steviedeluxe

I actually think both countries have been a bit lax in allowing in so many. It hasn't stopped either country being hit hard by the credit crunch and recession - maybe it was a contributory cause. Anyway, we'll see now if the argument that migrant workers stimulate an economy is true - let's hope it's true, as otherwise things could start to look bleak if victims start looking around for scapegoats...

As for the English/British migrants not noticing the high numbers of migrants in Spain. Part of the reason is that most Brits don't tend to settle in the large cities - they tend to colonise coastal developments. Thus they wouldn't ever come across (for example) the 200,000 Rumanians in Madrid alone. Also, Brits probably haven't realised that the bar-man serving them, or the building worker on the site down the road, is Ecuadorian or Rumanian or Moroccan. It seems that a lot of Brits assume that the person with a tan who can speak fluent Spanish, is obviously a native Spaniard. To be fair, you can go into a London pub and assume that the guy serving drinks is a Brit - until you hear their accent you'd never know they were Polish or Slovakian.

steviedeluxe

Karma given. Both you and JLFS (whom I'm not allowed to give further karma) understand the consequences I'm worried about.

bil

It's the internet dude, you can prove the world is flat using quotes.

Your article says

"The notion that large-scale migrations caused drastic change in early Britain has been widely discredited, according to Simon James, an archaeologist at Leicester University, England.

"The gene pool of the island has changed, but more slowly and far less completely than implied by the old invasion model," James writes in an article for the website BBC History.

For the English, their defining period was the arrival of Germanic tribes known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons. Some researchers suggest this invasion consisted of as few as 10,000 to 25,000 people—not enough to displace existing inhabitants. "

Hmmmm. If that is true, why is it that a map of the UK by blood groups showed that O, the Anglo saxon blood group totally dominated the UK with the Celtic Bs shoved out to the tips of Wales, Cornwell and Scotland?

The viking inputs were little pools of A at Hastings and eastern port/landing areas.

According to that, the Norman input was as nothing compared to the way the AS blood group swept across the UK.

JLFS

I think that the point is being cofused with all the talk about blood groups and the genetic makeup of the British population.

Years ago, nobody bothered that the people who owned the corner shop were indian, that most ofthe waiter and hotel staff were Spanish portugese Italian etc, that a lot of factory and railway workers were black Jamaican.

The reason being that most were there to WORK as scrounging was not a way of lfe.

The UK offered us a chance to WORK, even if money was sent home to support the family members left behind, it was money that was EARNED, not a handout from the British taxpayer.

Then the autorities did not bend over backwards to provide translators for the incomers when visiting doctors etc.

People either got on with it or asked the help of their countrymen to translate, nobody complained, and rightly so.

The British in Spain help each other with language etc, so groups help forfree others pay for translators for officialdom and hospitals etc.

Why should the NHS have to foot the bill for translators when there are so many immigrants in the UK there already who could help with language issues for their own recently arrived countrymen, we did it why cant they?

I would be really hacked off if the spanish population were being shoved to the back burner for medical treatment due to lack of money, because money was being wasted on translators like in the UK.

It is things like that that cause the illfeeling, not skin colour.

jackytoo

Matt, a few do get your irony

Immigration is an emotive subject in all developed countries. Every country complains about immigrants, it's human nature. Some of you on here would be suprised what the spanish say on their forums about the British. There has also been a few xenophobic articles in the newspapers re. foreigners overloading the health service in coastal areas. You may find it hard to believe but many spaniards accuse the British of taking their jobs.

I feel the old British superiority coming out of these posts "The spanish love us Brits, they welcome us with open arms" stuff............only when they are earning money from residential tourism!

agoreira

Freebies are given out to all and sundry that arrive in the UK, that's true, but as the UK's contribution to the EU went up by a staggering 74% last year, I suspect we are looking after a few on the continent as well!

HBG

That Brits are taking Spaniards jobs is an oblique argument, but in basic terms they certainly are.

In my area it appears that while British builders, carpenters, electrician etc are still working, their Spanish equivalents are on the dole.

While the expats in inland areas may well be welcome, especially as items of curiosity, the picture is changing in heavily populated expat areas. There is understandable resentment among the unemployed when yet another white van with 'British builders' on the side rolls past them.

The increasing graffiti tells the tale, and when you see it, it's better if you cannot read Spanish. If you don't know what a Guiri is, so much the better.

jdr

Oh yes, thank you kindly, the roads and gardens around here are looking much better.

agoreira

The respected Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte described some of the Brits thus, a fin de que toda la escoria tatuada del Reino Unido y de Alemania pueda venir a pasearse sin camisa y en chanclas vomitando su puta cerveza por calles y plazas, Yes, of course they luv us! Tattoed scum? I expect he's joking?

steviedeluxe

How dare he criticise the cream of our society?

rugbymatt

Just got back from work and I tells ya, its like some Zombie movie out there... except the Zombies are dirty foreigners and they are EVERYWHERE! All over the streets, all over the builders merchants, hell, they are everywhere! I couldn't understand a single one of them, all speaking in tongues and walking around gormless and unedumacated!


Mind you, it was North Norfolk so I could well be mistaken!

mondeo

You seem to forget, my friend, that it was your initial remark from so far left field and so off topic suggesting that I might have underage sex simply ‘to fit in’ following my post that I was racist to fit in with the immigrant racists, that I replied to, saying underage sex was a question of timing. According to the law if I were to have sex with a boy a few days or even hours before his sixteenth birthday I would be a pedophile whereas if I wait 'til a few days after his birthday I’m just Gay and trendy, such is the protection of the law. (In fact I much prefer women, so that just makes me ‘a good ol’ boy’)
Short term memory loss, such as you exhibit, is one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s. So I recommend that you take extremely good care of your one remaining brain cell or you may be away with the fairies for a very long time...........!!!

rugbymatt

Ah, so I asked a question that related to something in the thread and you replied with a comment that frankly shows a character flaw that would shock a Catholic priest.
Say what you want, your comment was inappropriate and I wasn't the only person who thought so. I have to say though, you are bold as brass for a new member who has only made 30 posts... so I guess welcome back is in order?

jackytoo

I don't care if your sexual preferences are male or female but if you are going to quote yourself lets add the first bit

Fiddling with kids is just a question of timing - such are the stupid laws on the age of consent............

says it all really. I am just suprised the moderators let it stay on

rugbymatt

I think they did exactly what needed to be done, can't question their actions at all.