Re: The things you hear.
 

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Re: The things you hear.
 

My postman wears shorts throughout the year no matter what the weather. However he is constantly on the move so I suppose it keeps him warm enough. When he wears a long cape in the rain, it looks as if he's wearing a dress!

Re: The things you hear.
 

I remember this attitude from the 70s when an uncle emmigrated to the Lebanon. So that turned out well ;)!

Ditto the 80s when I left, for the first time. In the early 90s, during a short stint back, people were astounded that I was enjoying myself.

A couple or three years ago, when I went back after several years without visiting, we were very worried about what we would find, given Press (not just the Daily Fail) reports. You know what? The UK was doing reasonable well ;).

"Plus ca change..." & all that...!



Oh yeah !! :(. I once had a "lovely" (NOT) experience with an English teacher who kept sending my (classed EMT because of the local education system) kids to detention/class suspension because they were "disruptive". Said teacher refused to speak English to me. Disruption was offspring asking questions *in English* about teacher's grammar/vocabulary/pronunciation...

Yes, I can see how annoying that would be ("my mum says..."; "grandma doesn't say it like that ..."; etc) but... Really????

The day the teacher corrected "I am going to" to "I'm gonna" (Yes. Really.) was the day I blew my top...

S

Re: The things you hear.
 

Maybe the teacher thought your child was hoping to go into a career in television. All the presenters talk like that these days.

Re: The things you hear.
 

:lol: !! I think it was the British accent that upset "teacher" ;).

(For the record, 2/3 offspring were classed as almost equally obnoxious to teachers in French (teaching language) classes ;). Where they were "put down" as non-native speakers ... Maybe I was too zealous about "getting it right". In whatever language ;)! )

Re: The things you hear.
 

My DH wears shorts all year round to cycle - and has been wearing them around the house and in the garden up to now. His main concession to the cold is to put his feet in plastic bags in his cycling shoes to try and ward off the chilblains (failed again this year). Mind you, he wore shorts for cycling all year round in Canberra too - at -7C that's no joke.

Re: The things you hear.
 

chris,
Do you agree with unlimited immigration?
If you vote for liblabcon then I take it you do.
So do not be surprised in years to come if you are a minority in your lovely
village.
Please visit some inner city areas and have a look see at how the RoP behave
in this country.
FGS, if you were in charge of a 100 capasity lifeboat, how many desperate people would you allow on board?
These problems are happening all over Europe.
Unless people like you get their head out of the sand, you will be having your
green fields concreted and hundreds of houses built next to your utopia.
So that means new schools, doctors surgeries, more traffic, I could go on but you must get my drift?
This country aint Oz chriss, we just do not have unlimited space.
The supermarkets say the population of this country is around 80 mill.
At what figure would you say is enough,100mill, 200 mill, 300mill?
Please take your blinkers off and face reality.

Re: The things you hear.
 

How on Earth did you get from Muslim families moving into a village to Armageddon?

Re: The things you hear.
 

Well, you know that it takes an Armageddon to raise a child....

Merry Christmas. Good, I can still spell Christmas. Must get another glass.

Re: The things you hear.
 

:lol: Merry Christmas to you :drinkingwine:

Re: The things you hear.
 

To a degree Chris is correct, I had marvellous Muslim neighbours in Australia, and perhaps most in Britain are the same. However given time it is possible that Christians will become the minority in Britain, it has already been reported recently that the most popular name for a male baby here is now Mohammad.

As for space, Britain is extremely limited, and the more immigrants come here, the greater the demand for living space. Our green fields are diminishing, and while many people who live in villages in country regions don't currently see any impact on their idyllic lifestyles, other villages and towns are faced with an exposion of estates on their doorsteps. We only have to go through history to see how things have changed, and if huge numbers of people in other countries where income and opportunities are limited, believe Britain's streets are paved with gold so they are desperate to come here, our whole British society will be changed beyond recognition.

Country folk need to spend time in London or our other industrial cities to experience the changes. These places are a different world, and while immigrants who legally work here might make beneficial contributions, the overall pressure on our services particularly the NHS has become desperate.

Germany is a dynamic nation, but it is also finding that immigrants are piling pressure on services, our relatively small countries can't keep an open door policy for ever without serious consequences.

Thus the things we hear are the things we should bear in mind, not close our ears to it all.

Re: The things you hear.
 

I thought the open door policy for immigrants was for immigrants from Europe, who are primarily white, European, and of Christian heritage? Immigrants from Muslim countries are subject to stringent and expensive applications and have to qualify ... No?

Another thing. Yes, there is an explosion of new housing estates in cities and small towns throughout the country. This is eating up green fields, changing the nature of many towns, putting pressure on infrastructure such as roads, the NHS etc. But why is there a demand for new starter houses, small flats etc? I think it is as much to do with the demand for second homes, holiday rentals, the buy to let and similar phenomena as it is to do with immigration.

Re: The things you hear.
 

Many illegal immigrants come from North Africa and the Middle East, and to the shame of Britain's border authorities, they enter the country and disappear. There are varying reports from 50,000 to 175,000 who have been "misplaced" by the Home Office, and it is likely there are many more who have not been detected, so were never recorded.

There is a demand for starter homes and small flats etc because our younger residents grow up and require their own homes. Of course with the demand for second homes it is because there is spare cash around, and this further attracts immigrants.

Re: The things you hear.
 

Sure, but illegal immigration is not an open door policy. The government needs to properly fund the border agencies and law enforcement. That is a budget priority issue.

Of course there is a demand for starter homes as young people start families and jobs and need their own homes. It is directly related to existing houses no longer being available for families because they have become second homes, commercial holiday cottages, and pieds a terre in England for oil sheiks, Russian oligarchs etc. etc.

Re: The things you hear.
 

And that has been debunked as untrue and completely meaningless even if it were accurate.

Re: The things you hear.
 

Piper is from Game of Thrones? I always assumed it was because young people these days named their children after aircraft (Bristol, Piper, Heinkel..) or airports (Logan, Kennedy, O'Hare etc.) Weird that Muslims are so traditional!

Re: The things you hear.
 

Piper is from Orange is the New Black.

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There is plenty of space in Britain. Even if we didn't build on the beautiful Devon countryside, there are vast tracts of non-descript land all over the country, especially in the North. Agree on the need for more controlled immigration, but that seems to be starting to happen now, anyway.

Re: The things you hear.
 

While being in complete agreement with the sentiment of part of the post, the "especially in the North" remark rankles a good deal.

I wonder if hard-Shard has ever ventured so far?

Re: The things you hear.
 

Have lived in Scotland so often had to drive through the desolate North.

Re: The things you hear.
 

So you think you can easily build new towns, villages etc in the "desolate"
north of the country
Who will be paying for all this work? Then you will need to provide all the social
services to cater for these people. Who will pay for all this?
I suppose you will say build some more factories,etc.
You folks live in the land of nod.
I bet you all live in very nice areas. As far away from the plebs as possible.
If this lunacy carries on there are always gated compounds to reside in.

You will think I am a complete nutter no doubt, but until we exit the corrupt
eu we cannot control our own destiny.
Oh,BTW, will anyone give me an answer to the question I asked, namely,
At what level of population should we say enough is enough?

Re: The things you hear.
 

You sound a bit like someone of the belief that charity begins at home.

So maybe do something about the corruption in government and big business at home first? Redistribute some of that power and wealth so it's not just in the hands of 'the few' for example.

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"Who will be paying for all this work?" Easy. When Barratts or Persimmon build a development of houses, their investment is eventually paid for when the houses are sold. Infrastructure to support the new population is paid for by elements the developer agrees to put in place as a quid pro quo to being granted planning permission, council tax and other fees the new residents pay, and subventions from county and national government agencies as appropriate. Obviously, the new residents are taxpayers (income tax, stamp duty, VAT, etc. etc.)

"What level of population should we say enough is enough?" Sorry don't know.

Re: The things you hear.
 

There are no vast tracts of nondescript land in Britain, try Australia, Canada, Russia and China. You can drive hundreds of miles in Australia's outback and not see any signs of civilisation or other vehicles.

Re: The things you hear.
 

Well, depends on the definitions of "vast" and "nondescript." What is certainly true is that there is significant acreage of brownfield sites in the UK, all the way from major cities and suburbs to small rural towns. Much of this awaits redevelopment, limited only by planning and environmental considerations, and, of course, developers' judgements as to when the market is ripe.

For instance, a town I know in North Nofolk, there's a prime site near the railway station, relatively small, maybe ten acres. Factory/ warehouse on the site has been vacant and derelict for at least twenty years. Now a very desirable development of about 150 homes is under construction. The developer ironed out the bargain with the local council last year, and judged the time was ripe in terms of demand for homes. Probably there are tens of thousands of such sites throughout the UK.

Re: The things you hear.
 

Says a lad who lives a few miles away. Why not ask the people who live next door. Or is that like democracy at work?
But there again, we aint a democracy any more, are we?

Re: The things you hear.
 

Sorry, but a defeatist attitude like that is a self fulfilling prophecy. If people get engaged in the process, then Britain is a healthy democracy.

Ask the people who live next door about what? Not sure if your remarks have anything to do with my post, which you quoted.. If you mean, ask the people who live next door to a derelict factory site or similar whether they would rather it was developed or left derelict, probably many would prefer a new development with new homes to derelict buildings. If however the potential development is on green fields, then most would probably prefer it to remain undeveloped.

Re: The things you hear.
 

A very large number of Brown field sites scattered across the towns and cities of the UK will suffer ground work problems to convert them into housing sites. Contamination from past known, and more importantly, unknown industrial processes will quite often mean the removal and safe disposal of vast amounts of earth waste and the expensive replacement of this spoil with clean infill.
Some of these sites will have mains water works and electrical supplies running within their boundaries that will require redirection.
The better use for a lot of these sites is not for the extra housing but all of the extra infrastructure the increased inhabitants will require, i.e areas for extra car parking, filling stations, schools, hospitals, roads, shops, sports centres, workplaces etc.......

Re: The things you hear.
 

There is one sentence in your tirade with which I completely agree.

As for population size, the equation is not simply based on geographical area, but on the practical and financial (pensions) needs of the lump of aged citizens the UK will need to look after. If we're 63 MN now somewhere up to, say 80 million should be possible with good planning. Easier said done, but not impossible.

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Vast is a relative word. My point was that too many write off Britain as lacking space, when in fact it is mainly the SE that is crowded. Even within the SE there is plenty of space to accommodate new towns or expand villages. Whether that is desire able is a different argument, but it is quite incorrect to suggest the country is out of space.

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So the poor taxpayer will pay diddly squat for all these developments?
Private hospitals, private schools, private roads, no subsidised housing.
Robin, this sounds absolutely fantastic. All I can say is if pigs could fly, you
would be my choice of squadron leader.:thumbsup:

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You have missed the part about the additional taxes raised from all those involved in the developments and the subsequent boost to the economy.

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I don't realy understand your post. It seems completely unrelated to what I wrote, anyway.

Do you really have no understanding of capitalism? Of why developers might build houses? Of the planning process? Of the fact that people who live in Britain have jobs, earn wages, pay taxes? In short, I'm not sure what cloud you're living on...

Re: The things you hear.
 

Precisely.

There is also arable land producing low crop yields or grazing a few animals, conveniently subsidised by the EU. If necessary such land could support new towns or infrastructure without the country risking starvation. Of course, brownfield is a better development choice (for society) and should be pursued first.

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Of course s/he doesn't. S/he's a frothing loon Daily Heil reader.

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If we do set a figure, what happens when we reach it, do we have the 100 babies born today, so we have to deport 100 people, or euthanase 100 older people to make room?
You are really beginning to sound like Paulry in the UKIP thread, he really needs a few friends there..

Re: The things you hear.
 

No problem. We are British. In that eventuality, 100 of us will go out into the blizzard to die. "For God's sake, look after our people. (All xxx million of them.)"