I, personally, feel ambivalent. Mass immigration is undoubtedly a problem. I do have problems with the way certain groups of immigrants have taken over various areas of Britain. It creates a feeling of having been displaced. I do have a problem with intolerant, exclusive religions (Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews are, to my perception, all guilty). I detest the brainwashing of kids.
I would like immigrants to integrate and fully accept British values.
On the other hand I greatly value the cosmopolitan richness of culture, art, dress, dance, theatre, music, food and architecture that other cultures bring to our society.
I’d like a good balance.
Too much immigration creates a feeling of being overrun and I believe this is exactly what Trump and Reform have been tapping into. They have exacerbated this by demonising immigrants. They portray them as scroungers who come here to live off the dole, and, paradoxically, people who are ‘stealing’ our jobs. They are portrayed as evil drug dealers, murderers, rapists, paedophiles and killers of our pets. They are taking up places in our schools and hospitals, receiving preferential treatment with housing and putting great strain on our systems.
The reality is far from that. Until they have been processed immigrants are unable to work. They receive a subsistence level of support of £47.36 a week (try living on that!) and a room – usually in a hostel.
Immigrants are brought in as a ‘cheap’ workforce. They work in the fields, factories, care and hospitality on very low pay! They work hard and do the jobs that others really do not want to do.
Populist politicians portray them as dangerous, work-shy, scroungers who are costing us a fortune and getting preferential treatment. The truth is far different. They are hard-working and greatly contribute to the economy.
One only has to look at the reality. An immigrant before being processed costs us £2,464 a year. The VIP lane of the Tory Party gave out lucrative contracts of billions to their chums. Eg. Lady Mone received £200 million for PPE! Her scam alone would have supported 81,184 immigrants.
The problem with the country is not immigrants. Brexit alone is costing us an estimated £37 billion a year! That’s enough to pay for 15,015,221 immigrants! That’s right 15 million!!
The problem with BROKEN BRITAIN is not immigration; it’s government corruption, Brexit and billionaires/millionaires scamming us! Yet we support the very scammers who have ruined us – Johnson, Farage and Trump!!
Mass immigration needs solving for social cohesion reasons. You don’t solve it with walls; you solve it by dealing with the wars, corrupt regimes, repressive regimes, climate change, poverty and social situations that create it.
Mass immigration didn’t break Britain – the corrupt wealthy along with the Tory and Reform parties did that!
Tax is optional for the wealthy. They use various schemes to shove their money off-shore and avoid paying tax.
Trump has avoided paying tax at all most years!
If the wealthy paid their taxes there would be more than enough for schools, NHS, councils, youth services, libraries, potholes and everything else.
The wealthy scapegoat immigrants and scroungers but the real problem is them!
They even have the nerve to cut welfare in order to get tax cuts on the stuff they do declare!!
They hold us all to ransom. If a government threatens to close the loopholes and tax them fairly they use their wealth and control of the media to whistle up a tornado of lies, fear and outrage. They then threaten to withhold their money to destroy the economy or take it elsewhere.
Until we have a global application of fair tax the wealthy will continue to screw us!
The wealthy are holding us all to ransom. If we threaten to tax them they threaten to take their wealth elsewhere. The take our money in profits from our country and take it to Dubai. They make the country poorer and the poor pay.
We should tax all profits at source!
Make the country richer – tax the rich.
It’s not immigrants and scroungers who are the biggest problem!
There is a problem with mass immigration that needs sorting out. Perhaps we should try looking at the wars, political persecution, extreme poverty and climate change that have led to it?
It is complex.
Fascists love mass immigration. They can use it to distract, divide and breed hate. In the 1930s it was the Jews who were scapegoated by the Nazis. They used the fear to divide and conquer. That resulted in a World War. Fascism was temporarily put back in its box.
In the 2020s it is Muslims and South Americans. They are portrayed as all being terrorists, rapists, drug peddlers, gangsters and murderers. They are robbed off all humanity. The vast majority are hard-working people, working in the fields or poorly paid jobs, who are just trying to escape from terrible situations. But fascists focus on the tiny minority to sow fear and hate. They live vby division and simple answers – build walls, threaten governments.
Meanwhile it’s the billionaires who are making hay, exploiting, manipulating and robbing us.
It’s Arlo Guthrie and Hoyt Axton doing this Woody Guthrie.
He wrote this in 1948 in response to another wave of populist hatred. The media was victimising immigrants and migrant workers.
The workers were brought in from Mexico to work in the fields for a pittance. They were desperate and worked hard. When they were no longer needed they were shipped back and dumped.
A plane crash killed 28 farm workers being shipped back to Mexico. The media reported that they were JUST deportees. Woody thought they were human beings worthy of being named. He wrote those song to give them the dignity they deserved. They were never just anything.
Today we find unsavoury politicians scapegoating immigrants without looking at their plight or solutions to the problem.
