Our Towns Are Becoming Like Foreign Countries.

[anotheoldgit]

/// http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264799/Our-towns-like-foreign-country-Locals-cope-immigrants-says-mother-TV-clash-academic.html ///

Who should we believe, someone that actually lives in Boston, and who has person experience of the problem, or some Cambridge University classics professor?

[boxtops]

There are pockets everywhere - we had loads a few years back - but Mrs Bull is right about the agricultural connection. A lot of the people who work in the fields and greenhouses are from foreign parts. However - I don't mind integration, they are working and contributing. Our Polish and Czech shops have some great food, and I like to learn about their culture. The DM (unsurprisingly) thinks otherwise...

[sandyRoe]

"...hospitals and schools are struggling to cope..."
Most of the newcomers would be young people employed in the local farming industry. They'd be the group least likely to need hospital services.

[naomi24]

I know many areas that could easily pass for foreign countries - and not just in agricultural communities. Education and common sense don't necessarily go hand in hand.

[boxtops]

we get a lot of travellers in this county too - they make very little pressure on health or education, as they move on all the time.

[VHG]

If I was to go to suburbs of Birmingham like Sparkhill or Small Heath I could probably walk down the High st and be the only white person.

If I stood outside a school in those areas and watch the children go in I would probably not see a single white child going into the school (probably white teachers going in but no white children).

In those areas 30% (THIRTY PERCENT) of cars are uninsured.

That is a scandalous situation and one that our politicians should hang their head in shame for allowing to happen.

There are many people who now feel a stranger in their own country.

[jno]

you think there are no immigrants in Cambridge so she can never have seen one?

[jno]

VHG, if cars are being driven uninsured, isn't that a police failure? Perhaps it isn't wise to reduce police numbers?

[daffy654]

I live in a large village that has in recent years had an influx of Polish and Lithuanian immigrants. Our doctor surgery has had to close their lists to new patients because of it until they can employ another GP.

[Svejk]

Jno, not in the classics dept.

[jno]

you think so, thetaliesin?

http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/faculty/staff-bios/academic-research-staff/

[boxtops]

I went to a meeting here a few years back about health service provision here, some of our wards are recognised areas of high deprivation. A woman who said she came from a posh village stood up and said "but where are all these poor people? I've never seen them!" I'll never forget that - this sounds a bit like more of the same.

[Svejk]

I see no immgrants on the list you went to all the trouble of posting, jno.
Would you care to point them out to me?

[naomi24]

I've no doubt the professor has seen immigrants, but she clearly hasn't seen what this lady is talking about - and I don't think it should be dismissed so lightly by those who applaud mass immigration. I was talking to someone only this week whose child is in a school where 27 languages are spoken - and that doesn't bode well for anyone's education. Resources are stretched and public services are under a tremendous strain – that cannot be denied.

[jno]

that's the thing, thetaliesin - it's hard to tell, isn't it?

[jno]

there were 20-odd languages spoken at jno jnr's school; it didn't stop him getting his MA, so saying "it doesn't bode well for anyone's education" seems wde of the mark.

[naomi24]

Good for him. Perhaps he was one of the brighter ones who managed without too much encouragement.

[sp1814]

We need to separate two different types of immigrants.

The are those who work temporarily in the building, agriculture and hospitality industries, whose work is seasonal, and who don't plan to stay long term; and those who move here permanently.

I have to admit, my perception of immigrants is a little skewed because I grew up in a very racially mixed part of south London, so the idea of the changes to Britian through immigration pass right over my head (becaus from my pint of view, it's always been thus).

But back to the two types of immigrant. I've seen documentaries which have show parts of Birmingham as being almost exclusively Asian. This will never ever change now, and that's partly because of low housing costs and the 'white flight' (which is never reversed).

Hoŵever, here's the question about permanent immigrants...if local services are under pressure, why aren't taxes gathered used to extend them? As we know, there is a high proportion of Asians who own their own businesses. What happens to their business rates? What happens to their council tax contributions? What happens to their NI contributions?

I appreciate that there's the myth that immigrants claim more in benefits than native born Britons and am happy to provide the link to fullfact (again), so the question remains - where is their money going to?

Also with regards to their uninsured cars - perhaps if the police weren't so busy every weekend in town centres up and down the country trying to manage drunk and drugged up 20-something's getting into fights, passing out with their skirts hitched up around their waists and and defecating on our high streets like animals, they would have more time to do real police work.

(Check out 'Booze Britain' for that - horrifying).

Oh and as for the seasonal workers, you have to ask yourself...what would happen if the Poles and other Eastern European workers suddenly stopped coming over to do the menial work that we won't do?

What would happen to our food prices for a start?

What would happen to inflation (native Britons would demand higher wages for the jobs the immigrants do perfectly well). Would we even be able to get Britons away from their flat screen televisions and X-Boxes to go to work at 05:00am to clean offices?

Difficult questions.

[zebo]

I was told, as Head of Maths in a High School, that it was racist to ask for supply teachers who could speak reasonable English.
Yes, Cambridge and Cambridgeshire do have non-English speaking residents but the woman from Boston was speaking the truth about Boston, and it also applies to other towns in East Anglia, go to Wisbech for example.

[daffy654]

I grew up In Leicester and Birmingham so am very familiar with what sp is describing. I can honestly say that I know more unemployed white Britons than unemployed Immigrants.

That doesn't detract from the fact that schools and medical services are stretched to breaking point in some areas, as local (and national) government don't seem to be trying to ease the situation by providing more schools, teachers etc.

[Mosaic]

Zebo is touching on part of the issue: in academic circles it is career suicide NOT to take the stance that Mary Beard took. You simply may not be anything other than totally in favour of all forms of cultural integration, as you must also be non gender-specific. Someone is always around to take your place and I'm sure Mary Beard likes her current job as she is so good at it.