Swamped by immigrant workers

Enhanced would be a better word.

Our local fruit farm (Wilkins - Tiptree jam) could not cope without it's seasonal influx of immigrant workers, they try to recruit locally, but no one wants the backbreaking job of fruit picking (done it, got the tee shirt and the aching back)

They have a summer camp for caravaners that want to pick, but even they are dwindling in numbers.

The immigrant workers are very friendly and never cause any problems in the village.

Pompa that was exactly the same situation in the village where I used to live, only it was a vegetabl growing area.

I've no objections at all to seasonal workers as the tend not to bring families with them and return to their countries at the end of each season. This doesn't place such a strain on services.

As far as immigrant workers who come and settle here with their families. If they are working then they are paying into our ecomony and have the same entitlement to education, health care and other services as we have. And if these exist in sufficient numbers to put a strain on local services then local services need to be improved and extended.

What I would strongly object to is anyone coming to this country purely to claim benefits and who gave no intention of working. I don't know if such people exist in reality or if only in the 'popular press' and I'd like to see some statistics to show this one way or another.

We have a few Polish immigrant families here. They have come to stay, work integrate and become British. No problem. We have many of Italian and Polish extraction who's grandparents settled here after the last war after fighting wih us in the airforce so there is a history of these nationalities coming to Norfolk. Oh, and there's the Chinese family who run the takeaway - but they're British - and quite a few Americans for some reason.

(Also in rural areas the majority of primary schools are CofE. This may have some influence)

I think there's much more of a problem aound Peterborough and Wisbech where the incomers don't integrate.

We too have quite a few Polish people who obviously come to work on the farms in the spring/summer. They are polite and speak our language well, which is something we should insist on, if people are coming here to work.

We have a Polish plumber who works his socks off !

This year, so far, I have had three operations, with a fourth to come, and my care has been superb:

My GP is Egyptian
My orthopaedic surgeon is Indian
My first cataract surgeon was Iranian
My second (last Friday) was Pakistani
The anaesthetist was, I think, Latvian

DH was seen at the optician last week, by a Canadian trainee and a South African ophthalmologist (who first diagnosed my cataracts)

Some at least must have been immigrants, or come from immigrant families?

Where I live, a Polish family has rented a house. I dread to think where everbody sleeps because at least 10 people, of varying ages, live there. Grandma stays at home to pick up and take the 2 delightful children to school and everybody else of working age is out trying to earn a living. The children are now at school so their English has improved 100%. They are helpful, pleasant and polite. I would feel sorry if that family moved away as I think that they are an asset to our community.

DH wonders what UKIP's policy is on all the immigrant footballers in the Barclays Premier League?

You are right, Ariadne. The NHS is certainly a cosmopolitan institution. All my orthopaedic registrars were Sikhs and incredibly good looking. My trapeziectomy was done by a wonderful Egyptian hand surgeon; the anaesthetist was Spanish and recently I saw an Indian audiologist. Never mind the immigrant footballers - our best ever distance runner was born in Somalia and is never referred to as anything but British.

I live near the school featured in Educating East London. It is a very cosmopolitan area and over the last six years or so a growing number of Eastern European people have moved here.

I have found that people who come from other countries are generally no better or worse than those that already live here and, from what I can see, the majority are employed. They often work as carers, cleaners and other low paid and demanding jobs that (perhaps understandably) others are less keen to do. Those working as builders, plumbers, etc., we have found to be highly skilled and hardworking.

Having a pool of people to do the most demanding jobs for the least amount of money, may in the short term appear to benefit everybody in that it keeps the cost of services and goods down. In the long term, it accelerates the "race to the bottom" where wages for all but the highest paid are held down. That is not the fault of immigrant workers but of a government which is in the main bankrolled by big business which benefit from people from other countries who are willing to work for very low pay. I think it's also the fault of previous government who thought that by encouraging public/private ventures and using a "softly softly" regulatory approach the economy would thrive and everybody would benefit.

Businesses are dependent on the social and logistical infrastructure of a country. But - despite the growing pressures on housing, healthcare, education, transport, etc. - they are very unwilling to pay their taxes towards it. I think that is the root of the problem, and the issue of immigration is being used to divert attention from it.

Well said, Eloethan. "Divide & rule" and so many people fail to see it.

Good post Eloethan - sadly, many people just don't seem to grasp that angle of immigration and just assume everyone who is concerned must be a racist.

We have a huge number of East European immigrants in this rural area, some for the fruit picking, some permanent residents.

Traditionally this area housed Polish soldiers and their families who found themselves displaced after the war; and now there is a new large influx in the last couple of years. In fact I am told that the local maternity unit delivers more babies to E European mothers than to local mums.

I have no problem with it - they are gradually integrating. I think the word "swamped" is a bit emotive.

Excellent post Eleothan. to the writer!

Interesting how we only seem to talk about Europeans and Asians - there are a lot of Irish people here too and have been for decades.

Good post Eloethan

Teetime Exactly! The Irish were the "despised minority" considered to be invading us once upon a time. From the time of the potato famine until the Irish economy took off in about 1995.

No one seems to worry about that group of "foreigners" any more.

These things change and we should move on.

there are a lot of Irish people

Does it really matter what their nationality is? If there was room and employment for everyone, I'm sure it would be viewed very differently but, sadly, there isn't. I don't think people care what country immigrants are from - it's surely about whether the UK can successfully absorb more and more people.

Before I retired I worked with Registered Nurses from Latvia and Bulgaria, and the last ones to join the company were from Romania. They were all very well educated and had a good grasp of the English language. They are an asset to the company, and are prepared to work longer hours, with less time off than their British counterparts.
I think we can accommodate all comers. I have no problem at all with the immigration numbers.

Was David Blunkett forced to apologise when he used the same term about immigrants?

Swamped meaning 'overwhelmed' presumably, and I don't think anyone can comment on that term unless they live in an area where they have been struck off their GP's list, not been allocated a place at the local school for their child, been denied a job in favour of an immigrant or had personal experience of any adverse effect that immigration has had on them.

If immigrants are being 'assimilated' then that is a good thing.

hildajenniJ I was just wondering if the Registered Nurses from Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania are allowed to work as nurses without taking further qualifications. We know of a young Australian nurse who has a degree in nursing, who is not allowed to work here except as a healthcare assistant until she takes a Masters in nursing. She has also had to pay hundreds of pounds to take an examination to prove that she can speak English. Ludicrous but true. It would be interesting to know.

Printmiss, you wrote:

'They are polite and speak our language well, which is something we should insist on, if people are coming here to work.'

and I totally agree. But there are 10s of 1000s of Brits who live all over the world, including where I live- who do not make any effort whatsoever to learn the local language- and still don't after decades abroad.

And about the same who live a parralel expat life.

And many who sign on the sick or unemployment abroad too.

But yes, I agree too that 2 wrongs never made a right. But British expats sometimes fail to see that they are just immigrants- like any other immmigrants. Being British does not exempt them, somehow.

I agree Granjura. I don't see the point of emigrating to another country if you're not prepared to assimilate into that country's culture. Whether it's people coming to live permanently in Britain and insisting on living in their 'ghettos' or British moving abroad and staying isolated in their's.

I would never use the word 'assimilated' - I think it is perfectly OK to keep your culture, your language, your roots- as long as you also make an effort to understand the above for the new country you've immigrated into. Shouldn't be either or.

It is just that some 'groups' do accuse others of some attitudes and traits- which they are very happy to apply for themselves too- and that grates a bit (sorry). I of course know plenty of Swiss, for instance, who live in expat ghettos in Southern Spain too.

I do think, though, that when children are all at school together they do assimilate the culture of that country. First generation immigrants may not but the next generation, perhaps born here or brought here at a very young age, will do so. You can still keep your own language and learn about your culture and roots as well as becoming a citizen of the country into which you have immigrated and absorbing its culture, language and history.

However, first generation immigrants, faced with the unknown, may well stick together in communities because they feel more comfortable with people who speak the same language and understand the same things around them. I have observed this when visiting Australia - older first generation immigrants still speaking in their own language when together and identifying quite strongly with their country of origin whilst their children and grandchildren are proudly Australian.