I really liked my neighbour until she said this

[neighbourhoodwatch]

I've recently moved to a new area and was talking to my neighbour, who I really like.

Somehow the conversation went to GPs and how you can never get appointments and basically have to beg to be seen nowadays.

She was saying how it didn't used for be that way... before...

She then went on to say that it's because of all the immigrants that have come into this country and how our country is too small to hold all these people.

She also talked about the illegals coming in on boats etc and how terrible it is.

I am immigrant. I didn't come on a boat and I have a good job etc. But essentially I came to this country. I've never claimed benefits or anything like that. I'm on a high salary etc and studied here etc etc. So, I'm well established. Essentially whenever people say stuff like that, alarm bells start ringing for me.

Am I seeing it too black and white ? It's just difficult when someone says stuff like this to someone who also came here..... as an immigrant...

Oh, you mean the middle class professionals who work in the NHS inc. Doctors and Consultants, or those holding senior posts in the Government or the Police services or maybe you mean those middle class people who are Teachers and Academics, or ..???

Yes of course, none of their highly qualified and experienced colleagues could possibly be immigrants, could they?

After all, immigrants are all drug dealers and thieves aren’t they?

🤦🏻‍♀️

this

And your opinion is ageist. You're generalising as much as any racist, just on another protected characteristic.

Classic dinner party set opinion. Immigration good criticism of it bad.

Immigration has been the saviour of health and social care for years. Part of the reason it’s crumbling even worse now is that Brexit made it a hostile environment and lots of people have moved on.

Perhaps you dont live in a county that is currently overwhelmed with illegal immigration? I do. Hundreds on boats every week for years.

People arriving on boats (or by any other means) are not "illegal immigrants", @spongedog ,they are asylum seekers. It is perfectly legal to come to the UK to seek asylum, and as it's not possible to claim asylum in the UK from any other country, they have no alternative if the UK is the country they wish to live

Some stats came out the other day that showed that over 70% of those asylum claims succeeded, so clearly most of them have a strong case. A friend who came to the UK wasn't granted asylum, despite having been held in prison in her country of origin and tortured for 2 weeks. She was granted leave to remain for 5 years, and now has permanent right to remain, but she didn't get asylum.

@Fleetheart

"But this government is failing on every count; they are looking after only themselves (with our money),"

Please explain your reasoning for this statement to a middle-class, xenophobic, Daily Mail-reading. right-wing Brexiteer, because I don't understand where you are coming from ?

Sorru to hear this; that is so difficult.

I have a friend who posts comments like this on fb occasionally . In every other way she has a heart of gold and I would trust her with my life . I am sure if she knew individual immigrants she would be more understanding , but her stance comes from fear of “the other” and too much exposure to fear-mongering press .

i got quite close to a neighbour as we bumped into each other on dog walks during lockdown and had lots of similar issues with aging parents . One day in conversation it became apparent that we are at opposing ends of the Brexit debate (her being thrilled to be “out of it all” and me being a still grieving and massively inconvenienced by Brexit, remain supporter . It was a really really awkward conversation but we have never mentioned it since and still have lovely chats and console each other over our caring challenges . It makes me think of the lovely Jo Cox mantra that we have more in common that that which divides us.

Some of the comments on here are why immigration can never be discussed in a rational setting without those concerned being labelled as racist. The facts are that our schools are very over subscribed. Our NHS is overloaded to breaking point. We have thousands of people on waiting lists for housing. At what point do we say immigration needs to be better controlled? What’s wrong with controlled immigration? Why in some peoples eyes does controlled immigration = racism?

So she’s not allowed an opinion? Just because her opinion is different to yours, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong.

She isn't nice. I hear people, usually older people, making these comments often not realising both my husband and I are the children of immigrants. When I point this out, they claim we're different though, meaning we are the offspring of white immigrants. Distance yourself from this racist.

Another bit of nonsense.

The most densely populated country in Europe is Monaco. Malta, the Netherlands and Belgium are also more densely populated than the UK.

And, in case you haven't noticed, we have a labour shortage in the UK at the moment, so need more workers.

My parents came to the UK in 1950 and worked in the nhs until they retired. I worked in the nhs for nearly 40 years. My dh is a first generation immigrant and also worked in the nhs until he retired recently.
I have spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 5 years and the majority of staff who have looked after me have been first generation immigrants. They have all been fantastic. I know there is an issue about taking staff away from their own countries, but OTOH, many of them are supporting entire families back home. Currently, I dont think the nhs could function without them.

I googled a short while before seeing your post, and apparently immigration is the cause of slightly more than half (56%) of the population increase over the last three decades. (1992-2018, actually.) So your opening sentence is wrong, at least in relation to that time period.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-impact-of-migration-on-uk-population-growth/

Actually, having now studied the graph, you can see its contribution takes off after the Blair government comes in, which is exactly what I was going to say in the post I was fact-checking when I googled. (Subsequently decided not to post.)

Possibly give her a second chance , and your self the chance re educate her?

Please stop with the 'reeducation' nonesense!

There is no labour shortage. A lot of people can work and should work, but don’t.

The most densely populated country in Europe is Monaco. Malta, the Netherlands and Belgium are also more densely populated than the UK

The fact that there are other countries that are also overpopulated doesn't mean that it's ok for the UK to be overpopulated too

The NHS depends on immigrant labour as do many of our critical sectors

That because it's a monolithic government service that has got capacity planning wrong in a way that a market-forces-based system would not have. Immigration plugging the gap should be regarded as a bad thing, in the sense that it is a stopgap solution plastering over a fundamental flaw in an important system. We should be trying to fix the system, not relying on immigration to paper over our incompetence.

Spending on 'public goods' is not a fixed amount to be spread across however many people there are in the country, meaning immigrants take from existing residents

Of course it's a fixed amount, resources are limited.

I mean, obviously immigration of healthcare workers does solve the problem, so in that sense is a good thing, but it would be better to actually fix the problem.

What a relief to read this. I thought I was the only one to see the hypocritical hand wringing of the middle classes who are happy to denounce ‘bigots’ and ‘racists’ like this old lady but carefully choose to live and send their children to schools in areas where they won’t actually have to meaningfully spend time around the impact of mass immigration. Then they can right off the poor as thick, racist, brexiters and get on with their privilege polishing their righteous halos.

I have a Filipino friend who is a nurse. She reckons that approx 25% of the staff at the (very large) hospital she works at are Filipino.

I thought she was exaggerating, but when I had surgery at a small hospital last year, the majority of the nurses that I saw were Filipino (and 2 were from Zimbabwe, one from S Africa). The last 2 surgeons that operated on me were from S Asia. My physio was from New Zealand. The best psychiatrist in the local MHT is from Guyana, another is Sri Lankan, one Polish and two more are from S Asia.

The NHS would completely collapse without workers from overseas.

The infrastructure of the country doesn't support mass immigration. Where I live the population has increased significantly in recent years. No new infrastructure to support it. Your neighbor is right.

Is she a tabloid reader by any chance? They have a lot to answer for with these sort of things. Comment sections on news articles gathered together by MSN are full of her type of comments, I often wonder how long before I read one while reading them. Even ones not about immigration like someone evicted "Try landing in Dover on a dinghy and you'll get a free house". Makes no sense, the authorities first have to know about you to house you and if you're here illegally you're gonna be hiding from them, living in poor quality overcrowded places working for those willing to risk being fined for employing illegal workers. If we're gonna deport people who have been here since childhood and longer than they've been in their home country for something like a minor driving infraction then we're not gonna give free housing to people just for turning up here unannounced are we?

I’m surprised she feels confident enough to vocalise that out loud, in public. I’m aware lots of people think it but to actually say it, I’d assume she was either an older generation or a little bit thick.