General Chat

Please dont' take offence to this anyone, but do you believe everything you see on GMTV? We seem to be confusing lots of issues - immigration is different to being a refugee or an asylum seeker. There are a great deal of people who do take the p**s out of the system, but as Roxanne has said its not just people from other countries, its people from all walks of society. The only reason people get away with this is because NO government has put a stop to it. Im sick and tired of paying my taxes and struggling to pay bills at the same time, while there are other driving around in brand new cars, going on 5 hols a year etc and never doing a days work - but these feelings are towards anyone and everyone who doesnt contribute to our society. I have never experienced (and hope I never do) pain and torture in the way many refugees and asylum seekers have done and I would no begrudge any genuine person a penny. As has been said before, I think a lot of the bad feeling is created by anecdotal (?) evidence than hard facts. ju xxxxx

juliana it said on G.M.T.V today that all the immigrants that are in the country could fill the whole of peterborough.a city.that is alarming.my husband works for heathrow airport and he has been told that in total thousands are coming in each month into the detention centres which just shows that labour are covering upxxxx(:

david micheal howards parents fled because of the nazi's.they really did have a threat to there lives.the issue here is people taking the p**s and coming over here for a free meal ticket.the reasons are differentxxxx(:

i don't think enoch powell was racist just stating a fact.there will be blood on the streets.with the asylum issue.give it another few years i feel that this will be the casexxxxx

Brian My experience is that the hospitals are badly managed rather than over-drained - I think funding goes onto the wrong things. To my knowledge (but I may be wrong about this) the crime problems in this area are pretty bad, especially within the town but to my understanding the problems lie with the laws themselves and the powerlessness of the police in many situations - big over-simplification I know but I'm just going out:)

Here's a poser - suppose you were married and with children and a civil war started in you neighbourhood. What would you do to safeguard you family? I for one would flee to the nearest safest country that would have me, taking my family with me. Being a patriot, I would seek to return to my country at the earliest opportunity. Here's another poser - suppose you are married and have children from a really poor country, or less well off country. You want the best for your family. You know that there are many affluent countries that will assist you if you can 'play the asylum card' you may have to convince the authorities, but hey its a risk worth taking. You may have to get there through several less forgiving countries, but again its a risk worth taking. Whats the worse thing that could happen? they send you back - maybe

Sorry Brian - I missed the question before - I live near Reading so quite a fair percentage here.

Just because the education and health systems are badly run it doesn't mean we haven't got the cash, it just means it's not going to the right places. We all know the huge wages that are paid to MPs, management heads etc. One thing this country isn't short of is finances - for example, how much were we able to give to the countries affected by the tsunami? Many illegals and asylum seekers work - I've known some. Many British people don't.

I think one's perception of the problem (and whether there is one) depends rather where one lives. Mr Howard is MP for Folkestone and Hythe and his constituents certainly perceive that there IS a problem. On the other hand, Mr Blair's constituency is over 300 miles from the principal points of entry and his constituents probably haven't seen a black face since the last of the coal mines closed.

Immigrants are a drain things such as the NHS, housing, benefits etc. And I think what really irks people is that they seem to have more rights to these things than the folks that live here. Also we need to be able to care properly for the people already living here before we go giving out handouts to those who have just arrived. You can't tell me that the vast majority of so called assylum seekers aren't here because of the benefits they will get in this country. If it was just a case of getting out of the country they were living in for fear of their lives, they would stop in the first safe country they entered. But they don't do they? Everbody who works and pays tax is paying for these people to stay in this country. Wouldn't you rather your tax went to benefit you and your nearest and dearest with regard to better hospital treatment, better policing, more money for OAPs etc. Jeanette x

I don't think we're over-run with immigrants or asylum seekers but then I don't read the papers that scream out these panic-mongering headlines. I don't really understand why people are quite happy to give money to countries that are in need, such as with the recent tsunami disaster or 3rd world famines but are so against people coming to our country. If I was living in a war-torn or poverty stricken country and I thought I could give my family a better quality of life by moving to the UK I guess I would do it so I've no problem with other people doing it. How many of us are descended from immigrants who have come over here at one time or another or is that different?

i still dont understand - whats actually out of control????

sorry..... but im just not sure what the issue is, the country is not overun, we have social issues but that is not totally down to immigrants - we are a nation of immigrants to begin with for goodness sakes!!! As long as people work and contribute to society what is the problem??? Most immigrants I know would love to be able to work, but are not allowed to. So its government policy (and it doesnt matter who is in power) rather than immigrants themselves that needs to change! Of course there are p**s takers but there are British ones too!!! x

I don't agree that we should have listened to Enoch Powell, but except in cases of emergency, e.g. Kenyan Asians kicked out by Adi Amin, numbers needed to be limited to what could be absorbed naturally. The Government was panicked in to 1950's by what turned out to be incorrect predictions of a labour shortage, the economists having failed to anticipate the switch from manual jobs to service industries.

Enoch Powell WAS a racist who tried to hide this fact through legislation. This is not the way forward - I wonder if civil war broke out here - would we not want to seek refuge elsewhere???

It's all too late. We should have listened to Enoch Powell years ago. Jo.

i defo agree lisa!!! but i think EVERYONE should, be they british nationals or not x

i agree julianna.i still think that people who do enter through danger to their lives should put something back into societyxxxx(:

I think the issue with Michael Howard is the fact that he is mentioning this now in the run up to the election, how realistic is what he's saying or is it simply an election ploy?? My family is made up of English and immigrants in practically equal numbers and i think we especially (and i mean members of GR) would recognise that immigration has played a huge part in our lives and our history. As Roxanne has said we need tighter contols on all 'freeloaders' not just immigrants. xxx

i agree karen.lets take for example iraq.people who are destitutejump country borders and end up in britain.other countries take them in.the difference is if they don't believe your life is in danger they send you back.half the time our country doesn'txxx(: