To think this country’s gone to S***

[emsjk]

Second time now I’ve sat down to have drinks with a friend only to be met with “I don’t agree with Farage, but…”

Cue a rant about Muslims, immigrants, how the country is not what they remember in the good old days.

More and more people are starting to spout this drivel about immigrants. Yesterday it was literally ‘I’m not racist, I have asian family, but’ and then cue racist rant.

I feel like the country I love that used to be fair and tolerant has gone to shit.

Because they don’t have to remain the first safe country. Perhaps some have family already in the UK, know some English?

Immigration (and lack of understanding about it), gives those who don’t work, someone to blame!

Brexit was the same ‘they are taking our jobs’.

Now we have loads of vacancies in those ‘less attractive’ jobs, and are bringing people in from India/Africa/Asia to fill the vacancies.

Get off your ar*es!

Are people who are worried about immigration automatically racist?

Illegal immigrants are not asylum seekers. Do the farage haters not realise that we have a huge problem with criminals entering our country illegally on a daily basis and committing horrific crimes?

Or are you just happy to label them all as asylum seekers and provide them with more than we give to our own citizens?

They are hotels. I live near Crawley- former 4 star hotels are now completely shut off and have security guards.

Not necessarily, but all racists are 'concerned' about immigration.

@WinterMorn So shouldn't we be using our resources to deal with our own angry young men (who are often angry for good reason) rather than taking in other countries' angry young men?

''@edthesun80 · Today 09:56 They come here an don’t do anything to contribute''

By 'they', I assume you mean immigrants?

You do realise that the NHS is full of doctors and nurses from other countries and that without them the system would collapse?

Many sectors of our economy and society in general rely on legal immigration.

It is also not illegal to claim asylum. All countries have a duty to fairly assess legitimate asylum claims.

Yes the government needs to be better at controlling illegal immigration and at processing asylum claims faster.

But your argument as it is is just sweeping racist/xenophobic drivel....

Our local FB page is overrun by people moaning about the local asylum hotel. A car is keyed 5 miles away - must be the immigrants. A group of school-age white kids are caught on CCTV stealing from Greggs - immigrants again. Countless posts about "illegals" on benefits. A few brave people try to correct them with facts but are met with more Farage speak. It's truly depressing.

Yes, it’s a hotel building, obviously, but not in any way pleasant to stay in, as it was when being run as a hotel for guests — surely the presence of security guards is a hint that inside those walls is not now a matter of room service, concierges and housekeeping dropping by to renew your towels and toiletries?

Yup, she'll even give you your own tent, which will have air-conditioning.

I think a lot of concern is over the young men type of immigrants not the type that contribute to the NHS etc. Farage/far right exploit those concerns and fan the flames of hatred toward all immigrants.

They are literally hotels two hotels within a mile of me are housing immigrants one group had to be moved elsewhere because they were not being appropriate towards the community the ones we have in now are better 🤷‍♀️ but I feel for the neighbours getting the ones that were removed from here

Honestly they don't help themselves

yes, that must be it. Jfc

No one has said that having concerns about those things is racist. But blaming the UK's ills on asylum seekers and Muslims is. And that is what Reform and its supporters do.

Indeed! Social media's become horrible lately. I live in Leeds. Last week a white British man attacked two women with a crossbow. He wasn't named at first but so many comments about "boat people", Muslims etc. Local people knew who it was, but other didn't. When he was finally named and his photo was shown I saw people commenting "He learnt this behaviour from the boat people. He was copying them".
WTF?? Even when it's a white British person, as it usually is, the "boat people" are still blamed.

Look back in the day we welcomed immigrants migration was a good thing we all integrated (for the most part) and rubbed along quite well but lately there have been issues big issues and the police won't deal with them because they don't want to seem racist or because it's not a good look publicly that is wrong and shouldn't happen

Before you bleat fake news

ROTHERHAM

You're not wrong. My partner is not British born. They are, however, Caucasian looking, from an appropriate Commonwealth country, and gave over 20 years of their life to NHS nursing. One patient said to her after ranting about immigrants and demanding a British nurse, "I don't mean YOU dear, you're a Colonial".

I am absolutely horrified by the misogyny, racism and xenophobia I'm now seeing even in my (NHS) workplace (luckily I can choose my friends and most of my family are fairly tolerant and progressive - helps that there are plenty of different nationalities in it). The clinical staff are from all nationalities and we wouldn't have a workforce without them but the majority of the admin, estates and domestic staff are locally born Caucasian and Farage's core supporters.

This includes one of my direct reports who is already very difficult, and although I do my best to pull them up when they express their silly views I'm just waiting for the grievance against me...!

Luckily I'm fairly close to at least partial retirement but it doesn't change the way people are now far more emboldened to express those inner thoughts - just as they have been since Brexit.

and the counter argument to this is always “people scamming the benefit system is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions that companies like Amazon are tax dodging”

I'm not sure that I would call £8.6 billion a drop in the ocean @sowemeetagainbananaman @baroqueandblue Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2023-to-2024-estimates

My friend supports asylum seekers and what she says about them is the complete opposite of what you've just said.

That is one of the easiest things to change and should be changed immediately. No reason they couldn't be given an NI number on arrival and allowed to work (at least in jobs that don't need DBS etc).

Exactly this.

Village Facebook group has a CCTV image of someone who has snuck into a house and stolen a purse. The usual Farage fans are straight on it, ‘clearly not English’ ‘likely to be one of the lot from hotel’ ‘send them back’ Turns out it’s Jeff, born and raised in the village… tumbleweed……

The conversation is important but from a place of facts.

The ‘hotels’ are awful, they don’t get loads of money or food, they’re more allowed to work but many do volunteer in the local community.

Farage and Tommy Robinson make a very good living from creating division, it literally keeps them famous and pays for a lovely lifestyle. They’re not the champion of the people they would have you believe and the fact that Farage ran like a scalded puppy when Brexit was voted in, did absolutely nothing to make it happen and was found to have been lying out of his arse should tell you that.

Well, yes, it’s not me saying it’s a drop in the ocean.

people who like to minimise benefit fraud say this and say that the government should be targetting the big companies and their CEOs and loopholes / tax evasion.

in my opinion it’s comparing apples and oranges and pointless.

They both need dealt with.

A lot of the men (and it’s vastly vastly men) who enter the UK without a visa are economic migrants

Concerns about both legal and illegal
immigranrs who have values that don’t reflect
core British values - in particular the treatment and rights of women - is a valid concern.

Concerns about importing violence are also valid - see Sweden for example.

For what it’s worth I would happily allow every single woman and girl from Afghanistan into
the country.

one of the things that annoys me the most is that it is mostly men and not women to be honest.