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Wish list for Britain

(140 Posts)
janthea Mon 11-Feb-13 13:18:21

I was talking to a friend last, to whom I haven't spoken for ages. Naturally we set the world to rights. This made me think about how I felt about the current political situation and others things. So I set out it down. I warn you it's a long post and you may get bored. Say what you want! It won't upset me. If I like that you say, I'm pleased. If not, I don't care. So here goes:

I was thinking about what I wanted for Britain as a whole and here is my wish list:

I want everyone to be proud of being British.

I want the NHS to be the best. This is not going to happen as long as we allow illegal immigrants and others, who have paid no taxes or insurance to come here and claim benefits. This does not help anyone as the service is under severe strain. If you are sick in a European country, you have to pay and then claim back the money on your return to the UK. Why don’t we do that here? Look at the mistakes you keep reading about – children sent home and told ‘it’s only a virus’ and then die of something more serious. Cancers not caught in time because the symptoms have been missed as ‘nothing’. It’s can’t go on.

We can’t allow unrestricted immigration as we are a small island and there must be a tipping point. It may have already been reached. Services and infrastructure suffer because of too many people claiming benefits. I have no objection to people coming here working and paying their taxes.

The same goes for education. The standard needs to be raised considerably and not dumbed down to the lowest level. The problem in many schools is that English is not the first language and therefore children whose first language is English are held back by the rest of the classes. The problem lies with parents who come here and don’t make an effort to learn English and therefore their children have problems. I like cultural diversity but not to the detriment of Britain.

Justice needs to be toughened up! Stopping using the European Human Rights Act as an excuse not to punish or deport foreign criminals. People should serve the full sentence they are handed down and not let out after about a quarter of time served. I believe in the death penalty for crimes such as those where children are raped, tortured and killed. And if anyone did that to one of my children or grandchildren, I would happily throw the switch.

Religion – I think all religions should be tolerant of other religions. People are entitled to believe what they want, even if they list Jedi as their religion!

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.

That's it!! gringrin

Ivanhoe Thu 14-Feb-13 14:29:46

vampirequeen, There is a stigma in Britain about council housing and it's tenants.

vampirequeen Thu 14-Feb-13 16:57:56

Could you provide some evidence please. I lived on a large inner city council estate from 1980 to 2007 and I never felt there was a stigma about living there. Taxis were happy to take you day or night, buses ran, we had a local shop, credit facilities were available, insurance companies offered standard price insurance.....where was the stigma? My daughters were well educated ..one choosing to go to university and the other choosing to go straight into the workplace.

Also could you answer my question about your own housing situation.

Ivanhoe Thu 14-Feb-13 17:11:12

vampirequeen, please go hear. And read here.

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/stigma-attached-to-social-housing-says-survey/6510050.article

Stigma attached to social housing, says survey
3 June 2010 | By Martin Hilditch

The vast majority of the public think there is more stigma attached to social housing than to private rental, according to a new survey.

The survey, carried out by Fast Trak, a company that helps lettings agents find tenants, found 72.9 per cent of the 299 people surveyed thought there was a greater deal of stigma attached to living in a council home rather than the private sector.

A total of 68.9 per cent of people thought there was a shortage of council housing in the UK and 65.4 per cent expected the situation to get worse in the future.

The survey also revealed that most people have no idea about the current housing benefit system. Eighty-three per cent of those surveyed did not know what the local housing allowance is.

Damon Thomas, managing director of Fast Trak, said the survey revealed a ‘sure sign that the system isn’t working properly’.
‘Significantly, these same people [surveyed] have very little faith in the situation improving,’ he added.

PS. Im in the private rented sector.

vampirequeen Thu 14-Feb-13 17:40:53

The vast majority of the public think there is more stigma attached to social housing than to private rental, according to a new survey.

The operative word here is 'think'. There are no examples given. It's merely an opinion.

I think I will win the lottery tonight.....doesn't mean I will.

vampirequeen Thu 14-Feb-13 17:44:59

Have you ever lived on a council estate? Do you know anyone who does? If you do have they given you examples of feeling stigmatised?

Somewhere you said that up to 1987 you were a party activist and that the branch disbanded. Where was that? Did you work from the local party office or where you part of Militant Tendency?

POGS Thu 14-Feb-13 18:55:53

Ivanhoe

This is the first time I think I have ever heard of, or know somone, who thinks there is a stigma attatched to social housing.

I would hazard a guess a good number of GN's were born and raised in a council house. I was and I have never felt that was stigmatising to me, ever, in my lifetime.

It is true that 'some' housing estates do have, for very good reasons, a bad name I agree. I do not however think anyone would link that point to ALL of the people who live on those estates nor generally to everyone who lives in social/council houses.

That seems quite bigoted.

nanaej Thu 14-Feb-13 20:23:17

POGS The school where I was Head was built between a road with owner occupied houses..£300K plus and a local 'social housing' estate. Very few families of the owner occupier homes chose our school as first choice because of their opinions of the residents in the social housing property. Think that is why there are people in social housing who may feel stigmatised!

susieb755 Thu 14-Feb-13 22:54:24

nanaej , I agree with you - I am sure a lot of us were raised in council houses, andin our days there was no stigma, but there sure is now - for example young people on an estate near me struggled to even get interviews, until they changed there addresses to friends not on the estate !

vampirequeen Fri 15-Feb-13 08:12:27

That's sad. It's never happened to anyone I know.

vampirequeen Fri 15-Feb-13 08:13:45

The school I taught at was the most inner city school in the city and attached to the estate but better off families chose to ferry their children to it rather than send them to more local schools.

Grannyknot Fri 15-Feb-13 15:30:18

Here are two things from me for the list: (1) Stop people from spitting in the streets; after 12 years of living in London, I still heave when I walk past the result. How is it allowed to carry on? Oh, I forgot "it's because the footballers do it". (2) When someone is taken into custody for questioning, if they repeatedly reply 'No comment' to questions, the assumption that they mean 'I'm guilty' should be permitted to be made.

vampirequeen Fri 15-Feb-13 15:36:31

Isn't it against the law to spit in the street? There used to be signs up threatening a £50 fine.

Not so sure about the no comment. You have the right to say nothing...what the jury make of that is up to them.

Grannyknot Fri 15-Feb-13 15:46:57

vpq I'm talking about when people are questioned by the police, not at the jury stage (I was watching Crimewatch last night - there are only 5 channels where I am in Spain smile).

My point is that in police interviews people e.g. having been shown a CCTV of them/their car at the scene sit there and repeat "No comment" in a monotone before the policeman/woman have even finished their question. I remember watching a documentary about that man who killed several young women in Surrey with a hammer, striking from behind, (he was also found guilty of the Milly Dowler murder once he was already imprisoned for I think 3 other murders). He did that in his police interview. "No comment" for hours. Because he can.

vampirequeen Fri 15-Feb-13 16:08:59

I think we have to allow that as we must protect a person's right not to incriminate themselves.