Why is there so much more anti immigration sentiment NOW?

[GreyWasp]

Half my family are Indian and came over in the 50s. My British Indian dad (born here) said he has always been very lucky to have not experienced much hate and discrimination. He has a wide friendship network of people from all backgrounds. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. Not at all, just that the environments my dad was placed in outright racism was minimal. And he felt pretty much like a normal British lad going to school, uni, clubs, bars etc. My white grandparents had their concerns in the 90s when my parents married mostly in regards to potential bullying any future grandchildren would experience but really they were fine with their marrying. I have genuinely never had one negative experience (granted I have been in somewhat privileged situations in middle class areas in the South plus am white passing but do look ambiguous when tanned).

In recent years I have noticed a shift (for the worse) in terms of negative sentiment towards immigrants/poc. For me, it’s the worst it’s ever been. I certainly did not feel it 10/15 years ago. I see SO many racist comments on social media. Was not the case previously.

Im just interested in having a discussion why this could possibly be the case? People are definitely more woke now than they have ever been.

Is it the social media sites themselves? Less moderation? More political influencers?
More media attention?
People looking for an excuse to blame the economic decline (pandemic, brexit, col etc)?

Just curious what people’s thoughts are?

Always make me laugh when people who are pro open borders are horrified when decedents of immigrants aren’t. “How dare these people have an opinion that isn’t the same as mine”.

Did not read the whole thread @GreyWasp but in my opinion there's a difference between illegal migrants and legal migrants.

And some people are often mixing the two. That is a problem.

I have paid loads of visa fees , surcharge , and taxes to stay in the country. I CANNOT be placed on a comparison with a person who crossed the channel on a boat.

There are several like me. There are several of the other category. Mixing them and seeing both in same light is wrong.

Many older immigrants had grown up in commonwealth countries like my family. My Father loved everything British, even had a tweed jacket and tried to be like an English gentleman. The religions and cultures of many countries have positively medieval attitudes to women and that’s the issue. It’s a complete culture clash.

@converseandjeans Kemi Badenoc is from an ex commonwealth country, probably loves England more than some English people, too many are riddled with white guilt which is the issue here. I’m totally against open borders and would have a points system like Australia, plus no legal documents or a criminal record or you commit a crime, you are out.

@CharSiu - that is literally a different country you are describing. And a very small minority of people of that country. The 1960s were over 60s years ago. The Commonwealth is not a cultural touchstone, and most of our current migration comes from Commonwealth countries now.

The idea that there is much in common aside from a colonial past is now throughly ridiculous. This is not white guilt but reality. Today's migrants do not come to the UK thinking about Britain like that, and the ones that did, who were a product of old empire attitudes are now a very small minority.

The idea Kemi Badenoch loves this country more than anyone else is absurd. Who is she to say what counts? She sounds more like an American when she says she will die for this country.

The religions and cultures of many countries have positively medieval attitudes to women and that’s the issue. It’s a complete culture clash

The bigots often don't even know what religion or culture people come from, they just see Black/brown = Muslim, ergo rapist/paedophile/groomer/council house 'stealer'. They might be doctors, surgeons, engineers who have been born and raised in the UK, but on the merit of their skin colour alone they are "illegals". It's an embarrassing time to be on facebook at the moment.

Most of the posts on this thread are sensible.
Isn't it 1 in 6 people in the uk aren't uk born, and that it'll move to 1 in 5, then 1 in 4, quickly if predictions are correct. It all comes down to money, most things do, if a person can't get a school place, a doctors or dentists appointment etc, their frustration may be directed at immigration.

Yes maybe some people who came over in the 60s & 70s see themselves as the 'right' sort of immigrant? I believe Kemi Badenoch was born here but grew up in Nigeria & she is saying others don't have the same rights as she does. So that seems a bit ridiculous that she wants to stop others from doing what her family did 🤷🏻‍♀️

Back when we were pretty much open for EU migrants I knew a number of women from Poland/CR who were disgusted that others from their country were coming. There was very much a superior 'I got here first so must be better' and 'I'm alright Jack' attitude. They also didn't like more of 'their own' children to compete with theirs in school, I assume it was a case of wanting to better themselves to the detriment of their counterparts.

Btw, regarding the thread title, ‘Why NOW?’

Concerns about the increasing population have always been there, always since Blair opened the floodgates. Here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4359756.stm - 2005

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/6961675/David-Cameron-net-immigration-will-be-capped-at-tens-of-thousands.html - 2010

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/reports/britains-70-million-debate/ - 2012

https://theconversation.com/the-huge-political-cost-of-blairs-decision-to-allow-eastern-european-migrants-unfettered-access-to-britain-66077 2016

And there was that small matter of Brexit.

It’s just that politicians lied, reneged, lied some more, poured out propaganda and forced political correctness down our throats, and the rich middle classes benefitted from low labour costs and high rents from their tenants so joined in.

Pretending that this is a new issue is just yet more gaslighting in that time-dishonoured tradition of perfidy, aggression and betrayal of the British working people.

Perhaps because when illegal immigrants are treated like precious children the many people who have had to put in the effort to immigrate legally are treated with suspicion.

It's probably partly because all of the major political parties are talking about clamping down on immigration, and using immigration as a distraction from the fact that our public services are fucked - which everyone has noticed but actually has nothing to do with immigration.

Also massive dickheads like Elon Musk stirring up intolerance again so everyone looks the other way while rich get richer at the expense of ordinary people. They want us to blame each other rather than look to the real reason our country is in the shit.

It’s because the government has fucked the economy and now we are all poor and blame it on not enough to go round.

Probably not helped by Muslim rape-gangs

Btw, that second link in my post above -
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/reports/britains-70-million-debate/ - 2012

That referred to ‘Britains 70 million debate’.

That referred to a promise made by successive governments from somewhere around 2000 onwards. That the population of Britain WOULD NOT be allowed to rise beyond 70 million. Following huge debates on the subject back when British people still had some right - and mechanism - to talk to politicians and hold them to account. The last vestiges of the old democracy with the spoiled baby boomer generation. We no longer have that. All of us generations behind them know that our government and our country cares not one fig for us and our concerns.

It was a longstanding promise, long forgotten by most, and of course a longstanding lie. It may be why we still have official stats that keep below that mark, and it may be another reason for ‘why now’.

The baby boomers are going and the rest of us have been betrayed.

My grandparents came over in the 60s legally. Invited in fact. There was an initiative back then to get more immigrants in the country. Welcomed, work lined up and a home. No issues until 2000 after 9/11 and then we were treated badly and never been the same since pre 9/11. Told to FOff back to our country even though my DM and me were born here. This is all we know as our country. Moving back to where my grand father came from is not an option as I am not used to that way of life, customs, I don't know the language. But I do know I have had enough of the abuse, islam hate, xenophobia and eveything. I am sick and tired of it and I am so scared for my children. I was threatened and intimidated a lot with ny children and while pregnant and that really changed things. I was vulnerable and alone with small kids and it terrified me. Nothing has ever come of reporting to the police.
Me and DH are both highly skilled and high earners and we are looking seriously about moving abroad where we will be treated normally and taking our skills elsewhere.

I have had 3 friends move abroad on the last 10years and they have not experienced what we experince here at all. They are treated like a normal person no abuse shouted at them. No harm and threats to their children. Normal quiet life. We are hoping to make th4 nove in the next 3/4 years.

iWi worked a short stibt in Recruitment for the NHS and they relied heavily on immigrants for HCAs anf Nursing and to an extent Drs. People who qualify here who are "white" don't want to do the job we had issues of retention becuase people here don't want to do boring work. Massive needs for geriatric care. That's not exciting for a 22 year old graduate. They all want to do specialties and earn more. But with a growing geriatric population sorry deardry we need you to look after that population. Sorry it's boring but that's the demands.
I remember they struggled to fill Dr positions so they recruited from all over the world.

Where I live now which ia remote in wales. They can not recruit Drs and dentists. No one wants to come here. They want to be in the cities and large towns. But recruiting from abroad has filled many positions.

My conclusion is qualified "true brits" are lazy, don't want to go where the work is and so entitled thinking they can all specialise.

It is wrong but that doesn't mean next time you leave the house, Bob wont want to jump you, beat the crap out of you and tell you to Foff back to your country.

Yes it’s a distraction from the real problems that the UK faces with its economy and infrastructure.

I’m sorry mixedbananas because you’ve been particularly subjected to the same broken promises as the rest of us. This is not the same country that it was in the 60s. A million new inhabitants per year is plainly ridiculous.

We did not force other countries to multiply their population 5 fold since the 60s.

Firstly immigrants have kept public services in particular going, they have made a huge contribution.

I think unease is around the huge increases since 2008. No house building programme can never keep up with a million arrivals a year.
Now many places feel overpopulated in terms of transport and access to public services. Also separate communities are developing, you cannot hope to assimilate the numbers of people arriving now.

It’s simple scapegoating.
The country is in a mess. Its infrastructure can no longer support its population- housing crisis, GP appointments, hospital waiting lists, school places, congested roads, the list goes on…
So people blame those arriving from elsewhere.

If our infrastructure and services cannot support our existing population, then how exactly does adding 700,000 people - the populations of Cardiff and Nottingham combined - every single year help the situation?

I have nothing against individual immigrants, who are simply seeking a better life. But it is not racism or ‘scapegoating’ to acknowledge that the numbers we are seeing now are unsustainable and historically unprecedented, and are worsening the quality of life of the UK’s existing population.

These are problems that mass immigration is making far worse.

Life is very hard for many people in this country, too hard. They resent this and look for someone to blame. In the 1930s in Germany many blamed Jews. Here, many blame immigrants. I hear phrases like 'Britain is full'. As I travel round I observe most of Britain is empty space. It's convenient for those who are to blame for immigrants to get it. They control the messages many people receive, because they control the media, so it's no surprise they divert attention from themselves. They are rich and powerful. Over many decades up to around the 1970s life for "ordinary" people gradually became better. It's not so long ago in human history terms that the rich made most people work 12 or more hours a day every day. Since the 1970s things have gone into reverse and the rich have got richer and the ordinary have got poorer. They should blame the rich, not immigrants.

There a line between immigration and illegal immigration (rocking up on boats) and people have had enough of seeing handouts being given in the form of free hotels and money.
Immigration should always be about what you can do for the host country, in return for settled and welcome status, and become part of that community.
Illegal immigration doesn't fit that bill, the Internet publicised it more and people are reacting.

It works the other way too. I was one of 2 white kids in my form group. Was colled white honky, ghost girl and told I. wasn't part of the sistahood