Wish list for Britain

janthea so many good points raised,my gripe last week was DD telling me that at the school my DGCs attend they are funding an interpreter for a second year for a family who have been in the Country 3yrs as the parents refuse to speak English at home,whilst they have the right to converse in their own language at any time I do feel that they should allow their children to embrace the education they are receiving and help them in some way.

glammanana There's a very good infants near where my DD lives, but she doesn't want to send my GD there because 90% of pupils are non British and English is not their first language. She has friends of all nationalities so it's not because of race, but she doesn't want my GD to struggle and be kept back with non speaking English pupils who will take all the teacher's time.

I taught in a school with 24 different languages and although it caused me extra work it did not affect English speaking children in any way.

I doubt very much that any child has been misdiagnosed because of immigration!
The huge majority of English schools are not swamped by children whose mother tongue is not English. When the Vietnamese arrived the children proved to be extremely bright, and the Chinese sweep the board at internationl chess and maths contests.
Sorry, I feel that blaming immigrants for all the problems in Britain is just not borne out by the facts.

greatnan I never said children were misdiagnosed because of immigration. I said the system was overburdened because of all the immigrants and this could cause problems. No body blamed the immigrants, just the extra pressure on the health and educations services that could cause problems.

Janthea, have been watching and reading forum topics but not done anything about anything yet. You have finally brought me to my feet (so to speak!).

Can't sit back any longer - what heartfelt statements you have made and I have to agree with almost everything you say. As someone who was so proud of her country and has always done everything she can to keep the Great in Britain I am in despair at what is happening.

Wherever one looks, it seems like there is some other tragedy going on to reduce respect/tolerance/common sense and the rest. Our laws, our education, our banking systems, our (former wonderful) NHS, our religious beliefs - so many watered down to almost meaningless trivia. I feel so, so sorry for our children and our grandchildren - it is bad for us but a 1000 times worse for them.

As to immigration - we always need hard-working immigrants (my own paternal grandparents were immigrants themselves and built up a successful business employing many) - but what is happening now and has gone on for the last 10 years plus has to be wrong - too many to be incorporated into the lifestyles of their new country. Whereas we can't blame recent immigrants for what is the problem here in the UK now, it certainly is a part of the problem and certainly causes great concern amongst the rank and file of us.

Whatever political party comes into power at the next election, just hope and pray they do something - but I fear the worst.

Farmo

Since last year we are providing HIV treatment free to all foreigners visiting this country. It costs between £8k and £18k pa to treat those patients we already have depending on the drugs. It may cost more to bill the foreigners but I feel it is profligate. I thought the recent bill was a move to nudge people who might be HIV risk to a safer lifestyle .

I don't think all the ills of this country can be blamed in immigrants and foreigners.

Society started to fall apart in the seventies and eighties esp after Maggie's famous 'no such thing as society' speech. In an ideal world everyone would be self sufficient but we all know that can never be the case. The young, sick and elderly will always need some support and there are many people who genuinely cannot find work.

I'm not blaming all our ills on Maggie (though my heart wants to lol) but she did go a long way to dragging along this path. Successive governments have played their parts too.

I think it's time for someone to be very brave and bite the bullet by looking at the country's spending as a whole. We need to decide on our priorities which I hope would be education, the NHS and the welfare system and make sure they're adequately funded before we start on everything else. Taxes would probably have to increase. Of course it will never happen because it would be unpopular and whoever did it would be punished at the next election.

So as I've nothing to lose here's my basic manifesto (of course it won't cover everything):
Properly fund education, the NHS and welfare system.
Link the price of energy charged to the consumer to the price paid by the provider
Limit the profits that can be made by the water companies and demand a minimum level of service
Encourage the unemployed to take any job available regardless of whether they think it is 'beneath' them by means of the carrot and the stick. The system doesn't help those who want to find work and doesn't chase those who don't.
I'm open to immigration but there should be tighter rules....they can't be taking a job that could be done by one of our unemployed.....they must learn to speak English asap even if this means we fund English lessons in the short term......child benefit can only be claimed for children who are proven to live in the uk with the claimant.
Ensure the road system is fit for purpose and improve the public transport system even if it means taking railways and bus services back into public ownership.

That's my starter. I know I've missed out the armed services and host of other things but I'm sure others can add to it.

oh vampirequeen thank you so much for changing the tone of this thread although it will be an uphill job.

As to immigrants, perhaps the first step would be to remove the immigrants from the hospitals and see who was left to nurse, advise and operate. Then all the cleaners and agricultural workers.

Vampire queen has stated it all perfectly. I'm glad that I myself have a more liberal outlook on things. It must be awful having all that hate and intolerance to cope with on a daily basis.

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, MargaretX, but I was under the impression that you didn't actually live in the UK.

NO but I did on and off for over 4 years, I listen everyday to Radio 4, watch BBC TV and visit regularly. I am very well informed. Why shouldn't I be?

Sorry I meant 40 years

I can't say I've come across you before MagaretX but you make me laugh.

I'm not rising to anyone's bait. Those are my thoughts and I'm entitled to them as is everyone else entitled to theirs.

Am I right in thinking, MargaretX that you used to use another name so that, in fact, you have been on Gransnet for quite some time?

Great post, VQ! But you hit the nail on the head when you say that reforms such as you suggest would not happen because raising taxes would be the death knell of a government.

I am proud to be British, and English ( married to a Scot so used to fine distinction!) And I have experienced such good practice in education, when I worked and, recently, in the NHS, that it is distressing to hear that these experiences are not common to all, as they should be.

We are a large demographic group; all we can do is to use our vote wisely, campaign where we can, and make our voice heard.

anno yes my first name was not Google proof and I changed it as Google knows so many Margarets including Mrs Thatcher the one who started Britain off downhill as regards the society which now causes so many problems.
The immigrants who cause problems come mostly from the old British Empire - that which made Britain wealthy and great and now it has to be paid for.

The answer to classes where few children speak English is more teachers. The children are in school at the age of 5. There has to be pre-class coaching so that the children learn English. You can't expect a poorly educated mother to learn English. She is coping with the day to day problems of living in a foreign country and might even be holding down 2 illegal jobs and is dead tired.
Most of us who have had to learn a foreign language know how long it takes and what a slog it is.

These days you have to throw money at problems, and the electorate should at least try to understand this. Perhaps it will get better when the old Tory voters - anti-immigrant- anti Europe, anti gay, have all gone-( to a conservative heaven perhaps)

Oh yes, that'll fix things!

janthea, vampirequeen is spot on in what she says, and I will add the following.

Eastern immigrants aren't allowed to claim any benefits until they have found work and paid taxes and NI contributions for one "full" year, and then they are only allowed one third of what British claimants receive.

Immigrants who cant find work, are exploited on our black market.

Regarding our NHS. Since the 80's when Margaret Thatcher reduced income tax for all British workers, the NHS, and Education, have been crassly funded via what is know politically as right wing low income tax "trickle down" economics, and not tax and spend.

And as vampirequeen states, if any political party wanted to increase income tax at any given general election, the public would not want to do that, so the public get the government and the country they are willing to pay for.

Immigrants are an easy target in this country, they always get the blame.

MargaretX, Well put.

Gordon Brown increased tax and George Osborne has increased tax – just not income tax.

Vampirequeen, ""I'm open to immigration but there should be tighter rules....they can't be taking a job that could be done by one of our unemployed.....they must learn to speak English asap even if this means we fund English lessons in the short term......

The following email was written by me and read out over my local phone in radio station yesterday.

""Instead of the British people blaming immigrants for taking our low waged jobs, maybe the British people should consolidate on mass as people do in European country's, and fight for better pay and conditions, just as our for fathers did way back in the past, hence the Unions and the Labour movement forming.

In my view we British are now a pampered nation, backed up by a compliant BBC media. Britain hasnt had council housing since the 80's when Margaret Thatcher's Tory Government stopped building them. Margaret Thatcher also took away workers rights and minimum wage laws, and brought in our low waged, insecure, deregulated free market which is what we still have"".

Also I believe the English should learn foreign languages and try to get a better understanding of foreigners in general, particulally when so many British people are moving to France ect, expecting the French to bow and scrape to them.

janthea, ""Politics – I am a Conservative and would never vote anything else, but I’m disappointed with David Cameron. I think he’s favours the Lib Dums too much. I know it’s hard for him in a coalition government, but he does need to stand up and be counted. UKIP is a little too much for me, although I agree with some of their policies (leaving the EU for instance). I suppose I’m somewhere between David Cameron and UKIP.""

Are you a Conservative, or a right wing Tory ?, there is a difference.

David Cameron is finishing off what Margaret Thatcher began in the 80's, he is continuing to roll back the State, hence cuts in welfare and housing benefits, and bring privatisation into the NHS.

Tell me, do you believe in Britain continuing to be market lead, ?, or do you believe in the roll of the State, including the welfare State ?

Britain now has food banks opening across the UK, which involves people giving donations of food they dont need or want, to help feed people who cant afford food to to Cameron's cuts in welfare. Charities are involved.

Assuming you voted for Cameron at the last G/E, you voted for this. How does this make you feel ?