If you were Prime Minister what would you do!

...or going off on yet another jaunt to sunny climes to suck up to show solidarity with foreign leaders....

So am I Anagram and making horrible remarks hidden behind 'its her right' is not exceptable. If you dig into most people's genetic background there is an immigrant hiding - all those with Scottish, Irish and Welsh names are immigrants to England. Channel 4 did just that, as a far right white only chap had quite a shock when he found out who is ancestors were. Thank goodness ninnynanny isn't in charge . Immigrants have bought variety and interest to these shores. Lets not forget in living memory we 'immigrated' to countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand and expected to be treated well. Let alone our Empire history -most UK bigots forget that we were so proud of having owned vast amounts of the world without the permission of the locals. As you may gather I abhor racist and anti immigrant speakers .

Well, if you had read all the posts on the thread you would have seen that ninnynanny did qualify her comments somewhat. She didn't actually say, in her opening post, that she was anti-immigrant - just anti-illegal immigrants.

I don't take issue with some illegal immigrants who have come to the UK in desperation to escape brutality. If they don't have money to get into the country legally and seek asylum, desperation can be the reason for their arrival here, especially if they have travelled through France. Others arrive here for a decent living standard and to join relatives who can't afford to sponsor them legally. They have no intention of being parasites on our welfare system.

When working, I was involved with a number of asylum-seekers who arrived here illegally, did not claim any benefits and threw themselves on the mercy of the authorities when they came to their attention, often because a third party had committed an offence and police wanted their details, too.

Many asian immigrants, including Chinese people, disappear into their close-knit communities and work to earn their food and a roof over their head for very low pay and long hours, hoping not to be discovered for as long as possible. One young woman I met avoided the health service and paid for private treatment herself. She worked long hours in a restaurant and did occasional translation work for older family members. She came here to nurse her grandmother who died after her arrival and she had no passport to get her home again.

Not all illegal immigrants are up to no good. There were quite a lot of illegal UK emmigrants to European countries during the war, by all accounts.

You're right, of course, Carol, not all illegal immigrants are undeserving of this country's hospitality. From what ninnynanny said, though, I assumed she meant those convicted of crimes who subsequently can't be deported for some spurious reason supported by the ECHR.

Yes, I have no qualms about shipping illegal immigrants out for terrorism reasons - drop them out of the plane at 15 feet above sea level and save landing fees for all I care if they want to blow up anyone in this land, legal immigrant, citizen, illegal immigrant - whatever! I'm losing patience with war-mongers who whinge about their human rights.

I think I'll leave this discussion - dropping people out of planes etc - too much for me.

Only from 15 feet dorset not high enough to do any lasting harm!

Perhaps you could try it yourself first — the being dropped, not the dropping — and report back.

No thanks - I haven't been blowing anyone up!

Ladies. A little decorum please.

Only joshing jeni - I am a pacifist at heart, but a little fantastising does no harm every now and again

But Carol! What if they couldn't swim....?

Anagram they could be above sea level but not necessarily over the sea! (see what I did there!) BUT I am kidding

Immigrants don't steal jobs, without wishing to stereotype (many are surgeons, dentists, dancers, scietists) they do the jobs no one else will do such as working in care homes, cleaning and working on building sites. They contribute taxes and without their young people to go to work and pay taxes the NHS and all benefits will dry up in 15 years.
Let's remember some immigrants - Anthony Sher, Helen Sussman, Albert Einstein, Bronowski, Lubetkin too name a few. It's a bit late in the day to start naming a full list but you could add George I.
The history of this island is one of immigration - Romans, Vikings, Anglo- Saxons, French, Chinese, Jews. I, and many like me, am grateful that my grand parents were allowed entry here.

Agreed, Humbertbear - if you read the above posts you will see we we're not talking about the immigrants you are referring to.

Carol

Humbertbear a sensible voice at last - like me earlier you've pointed out how this Island is made up of immigrants. Anagram the original contributer mentioned illegal immigrants and several people have discussed it in a very negative point of view. Actually Carol there is an excellent book about an illegal Chinese immigrant called Ghosts , how she got here and how her gang boss [also Chinese] treated them all - such a sad story. I recommend it highly .

My maternal grandfather, who was illiterate but who always loved to learn, was an Irish immigrant who worked in all sorts of unskilled jobs for long hours and with low wages to support his family. He also paid taxes and, in his day, there were no benefits to claim as he died before the establishment of the welfare state. His four surviving sons and seven surviving daughters also worked, bettered themselves by going to night school after leaving school and would have been mortified if they had had to claim benefits. A lot of my generation went to university and have been or continue to be contributing and valuable members of society.

My father was a three-year-old refugee - or should that be asylum seeker - when World War I was declared. He learned to speak English without any trace of a foreigh accent (as well as numerous other languages - European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern). His father worked as a master baker, paying his taxes and supporting a large family. My father worked promoting British exports and, again, paying taxes. He was never naturalised and so was never able to vote in the UK. (EU rules are different now.)

Illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers - there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker - are an issue, although sometimes the criteria and the judgements do not seem fair. I welcome legal immigrants and successful asylum seekers - how could I do otherwise, given my background?

Hear, hear, absent!

Carol in view of our country's recent history re. invading other countries and bombing the hell out of them for no good reason, it does feel a bit 'pots and kettles' to go on about dropping people in the ocean from 15 feet.

Humbertbear not sure your comment about immigrants doing jobs others won't do is really true in today's climate of high unemployment. One of my GS was desperately looking for work recently. He finally managed to get a very poorly paid job, with no security of regular hours, at a factory through an agency. All of the permanent workforce at this sizeable factory were Polish, recruited in Poland.

I WAS joking Petallus and I agree it works both ways - they are welcome to drop the terrorists belonging to this country back on British soil

Carol - I knew you were joking!
I wonder if it is the very fact that so many immigrants work so hard and become so successful is the reason for the hostiity felt towards them in some sections of society?
The children of the immigrants from the Indian sub-continent have a huge take-up of higher education, as do those from Vietnam and China. Whether it is genetic or cultural, they do extremely well in maths, chess, and medicine.
Most Polish workers do not intend to settle permanently in the UK - they want to earn enough to enable them to go back to their own beautiful country and rejoin their families.
I really don't care about a person's country of origin as long as they obey the laws of their chosen country. (I would say that, wouldn't I, being a legal immigrant to France!)

Sorry Carol hadn't realised you were joking .

Greatnan most countries put some kind of restriction on immigration. Years ago friends of mine wanted to emigrate to Australia but were turned down.

I have no problem with immigrants coming to the UK to work and raise their families, I object to ILLEGAL immigrants [Abu Qatada for example]. I have mixed race great grandparents and grandparents.

Also what do you think should happen to Breivik for killing 72 people?