I can imagine there has to be common sense reasons why Britons don't want to have illegal aliens in their country, but why are there so many immigrants then? This new thread is especially for Austin.
Would love to hear his views about the high priority this issue has in party politics, especially the ones that are leaning to the far-right.
Latest fiasco is Lady Scotland who apparently employed a domestic worker who was not in good legal standing. I'm sure there is politics behind it as well, as I wonder how they found out, but obviously this reflects what a big deal immigration has to be in the UK:
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8268101.stm
The thing that really needs to be remembered is that the United Kingdom is an island. That in itself creates a somehow claustrophobic sense, i think, socially.
Part of it is driven by employment. Or rather lack thereof. Particularly in the current economic climate, there are quite a few redundancies and increased unemployment. Some feel that foreign workers are "stealing" their jobs. Often, businesses will employ workers from - the big thing now is Poles but it goes for all of Eastern Europe - because they will work for less. Actually, foreign workers are very beneficial to the economy and are a delightful addition to the culture.
Part of it, however, is driven by pure racism. There is the pure nationalist side that is an inevitable side effect in society when a State exists, and is only exacerbated by the island paradigm and the idea of there being limited space. Actually, there's plenty of room and they are a supplement to the population, which has been in decline until very recently. What also doesn't help the issue is that there is also institutionalised racism. The whole existence of an "immigration policy" to "deal with immigrants" just imposes a further and rather ugly idea on society that these sorts of people (foreigners) must be "controlled".
As you say, the Right love it. They have considerably greater visibility and media attention because of it.
Another important thing to note is that anyone would think by the UK's sensationalist predominantly right-wing press that Britain is being invaded by a wave of tsunami proportions. This simply isn't true. The country is experiencing a mere trickle compared to nations on the borders of war-torn areas such as Darfur.
And the ignorant babble about dirty hordes of uncivilised barbarians gives me the impression of wading through a lake of excrement. They are actually delightful people, with new and interesting perspectives on life, not to mention very friendly personalities, twinned with an honest desire to feed themselves and their families. They are human beings. What
is disgusting, to put it lightly, is the way they are treated.
