have free access.
I don't care if you are a higher rate tax payer. If you are from overseas then you should pay for schooling and medical care. Your taxes don't even cover the current costs never mind the historic costs.
And the immigrants should have absolutely no access to any welfare benefits at all.
Many people I know agree with me but are scared to say so because they will be labelled racist by the left wing people on here.

Ooh well done Tryingtosaveup, a poke at entitled immigrants and the lefties who enable them.

Really? You want to go into generational contributions to determine entitlement to services? Well if you want to go down that road, I'm from a former British colony, so my ancestors enabled the wealth of the British Empire to be built up.

i am even more grateful dp has given our children his very english surname, his fair colouring, and that they have lovely Home Counties accents

good luck everyone else with blending in 😕

I'm descended from a Pole who escaped the horrors of the Gulag, having fought alongside the British to defend our common interests from tyrrany and genocide. And I'll tell you what the Poles, among others suffered much more than we did as a nation in protecting that shared freedom. Do I feel bad using these services? No sir-ee. The people of many countries paid highly for them. It's a shame this has been so easily forgotten.

Sally-Anne, a tall willowy blonde girl in a short skirt, knows that some of the boys or girls of a different nationality who dress differently are pointing and sniggering at her. She can hear them speaking and it's obviously rude but she can't complain because she can't understand the language. Would they say "Sally-Anne is a slut" to her face or where they could be overheard by a teacher? Of course not.

John is a short fat spotty kid lacking in confidence. The other boys are laughing at him, pointing and obviously talking about him in the changing rooms and making him feel miserable, frightened and humiliated. Would they say "John is a snivelling, spotty, ugly kid [or probably something much more derogatory] to him if they could be overheard and understood by a teacher? Of course not.

Are you sure about that? Because that sort of behaviour would be bullying, and I'm not aware of any report into bullying that suggests that English children don't bully other children because they'd have to do it in English and might get caught. Do you have a link to one?

Farage was a racist when at public school and he was a racist when he took over UKIP from party founder Dr. Alan Sked.

So I'm not convinced he's had some Damascene conversion since then.

*Cleo1303

We are in England. Of course the main language here should be English.*

You might be in England. My grandfather spoke Welsh at home. He was punished for that at school. Please don't use English as any mark of Britishness.

i am even more grateful dp has given our children his very english surname, his fair colouring, and that they have lovely Home Counties accents

good luck everyone else with blending in

There's not going to be a purge or mass deportations in the event of Brexit

If that was the proposal, only the racist minority would dream of voting for it and there'd be no danger whatsoever of it passing.

The demographics of the UK would be completely unchanged the day after as compared to the day before.

Brits will be the same healthy multi-ethnic, multi-origin, multi-accented mix they are ATM. Resident foreign nationals will be able to naturalize or apply for long-term visas and everything will carry on.

Future immigration levels wouldn't even vary much, but EU v non-EU inward migration should rebalance slightly and the average earnings of new immigrants would skew upwards.

I can't stand people who say 'this is England'

Honestly it's so depressing to see how racists still exist in large numbers (evident from some of the posts on this thread) and as for people who use the words 'indigenous Britain' quite frankly you're stupid - go and educate yourself.

lottie - my very first

'Let me qualify that a little further to British Asian , black - whoever but British mainly rather than say Polish.
Is that racist, or should we hand over the UK now?'

Yes, that is racist - great example of it in fact. When I was a child all the racism was directed at people from Asia mostly. Now, in 2016 the scapegoats are people from Eastern Europe.

YANBU.

The same multi-accents that people on here - and that Farage himself - has complained about as they make him feel uncomfortable.

I think we can safely ignore Farage and anyone who complains that "accents make them uncomfortable". There'll always be an idiotic rump. They're a horrible minority.

So there'll still be the same level of immigrants - along with the same demands on the NHS and public services - the only difference is that there'd be less from the EU and more non-EU.

That would concern those people who cite immigration and the effect on public services as their biggest concern

I don't think so. I've worked a long time in an important public service used by lower income groups and I'm wondering what you imagine the pattern of public service use across income deciles to be.

Wage distribution in the UK isn't a bell curve. It isn't even a skewed curve. There are huge, huge numbers just sitting on NMW with minimal hope of progression. The competition for those jobs is colossal. The oversupply of labour for those jobs is ridiculous and never-ending.

A whole slice of the population (of all ethnicities, nationalities and origins) are being kept down at a level where they'll continue to need state support and services way beyond schools and healthcare. The wage economy in the bottom portion of the market makes self-sufficiency impossible.

It's awful to see some of the consequences.

Ironically, the far-right is rising in Poland! They don't want to take any refugees/migrants at all.