Immigration policies in the UK

Sally, that's on the very massive "to do" list. And I really wish I could devote more time to the site. Sadly, I have even less time than I used to at the moment. Don't give up on us though, things will get better.

Hmmm.. starting to sound like a politician now!

The figures are distorted as most people are too frightened to say they are opposed to immigration in case anyone accuses them of being 'racist'. Few people seem to understand that saying you don't want other people around you, burdening the infrastructure you've paid for and they haven't, or even simply saying you don't like people of certain nationalities is not racist.

As this conversation has taken place before, I am not going to respond to comments asking me to 'explain' what racism is. Use that wonderful combination of a dictionary and your brain to work it out. By the way it's spelt racist, not rascist, and racism, not rascism. Most people can't even spell it let alone know the meaning.

Now this might be racist : http://www.blacknews.com/images/blackbabies.gif

And another thing, when immigration is mentioned by politicians they always refer to NET IMMIGRATION, because this is of course a much lower figure than actual immigration.

A YouGov poll says that 69% of adults want immigration cut and 79% think that England is overcrowded.
Amazing, therefore 31% don’t want or are not bovvered about immigration and 21% do not consider England to be overcrowded.
Don’t people get it, WE ARE FULL UP.
Aren’t rats supposed to desert the sinking ship?
Hmmm...... I forgot....they are... anyone born here who has a marketable skill is emigrating.
I wish I could join them

What is happening with this "No to 70 million" petition site?

About 11pm last night it had recorded over 80,000 signatures. Now it is giving the figure as 74,297 14 hours later!

What is going on?

Kenny, is there any chance links will go back to being hyperlinked or whatever you call it where people can just click on it?

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19658

Yes, but if you agree with it why not just sign it anyway ?

What if it reaches 10 million signatures? Wouldn't you at least like to embarrass the hell out of them?

All very well but they will just ignore what we think, see what happened to the last petition that reached 100,000; Cameron made sure it went no further by threatening anyone who wanted it to progress further.
That’s democracy for you!
Next election vote for Mickey Mouse and put the b****** politicians out of work!

If you think that the population is rising unsustainably fast then sign the petition:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/19658

I don't know if it will do any good but we can at least tell them what we think.

British jobs for British people is an admirable goal but demonstrably not achievable for many reasons. That is why people from outside were brought in. Don't blame them for taking what was offered to them, blame a succession of pathetic useless lying politicians for allowing it to happen.

"Ask any British person what they think of the eastern Europeans." Why don't you ask all 52 million and let me know? How did I get to 52 million? Work it out.

The poles are good ?????? Yeah whatever -Fraudsters -it was on the news ID fraud is their game now !!!
Close the Borders & ship them out !

BRITISH JOBS FOR BRITISH PEOPLE !!!

miserablemoaninggit : I don't even read Sam the Tiger's pretentious verbose piffle, and I really can't see much point in quoting screeds of someone else's views.

It's not just shop assistants and servers at food outlets whose English is poor, it's employees of public utilities and so on, at which level it becomes a far more serious problem.

Sam the Tiger, trust you to essentially kill the discussion.
MikeP is correct - I have some relatives in Canada and have made many visits there. As with the UK, there seems to be a lot of concern about the level of immigration and certainly the very poor English of many shop assistants, servers at food outlets, etc is quite clear (which is, of course, somewhat ironic).

My posting at 0646 this morning form another time zone didn't make sense as I omitted vital words ........

It should have said :

"Speak for yourself, not for others, many Canadians are deeply unhappy with the way many areas have been taken over by immigrants who make little effort to contribute, and how so many who work in customer facing positions DO NOT speak English (or French if and where that matters) properly. "

That is currently a huge problem (oh .. sorry ... issue!) in larger cities especially Toronto.

Res ipsa loquitur analogously applicable - from your own legal precedents: Scott vs. London, et al. (1865) and Bryne vs Boadle (1863). Below, from our National Post.

Canada's education system: 'a gift beyond compare'
Indira Samarasekera, National Post · Oct. 18, 2011 | Last Updated: Oct. 18, 2011 3:07 AM ET

In the lead-up to Citizenship Week (October 17-23), Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, asked four Canadian citizens born abroad to share their thoughts on what our country means to them. In today's first installment: University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera tells her immigration story.

I became a Canadian citizen in 1980. Looking back over my life, I can see now how Canada became my chosen home. But while I was growing up in Sri Lanka, I had no idea - not even the glimmer of a premonition - that one day I would become a Canadian citizen.

In many ways, my childhood was ideal. I lived in a tropical paradise, full of warm and caring people. I was surrounded by a vibrant extended family that wrapped my childhood within a rich web of myth and mystery, and gave me a strong sense of community responsibility.

Sadly, that paradise was eventually spoiled by ethnic conflict and civil war. When I was six years old, my family and I nearly lost our lives escaping the race riots of 1958. The experience left me deeply conscious of the need to eradicate intolerance and bigotry from our midst.

By the early 1970s, when I was in my early twenties, I knew that my commitment to diversity and tolerance was under attack, and I began to seek an opportunity to leave. In 1975, I applied for and won a Fulbright Scholarship to the University of California, Davis. Newly married, my then-husband and I left Sri Lanka. About 18 months later, we found ourselves in Vancouver where I started my doctorate, and began what turned out to be my life as a Canadian.

Sri Lanka and my family gave me the foundational values on which my life rests, but Canada gave me the space and opportunity to achieve more than I could have imagined. It was here that I found my life's work.

Although I am now president of the University of Alberta, I am by training an engineer, one with a definite pragmatic streak. For my doctorate, I wanted to tackle a practical research problem and I was aware that Canada was a major metals producer. I thought surely there must be interesting challenges in that field that would combine practical problems with academic rigour.

My suspicions were confirmed when I met Keith Brimacombe, a young professor at UBC, who pulled out a paper napkin from his desk drawer outlining a chronic problem plaguing Canada's steel industry. Solving this challenge became the subject of my Ph.D. thesis and the launch of a tremendously rewarding academic and consulting career that opened doors into the steel industry in more than 20 countries, and made it possible for me to apply my talents to the fullest.

This is no small gift. Indeed, I consider it a gift beyond compare. One of Canada's greatest strengths is its investment in unleashing the potential of every individual through education.

Canada's public universities and its public school system provide world-class education to people regardless of their beginnings. I say this not because I am president of one of those universities, but because I am a fortunate beneficiary of that Canadian public education. It transformed my life and the lives of my two children. Like so many Canadians, I believe that we should not underestimate the power of education to uplift the lives of individuals and change society for the better.

It is such a privilege for me to now be in a position to give back to Canada through the very channel that has given me such personal and professional satisfaction and accomplishment.

My father had a great aunt named Mary Rutman who was a Canadian. A trained doctor, she arrived in Sri Lanka in 1895 (at that time, Ceylon) and found her life's work. Among other things, she opened a hospital for women and mentored the first generation of female doctors. She led the charge for women's right to vote and founded several educational organizations for girls and women. Sri Lanka fuelled Mary Rutman's talents and passions, and she used those talents and passions to change Sri Lanka for the better.

Now, over a century later, Canada has fed my talents and passions as Sri Lanka once did for Mary Rutman. I find the symmetry of this bit of family history inspiring. It is now my hope that I can fully close the circle by serving my chosen country, and the country of Mary Rutman's birth, Canada, with the energy and passion she once gave to her chosen country, and the country of my birth, Sri Lanka.

Dr. Indira Samarasekera is the president and vice chancellor of the University of Alberta. She earned her PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

I remember from some years past that Canada was activly seeking French speaking immigrants, most from Africa.
Also french speakers, native and imported, were encorouged to breed by given massive bounties for each child.
Strange policy.

"We like what we have."
Speak for yourself, not for others, many Canadians are deeply unhappy with the way many areas have been taken over by immigrants who make little effort to contribute, and how so many who work in customer facing positions speak English (or French if and where that matters) properly.

" Immigration is a non-issue here."
What a pompous and pretentious statement. 'Issue' is one of those ridiculous politically correct terms used to sidestep the reality. Let's use the word 'problem'.
Canada was built on immigration, you should know that. It has become a problem to many people and in many parts of the country.

A new Swedish book adds voice to a chorus of voices urging the Swedish government to adopt Canada's immigration system. The Globe and Mail reports the book, titled Kanadamodellen — "The Canada Model," touts our country's targeted immigration programs, points-based recruitment scheme, and ethnic networks of support in major cities that help newcomers find employment.

"We looked at Canada, and we saw that it worked — even though Canadians don't always say this, from a Swedish perspective we felt that Canada is a model that should be followed," Martin Adahl, one of the book's editors, told the Globe.

In Sweden, as in other countries in Europe, governments are struggling with annual influxes of asylum seekers and refugees crossing their borders in large numbers.

These immigrants are typically unemployed in large numbers, marginalized and far poorer than the native-born population. Adhal says immigrants to Canada fare much better than newcomers to countries in Europe because of several factors.

First, it grants immediate access to employment, home and business ownership to new immigrants and refugee claimants.

Second, it has a network of charities and non-governmental organizations that help settle and employ new arrivals. And third, it has a relatively open labour market, in which employers can easily hire and fire people, which makes it easier for immigrants to enter the work force.

The Swedish accolades for our immigration system comes just weeks after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney praised Canada's immigration laws saying the U.S. should study our policies

Specifically, Romney likes Canada's point system where potential immigrants earn points for graduating university, speaking English, or having family in Canada.

"I understand that Canada and Australia have policies that work pretty well," he said at a town hall meeting in Miami.

"You decide what are the attributes that you're looking for, and you provide points on that basis. And people can then go on the web and see where they are, and how many people are ahead of them."

PS - Drawn from Canada Press. We like what we have. Immigration is a non-issue here.

This country has been destroyed. Destroyed and skinned to the bone by our very own beloved Government.

I do not have the time of day for all aliens upon this green and pleasant land.

They have not one ounce of integrity in their wretched bodies.

All they know is sub human European lifestyle, void of all social graces.

I will not communicate with these things in any form. I will also avoid urinating upon them if found to be on fire. I am English. I have the very right to say and write what I like. Very part and parcel of being born and bred in a democratic state. Bite my balls!

The house next door was purchased by a Housing Association some time ago.
The resident at the moment is an Iraq single parent female with two school age children. She appears to be a pleasant person with a good command of the English language.
However I have been told by someone who knows (the missus) that she is/was an asylum seeker and receives the following benefits.

Housing Benefit £84
Rates Benefit £22
Child tax Credit £108
Child benefit £34
Total, £248 a week

This is money out of my pocket as a taxpayer, who gave the government the right to dish it out to anyone who lands on these shores.

No wonder we are swamped by immigrants and asylum seekers.

MikeP, I tend to agree with what you are saying, and my agreement rests upon experience. I am a regular visitor to a friend living in Salford, and his estate - a horrible, treeless, new build affair that is a shocking reflection of the planning process in England - has many Somalians and Nigerians living there. Their gardens are mainly used as rubbish tips; in the few summer days in Salford loud speakers are put outside playing music to a large gathering with no regard for the well-being of the neighbours. Most of them, it seems, do not work because they are there all day and night; most of them seem to have very large families - presumably claiming benefits funded by the taxpayer. I cannot understand why they are in the country, although you're right in that on one level they cannot be blamed because our lax immigration/asylum laws have presented them with a situation to 'improve their lives'. Yes, your also correct in that the gates should have been closed long ago and our incompetent governments - both at Westminster and Brussels - have effectively engineered a situation that most of us intensely dislike but have kept quiet because of the fear of being labelled 'racist'. I also agree with your comments about Polish people - the few I've met were polite, intelligent, hard-working and fully willing to integrate into society. However, despite the fact that something should have been done long ago, this surely does not mean that we should continue with this essentially 'open door' immigration policy. The Coalition government is failing on this issue - as have all governments before. It is this issue that will, more than any other, decide my vote in the next general election - although 3 years into the future will mean that our population has probably grown considerably more due to immigration. Quite frankly, I'm at a loss what to do. Our so-called democracy is broken!