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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask what you think of Eastern Europeans living in the UK?

691 replies

Bananasinpjs7 · 11/07/2020 13:19

I have lived in the UK for almost 10 years which is pretty much a 1/3 of my life. I never thought I’d stay this long but met my partner here and decided to build a career in an industry that we don’t really have in my home country... yet.
I’m trying my best... language wise I think I’m pretty fluent. English is the language I speak 95% of the time.
I try to fit in as much as possible, learn as much as I can about the UK to understand it’s history and culture...
But I feel extremely left out ... I feel people look at me and think ‘she is from eastern eu’ as if it has some sort of stigma. It feels like if you are from somewhere glamorous like France or Scandinavian countries you are much more accepted... I’m so tired of constantly feeling like this

OP posts:
KatyChe · 18/07/2020 21:17

KatyChe are you living in lala land. That's not going to happen

So why weren't they given citizenship? They've been given something that can be removed instead. Like I said, bargaining chip.

KatyChe · 18/07/2020 21:26

@deragod

It doesn't say they are Brits. If they are, then the Polish government is welcome to ban them from spending money in the Polish economy.

You seem to be mixing up tourism - spending money in the local economy, with moving somewhere and taking up housing, school places, healthcare and claiming benefits.

Tourism is a net benefit to the economy. Low paid workers migrating is a net cost.

KatyChe · 18/07/2020 21:28

@deragod

And it is en masse.

Where would you like me to start with your written English? People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Ken1976 · 18/07/2020 22:16

I personally don't any east European people but have been under the impression that they are very hard working". My sister works with several Poles and is very impressed by the ones who have settled long term and have bought houses and started families.
I'm retired and no longer meet new people but if an east European family moved in next door then I would try to get to know them.
I hope that you make some good friends soon . As a previous poster suggests , school and church are good places to start . Good luck x

LizzyButton · 18/07/2020 22:40

The Eastern European I know the best is my mother. As she married a very Anglo bloke, (and had been taught English very formally) my brother and I grew up in a home where only one language was spoken close to 100% of the time. She had a sometimes odd and sometimes awful childhood and is of a generation that experienced so much change.

ajs88 · 19/07/2020 07:44

@kavalkada Thank you again for this, it sounds similar in almost-died mistakes are far too common in both countries. But it does sound like Mum gets more attention, rest, and help.

In UK (I was a birth partner once about 7 years ago) it was a private room, no tv or even a fan (Mum was very hot, so suffered). I think no tv is fine, we had a radio she brought and plugged in, but I will put a fan in my birth kit just encase. Then she was put in a ward (not sure how many women, probably more then 3) for one night with the baby, lots of other women, and she said very little help. She was helping the other Mums who couldn't walk etc. and got no sleep because of the noise. Then home in the mourning.

Her birth was fine, but there was point where the contractions were pushing down and her waters hadn't broken, so a big pressure, she was vomitting, peeing, and in a lot of pain/discomfort. The midwife didn't want to do anything, her aunt (other birth partner who had 5 children) demanded her waters be broken, they did, and then the birth started and went smoothly. I feel it is a bit of lottery which midwife you get and if they are at the end or beginning of their shift (if the end, they'll try and keep you not birthing until the next shift, where as at the beginning they'll be like lets get this show on the road).

Givingup123456 · 19/07/2020 07:56

When I meet someone from outside the UK.... İ think that's cool and carry on with my day. Some people are just twats OP

Bluemoooon · 21/07/2020 08:16

Once you know someone and like them it really doesn't matter what race or nationality they are they just become x , your friend.
It's breaking the barriers in getting to know someone that is the problem. I spose it applies to everyone regardless, a fun, outgoing personality helps, but we can't all be like that.

PurpleDaisy2114 · 21/07/2020 08:19

The UK is richer for having you in it. You are part of it- it's the ignorant hate filled population I wish would leave- live and let live us the motto I live by.

RachelLyg · 28/07/2020 11:33

The only country I know much about is Poland. I agree with the posters who have mentioned the holocaust denial. Polish people rightly celebrate the resistance but they sweep the collaborators under the carpet. It’s actually documented that there was a high level of collaboration with the Nazis in Poland. Not everyone was in the resistance.

I don’t know if they got taught a skewed form of history under communism, or if it’s because those Jews that didn’t die emigrated to Israel or the west, so aren’t there to advocate for the truth to be told.

RachelLyg · 28/07/2020 11:50

I also know that there is a class divide between the educated middle classes in the cities (and the west of Poland) and the rural poor, who tend to be less educated.

The educated middle classes are the ones who have moved here for professional opportunities, they pay taxes and don’t claim benefits. The rural poor are the ones who have moved here to work part time in minimum wage jobs, they aren’t paying taxes and are maxing out the benefits system. The educated middle classes look down on the rural poor in my experience.

I think the educated middle classes are welcome here, as they are seen to be paying their way. The rural poor are not welcome as they use resources but don’t contribute.

randomer · 28/07/2020 16:40

The rural poor despise Gay people. It's like the bloody dark ages there.

RachelLyg · 28/07/2020 17:52

The rural poor seem to despise anyone not overtly catholic and people of colour too.

Ok, I’ve stopped having any sympathy for them.

In Poland at least, it’s like two very different countries. I’ve loosely followed recent political developments, and it seems that divide is growing.

randomer · 28/07/2020 19:12

I am white and quite average looking. I had people run away from me in Poland because I was foreign.

Andante57 · 28/07/2020 19:28

I'd rather ship off right wing Brits to some uninhabited island

Does that include all Conservative voters, Stone?

RachelLyg · 28/07/2020 19:45

I'd rather ship off right wing Brits to some uninhabited island

Are all immigrants left wing?

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