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Original poster

OK - Britain is a small country

304 replies

friskyfox · 30/12/2006 16:04

So why are we taking in more immigrants? We now have an influx of Romanians and Bulgarians coming here. Before anyone calls me racist or the like, I am 100% not. It just annoys me because we are a tiny country. Why are countries like Australia, NZ, USA, and Canada more selective and Britain is not.
thelink

OP posts:
Ready · 30/12/2006 17:53

Mytwocupsofkindness - YES!!!! there are plenty of awful people in the UK and loads of them were bloody well born here!!!

hatwoman · 30/12/2006 18:01

just a point of information to the op. How exactly do you measure "small". According to the ESRC the UK economy is fifth largest in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of almost US.2 trillion in 2005.

whatwouldjesusdo · 30/12/2006 18:19

they are bringing in loads of mugs, to replace the people who are being driven out.

I grew up thinking that if I studied hard and went to university, I would get a house - with a garden - healthcare - a decent school for my children. Didnt realise I would be working all hours to pay a huge mortgage, and live in a crappy area near a crappy school and not be able to move.

So - Im off, to another country where I can afford to live in a nice place. So, they need to replace me - and they are bringing some poor mugs from eastern europe who are happy because a) theyve got a job and b) they can buy a second house back home with the 2p a month that they can afford to save.

ballbaby · 30/12/2006 18:27

The grass isn't always greener you know....

hippmummy · 30/12/2006 18:27

Immigrants cant win - people will always have an axe to grind.
They are critisiced if they are Eastern European and work for less money, under-cutting local tradesmen.
They are also critisised if they are Asian shopkeepers who charge more for their goods than the supermarkets and 'rip us off'.
As long as people look for a scapegoat for the country's problems, immigrants will continue to be blamed for everything

Heathcliffscathy · 30/12/2006 18:32

hahahahahahahaha.

how did i f*cking know that this was going to be what this thread was about.

idiotic.

ucm if you shut the doors now, then society in this country would cease to function: healthcare is full of migrant workers, so is education, service industries etc etc.

listen very carefully: WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH SKILLED PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WILLING TO DO THE WORK. I said willing.

Heathcliffscathy · 30/12/2006 18:35

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Ready · 30/12/2006 18:35

Loud applause for Sophable!!!!!!!!

Original poster
friskyfox · 30/12/2006 18:42

whatwouldjesusdo. where you off to? DH and I are considering emigrating but we don't know where to go.

OP posts:
whatwouldjesusdo · 30/12/2006 18:52

ballbaby - the grass IS greener, I have been there 2 years already, and do not want to come back - present tense was a bit confusing.

frisky - Im in germany at present, may not stay there for ever though.

ballbaby · 30/12/2006 18:57

I'm a bit ignorant of this I know so thyis is a serious question - how does Germany do what this country can't i.e. decent health, education, not have crappy areas.

Actually I think we do do decent health, education - there are just too many of the social underclass clogging things up. Dh is a paramedic and 75% of his time is wasted with complete dickheads.

suedonim · 30/12/2006 19:00

Not everyone thinks Britain should put up the No Vacancies sign. Scotland is actively recruiting migrants to come here to make up for population lose.

I think perhaps the SE of England is too small nowadays so spreading ourselves out a bit might make life more comfy. >

JoolsToo · 30/12/2006 19:01

Britain isn't a country

FioFio · 30/12/2006 19:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

PeachysaysBlwyddynNewyddDda · 30/12/2006 19:25

A lot of perople Dh works with
are POlish, he sauys the educated ones are fantastic and far mroe able than the other people at the same level. The only problem they have is with drivers who are largely unaware of the road rules etc, but that's about employers taking the lowest cost options perhaps, and of xcourse national shortages.

FWIW I'm not sure on this one. I am 100% in favour of asylum seekers which I am glad to see for the first time ever hasn't been dragged into this. However, economic migration is a different thing. I am not sure the points system would work, as the ones we tend to require here do tend to be the lower paid menial jobs that brits won't always take- how that would work with the Australian style system I do not know. I do know of firms that have been saved after threatening recruitment crises by an influx of immigrants (they were in a particulalry well off area and the claeners they needed were asking twice the national rate which would have been unsustainable).

Its a complex one, i really don't think the daily mail 'An immigranta te my job' style of reporting helps anyone, and it is hard to geta clear picture: in one town immigrants save companies (and jobs), in another they they threaten people's livelihoods.
So I don't haev the answers tot his, except that as part of the EU we have the right to live elsewhere and Brits do take that option: as long as we benefit we can't really refuse either.

I did see an interview with romaninas who said they would in no way come here, we're all too rude and unwelcoming .

PeachysaysBlwyddynNewyddDda · 30/12/2006 19:26

JoolsToo- good point, UK it should be, unless we go for England in which case I'm an immigrant)

PeachysaysBlwyddynNewyddDda · 30/12/2006 19:28

'there are just too many of the social underclass clogging things up. Dh is a paramedic and 75% of his time is wasted with complete dickheads'- so what, ban the underclass????????? Euthanase them?????? (yes I know you didnt really suggest that). But unless you have the solutions to that problem, then- well its not helpful is it?

I did read that our hospitals and NHS would collapse without the immigrants, which is interestinga nd seems likely every time I visit the hospital (which si frequently)

ballbaby · 30/12/2006 19:30

No I haven't got the answers - don't think anyone has - that's why I was asking a serious question of how/why Germany does it better.

Judy1234 · 30/12/2006 19:31

We have a major issue of women like musnet posters not having enough babies. One implication which Germany has is that when your population gets too low it affects money under EU rules too. Also fewer people pay fewer taxes and your nation suffers.
This country has always benefitted hugely from its immigrants.
Perhaps we should give extra money to people already here who have a lot of babies like me to deal with the population issue.
Catholic churches enjoying an upsurgence of attendances in some areas because of Poles by the way.

Aloha · 30/12/2006 19:32

The answer to the op is that we are in the eu and tbe other countries mentioned are not.

DizzyBinterWonderland · 30/12/2006 19:33

the size of a country has now place in this arguement. there are large areas of the UK which are uninhabited, as there are in other countries. some people live in extremely crowded areas, in high rise blocks and so on, but others live in huge houses with large grounds that could easily take more people. i pass through the yorkshire dales and the pennines quite frequently. we have LOADS of space. space isn't the issue at all. i hate the 'but we are just a small island' conversation. fgs, the US is huge but a lot of it is uninhabitable, same goes for canada and australia.

southeastastra · 30/12/2006 19:34

isn't germany giving loads of money for women to have babies coming in jan 1st?

PeachysaysBlwyddynNewyddDda · 30/12/2006 19:36

i think germanya re yes, and aren't we with the benefits from 29 weeks thing (well it all helps)

DeckthehallsLaDiDaDi · 30/12/2006 19:49

If I lived in Poland/Romania/Bulgaria/other poorer country then I think that I would want to move to the UK for a better standard of living/wage than I got get in my own country. Maybe I would only do it temporarily, maybe it would be long term but I do think that I would try it.

Similarly, although I recognise that there is a difference between refugees and economic migrants, if I lived in a war-torn country where my husband was at risk of being killed for his political views or my daughter might face female genital mutilation, I would try everything to come to a country like the UK that could offer me safety and hope.

So I feel that it is very difficult for me to be anti-immigration to the UK as I totally empathise with those that choose to come here. In much the same way I empathise with people of my parents generation who go off to Spain/Cyprus/Portugal to retire somewhere warmer and more relaxing. The Daily Mail doesn't write articles demonising that group does it?

Judy1234 · 30/12/2006 19:57

Also a lot of people move here for a few years and do go back. Ireland for example used to be a nation people left and now I think a lot of people have returned home. A lot of the Estonians and Latvians in the UK come over here, work a few years, leave their families behind and then return.

If we mean people from outside the EU then we do have systems for approval to work here already and at various times we have prioritised certain kinds of workers. At one point I think in the 90s we were short of IT people so more were allowed in etc.