Theresa May 3

ana I have only ever had one major argument in my life, apart from probably my teenage years, and that was with someone who was totally intolerant of an autistic black child Wesley and his mother . I cannot repeat what was said by that person, but I am ashamed to say that I totally lost it. Mind you I amazed myself as to how articulate and lethal I was-something I never normally am.

I see shades of this intolerance on this site at times.

that's true Elegran who knows who reads them and where they may be reprinted.

I'm surprised, whitewave. You used to seem so level-headed and tolerant.

You've no idea of the discipline i am trying to follow!! insults would be the least of my feelings.

Who knows who may read them, rose? They are to be found by search engines when people Google key words from them, and there has even been an online course about forums which contained a direct link to one of the threads as an example. Do you remember the strange posts that appeared on it from students who thought they could us as guineapigs for their studies?

I understand ww but it has to be done without insults.

I like the idea that our posts maybe so important that they can't be lost to posterity!

rose but the point is the immigration numbers are going to be limited -full stop. One would hope end of story. But I an extremely uncomfortable at this subject being brought up at every opportunity, and our attention being brought to bear on these "others".

I was wondering too Elegran as I hadn't thought it was nasty at all, good idea to reinstate it.

I must say I was wondering, Elegran, but I knew it couldn't have been anything deliberately offensive...

My reason for reposting it is not that it is an incredibly important post that shouldn't be lost to posterity, but because I remember a comment about another of someone's posts, "It must have beeen very bad to be deleted." and I want it recorded that this one wasn't nasty!!

I am reposting a deleted post with the full-length version of a word that I shortened as a "quote" which is often used against people of that nationality, not as a term I myself would have used. I hope this version does not offend anyone enough for it to be reported and/or deleted again.

A small corner shop near me is run by a very pleasant Asian couple - probably Indian or Pakistani - who have also started a post office counter. The back wall, one long side wall and the wall on the street are covered in shelves, so the windows are obscured. The fourth wall has the till and PO counter, and an island unit runs down the middle. There is very little space unused, but they have a good variety of stuff in stock.

It is definitely not a "horrible little British corner shop" or a more modern "horrible little Pakistani corner shop" it is a local corner shop, used by many of the mostly white British middle-class inhabitants of this Edinburgh suburb. The owners know what they are selling and run the post office efficiently, and have a smile for their customers.

Of course, the attitude of a shopkeeper can depend to a large extent on the attitude of the customer as she walks in, wearing a smile or a suspicious glower around.

ww just as it follows that EU and other immigrants can be exceedingly nice neighbours and open cafes and shops, there are also the other kind ( yes! Just like British people) we keep getting this 'noble native' theme, when there are plenty of terrible ( for instance) Eastern European run slave type brothels, and nail bars .
Let us be sensible about it all.The main thing that is happening here, is sheer numbers, uncontrolled immigration was always going to be a bad thing, put pressures on all infra structures and make locals resentful as to the way their towns were going and looking.

Of course EU migrants start businesses and create jobs! I was chatting to one earlier today. He bravely opened an ice-cream cafe in the middle of last winter and has employed various young people to work there since. He's now got a licence to sell his ice cream in a beauty spot in the summer and has taken over the cafe in his village (a much loved cafe that was recently closed down due to a retirement) and is going to bring an important village focal point back to life. And, no doubt, create a few jobs in the process.

mair I simply don't recognise your world. It seems full of "others" who are not friendly, inward looking and generally bad for Britain. It bears absolutely no similarity to my experience at all. I have an African neighbour who works in mental health. He is a new father and invited us in to met his new son. We enjoyed afternoon tea with home made lemon drizzle made by himself surrounded by Masai artefacts and cow hide. He is the perfect neighbour. His garden would put most people to shame and is quintessentially English, but go into his house and it is gloriously African -I love it.

We have Polish shops that are busy and welcoming. We have a huge oriental shop selling the most divine stuff.

Where are all these "others" you seem so keen to persuade us exist?

As regards smiling I have always been told it is the role of the shopkeeper to welcome the customer with smile and a cheery good morning, not the other way around!

Trish said:

No they probably wouldn't have what you wanted they are a Polish shop. I assume you wouldn't expect B&Q to stock chips etc

On the contrary as I went in for a jar of morello cherries I had every reason to expect them to stock it.

#stereotypedassumptions

inward looking and appear to be targeting only their own ethnic base.

I think the same could well be said of the shops I've seen in France which are clearly catering for the UK immigrant population. Awash with all the favourite Brit foodstuffs. But no doubt you think it's perfectly understandable that Brits living abroad would want to buy familiar foods and the French shouldn't mind it in the least (which I don't suppose they do).

As someone who grew up in a corner shop we never had papered over windows. The window space was quite small, wooden backing and there was a little door into it so yu could make a 'display'. Understandable perhaps that if you didn't want to do this you might paper the window. You couldn't see into the shop from the window anyway.
Mair I always find a big smile and a "Good Morning" helps if you are worried about the staff. No they probably wouldn't have what you wanted they are a Polish shop. I assume you wouldn't expect B&Q to stock chips etc.

We cannot say 'all foreign corner shops good' or all foreign corner shops bad either.

Certainly not, and the by now 'traditional' Pakistani corner shops were run for the entire community, but most (maybe not all, but certainly all in my town) of the Eastern European run stores are very different, inward looking and appear to be targeting only their own ethnic base.

Other people have commented on this too, and the papered over windows, even my DS who lives in a very multi ethnic area of a large city described them as not very 'customer friendly'.

We can't even say "All British-owned shops are good" or bad - there is a lot of variety in the welcome, the cleanliness and the choice on the shelves.

I love all the choice these shops bring us. We don't really have little corner shops in my part of the woods, but there are oriental stores and Polish shops together with a Italian - loads of others. I love the smells and exploring food I've never seen. If you ask they are always really pleased to help and explain recipes etc.

When at Uni there was a lovely get together of as many female nationalities as we could where we discussed our lives and life experiences etc. The memory of that experience has stayed with me all my life, as it was so obvious that as women we had so much in common - it overrode nationality. The empathy we felt for each other was a highlight. We even all swapped recipes. One of the best I got from Mary from Sierra Leone. I shall remember her all my life.

We cannot say 'all foreign corner shops good' or all foreign corner shops bad either.
The Turkish run shop we used to have in a village where we lived was great, fresh produce and always a smile for the customer.The village where we are now has a Teso shop( frosted windows not paper!) and is good, but it used to be run by an Asian couple for years and was terrible, out of date goods, not very clean, no receipts issued and certainly no smile or any form of welcome or thanks.

Happy now?

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