are you worried about immigration?

[victoriapeckham]

This is a tricky one but I ve Just seen that Channel 4 programme Immigration is a Timebomb which has left me feeling uneasy about Islamic immigrants. The Tories are really making it an election issue with their 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking' posters. Now the police are saying 200 Al Queida trained terrorists are wandering about Britain, do you think immigration has gone too far?

[Gwenick]

OMG someone agrees with me

[janeybops]

Well I would LOVE to immigrate to Australia, and I would certainly emrace the culture and lifestyle and weather and surf and barbies and ....

I also wouldn't have a problme swearing allegiance to the country. Maybe I am just odd.

[Socci]

Message withdrawn

[Gwenick]

I would too Janey - and have done for 2 1/2yrs when I lived in Zimbabwe, for that time it was my 'home' and even now I have a feeling 'belonging' to that country - sadly many others don't see it that way and all around the world you'll find the very thing which British people (in the UK) complain about - british bars, british clubs, expat groups, british schools etc etc

[janeybops]

Gwenick,

I think you can embrace ..... and still keep your own culture. I just mean that you shouldn't get offended by (reasonable) traditions of that country, such as flying a national flag on a given day. That's all

[Socci]

Message withdrawn

[Gwenick]

actually I don't know any foreign people that get het up about seeing English flags flying - the only people I've heard say it's 'racist' or anything of the like have been white, British and overtly PC

[badmamma]

But what about people who don't learn our language and - as in the documentary last night - have beliefs which go against british traditions for tolerance and freedom of speech? Are you still comfortable they are in Britain?

[WideWebWitch]

No I'm not worried either, well said Blu. May come back to this later but suspect this thread will get ugly.

[stitch]

i dont think the problem is the immigrants. they tend to be a hard working lot of people, looking for a better life.
i think the problem is the youth, and not so young who have grown up in poverty stricken areas and have decided that the establishment is to blame for everything. they are the ones who will go off and join alqaeda, who become militants using religion as a screen.
i dont know a great deal about thiis as too busy changing nappies, but id say the real problem is the ones who have been born and grown up in this country.

[WideWebWitch]

Actually, I'm more worried about despotic Blair, being taken to war (again) how tory the labour party is, world poverty and starvation, global corps taking over the world, gm food, the power of the supermarkets, just to name a few.

[stitch]

i know that some people dont get the oppurtunity to learn the language because they are too busy earning a living.
for example, someone over from bangladesh working in some cousins restaurant where in the kitchen only bengali is spoken. well this guy doesnt get a chance to interact with anyone who speaks english. he is paid a pittance, and is too busy trying to earn enough to keep food in his families bellies and a roof over their heads.

my frind works as a cleaner in a factory that makes plastic plates etc. she is paid 8 pounds an hour. the people who make the products are paid £4 and hour as they are illegal immigrants.
these people dont have time to worry about the flag being flown above some building

[motherinferior]

I am worried about the different political parties tapping into the huge currents of racist feeling which still suppurate around the UK.

[Gwenick]

But what about people who don't learn our language and



Oh yes - harking back to what I said earlier about British expats who make no effort to learn the language.............

[colditzmum]

i think it's a blame culture amongst the moaners that means immigrants get blamed for everything, and they themselves accept the blame for nothing.

Ambulance waiting times too long? Could it be that the ambulance service was not designed to be called out for a stubbed toe? No, it's them immigrants taking all the money.

Can't get the job you want? Could it be that you are simply not prepared to do the jobs that are on offer, or work for the pay that is offered? No, it's them immigrants, taking all them jobs (that you don't want anyway)

Woke up with a dicky tummy? Could it be that you drank until you passed out, threw up, then passed out again, then your mates stuffed a spicey kebab in your mouth and called it good? No, it's them immigrants again, poisonin' our Good Inglish KebabS!!!

If there is always a group to pass blame onto, you don't have to take responsibility for your actions. If the Tories can blame immigrants for everything, theydon't have to say to us "Yes, we can make the NHS work again. We will have to put your tax up by 25%"

[CountessDracula]

vp you are falling prey to the ludicrous hysteria that is being whipped up to try and get us to support the abolition of the separation of powers. Once we have a police state I suppose you will be happy. Especially once someone innocent you know is plucked off the street and locked up with no trial or method of appeal.

Al Quaeda is not a highly organised network of terrorists, it is a label that has been given to the small, individual bands of fundamentalists who have decided to act on their beliefs with tragic consequences.

Have to go will be back

[pabla]

I am an immigrant from another part of Europe so obviously am not against immigration. However, I do find it strange somewhat that some groups of immigrants obviously want to come to this country but don't make any effort to then become part of the wider community. I believe it is possible to respect and uphold your original culture without refusing to learn the local language, allowing your children to mix with other children outside your ethic group, etc.

I don't know if this maintaining of a separateness is unique to this country? Many of my family in previous generations emigrated to the US and I have met emigrants from puerto Rico there too, all of whom were happy to become "Americans" when they settled there. Has anyone got experience of how it is in other uropean countries, for example?

[SecondhandRose]

I am not worried about immigration but I am worried about the cost of the support the Govt has to provide. All public sectors seem to be in crisis due to under funding/staffing and more immigration will strain things further. I am also very concerned about the huge rise in health problems like TB for example.

[Gwenick]

crisis due to under funding/staffing

yep - and lots of those immigrants are helping to staff the very public sectors in crisis

[colditzmum]

But if we let immigrants work, we can tax them, and they pay for themselves just like everyone else! The only reason there is so much strain on the public services is that talented, qualified immigrants are finding it so hard to get decent legal jobs, because of the constraints of the Visa system.

[SecondhandRose]

Unfortunately the media don't show us the talented ones just the 20 something young men in black leather jackets trying to board trains when they're moving. We already have 60 million people here, look at the size of France, compare, they also have 60 million people or even less I think.

[Flossam]

I'm worried about illegal immigrants. DP seems to come across them quite a lot, they are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. I dislike the fact that our countries traditions and customs are being stopped though.

[Gwenick]

the only reason illegal immigrants are responsbile for a disproportiane amount of crime (if it's actually true.....) is because they are payed an absolute pittance for working jobs which most of us would never want to do, therefore don't have enough money to survive - and on top of that are treated like a piece of dirt by the general public.............if I was living like that I'd probably be driven to steal/mug people too.

[Gwenick]

oh and - how does you DP know they're illegal immigrants - I don't suppose that many are willing to disclose that type of information!!!