Rants - Immigration et al ...
Here are some of the comments which most challenged me on a 'Have Your Say' on the BBC web site. The whole page can be found here ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/have_your_say/4444081.stm ). The view represented on this page, through the comments of real people, is basically that immigration and asylum both need controlling and to be done sensibly. The one comment in bold is there because frankly, it made me actually gasp with disgust to think that in England, the sight of a St George flag should be banned ANYWHERE except in the private home of one who feels they dislike it. Talk about disgusting political correctness if that is true ...
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Following Tony Blair's Paxman interview this
week, I have even less faith in his ability to get a grip of asylum and illegal
immigration. I refuse to believe that no-one in government has any estimates at
all of the number of illegal immigrants in the country, which leads me to
believe that Blair's refusal to give a figure can only mean it is so high that
there would be outrage. Labour's inability to cope with this issue is also
responsible for the many public misconceptions about legal immigrants, who are
legitimate, essential and positively contributing to the UK.
Ian, Edinburgh, UK
I work for the Immigration Service and I have
seen both genuine refugees and people using wholly unbelievable asylum claims as
a method to stay here and have a better standard of living. It's the knowledge
that they will, in 99% of cases, be temporarily released into the community and
therefore be able to vanish that encourages people to make spurious asylum
claims in this country. Detaining new applicants throughout a fairer process
would go a long way to reducing the asylum intake. And don't even get me started
on the issue of how these people can travel through umpteen different EU
countries before getting here and then STILL be allowed to claim asylum here.
JM, Farnborough, UK
I think a lot of the contributors to this forum
who are pro-immigration have had no experience of mass immigration into their
town. In this regard, I would put forward my own South London birthplace as an
example. I, a white male, felt totally alienated when last visiting the place.
In a number of areas English is a second or even a third language (there is no
need to learn to speak English), the shops signs were all in foreign languages
and the only white faces I saw were those of people who were either too old or
too poor to be able to move out of the area. There is no integration and those
who can, leave. It just scares me that I could in my lifetime I have become a
total stranger in the place of my birth.
Andrew, Woking
I have just read that taxi drivers cannot put
their St George's flags up in case they offend people. The sight of mosques
offends me but it has not stopped them being built.
K Slater, Coventry
The immigration agenda has been set for too long by liberal fascists who have
daubed anyone who disagrees with them as racist. The indigenous population is
now severely diluted and even outnumbered.
Maurice (son of an immigrant), Burton England
I don't have a problem with having immigrants in
the country. But, on a recent visit to my local hospital my daughter's doctor
didn't understand a word I was saying and had me looking at medical books to
tell him what was wrong with her. I understand that we're short of medical staff
in England but please, this is our children's health on the line here. If
medical staff are to be brought in from non English countries please ensure that
they understand English.
Emma, Surrey
The Tories have got the best policy on
immigration and that's who I'll be voting for. I'm sick of feeling like a
stranger in my own country.
Lou, Lowestoft
If only we had an immigration policy like that of
Australia, who only let immigrants in that will add value to the country.
Mark Litten, Gillingham, UK
Why do these asylum seekers not seek refuge in the first safe country they
enter? Because they know this country is a soft touch.
Simon Taylor, Hull, England
The Labour Party has no idea how many illegal
immigrants are in the country, they have sent back very few, and have done
nothing constructive apart from border controls, which has helped little. Why
should we believe that things will change in the future when nothing much has
been done in eight years?
Chris, Halifax
I am a full time working new mother. As I pay so much tax and full time nursery
fees, I can only afford to have one baby. But people are coming in from other
countries and having lots of babies, which we are paying for. This it is not
fair.
Susan Ratcliffe, Ashton under Lyne, Lancs
It's ironic that an island with sea borders seems to be the easiest to get into.
Why is our own indigenous population unable to do all these jobs that we so
urgently need the asylum seekers and immigrants to do?
Steward, Hampshire, England
I think it's shameful the way immigration has become a political football.
Lumping immigrants in with asylum seekers confuses the issue. The UK has no
bigger an immigrant problem than any other developed nation. Moreover, our
heritage is composed of a long a rich immigrant tradition that has made us who
we are today.
Igor Goldkind, Charlbury, UK
Any UK citizen should be able to discuss
immigration and asylum without being called a racist. Immigrants should be
welcomed into the country if they have a genuine reason to be accepted. Anyone
who is accepted must be integrated with UK culture, otherwise there will be
increasing unrest amongst UK citizens.
Alex Gardner, London
We are an overcrowded island. The roads are
clogged, there is nowhere to park - there are too many people living here
already. Immigration needs to be controlled and the only person who is prepared
to stick his neck on the block on this issue is Michael Howard
Andrew Fairfoull, Warrington
Having worked in local government and a lifelong
citizen I think I have the right to comment and reflect on immigration. Working
in social services I saw first hand the amount of deception and corruption that
was at work. How can Labour tell me that they have this under control?
Lee, Slough
The weird thing about immigration in the UK is that people talk about whether
it's a debate they should be having. I've lived in six countries and in every
single one immigration and the closely linked erosion/ evolution of national
identity is an issue everyone is concerned with and debates openly and outside
Europe from a far more nationalist and racist viewpoint than the Brits would
ever dream of lowering themselves to.
Mahmood, London, UK