Cameron - friend of Muslim women?

As my friend's mother used to say to her (in her Yorkshire accent), 'oh, do give over Mary!'

Same thing really, but in Welsh

Most of what we all write on GN is unnecessary. I don't think necessariness is a good measure for Gransnet forums

I don't find the phrase "give it a rest" provocative. It's usually used in response to provocation rather than it doing the provoking. That's how I see it anyhow.

Not as provocative as some posts though!

Wilma I don't think TEFL/CELTA teachers come cheap either.

Unnecessary and provocative Luckylegs.

The Welsh for give it a rest "roi cynnig gorffwys" please keep it for future reference.

Anniebach I apologise for my comment about grumppa.

Jalima how the women will be found to let them know about classes will be a challenge and one that may eat into the £20 million. After the government cut the £400 million for Adult Education in 2012, most of the infrastructure was dismantled. Until then there would have been a network for lots of different groups in local community that would be used as a stepping stone for new initiatives. That's why I posted before about my concern that a lot of the money will be spent getting classes off the ground. It can be done, but not without spending money and trust me when I said £20 million sounds like a lot of money, but it's not with an initiative like this. Remember too it's a fund, so how the money will be released will be important. It might cost a lot more in one area to enable a small number of women to benefit from the money, than in an area with higher number of women.

Jalima, you've prompted me to have a bit of a moan about the impact of the cuts on Sure Start and other family centres, some run by local authorities some by charities. Many of them provided space for health visitors and midwives to run various clinics. this meant there was an instant link to family centre groups and support services. My experience was this tended to increase attendance by groups of parents who weren't "referred" by social workers. Two of the centres I was involved with served deprived areas where there were relatively large Pakistani Muslim communities. You'd get young mums with no English attending the baby clinics, they'd be encouraged to attend groups or get their toddlers into the free nursery places available. The result of this was win win, especially as it meant a mix of people from the local community i.e. Pakistani, Polish, white British and the occasional black British parent. They also ran groups for dads, including single parents. Those centres would be ideal places for English language groups - oh yes they ran them…...

That is the other thing, and how will they get to know about it?

Are there any numbers of how many Muslim women might want this 'service'?

Would there be enough ESOL teachers or would a lot more have to be trained?
There are a lot of British ESOL teachers but many of them are working overseas.

Wish I had never mentioned bloodyWales now, having read all the posts, shouldn't reply to them as I go through the thread

Probably roi seibiant i ni is nearest Terribull

Not at all worried , just dislike racism no matter the race

Yes, I agree with that absolutely.
Which is why being in a minority where I live can be uncomfortable on rare occasions, but it has happened.

5% of the UK population is in Wales and 20% of the Welsh population speak Welsh
As I said in my previous post not all the population of Wales is Welsh; some of them will not speak English or Welsh.

If posters think that everyone who lives in Wales is Welsh, then the logical conclusion from that would be that Wales is an extremely unwelcoming place for immigrants from the rest of the UK and overseas.

There are 64 million people living in the UK and 3 million are Welsh. Is that plain enough.
That is a nonsense; yes, there are just over 3 million people living in Wales, some of whom are English, Irish, Scottish or other nationalities. There are very, very many Welsh people living in England and other parts of the UK (probably more than there are in Wales).

I genuinely tried to say just that (though not in Welsh) but my concern has been dismissed out of hand.
I have often found ab s posts interesting and was not 'having a go' but I am now bowing out.

Let's all get back to to the English classes for furriners - or let the whole thread rest for a while.

I looked in on this thread this morning thinking it might have changed direction from last night back to the original theme and now I see several hours later, like a stuck record going round and round ad in finitum the "Welsh minority persecution complex" continues. Anyone know what's Welsh "for give it a rest"

And another joins ,

anniebach as one who has never posted either criticising or disagreeing with you I really do think you're doing yourself no favours with this. As a Scot, I could jump on your minority bandwagon but won't as it would achieve nothing and, more to the point, it has nothing to do with the op.
Please just stop and ask yourself if this has gone far enough and stop digging.

Thank you grumppa, I will not wait for those who accused me of saying it to apologise , but I am grateful to you

Sorry not to have been around to defend myself, I had to go to Waitrose - there's an admission - and thanks to those stepped in on my behalf.

No, ab, you did not accuse me of racism, but I cannot see how what I wrote could be seen as an attack on free speech. I was trying to suggest that the minorities card can perhaps be overplayed, since it is one to which we can all have recourse if we try hard enough. But I would never suggest any minority should be denied free speech, only that it might lose the attention of its audience. In the wise words of a character in Asterix le Gaulois, "Bis repetita non placent toujours pas", I think. I cannot verify my references as my Asterix books are in tbe loft and I am in the King's Head.

Man the lifeboats! Abandon ship! It's the only way out!

And that is a reason for the jibe from Jane10,

Well, posts from and to you have rather dominated the last bit of the thread, ab !

You just couldn't leave me out of it could you Jane10 .