There are probably Mumsnet members who are knowledgeable about immigration and who could have contributed to a proper discussion on the subject but who have been put off by the low level of posts on this thread. They will, in any case, have been put off by the aggressively-worded, non-pc OP. Likewise, they probably wouldn't be seen dead on a thread about such a non-pc topic as immigration (cowards). As a result, I would doubt there has ever been more naive, biased, ridiculous, irrelevant, ill-informed clap-trap spouted on a thread about a political subject than on this particular thread. To my embarrassment, I include my posts in this category too as I don't have any real knowledge on which to base my opinions.
The level of discussion here has been about on a par with 'I've got a friend who's a Pakistani' on a thread about racism. And a debate about immigration is not the same as a debate about racism despite what the majority here seem to think, trotting off pat opinions.
It seems obvious that, as a country, we do benefit from immigration. Some of the immigrants who come here have no intention of staying (good thing or bad?), some of them have no intention of learning the language but many do, some of them receive benefits, which we may or may not believe they should be entitled to. Despite what people seem to believe, some of them may end up benefiting from the taxes they have paid here and may be able to claim a British pension in the future or to have the money transfered into their pension in their own country via the EU.
I find the tax credit thing weird because it is worked out based on your household. If a Polish builder (as an example) is sleeping in a house with eleven other builders while working on a job, surely that is his household, not his family at home? Whatever, they are contributing to our economy, whether doing jobs that nobody else wants to do or doing jobs for which there is fierce contention from native British candidates.
Likewise, I'm sure we are benefiting from this latest wave of immigration on a cultural level or will in time. As some of you have pointed out, we're all immigrants in a sense because Britain has seen wave of wave of immigration over thousands of years.
Prejudice and panic is stirred up by inflammatory headlines such as those you might see in the Daily Mail. But, with this current EU wave of immigration, no-one in authority seems to have any reliable information about the true numbers coming in, where they are, what they are doing, etc.. This suggests that the government does not have real control of the situation and is just letting it muddle on by itself in the hope that it will be self-balancing, I presume. (Why do we bother having nationalities, passports, national borders, etc. - according to you lot we are all world citizens!) I think the consensus among the powerful is that if the economy is benefiting in the short term and maybe the longer term, then that is all that matters. This is fine but you can then see why you end up with police leaders, etc., complaining about lack of resources and increasing chaos.
Also, the government seemed fine about a lot of hard-working, skilled Polish immigrants but are now talking about restricting those from other new countries joining the EU (those further East). (Are immigrants from these countries less desirable? Is that view racist?) If so, perhaps the British government isn't as egalitarian and altruistic as some of you seem to believe. Is Britain allowed to discriminate between immigrants from different EU countries? Is Britain allowed to impose a quota system, as I believe other countries do, maybe including some in Europe? Obviously, other countries such as America and Australia have very strict entry requirements. Apparently Australia gives British people extra points because they already speak English. For cultural and economic reasons, the British government seems keen that new immigrants learn English. This makes obvious sense.
Anyway, I could waffle on but I'm not going to (post) any more because I think this whole thread has (with the exception of a few posts, not necessarily mine) been a waste of time and has had a nasty aggressive atmosphere from beginning to end and from both ends of the political spectrum. I suppose I should go and research the topic properly on the web but I'm just going to watch telly instead. Ignorance rules (especially on this thread).