sweetpete

The game is up in Spain I fear. There is no work and the everything seems to be going up in price (except property which remains for the forseeable future the worst market in Europe)

Many return to the UK whilst others try to brave it out, scratching around for bits of work and making a pittance in the process.

Others are stuck in Spain unable to leave because they cut all ties with the UK when they came to Spain. Its a bleak outlkook I think.

But what do people return to? A UK unrecognisable from our younger years. The British culture watered down into the awful and disastrous multi-cultural society created over the last decade or more by corrupt and arrogant government who have had no empathy with the indigenous population at all. Only today I heard on Skynews that the schools in reading have to cater for 127 different languages. The languages of mass immigration that has completely destroyed the fabric of the British culture and is now irreversibly entrenched in our towns and cities like some creeping pond weed strangling and sufficating the natural inhabitants of those areas. The other day a labour politician claims that they should introduce a points system for all and any immigrants wishing to enter country. Something other, wiser countries have done for years but the UK have been blind to for the same period. A points system that means immigrants can't be given benefits or housing for at least 5 years..the same benefits they have been given often over and above the Brits or at least equally so for years under Labour. Well its bit too little too late. What about the millions who have arrived here in the last few years particularly from Eastern Europe and Islamic countries who are already enjoying the hand outs?..shall we take them back and give them to more deserving Brits who may have been sitting for years on a waiting list for housing. Our local surgeries bulge at the seams with immigrant registrations (Polish in particular in my area of Cambridgehire) while the real locals have to wait ages to be seen now and the doctor needs you in and out in a few minutes to cope with the deluge.

The NHS or should we call it the WHS (World Health Service) has been 'raped' to death by foreigners who simply turn up and demand treatment for all ailments regardless of what they may be. Now its bankrupt and government still can't admit how wrong they were to open the floodgates to every nation on the planet.

Islam runs rife and many of those that follow it call the UK corrupt and without morals whilst they rejoice in the deaths of our soldiers at the hands of their 'brothers' abroad. But still they choose to live in the UK as long as they can enjoy and abuse its freedom.

When I came to Spain I went out of my way to learn the Spanish language and abide by the laws of the country. I did not expect Spain to change the rules for me and I respected its natural religion. Something many immigrants have not and will not do in the UK and why should they whilst our Government has done everything they can to make the indigenous population feel second rate and even guilty at trying to remain British and speaking out about it and the immigrants are allowed to 'wallow' in their immunity.

cricketman

Mmm yes, the most ignorant and biggoted argument of them all.

A British immigrant in Spain criticising immigration in Britain.

And btw, all this talk about "indigenous population". What does that mean? If you go back a few generations you'll find many British people come from fairly recent immgration either from Europe or the colonies. Get over it

agoreira

Whilst I agree huge parts of Uk fit your description, but similarly it's not the UK that I see and still enjoy. There are still large parts unaffected by immigration, and all the problems you describe. You also seem blind to the immigration problem in Spain. You say you speak Spanish, read the Spanish press and see the Spanish complaining loudly about the immigrants there. Immigrants in Spain seem tolerated, and that's about it. I read an article recently in the Spanish press and it was saying that in public life, politics, TV etc, immigrants are invisible in Spain, they rarely if ever, get anywhere in public life. UK has it's problems, but immigrants are far better treated in general, far better integrated, witness all the "foreign" newsreaders, presenters, judges, MP's etc, all unthinkable in Spain. Good for you for learning the language, but your description of immigrants in UK, mirrors exactly the behaviour of the majority of Brit expats in their ghettos in Spain.

pete_l

The irony of someone who emigrated to Spain complaining about people emigrating to Britain. Unbelievable!

Madridboy

Before anyone asks...no this isn't me using another name lol.
Totraly agree with everything you´ve said. The pc brigade in the UK have completely suffed the country , Great Britain hasn't been great for years now, you could barely call it Good Britain.

No, there's the difference...the OP didn't come here and expect the country to change but rightly changed to adapt to the country.
And don't harp on about people in the UK were origionaly form whatever countries thousands of years ago......that's a lame arguement and you know it.

cricketman

Right, I forgot. You speak Spanish at work and you never visit an Irish pub or an English fish and chips place?

And you've never been a hassle to the Spanish authorities because of your poor Spanish?

Of course you have and so have so many other British people. Immigrants can be a pain in the a*se, but they also make a country more vibrant and give it more possibilities.

There is NO difference between a British person in Spain and an Afghan, Pakistani or Chinese immigrant in the UK (as long as they are legal). If you can't see that, then I can only presume you are racist?

Oh and I should add, Spain has changed beyong recognition over the past 20 years because of immigration, at least as much as the UK. And for agorreira, you're right there is not much immigrant representation in Spain, but that is because it is so recent (last 20 years) everyone is still first generation. Hopefully the second generation will be newsreaders, politicions, sportsman etc.

There are already 2nd generation immigrants playing for the top footy teams in Spain. And I see British and Chinese TV presenters on TV (think Intermedio and Michael Robinson)

jackytoo

You say you read the spanish papers etc. but Spain's media is saying much the same. An article in Sur a few days ago reported that Spain has received 5 million immigrants in the past few years. Comments are saying much the same as you have said. I am sure there are a few places in the UK like that but I have a house in both places and spend a lot of time in CDS and the UK. I don't recognise the UK you are refering too where my place is.

There are good and bad areas in all countries, it is what suits you best. Don't make decisions based on what the media says, go take a look at different places, just the same as moving here.


Would you like to see a system in the UK where 157,000 lost their right to unemployment benefit because they had been unemployed for a year. That is what happened in January. (Málaga province).

steviedeluxe

What I find difficult to understand (and perhaps Cricketman can help me here - I do respect his opinions generally) is why the countries that have had the greatest immigration - Spain, the Uk and Ireland - are those that are seemingly worse hit by the recession? We've been told that large migration figures help the economy. Don't get me wrong, I've met talented hard-working migrants both in Spain and the UK, and I hope their presence will pull the respective economies out of the quicksand. I just fear that at the bottom of the pile migrants who are prepared to work for cheap wages merely displace the local workers and prevent wage rises. Great for the employers, but the costs are met by the local families and/or local government. Again, just my opinion and I'll be more than pleased to be proven wrong.

LittleWeed

What a load of racist, hypocritical twaddle. After all you´re the "pond weed" here (or haven´t you worked that out yet).

sweetpete

Exactly the sort of comment I would expect ...cry "RASCIST" at the first opportunity.

Dear oh dear.

rachelk

Of course, it could be that sweetpete is trying to provoke a response for some reason.

Forgive me for being so distrustful but it wouldn't be the first time a lazy journalist had tried to create a story out of comments provoked on an internet forum.

carter71

I think it's just cause and effect. People migrate to where the easy money is - and the UK and Spain each had their own schemes which made them look like easier money than anywhere else. The trouble with get-rich-quick is it's usually followed by lose-money-faster.

The problems don't stem from the migrants - they were just there to help stoke the boiler whilst everybody cheered. You can't them blame them for the economy running out of fuel!

If you expected the comments then you were trolling when you started the thread.

cricketman

Thanks steviedeluxe, I think

The similarity in countries like the UK and Spain is that the locals dont want to do the unpleasant low paid jobs, they would rather be in "further education", "sick" or unemployed.

Lots of European countries are pretty similar to UK and Spain regards immigration e.g. France, Germany, the Netherlands. European countries also need immigration as our birth rates are too low to support the pyrimide scheme that is our pensions and capitalism in general. The easiest way to get economic growth is to pack more people into your country i.e. more consumers!

An alternative would be a system like in Norway where unfashionable jobs get a very good salary, but they have their oil fields to help subsidise that. Maybe our bankers should subsidise the fruit pickers and toilet cleaners

steviedeluxe

Yes I think you're probably right, and I certainly don't blame the migrants - in fact some of them have suffered horribly. I've seen stories of Eastern Europeans sleeping rough in London, as they were enticed over by false expectations. The real villains of the piece - the politicians, the agencies/gangmasters and the bankers - have gotten away with billions and left our economies in tatters. I remember the miners being described as "the enemy within" in the 80s, and they were only trying to protect their jobs.

AdrianTO

US, Canada and Australia all have had or continue to have large scale immigration. And while some of it is point based, there are large numbers who have migrated based on family reunification and refugee status. While they have been hit by a recession, they have all fared better than the countries you mention. You are looking for a causal effect between immigration and recession, but there is none.