Blimey, 18 pages? I really can't be bothered to trawl through this as I just know it will be a couple of bigots sounding off about Muslims (and I bet looney's there somewhere).
I used to get worked up about threads like these but I've calmed down as I can see that the blinkered little Englanders are in a minority.
All I know is this: my father's family came here 300 years ago escaping religious persecution. Since then, they've been joined by wave after wave of immigrants, large numbers of them what we would now call 'asylum seekers': Jews, Irish, Spaniards, East Europeans, Palestinians,North Africans, East Africans, West Africans, South Africans. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Chinese, South Americans, Vietnamese All of them have enriched our lives in many, many ways. Imagine our food without them: no fish and chips, no curry, no pizzas, no pasta, no Chinese takeaways, no kebabs - how bland our lives would be? Imagine our sport without them: no Ferdinand, Cole, Rooney Defoe in the football team. No Nasser, no Strauss, no Pietersen in the cricket team. What would our athletics team be like? Imagine our culture without them - no reggae, rap, hip-hop. We'd be all be watching morris dancing and think it was great.
Fifty years ago, Britain faced race riots, 30 years ago, the NF got nearly 20% in the West Bromwich by-election, and yet I read this week that according to a recent survey, fewer than 1% of non-white Londoners had been subject to any form of racial abuse. That's how far we've come in 50 years.
The cries and moans about immigrants, asylum seekers, Muslims or whatever are the last, pathetic cries of bigots who can see how the country's changing. Changing for the better, that is.
I used to get worked up about threads like these but I've calmed down as I can see that the blinkered little Englanders are in a minority.
All I know is this: my father's family came here 300 years ago escaping religious persecution. Since then, they've been joined by wave after wave of immigrants, large numbers of them what we would now call 'asylum seekers': Jews, Irish, Spaniards, East Europeans, Palestinians,North Africans, East Africans, West Africans, South Africans. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Chinese, South Americans, Vietnamese All of them have enriched our lives in many, many ways. Imagine our food without them: no fish and chips, no curry, no pizzas, no pasta, no Chinese takeaways, no kebabs - how bland our lives would be? Imagine our sport without them: no Ferdinand, Cole, Rooney Defoe in the football team. No Nasser, no Strauss, no Pietersen in the cricket team. What would our athletics team be like? Imagine our culture without them - no reggae, rap, hip-hop. We'd be all be watching morris dancing and think it was great.
Fifty years ago, Britain faced race riots, 30 years ago, the NF got nearly 20% in the West Bromwich by-election, and yet I read this week that according to a recent survey, fewer than 1% of non-white Londoners had been subject to any form of racial abuse. That's how far we've come in 50 years.
The cries and moans about immigrants, asylum seekers, Muslims or whatever are the last, pathetic cries of bigots who can see how the country's changing. Changing for the better, that is.