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Foreigners

(619 Posts)
Granny23 Wed 05-Oct-16 12:09:59

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/firms-must-list-foreign-workers-gw20ndp5x

Saw this report this am and my blood ran cold. Is this - lists of all foreigners - not the beginning of a very slippery slope which leads to yellow stars sewn on to clothing?

I'm wondering what constitutes a 'FOREIGNER'? Surely not my very good French born Scottish friend who has lived, worked, been married in the UK for nearly 50 years? Or the 3rd generation Asian Scots who run our local convenience store? Or the music teacher who coaches the Wee Community steel band - she's from the USA (and one of the drummers is (shock horror) German. Or the Syrian and Polish families now at school with my DGC. What about DH's Consultants? The last one was from New Zealand, the Current one is, I think, Indian. Will the Houses of Parliament have to list all the MPs and Lords who were born elsewhere.

Am I the only one to hear alarm bells ringing in my ears more loudly than usual? Have we reached a tipping point, where rampant British Nationalism is the only mantra?

obieone Sat 08-Oct-16 08:29:17

I actually think in life, it goes around in circles rather than be a straight line "forward" a lot of the time.

Education [totally controlled, back to "free" schools], religion[house churches to very controlled by the "top"], and attitudes to many issues.

I think it is a big mistake to think that thoughts and ideas are long gone.

Anya Sat 08-Oct-16 09:09:39

Where I lived previously was a thriving market garden industry. It was seasonal and thus many locals wouldn't take the jobs because they either wanted full time work or because it was sheer hard grind.

So the companies relied on Spanish workers who came for the summer season and were housed on site in caravans and the odd, intrepid student who wanted summer work. Without them the crops would've lain in the fields and greenhouses, unpicked. That didn't stop a certain element moaning that 'they' we're taking 'our jobs'.

I don't see this altering unless these workers feel unwelcome and choose to take their skills elsewhere. And that would be disastrous.

Anniebach Sat 08-Oct-16 10:18:27

1960 I was dating a black South African , relatives in Watford asked me not to take him to their home. What was so strange was we were treated differently if he was wearing his dog collar

Galen Sat 08-Oct-16 11:01:11

I actually campaigned for labour in Smethwick in that campaign. A group of us from Birmingham university drove over and went door door to door.
It was the only time in my life I have been politically active, and I've been Tory ever since. That was a one-off..

trisher Sat 08-Oct-16 12:04:47

There is a difference between knowing which firms have more than 25% foreign workers and listing the workers.
Step 1- Listing
Step 2 Identification badges
Step 3 Restrict movement of IDed workers.
Step 4 is too horrible to contemplate.

Jalima Sat 08-Oct-16 12:17:23

anniebach I can remember Desmond Tutu coming to our church along with other students from Cambridge, that would have been about 1957.

rosesarered Sat 08-Oct-16 12:21:10

What is step 4 Trisher ( in your view?)

Jalima Sat 08-Oct-16 12:23:37

It must have been later than 1957, I was older as far as I remember!

Jalima Sat 08-Oct-16 12:30:09

Are these actual plans, trisher? Do you have inside information?

Or are such posts as these imaginative scaremongering?

Mind, you, nothing would surprise me, particularly the way the Labour Party is whitewashing its anti-semitism these days.

petra Sat 08-Oct-16 12:33:48

Identification badges! It's almost laughable.

durhamjen Sat 08-Oct-16 12:42:53

Why is it only the Labour Party that gets mentioned as being anti-semitic?
At least they produced a report. Still waiting for the Tory one.

durhamjen Sat 08-Oct-16 12:44:10

edgar1981.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/which-british-political-party-is-most.html

Anniebach Sat 08-Oct-16 12:45:06

Jalima, my friend was studying here, he may have been one of those students , I was invited to meet Arch Bishop Tutu when he came here after the end of apartheid , tea in a tent ?. My friend was murdered in Pretoria prison and I was so pleased he was remembered all those years later

nigglynellie Sat 08-Oct-16 13:49:20

I remember when I was at school in the fifties that Father Trevor Huddleston was invited to talk to us all at a special assembly. Unfortunately I was only about 13, so I can't really remember the talk, but I do remember him taking High Mass on Sunday and taking the time to chat to some of us. He was I think a very kindly man.

trisher Sat 08-Oct-16 15:32:46

Step 4 is of course the creation of ghettos and the removal of workers to "labour camps".
Jalima is it scaremongering to remember the very same things were done not such a long time ago? I had a German friend who openly admitted that her mother was a Hitler supporter. She said her mother was terrified that the starvation she had experienced after WW1 would return and that Hitler presented a solution to the economic problems. Blaming the Jews for the economic problems was part of this, much as there is now an attempt to blame migrant workers in this country.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana. The Life of Reason

whitewave Sat 08-Oct-16 16:10:55

Myths help to unit. The trick is to recognise that the rhetoric is based on myth.

Ana Sat 08-Oct-16 16:45:22

What rhetoric are you talking about, whitewave?

whitewave Sat 08-Oct-16 17:04:29

I think the government would do well to look at all the foreign government employees before it targets private companies. It could begin by not employing any foreigner and then extending this policy to getting rid of existing ones.

If they need any assistance I would like to refer them to the edicts from the Reichstag April 1933.

rosesarered Sat 08-Oct-16 17:08:47

I wondered how long it would be before Nazi Germany was introduced into the thread, surprised it took so long really.

whitewave Sat 08-Oct-16 17:10:26

Are you denying my point rose?

durhamjen Sat 08-Oct-16 17:12:20

That's what you get for asking, roses.

Ana Sat 08-Oct-16 17:14:02

Yes, answering a question with a question - a well-known tactic! Used a lot by politicians...

rosesarered Sat 08-Oct-16 17:14:39

We are not Germany in the 1930's, therefore the Government does not need to study any edicts from the Reichstag.Why must posters go so OTT all the time, it's weird.

Ana Sat 08-Oct-16 17:14:58

Actually, roses didn't ask a question, durhamjen. I did, but didn't get an answer (or a question!).

whitewave Sat 08-Oct-16 17:15:39

And sniping counts as good argument/debate?