Swamped by immigrant workers

Haven't been able to find this mentioned in any of the papers.

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2014/12/02/without-due-process-how-britain-deported-50-000-students

I thought we wanted intelligent immigrants here.

Who was it pointed the finger of blame at minorities as being the cause of all problems and then proceeded to try and exterminate them. I know it was the Daleks, but wasn't there somebody else as well.....I just can't quite remember....

Its not just Eastern Europeans and people from Asia who have moved here. My SIL came here in 2004 from South Africa with £400 and a "can do" attitude. He took work wherever he could. He`s now set up several businesses and employs many people. Not only that he`s a VG husband to my DD, a Dad to 2 fabulous wee boys and is generally philanthropic throughout our area: involved in various charities and business groups. Our whole area would be diminished without him. ..............and that's his MIL talking!!
The other side to this is his own poor Mum. She once told me that when she waved him off she never realised that he wouldn't be coming home except for holidays. I do feel for all those families left behind when their youngsters set off for the bright lights of the UK.
At risk of rambling (again), our excellent Romanian cleaning lady once had to return home as an emergency as her mother had fallen off a ladder when climbing up to get the turkey off the roof where it spent the day grazing on the thatch. My mind boggled just thinking about all that that implied.

Did you read it?

Yes, I did realise that, durhamjen.

Hence my post...

It's an Observer article, listed on the Guardian website.
Surely you must have realised, Ana, that an article on the Guardian website timed after the Guardian has been published on a Saturday, must be in the Observer on a Sunday.
Yes, rose, I can be clairvoyant under those circumstances. Wish I had written it!

Hardly, seeing as it's a Guardian article dated 14th November...

djen are you clairvoyant or did you write it?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/15/immigration-politics-ukip-british-academy

Sorry, above link did not work. This one should.

This is an article from tomorrow's Observer. (That's clever, isn't it?)

I was going to copy a couple of paragraphs but the article deserves to be read in its entirety. The reason there appears to be so much bad feeling about immigration is that those who do not oppose it do not make their feelings known so much.

www.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2014%2Fnov%2F15%2Fimmigration-politics-ukip-british-academy&ei=mHhnVNXRGsznaNeogKgD&usg=AFQjCNHs7Z6dn1NESoklYqE9mGlqyg9tKg&bvm=bv.79142246,d.d2s

Can she not get the charity she works for to sponsor her, the workshops for disabled people one?
She needs access to £50,000 if she wants to be classed as an entrepreneur, but the visa itself only costs a few hundred.

My young American friend has to return to the US as she cannot raise the phenomenal amount of £50,000 to extend her visa. She has established guided loo tours in London, is an historical expert on toilet history and so is often asked for interviews on radio and TV. She works in the arts with workshops for disabled people and has paid her way and contributed to the UK economy from day 1. She is forced to return whilst others are allowed to come into this country and sponge off the State. I will miss her very much. She taught me about twitter and we have our website to work on too and of course thankfully we can keep in touch by email. It's a strange world sometimes

I read in yesterday's i that a group called Britain First, an offshoot of the BNP, has been sending leaflets to Strood calling for residents to protest against a new mega mosque, which they claim will mean "the Medway area will be flooded with more Muslim immigrants."
The police, however, are looking into the group because they have been using a royal crown on their promotional material. No mention of inciting racial hatred this time.

From that Guardian report :

The residents say they are not racist but are fed up with what they say is years of neglect by government authorities who have allowed Gypsies, migrants and asylum seekers to settle in Rome’s peripheries without providing adequate services.

So it seems the locals are attacking blameless refugees rather than demand action from their own government which has allowed a bad situation to develop.

We need to be careful what we vote for next year. I wouldn't like to see this in London.

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/13/riot-police-violence-refugees-rome

I agree about Brits abroad Gran, and there is little more I can comment on that. My reason for thinking that folk should speak the language of the country is that it must be easier to 'join in', and to know what is happening. We were behind a gentleman in the chemist who thought he could take his repeat prescription there, and get it immediately, he had little or no English, and the poor assistant just did not know what to do. Life would have been easier for both if the man had some English. Just one example, and probably the same thing happens to Brits abroad. There are some older immigrants who have been with us for years and still do not speak the language, but trust their children/grandchildren to translate. No quick answers, just observations, really.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.