Cameron - friend of Muslim women?

That was in answer to pen's post at 20:47.

I understand and accept (agree with) that point of view, pen. I think where my point of view perhaps differs from yours is that I also think that Islamism (the ideology, not the people) is a problem that our government (and other European governments) should have faced up to and tackled sooner. I don't accept that it is all our fault.

roses when was the golden age in UK of welcoming immigrants?

roses, your post at 20:44:24. Been thinking the same thing. ?

Are the Welsh competing to be the most balanced nation on earth then?
It is supposed to be the Australians, chips on both shoulders
(sorry, that is a DH joke, and it is a joke) [ducks for cover]

Well, it is well-meaning but ill-thought out imo
A friend had a mother who was German and her father was English. They lived in London. Neither got to grips with the other's language and she, from the age of about 3 or 4, used to interpret for her parents and for her mother when they went out.

Penstemmon that may be your view, but think you are way overthinking things.As another poster said , there will be years and years of all sorts of Conservative policies for people to have a pop at, but this one, really??

Do excuse me Rosesarered, I yawned

Actually, more of a boulder than a chip!

We must have other Welsh Gnetters, but they don't all do this 'chip on the shoulder ' thing all the time.

thatbags I, like other GNers, have run classes, support groups etc etc taught English 1-1 to adult Muslim women over the years, including members of my family, starting in the early 70s. I am all for women learning English and I have seen how empowering it has been.

According to the report I heard the amount of money identified for this project equates to £100 per person identified as not speaking good enough English. It is a token gesture

What makes me angry is not that it is not a good thing to support women to learn English and open opportunities for them but that this has only happened for calculated political capital. It is also shrouded in a wider agenda about terrorism and deportation which I feel makes the gesture even more disingenuous. If resources had been focussed on properly supporting newcomers to the UK years ago and policies put in place to really support integration we may not be in the unhappy situation we are now.

Oh some are on the defensive

If we can mention Wales, can I just say that it can be very difficult for children whose first language is not English to come to Wales and have to learn both Welsh and English.

I know this because a friend is a reception class teacher in Wales (Welsh is her first language) and she has a lot of children from other countries in her class who have to learn both languages.

anniebach somehow you manage to make every other thread all about you, or all about you and Wales.

Nope, I read all the posts.So,people should integrate and learn English, but what then? This country has made a lot of immigrants welcome for the past
Hundred years or so, and mostly, they have learned the language and tried to fit in, while keeping some of their own culture and language ( all well and good) but has been said over and over on here, and in RL you cannot do that if kept more or less in the house and subjugated generally as some Muslim women in the UK certainly are.How to target these women for English lessons will be difficult, but setting aside money to provide for that aim Is only to be applauded.Anyone who thinks differently to that I find genuinely baffling.
I don't agree with your view of the reason the money was offered Penstemon simply because it is not a 'people pleaser', a lot of people won't give two hoots if they have lessons or not.

It's always been my opinion that the left wing intellectuals don't want the poor and uneducated to 'rise obove their station'
Look at the way the last labour government kept throwing benifit payments at the poor and unemployed. That didn't help them, it just kept them in their place, and keep voting labour. Part of Blairs policy when he opened the floodgates in 2002. But he got it wrong, most immigrants ( from Eastern Europe) have aspirations above that.

I think the majority of Welsh people cannot speak Welsh.

They all will in the future

thatbags, the wannabe I am desperate be moderator doesn't want Wales mentioned

How is helping Muslims to speak English in Britain anti-muslim, exactly? Rhetorical question.

Why is it rude to speak Welsh in Wales if some cannot yet not rude to speak english in England it some cannot understand it ?

Not back to Wales again! There is always a welcome in the hillside

No it's not at all rude - unless, of course, people are chuntering away in Welsh criticising strangers who have come into a pub or shop, assuming they are English because one or two of the people they are with are English.
Quite funny when a member of the party can answer the chunterers in Welsh and tell them how much he enjoyed their conversation!

With regard to my last but one post, we have a Conservative government till 2020. I don't see the point of whining about everything they do. Complain about the damaging stuff, sure, but this...?

People are weird.

Does being part of a "minority" bestow on an individual the right to make a sweeping generalisation about the majority, on the basis that they have been on the receiving end of a some rude remarks from a handful of the majority, but unknown to the GN member who is part of a minority, she could possibly have been insulted by a person not entirely English which would make them also a minority. TBH, I think it's very easy to label oneself a minority, my heritage is only part English so I could say I'm a minority. As wordsmith John Prescott might say "we're all a minority now"

thatbags, I have not criticised him putting up money for englidh lessons, I think he should have said he had been wrong to cut it some time ago.

He should not have made it anti Muslim,, why not we are putting up the money to help women who cannot speak English to have English lessons which will make it easier for them to be more independent regarding day to day living in this country

I think the majority of Welsh people cannot speak Welsh. Similarly, the majority of Scots cannot speak Gaelic.

The marjority of Welsh people can speak English as well as Welsh (if indeed they speak Welsh at all). The comparison with immigrants who have no knowledge of English at all doesn't hold up.

Ana I was talking more generically but this 'let's teach these old women English, here is a £100 per head to do so' is a good example of the strategy.