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?

You'll forgive me but the racism I see is all about those who are not white, post Brexit. It seems to have taken the country backwards

You said "it's not racist not to want a completely open doors policy". I'm pointing out that we don't have, and further I'll add that no one has suggested we should.

Again, I'm not sure the point of your post.

We wouldn't need that many NHS staff if we didn't have the big increase in population.

It's not nonsense at all. Where I live, the impact of the increasing population is huge. I don't understand why you can't see this is causing so many problems.

I’ve seen much anti-Albanian, anti-Kosovan, anti-Romanian sentiment since Brexit.

To be fair I see negative sentiment toward anyone who appears (not I say appears) to be here to take as opposed to give, even in the longer term.
It's not just in the UK that we have this issue.

For example; I have number of Ukrainian and Lithuanian builders locally where people seem to be keen to use their service. Single men, running businesses.

Sri Lankans working in the care sector who brought their children over. Much disapproval and dislike and considered a source of antisocial behaviour.

Both groups are contributing to the economy, but only one is considered locally as undesirable.

I was in hospital recently following surgery. There wasn't a single English nurse on the ward, and from what I saw, there wasn't a single non white, English patient either. We need to recruit the staff because there is a massive shortage, it's not because the wards are experiencing an influx of immigrant patients. From my friends who have parents in nursing homes they say the same, the staff are predominantly African and Indian.

I’ve seen much anti-Albanian, anti-Kosovan, anti-Romanian sentiment since Brexit.

It has died down quite a lot though in the past few years .

I, however , remember it well "hordes" , "invasion" etc. , etc. . The rhetoric hasn't changed, just the target.

This!

Like her or not, Kemi Badenoch said something really interesting in relation to immigration:
'We don't want Britain to turn into the sorts of countries these people are running away from'.
I think that's a sentiment shared by many.

People have NO problem with anyone who wants to come to Britain to work, pay taxes and contribute positively to our country. NONE.
Those who repeatedly suggest they do, haven't been - and are still not - paying attention...

The difference just might be in one having brought children over and one not - let's face it, dependants require resources.

People have NO problem with anyone who wants to come to Britain to work, pay taxes and contribute positively to our country. NONE.

Some people DO. Been there, done that.

The problem is that people are conflating "illegals" (of whom they are a tiny amount, and are usually working 20 hours a day because they have no recourse to public funds nor NHS) with anyone who isn't white. I see this on facebook all the time. People sharing pictures of brown men coming out of a hospital with the caption "I'm sure they don't get free healthcare in their country", what they didn't know (because they are too ignorant and hellbent on being racist) is that he is a vascular surgeon, who was brought in to fill a post that had been vacant for nearly one year.

This varies a lot according to locality.

A few things. In addition to other points made I think the general strain on the system and possibly a greater lack of integration and closer allegiance with the home country (made much easier by the rise of the internet). Back in the day immigrants were expected to fit in. Now there’s an expectation that the host country should change its values to suit newcomers. But presumably those values are what drew immigrants here.

Interesting post. I have a similar but fully non-white heritage. The racism my family who immigrated here (over 50 years ago) faced was appalling - they had every right to be here, and didn't deserve the "welcome" they received. In spite of that, they have done phenomenonaly well, and are definitely having the last laugh.

My siblings and I are relatively young and the racism we experienced growing up (whenever we dared to venture outside London) was disgusting.

Sadly, I actually don't thing much has changed, and it's actually the opposite - less overt and more subtle though still ever present. It all stems from ignorance and a lack of quality education.

I think that's a mass generalisation. There will always be idiots like that. Normal people, however, would know that guy's a surgeon and is contributing more than his fair share to the country.
The question this point raises, though, is WHY has the post been vacant for a year, resulting in a need to recruit from another country?
If we don't have a sufficient number of surgeons already here, the big question is why not? And what can be done to improve this figure?

“I see this on facebook all the time. People sharing pictures”

This is a problem of ‘doomscrolling’. The algorithms send you more of what you linger on.

My Facebook feed is full of cute animals, chiropractor ’crackings’, and positive self-improvement influencers. Whenever anyone even dips their toe in the water of saying something vaguely right wing, they get piled on.

Irl, I do not witness any more skin colour-based prejudice than I do cultural.

But there is no last laugh is there? If you have riots in the streets where men put up barricades as to whether you are White English and the associated right wing press banging the drum then that is really different from anything in the last 50 years.

The thing is unravelling - for the first time you have these ideas in the mainstream.

There is no last laugh. The joke is on everyone

You mention social media - do you notice more racism mainly on there, or also in real life?

I have witnessed many, many people who are not white being pretty racist or complaining about the latest influx of immigrants. In fact they tend to be much more open about it than white people from what I’ve seen.

It kind of depends where your dad was raised? Was he in london/ leicester/ birmingham? Somewhere diverse? Has he worked in careers where there is good diversity like the nhs, a solicitor?

If the op wants a why then look to other comparative countries for a common factor, eg the upcoming election in Germany

And the eastern European women get tarred with the man stealing label