Immigration and migrants

Agree!

Why do people not grasp that people who enter the UK legally, and people who were born in the UK, regardless of their skin colour, ethnic background and religion are part of our society. It’s not ‘illegal migrants’ who are protesting for goodness sake, it’s British people.
Just look at the numbers of people legally moving to the UK every year - it’s as plain as the nose on your face, but still you don’t see it. If the UK is ‘too crowded’ then address that with the government.

Curtaintwitcher

[Message deleted by GNHQ].

To single out a specific cohort as you have, is both racist and untrue.

There are many Muslims throughout England, I have worked with many countrywide, some are even married to British people.

Be concerned about mass immigration by all means, but don’t blame specific races/religions for our own politicians failings.

It's much more complex than just blaming everything on politicians. Also a lot depends on where you live. I suspect that it's pretty scary living in some areas. Did you see the photos last weekend if a whole London street blocked by Muslims men praying? The luckily, aborted, plan to take over the running of schools in Birmingham a few years ago was scary. Demands for prayer room in schools etc. Other ethnic and religious groups don't do this. I think it's understandable that some people are uncomfortable with the sheer number of Muslims moving here.

Cossy

Milliedog

It's easy to say 'They're human beings. Let them come to us'. And many of us did exactly that and hosted Ukrainians. Those Ukrainians are now beginning to look for homes here, but rental properties are so difficult to come by. Rents in my daughter's area are now astronomical. Not all who come here are trained health care professionals, so it has had an impact on hospital waiting lists. In my grandson's class, he's one of a tiny handful of children whose 1st language is English. That must have had a big impact on both teachers and pupils. So I'll finish with this. It sounds great, kind and open hearted to say 'Let all who want to come to the UK come.' But only say it if you don't care that there's not enough housing for your children or grandchildren. Only say it if you want your hip replacement to be a dot on the horizon. Only say it if you are willing to open your home to someone for at least 6 months. We did that and it was a privilege, but it also meant sharing a kitchen with another woman and it being extremely difficult to have family come to stay because of the bedroom situation. So, it may be useful to think about the practicalities of completely open borders before you offer our country to one and all.

I’ve never, not even once, stayed “let them all come”.

I’ve said consider that these people are human, to dehumanise them is to forget completely that there but for the grace of god go I. We are fortunate enough to live in the free democratic country due to an accident of birth only.

Let’s remember that.

I loathe the face that these humans rush their own lives, and that of their families, and sometimes spend their life savings, to get into small unsafe boats or large airless lorries. The only people benefitting long term are the human traffickers.

So they are spending their life savings to get to the UK knowing full well that they will arrive penniless, through their own choice, and expect us to pick up the tab. Sounds about right!!

Brilliant post, @Cossy. I agree wholeheartedly and with the comments from @wheniwasyourage too. Thank you.

Aveline

It's much more complex than just blaming everything on politicians. Also a lot depends on where you live. I suspect that it's pretty scary living in some areas. Did you see the photos last weekend if a whole London street blocked by Muslims men praying? The luckily, aborted, plan to take over the running of schools in Birmingham a few years ago was scary. Demands for prayer room in schools etc. Other ethnic and religious groups don't do this. I think it's understandable that some people are uncomfortable with the sheer number of Muslims moving here.

But that’s a different issue Aveline, because the Muslim protesters and those wanting to manage schools are British citizens and legal migrants. There is a huge political dimension to this.

Cossy

Curtaintwitcher

[Message deleted by GNHQ].

To single out a specific cohort as you have, is both racist and untrue.

There are many Muslims throughout England, I have worked with many countrywide, some are even married to British people.

Be concerned about mass immigration by all means, but don’t blame specific races/religions for our own politicians failings.

It’s neither racist nor untrue.
Labour has lost a lot of the votes in heavily Muslim areas due to Gaza and groups have lobbied MP’s about it, putting pressure on and trying to influence Labour’s stance.

Couldn't agree more, Cossy. The Media and the government talk about illegal entry. For many years there has been no legal entry means for asylum seekers and as far as I'm aware there still isn't. (Apart from extenuating circumstances such as the war in Ukraine.) There is no such thing as an 'asylum visa' the only way to claim asylum in the UK is to actually be in the UK.

Now we’ve had a few days of really good weather we can expect more boats to arrive loaded with people.

The total number for this year has soared to 8,278 which is a jump of 34% from last year! That was last week’s figure so probably add another 1,000 to that.

The Home Office (as of last week) are only aware of where 38% of these people are.

Source: Migration Watch UK

I’ve only just joined Gransnet and this is the first thing I have read and my first post. I am thrilled to find there are people on this forum who think as I do wrt immigrants and the appalling propaganda against them spewed out by some newspapers and our government who mainly try to make them responsible for their ineptitude in keeping basic services in this country running.

I wonder if there are any GN people here of the Muslim faith and how on earth they must be feeling?

Intrigued to get some links ( other than Michaela) about Muslims demanding prayer rooms.

Primrose53

Now we’ve had a few days of really good weather we can expect more boats to arrive loaded with people.

The total number for this year has soared to 8,278 which is a jump of 34% from last year! That was last week’s figure so probably add another 1,000 to that.

The Home Office (as of last week) are only aware of where 38% of these people are.

Source: Migration Watch UK

Frightening. We only have figures for those whose arrival is detected. So many arrive undetected and disappear. Like you, Primrose, I live in an area where this happens. Such people arrive and live under the radar. Officially then don’t exist so they disappear into the black economy. Is this acceptable to anyone here?

It's much more complex than just blaming everything on politicians. Also a lot depends on where you live. I suspect that it's pretty scary living in some areas. Did you see the photos last weekend if a whole London street blocked by Muslims men praying?

I'm afraid I completely fail to see what is so scary about a street full of men praying, Aveline. Inconsiderate, annoying, yes. But 'scary'?

It's nice that you are comfortable with these people taking over a whole road for prayers. No other religious group does that or feels that it is acceptable to others in our cities.

The Whit Walks?

Clue in the name - walks!

It doesn't scare me, Aveline.

I find conflating praying, a peaceful action, with being 'scared' is a bit hysterical. Are you expecting them all to leap to their feet once the prayer is over and start a massacre of unbelievers?

This thread is about Immigration and migrants, Rwanda. Thank you Cossie for having the patience to repeat a moderate approach of trying to tackle problems at source - ie faster processing/deportation, putting the resources into tackling the gangs, balancing compassion with firmness.

(Trouble is, in a long thread, we get a lot of repetition of points)

I'm concerned that we are conflating the topic with race, they are not the same thing.

MaizieD

It doesn't scare me, Aveline.

I find conflating praying, a peaceful action, with being 'scared' is a bit hysterical. Are you expecting them all to leap to their feet once the prayer is over and start a massacre of unbelievers?

Clearly she is!

I have a very close friend who has a property in Turkey. I’ve visited many times. I’m woken at 5:00am if I leave my window open as it’s near a beautiful mosque, listening to the gentle, rhythmic chanting. It’s rather wonderful, not at all scary. Last year the pair of us, in our 60’s, undertook a 6 day road trip around parts of Turkey, staying in very small B&Bs and very often way off the beaten track, eating lunch in tiny roadside cafes. No problems or issues or anything to be scared about.

“Frightening. We only have figures for those whose arrival is detected. So many arrive undetected and disappear. Like you, Primrose, I live in an area where this happens. Such people arrive and live under the radar. Officially then don’t exist so they disappear into the black economy. Is this acceptable to anyone here?”

GSM

Absolutely not acceptable at all. I’m not sure anyone thinks it is, it’s wrong in so many ways, not the least knowing some these trafficked “disappearing” people will end up in awful situations with no rights or protection. Obviously they are not contributing to our economy either.

Aveline

Clue in the name - walks!

"Taking over a whole road"

Clue in the name, hence road closure for Whit Walks and the Italian Procession ( off the top of my head) Probably a lot more.
N Ireland?

Nannashirlz

Our country has doubled since the 70s we can’t house these young fighting age men. My step grandson had 5 new classmates in one week with very badly spoken English. Why should my neighbor go through all the paperwork and pay to live here when she could have just jumped in a dinghy for free. Call me right wing far right or whatever I don’t care but look how these ppl are shouting all the rubbish teachers in hiding. For all you do goodies with your arms open wide how many of these fighting age men are you housing. No i didn’t think so.

Don't play with the facts. UK population in 1974 was 56.3 million. It's now 67.8 million. Hardly doubled, has it?

Cossy

MaizieD

It doesn't scare me, Aveline.

I find conflating praying, a peaceful action, with being 'scared' is a bit hysterical. Are you expecting them all to leap to their feet once the prayer is over and start a massacre of unbelievers?

Clearly she is!

I have a very close friend who has a property in Turkey. I’ve visited many times. I’m woken at 5:00am if I leave my window open as it’s near a beautiful mosque, listening to the gentle, rhythmic chanting. It’s rather wonderful, not at all scary. Last year the pair of us, in our 60’s, undertook a 6 day road trip around parts of Turkey, staying in very small B&Bs and very often way off the beaten track, eating lunch in tiny roadside cafes. No problems or issues or anything to be scared about.

The religion of this country is not, as yet Islam. I hope it never will be, but many immigrants would wish it to be. That is totally unacceptable.

Oh dear GSM even when talking to my many Moslem ex-colleagues I’ve never once heard them express the desire to make the UK an Islam based country, in fact many of them have embraced our Christian values and respect them, as I respect theirs.