11 Comments »

1. I reckon we should get out of this stupid EU and return to the good old days where we lived with farms and there were loads of space. I also disagree with anyone from a different country coming to live here (Exeption: If there is a war on and we have affected their lives) Why here? We don’t need ‘clever’ people from abroad to come here and do our own work for us. Some just eat benifits of the TAXPAYERS, when they don’t pay any tax. I think this is outragious and nothing is being to stop it. Kick Tony Blair out once and for all!

   Comment by Phillip Hampson — 4 Mar 2004 on 4:47 pm | Link

2. Would just like to say I am 22yr old student and given recently developments i.e. David ‘soft touch’ Blunkett letting 50,000 more spongers, sorry asylum seekers stay in the country, my friends and I would like to know whether we are the only ones who think that in order to be allowed into this country a person should have to pass a citizenship test never mind some pathetic meaningless ceremony. On this test, which would apply to every person from anywhere attempting to enter the country, would be an average level of English, Mathmatics and some form of formal qualifications or trade/skill (obviously students and EU Citizens are exempt as it tends not to be these groups that are bleeding our country dry!). If this test were to be failed then entry would be denied and the person returned to where they came from, irrespective of their situation, even id Osama bin Laden had come their house personally and murdered there entire family. This county has spent too long supporting and propping up others, it’s time to start looking after our own citizens first, then worrying about everyone else’s!

   Comment by Alex Meredith — 4 Mar 2004 on 6:41 pm | Link

3. I find comments like those given by Alex Meredith rather offensive and bordering on racist. Not all asylum seekers are spongers and infact there are plenty of spongers that are indigenous to this country. I work in the fresh produce industry and we rely heavilky on foreign labour. Why? Because people in this country do not have the wish or desire to work hard for their money. Incidentally all thse workers meet the minimum wage requirements and most are earning significantly more than this (Fact).

   Comment by Alex Jones — 4 Mar 2004 on 7:56 pm | Link

4. Time and time again, people turn on immigrants. It’s been happening the whole of my recallable memory, the whole of my life – and the whole of my parents’ life.

   Things turned for the worse in the U.S. some time ago; America, once the land of those who dared to dream for a better life for their children and welcomed immigration, became America post-Depression.

   When times get hard, people turn on immigrants; they always have, they always will. When we have little, we seem to feel that immigrants take what could or should be rightfully ours.

   So, let me say this emphatically: Times do get tough.

   Therefore, I encourage you to rush out to clean toilets in backwater, motorway restaraunts and petrol stations. Tomorrow, you’ll be put on a bus and sent to a random location with no idea where you’re working to clean sinks and floors.

   Maybe you’d prefer that job out in the countryside, spending every waking moment of your day picking vegetables and fruits to be sent to monolithic grocers you don’t make enough money to buy food in, and sleep in a motorhome, safe in the knowledge that you will lose your job in less than two months and be homeless, migrating in search of the next job.

   Those are just a handful of the jobs that those awful, horrible immigrants are stealing from you; the jobs that must be done by someone, the jobs you don’t want to do. The jobs that don’t pay well, the jobs that don’t give you security; the job you stupidly and erroneously think you have isn’t that job.

   I’m sure you’ll tell me how strongly you feel otherwise – how immigrants come here in their billions to feed off of the society like locusts on the field, a great Plague descending on us from Europe like the angel of death on Passover, poor British men, women, and children plastering their doorframes with the blood-red front pages of the Sun, huddling behind their doors in fear of tomorrow.

   And I’m *positive* you won’t sound like a complete moron. Really. Honestly. Would I lie to you, and all that.

   Go on, talk about it. Let out your worst fears; say them out loud, and you’ll see them evaporate like a mist in the light of day. The belief that immigrants and asylum seekers are the cause for our ills, rather than the benign panacea it has actually been in reality, needs to die. Because it’s not the facts that make you feel the way you do about it – it’s the fear. The fear is honest, the fear is real; palpable in some, quiescent in others, but nonetheless an honest expression of fear, and worthy of discussion. Lance the boil.

   Comment by Gregory Block — 22 Jul 2004 on 9:29 am | Link

5. darn right. let em in.

   Comment by Lodjer — 22 Jul 2004 on 12:30 pm | Link

6. Gregory– thank you. Nicely put.

   Comment by Chris Lightfoot — 22 Jul 2004 on 8:16 pm | Link

7. You are seriously off the mark with your analysis of immigration. You have such excellent writing skills and obvious intelligence, unfortunately that does not compensate for your severe lack of common sense. If you cannot see the dilemma that immigration causes at this stage of the game, then no amount of debate will ever pry open the part of your brain you havent used. Its a sad day to see such educated stupidity. I call it brainwashed. kick em out, take back your history and for Gods sake have just a tiny morsal of pride!

   Comment by Superior to you — 5 May 2005 on 1:06 am | Link

8. I agree with you. The fears that Gregory cites our countrymen are afraid of, are ridiculous. Obviously, gregory has no idea what economic problems mass immigration cause. It is obvious though, he relys heavily on psychological guessing than factual analysis. It is simple to cite stereotypical fears he learned from television to defend his position. Unfortunately, This isnt TV and real problems with immigration remain unaddressed. Please, Gregory spare us with your self hatred. There are those of us that realize the problem goes beyond us and seeps into the history of the world. When Rome became mighty and powerful, mass immigration threatened there super power, economic status and every perk that accompanies it. Yes history teaches us, and in those days people like you prevailed. Today however, we are fighting against brainwashing propaganda that exudes from people like you. We respect our heritage and the history of our land. Do you think if these immigrants could take care of their own country they would be here? No, they will run our country down as they ran their own country down. The worse part is you will unwittingly help the locusts. For what God forsaken reason I have no idea. Your grandchildren will call you a traitor for the actions of giving your nation away today. inevitably when immigration is brought to the forefront-racism follows swiftly. The question still remains………for a thousand years beyond us…..If you ran your home into the ground, wouldnt it be nice to go to the neighbors house, they dilligently took care of it, it is nice. Lets leave our cesspool and go to their nice place……our lack of respect, care, skill, combined with our jealousy and contempt will ruin their house in short order. the best part….Gregory is waiting with open arms. Fool.

   Comment by Nathanial — 5 May 2005 on 1:34 am | Link

9. "Those are just a handful of the jobs that those awful, horrible immigrants are stealing from you; the jobs that must be done by someone, the jobs you don’t want to do. The jobs that don’t pay well, the jobs that don’t give you security; the job you stupidly and erroneously think you have isn’t that job."

   Gregory’s right that there’s a lot of really nasty demonisation of immigrants that has to be resisted. That said, as I’ve mentioned here before: current immigration policy is a supply side intervention in the labour market for the benefit of business.

   There are lots of awful jobs which don’t pay much and have horrible working conditions. If there aren’t enough people willing to work in these jobs (which there currenly aren’t) the market will force employers to raise wages and improve conditions in competition for labour. That’s elementary economics. This is great, since it will improve the lot of the poorest and least fortunate people in the country. Immigration is being used as a way to remove this "problem" for the benefit of business, not the people the government should be looking out for.

   Comment by square peg — 7 May 2005 on 1:24 pm | Link

10. I hope that the people who have used economic arguments are well educated economists. Those who have large grievances with immigrants should read papers by renowned labour market economists such as Borjas, Card, Zimmerman, etc. All use economic theory and empirical fact to show that the effects of immigration on \x91well-off\x92 host nations are very small; with some stating these are slightly positive and others slightly negative. Borjas (1995) in fact sites that there are potential gains from allowing immigrants to enter.

    If you look at fact, the most enterprising people in the UK, much more so than the indigenous white population, are the immigrant Indians, Chinese and the African-Asians (refugees of the \x91Africanisation Policies\x92 of East Africa during the 1960s-70s). It need not take an expert in labour economics to realise that enterprising individuals do not only create jobs for themselves, but their businesses create jobs for indigenous people, and also, wealth for the country as a whole, wealth so that perhaps all \x91spongers\x92 can live a comfortable life.

    I do believe that there are \x91spongers\x92; both ingenious and immigrant. I do have qualms with the current immigration policies, but do believe that many of the arguments presented above are suitable only for \x91The Sun\x92. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that immigration leads to a fall in wages or a fall in employment, (I would suggest a read of Cuban immigration into Miami in Angrist and Krueger, 1999). However, I do believe that the current policies are too lenient, and that if we are not careful, we will give this country away to immigrants. The idea of testing does seem plausible, and I would argue that we should only allow immigrants into the UK if they have specific skill sets of which we have significant shortages; this is more or less the basis of the Australian immigration policy.

    Comment by Scott Letap — 28 Mar 2006 on 12:33 pm | Link

11. I hope that the people who have used economic arguments are well educated economists. Those who have large grievances with immigrants should read papers by renowned labour market economists such as Borjas, Card, Zimmerman, etc. All use economic theory and empirical fact to show that the effects of immigration on \x91well-off\x92 host nations are very small; with some stating these are slightly positive and others slightly negative. Borjas (1995) in fact sites that there are potential gains from allowing immigrants to enter.

    If you look at fact, the most enterprising people in the UK, much more so than the indigenous white population, are the immigrant Indians, Chinese and the African-Asians (refugees of the \x91Africanisation Policies\x92 of East Africa during the 1960s-70s). It need not take an expert in labour economics to realise that enterprising individuals do not only create jobs for themselves, but their businesses create jobs for indigenous people, and also, wealth for the country as a whole, wealth so that perhaps all \x91spongers\x92 can live a comfortable life.

    I do believe that there are \x91spongers\x92; both ingenious and immigrant. I do have qualms with the current immigration policies, but do believe that many of the arguments presented above are suitable only for \x91The Sun\x92. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that immigration leads to a fall in wages or a fall in employment, (I would suggest a read of Cuban immigration into Miami in Angrist and Krueger, 1999). However, I do believe that the current policies are too lenient, and that if we are not careful, we will give this country away to immigrants. The idea of testing does seem plausible, and I would argue that we should only allow immigrants into the UK if they have specific skill sets of which we have significant shortages; this is more or less the basis of the Australian immigration policy.

    Comment by Scott Letap — 28 Mar 2006 on 12:35 pm | Link

---

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.