Originally Posted by Vim Fuego (Post 5047275)

45 in 2004, 66 in 2005 and 78 in 2006 ... who knows where it will lead?

Originally Posted by landhouse (Post 5046956)

Hi Paul, this goes no way to answer your question but Britain has always been such a transient nation. How many British are indeed truly British anymore? There are probably only a handful who can trace their Anglo Saxon roots.

With such an historical influx of immigrants from places such as Scandanavia, Rome, the Caribbean, Pakistan, India and now eastern Europe it is a very diverse little island.

Families are drowning themselves in the straits between Tangier and Gibraltar to get here. Men are strapping themselves to the undercarriages of lorries and people are risking their lives to work illegally in places like Morecambe Bay in order to pay the passages of their families to come here.

There are no elysian fields.

Many are choosing to emigrate from here because they feel they are becoming marginalised in what they view as their own country. In some places road signs are in Urdu, Punjabi, Hebrew, Polish and finally in English. This makes people angry and to escape the immigrants they become one themselves. It's very ironic.

I live near Blackpool and last year the majority (75%) of seasonal workers were Polish. This year the locals have 'fought back' and taken the jobs for themselves bringing this total down to 25%.

A comparisan can be made to the British moving to Canada. Yes, I'm finding it hard to get a job and so is my OH but we are aware that we are immigrants and that there is a hierarchy to employment. Many complain but if this country did the same they wouldn't be moaning then because it would be happening to others rather than themselves.

I don't think that we are moving out in such vast numbers but I think that the housing market has played such a great part in it though.

Oh, I've digressed so far from your original question but coming from a country where political correctness had gone too far its nice to be heading to a country where they can advertise a job and ask exactly for the type of person they want. re an ad I saw where only black women aged between 18 and 35 need apply!

Sorry!:o

Originally Posted by landhouse (Post 5046956)

How many British are indeed truly British anymore? There are probably only a handful who can trace their Anglo Saxon roots.

Originally Posted by YeOldeDailyMailReader

I've had enough of these bloody Romans/Angles/Saxons/Vikings/Normans/Flemish coming in and taking our jobs and claiming sovereignty over our land. And the crime rate's gone up! It's not safe to walk the dirt tracks any more without some plague-ridden Vandal peasant threatening me with a dagger. This country's gone to the dogs. No wonder me and thousands like me are off to Ireland!

Originally Posted by NSpaul (Post 5046785)

As you read through this forum you get the impression literally huge numbers of people are leaving or planning to leave the UK. Every day there are dozens of new members enquiring about moving to Canada (and presumably its the same situations in the other country forums). Given that only a small minority of emigrants are probably forum members it kind of leaves you with the impression everyone is literally fleeing! In fact when I spoke to a friend in the UK she said she had heard there were now more people emigrating than there were immigrants coming in. Does anyone have any real data on this? Are Brits actually leaving in record numbers?

Originally Posted by Southcote (Post 5047014)

However, alot of the people coming in are plugging vital skills gaps, such as in nursing, so its not all bad

Originally Posted by Mr Lee (Post 5048137)

I think you'll find that the true "British" were there long before the Anglo-Saxons and still are.

Imagine if there was a forum like this in days gone by?

Originally Posted by hudd (Post 5047273)

What I notices is that living in the SE (I live in Oxfordshire) is that the immigrants now are those that can afford to buy the housing in the half a miilion quid brackets. 10 years ago when I lived in Kent they were immigrants with no skills or funding that were trying to get into the UK.

I assume its like Brits and others moving to Canada with $500K+ worth of real estate assests and buying up housing. The immigrants I recently come across seem not to be short of money i.e driving BMW/Merc etc and well qualified and educated. So being an ex immigrant(8 years in Canada) I have no problems with skilled persons wanting to work and live in the UK.

Originally Posted by Iain Mc (Post 5049634)

I think the amount of traffic on that forum is more of an indicator.

Whilst very vocal, the amount of threads and active users on a daily basis is far lower than the outbound forums(fora?); especially when you consider that's a single forum catering for everybody heading back, whereas the outbound are divided amongst scores of others by region.

Originally Posted by Biiiiink (Post 5047478)

...the child benefit continued to be paid (despite repeated requests to stop) for a year and a half after we'd left...