I wouldn't move to another country without learning their language (I'm learning German at the moment to leave a move to Zürich open). To expect the indigenous peoples to adjust to my language is not right and the sense of entitlement that government services be provided in Urdu in certain parts of England is something that needs to be tackled, not encouraged.
Your effort is admirable, but highly unusual. I'd say the majority of British residents who I knew in Basel made no effort to learn the local language beyond the bare minimum to get by, and some had lived there for more than 20 years. Their work was in English, their social circle was English-speaking, they socialised at the English Speaking Club and the Thank God It's Friday club, they were often bemused or disparaging about local festivals like the carneval. Learning German and mixing with local people was categorised as "Too difficult, why bother?"
I'm not saying this is good in any way. But we should not pretend it's an unusual character flaw in Muslims.
I don't think anyone is saying this. But it is a particular issue within certain communities in Britain today and needs to be addressed, for a variety of reasons, of which terrorism is only a small part.
I think that British people going to live abroad and not learning the language are pretty stupid. Why live in another country and not do so? You miss out on so much. It's two fingers to your fellow citizens and arrogant. Just because English has in so many places become the lingua franca should not absolve you from the need to do so.
The only interaction with the state should be in English (or Welsh and Gaelic). It amazes me that is not currently the case.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
Once again you show your ignorance of Scotland. You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel. APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights. Labour have spent it four times already they are so stupid.
Only four times? Wait until its 12 times at least like they did with the Mansion Tax ...
Again another reason to prefer Tory-lite SNP to be running Scotland rather than the socialists.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is pledging more than £100 million extra cash for colleges over the next parliament to help them reverse the fall in student numbers.
Colleges have endured "appalling treatment" from the Scottish Government, she claimed, with statistics for 2013-14 showing the number at colleges is down by more than 140,000 since 2007-08.
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
Mr. Observer, the Brittas Empire is never repeated. I do remember one episode, however, in which Brittas was ridiculed for putting up dozens of signs in every conceivable language.
It was worthy of mockery only a decade or two ago. Now we have the likes of Burnham arguing against people being encouraged to speak English. In Britain.
Mr. Observer, the Brittas Empire is never repeated. I do remember one episode, however, in which Brittas was ridiculed for putting up dozens of signs in every conceivable language.
It was worthy of mockery only a decade or two ago. Now we have the likes of Burnham arguing against people being encouraged to speak English. In Britain.
The evidence seems to indicate that all those in this country who want to blow us up and kill us speak very good English.
For me, this is not about terrorism it is about the simple fact that if you choose to make your home here you should speak our language.
It is about terrorism. Do you really care about the Fujianese grandmother? The (English speaking, indeed English) people who want to blow us up dislike our version of society to the point whereby they would like to impose their own upon us. One of the elements of which is the subordination of women. By trying to address this element, we therefore make progress against this alternative society.
It is not just about terrorism. It is about integration. You cannot have a functioning well-adjusted cohesive society where there are isolated and separate communities within it with views and a culture fundamentally at odds with the views and culture of the nation as a whole.
Such separation can be a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. But it can also be a breeding ground for views and behaviours which are fundamentally at odds with Western culture e.g. views about women - see Rotherham and Cologne, for instance, or about gays or about free speech or about the role of religion in public life etc. And while a diversity of views can be a good thing, when views are so far apart that they are fundamentally incompatible then the invisible ties which link us together as a nation snap with damage to us all and to the nation, to the society, to the idea of society and community. This is not a good thing, indeed, IMO, a bad thing.
Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.
Cameron's sudden decision to ban veils and force people to learn English has come a bit out of the blue, hasn't it?
What I've found interesting (disappointing) is that - with the exception of tabloids such as the Sun and the Mail - almost all the broadsheet press seem to be rebuking him.
This is going to be a big long fight of attrition. I don't want to be accused of melodrama but with the vested interests involved, the closest political parallel I can think of is the Miner's Strike.
There are vested interests at stake: mainly those in power in patriarchal communities who may well feel threatened if women in their communities are not dependant on them, as they undoubtedly are if they have to rely on them to communicate with the outside world or if said women decide to make their own decisions about their lives. And, of course, those who benefit from or are dependant on the patriarchs in those communities. And those who can't bear criticism of whichever group they are currently patronising. Plus those who are scared of saying or doing anything which might lead to others reacting violently, even if they're usually too timid to admit publicly to such fears. And those who have a vested intellectual interest in separate communities and cultural relativism etc.
So making a change involves facing down or ignoring such groups who are very good indeed at two things: (1) ignoring the obvious; and (2) making a lot of noise with their outrage.
Clearly it is wrong that people of either sex can spend years living in this country without learning to speak English. However, dismissing all those who have concerns about Cameron's plans as patriachs and vested interests is not the way forward. If we are serious about this, it is something that should be discussed and implemented as effectively as possible. The goal, surely, is to make sure that everyone learns to speak English, not to score political points.
The goal, surely, is to make sure that no one who lives in this country wants to blow us up. .
You wouldn't object if someone tried to blow up Jeremy Corbyn - and all those who put him where he is - would you?
Yes, I would.
The lie direct
what are you talking about? It is either far too subtle for me or you are actually talking about blowing up Jeremy Corbyn.
If the former, I bow to your sophisticated intellect; if the latter you really do need to get out more.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights.
New analysis from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the SNP’s plan to halve air passenger duty would save the top 20% of earners £73 whilst the poorest would save just £4.50.
Miss Plato, I can't remember. Alas, few memories have stuck with me, except the signs and when Brittas put in a convoluted, labyrinthine rail leading to reception to better guide the non-existent queues.
I wouldn't move to another country without learning their language (I'm learning German at the moment to leave a move to Zürich open). To expect the indigenous peoples to adjust to my language is not right and the sense of entitlement that government services be provided in Urdu in certain parts of England is something that needs to be tackled, not encouraged.
Your effort is admirable, but highly unusual. I'd say the majority of British residents who I knew in Basel made no effort to learn the local language beyond the bare minimum to get by, and some had lived there for more than 20 years. Their work was in English, their social circle was English-speaking, they socialised at the English Speaking Club and the Thank God It's Friday club, they were often bemused or disparaging about local festivals like the carneval. Learning German and mixing with local people was categorised as "Too difficult, why bother?"
I'm not saying this is good in any way. But we should not pretend it's an unusual character flaw in Muslims.
I don't think anyone is saying this. But it is a particular issue within certain communities in Britain today and needs to be addressed, for a variety of reasons, of which terrorism is only a small part.
I think that British people going to live abroad and not learning the language are pretty stupid. Why live in another country and not do so? You miss out on so much. It's two fingers to your fellow citizens and arrogant. Just because English has in so many places become the lingua franca should not absolve you from the need to do so.
The only interaction with the state should be in English (or Welsh and Gaelic). It amazes me that is not currently the case.
I quite agree. My Italian mother was not provided with Italian translations of official documents. She made sure she learnt English and very well indeed. There was simply no issue about this.
'The Asian community has built walls in Bradford so high they can’t see beyond them'
'Now, with the third and fourth generations, it’s perfectly possible to live a life where you never have to speak English because everyone in the shops and services where you live speak your language'
How is that different from Welsh Wales?
Gaelic and welsh aren't imported languages at least. They have been here as long as (longer than really) English.
Think about what you've just said. Think very carefully.
You wouldn't give an extra vote to people who still live in their birthplace, so why grant legitimacy to a language on the equivalent basis?
We aren't going to take the franchise away from people who don't learn English though? The idea thaZürich open). To expect the indigenous peoples to adjust to my language is not right and the sense of entitlement that government services be provided in Urdu in certain parts of England is something that needs to be tackled, not encouraged.
Also worth pointing out that there are literally ZERO British adults who can only speak Welsh, and have no English. ZERO.
I know, I was just humoring the argument. There is no part of Britain where people don't know English other than Asian and African ghettos. It is a lamentable situation that has been encouraged by local councils providing free translation services rather than forcing people to learn English if they want state help.
Watch Germany. They are headed for an epochal migration crisis, probably this year
It could shatter Europe. It also brings closer the inevitable moment when Europeans have to face uncomfortable truths about Muslim immigration. That you can have so much - and then it starts to change the host society.
You have to wonder what Merkel's strategy is. She said throughout the Greek debt crisis that migration was a much more serious issue for the EU so it's not credible to characterise her as mad or stupid.
Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) is dead.
Jesus. It's bonfire of the rock icons.
In other breaking news....Elvis is dead...
I think we'll find a number of the 70's/80's rock icons shuffling off in the next few years. Early lifestyle choices taking their toll. On a similar note, the NHS is expecting an explosion in liver disease linked to Hep C over then ext decade.
It could shatter Europe. It also brings closer the inevitable moment when Europeans have to face uncomfortable truths about Muslim immigration. That you can have so much - and then it starts to change the host society.
Have a read of this, it's obviously in German, but it is an immigration centre worker's account of what goes on there.
Google translate:
Of course you may not generalizations about all refugees under any circumstances, there are many of them who are very friendly to be very grateful, very willingly integrate and are very happy here. But if I'm honest, then the collaboration with 90 percent of those who I meet are rather unpleasant and unfortunately not as I thought they would be.
First of all, many of them are extremely demanding. They come to me and demand that I right now give an apartment and a fancy car and preferably also a really good job, because that is what I am here for. If I reject this and instead try to explain to them that I can not, then they are often noisy and sometimes very aggressive.
Second, they often make very unreliable information. There was, for example, a resident who came with his deportation notice to me and wanted to know what would happen now. I explained it to him, he then went. Soon after he came to my colleague and suddenly showed completely new identity documents with a different name and said he was the man with the different name. He was then no longer recognized, but only moved to another camp.
it has even become worse - frankly, especially in recent weeks, as more and more men from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia or Libya, have come here. They were even more aggressive.
I have started to dress differently. I put on loose-fitting pants and exclusively high-necked tops.
And I no longer take the train to work - because lately a colleague was followed by young men to the metro station and even molested in the train.
I wouldn't move to another country without learning their language (I'm learning German at the moment to leave a move to Zürich open). To expect the indigenous peoples to adjust to my language is not right and the sense of entitlement that government services be provided in Urdu in certain parts of England is something that needs to be tackled, not encouraged.
Your effort is admirable, but highly unusual. I'd say the majority of British residents who I knew in Basel made no effort to learn the local language beyond the bare minimum to get by, and some had lived there for more than 20 years. Their work was in English, their social circle was English-speaking, they socialised at the English Speaking Club and the Thank God It's Friday club, they were often bemused or disparaging about local festivals like the carneval. Learning German and mixing with local people was categorised as "Too difficult, why bother?"
I'm not saying this is good in any way. But we should not pretend it's an unusual character flaw in Muslims.
I don't think anyone is saying this. But it is a particular issue within certain communities in Britain today and needs to be addressed, for a variety of reasons, of which terrorism is only a small part.
I think that British people going to live abroad and not learning the language are pretty stupid. Why live in another country and not do so? You miss out on so much. It's two fingers to your fellow citizens and arrogant. Just because English has in so many places become the lingua franca should not absolve you from the need to do so.
</blockquote
Por supuesto or claro as we more commonly say in Spain. The fact that English is much understood here in Spain does not excuse a failure to learn Spanish. However, the fact some expats are lazy, has nothing to do with Cameron's speech - all immigrants to all countries the same responsibility.
SeanT re FMG..Totally agree..it is not only criminal assault it is sexual assault...and should merit a long custodial sentence..that might stop some of them.
Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) is dead.
Jesus. It's bonfire of the rock icons.
In other breaking news....Elvis is dead...
I think we'll find a number of the 70's/80's rock icons shuffling off in the next few years. Early lifestyle choices taking their toll. On a similar note, the NHS is expecting an explosion in liver disease linked to Hep C over then ext decade.
Early lifestyle choices and old age. On liver diseases, our recent embrace of wine-drinking might thin out the middle class a bit. Alcohol is not just about getting hammered on a Friday night.
SeanT re FMG..Totally agree..it is not only criminal assault it is sexual assault...and should merit a long custodial sentence..that might stop some of them.
'Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.'
The problem is some of the immigrant communities have now reached a critical mass in terms of size and concentration that makes insulating themselves from the rest of the country a viable option. And this problem is only going to get worse as we permit an endless further inflow...
Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) is dead.
Jesus. It's bonfire of the rock icons.
In other breaking news....Elvis is dead...
I think we'll find a number of the 70's/80's rock icons shuffling off in the next few years. Early lifestyle choices taking their toll. On a similar note, the NHS is expecting an explosion in liver disease linked to Hep C over then ext decade.
I have a theory that Shane McGowan has drunk so much he is now literally pickled and will therefore live forever.
If we'd the virtue signallers in charge here and they'd copied Merkel, there'd be serious trouble on the streets.
Post Rotherham, the whole tide changed. The media may not like to reflect it, but even my Labour friends and relatives post on Facebook about criminal charges/Islam.
It could shatter Europe. It also brings closer the inevitable moment when Europeans have to face uncomfortable truths about Muslim immigration. That you can have so much - and then it starts to change the host society.
Have a read of this, it's obviously in German, but it is an immigration centre worker's account of what goes on there.
Google translate:
Of course you may not generalizations about all refugees under any circumstances, there are many of them who are very friendly to be very grateful, very willingly integrate and are very happy here. But if I'm honest, then the collaboration with 90 percent of those who I meet are rather unpleasant and unfortunately not as I thought they would be.
First of all, many of them are extremely demanding. They come to me and demand that I right now give an apartment and a fancy car and preferably also a really good job, because that is what I am here for. If I reject this and instead try to explain to them that I can not, then they are often noisy and sometimes very aggressive.
Second, they often make very unreliable information. There was, for example, a resident who came with his deportation notice to me and wanted to know what would happen now. I explained it to him, he then went. Soon after he came to my colleague and suddenly showed completely new identity documents with a different name and said he was the man with the different name. He was then no longer recognized, but only moved to another camp.
it has even become worse - frankly, especially in recent weeks, as more and more men from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia or Libya, have come here. They were even more aggressive.
I have started to dress differently. I put on loose-fitting pants and exclusively high-necked tops.
And I no longer take the train to work - because lately a colleague was followed by young men to the metro station and even molested in the train.
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
'The Asian community has built walls in Bradford so high they can’t see beyond them'
'Now, with the third and fourth generations, it’s perfectly possible to live a life where you never have to speak English because everyone in the shops and services where you live speak your language'
How is that different from Welsh Wales?
Gaelic and welsh aren't imported languages at least. They have been here as long as (longer than really) English.
Think about what you've just said. Think very carefully.
You wouldn't give an extra vote to people who still live in their birthplace, so why grant legitimacy to a language on the equivalent basis?
W not encouraged.
Also worth pointing out that there are literally ZERO British adults who can only speak Welsh, and have no English. ZERO.
I know, I was just humoring the argument. There is no part of Britain where people don't know English other than Asian and African ghettos. It is a lamentable situation that has been encouraged by local councils providing free translation services rather than forcing people to learn English if they want state help.
you can have so much - and then it starts to change the host society.
You have to wonder what Merkel's strategy is. She said throughout the Greek debt crisis that migration was a much more serious issue for the EU so it's not credible to characterise her as mad or stupid.
I believe she just had a geopolitical brainfart. A moment of idealistic madness, springing from her religious/communist background, as she watched the horrible photos and images of drowning kids etc. It clearly wasn't planned. Only a cretin would plan that, and then proceed, despite the obvious flaws.
Once she'd done it the idea of "welcome culture" took over, and Germany will pay the price for decades. She should go, and go soon. This will darken her record forever.
A brainfart which won her Time's "Person of the year" - incredible..
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that, but we will get to a point where being a hardline Muslim is going to become very difficult in Europe. The backlash is beginning in the US already with companies pushing back against daytime prayer breaks and such. Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
It could shatter Europe. It also brings closer the inevitable moment when Europeans have to face uncomfortable truths about Muslim immigration. That you can have so much - and then it starts to change the host society.
Have a read of this, it's obviously in German, but it is an immigration centre worker's account of what goes on there.
Google translate:
Of course you may not generalizations about all refugees under any circumstances, there are many of them who are very friendly to be very grateful, very willingly integrate and are very happy here. But if I'm honest, then the collaboration with 90 percent of those who I meet are rather unpleasant and unfortunately not as I thought they would be.
First of all, many of them are extremely demanding. They come to me and demand that I right now give an apartment and a fancy car and preferably also a really good job, because that is what I am here for. If I reject this and instead try to explain to them that I can not, then they are often noisy and sometimes very aggressive.
Second, they often make very unreliable information. There was, for example, a resident who came with his deportation notice to me and wanted to know what would happen now. I explained it to him, he then went. Soon after he came to my colleague and suddenly showed completely new identity documents with a different name and said he was the man with the different name. He was then no longer recognized, but only moved to another camp.
it has even become worse - frankly, especially in recent weeks, as more and more men from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia or Libya, have come here. They were even more aggressive.
I have started to dress differently. I put on loose-fitting pants and exclusively high-necked tops.
And I no longer take the train to work - because lately a colleague was followed by young men to the metro station and even molested in the train.
My god. I just read the whole thing. Utterly bleak and depressing.
Remember that these are people who went to help voluntarily at these immigration centres, they are ideologically to the left. Not exactly AfD or NPD types who can be dismissed so easily. Stories like this are cropping up across Germany and people are becoming wary of Immigrants, specially Muslim ones.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights.
New analysis from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the SNP’s plan to halve air passenger duty would save the top 20% of earners £73 whilst the poorest would save just £4.50.
Irrelevant, what is that as a proportion of income? I suspect that £4.50 is a higher proportion of income for the poorest 20% than £73 is for the richest 20%. So cutting the tax is a progressive policy like cutting taxes generally is. Good Tory-lite policy.
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that...
If large numbers of people are falsely claiming to be refugees from Syria then it will have to come to expulsions otherwise there will be a breakdown in the rule of law.
Por supuesto or claro as we more commonly say in Spain. The fact that English is much understood here in Spain does not excuse a failure to learn Spanish. However, the fact some expats are lazy, has nothing to do with Cameron's speech - all immigrants to all countries the same responsibility.
My mother used to live in Spain and she was one of the UK expats there who didn't bother learning Spanish because it was "too difficult". (Not defending this attitude at all since I lived in Spain for a year or so and was pretty-much fluent within six months - it's only "too difficult" if you can't be bothered.)
Anyway, my point is that when she or any of her Anglophone friends went to the doctor/hospital or whatever, they had to pay for an interpreter themselves. I cannot understand why the government in the UK provides a "free" interpretation service, leaflets in multiple languages and so on.
'Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.'
But that problem, and others, is much lessened if there is a large and concentrated community of like-minded people which can provide employment and other services. Pace your previous comment, being a hard-line muslim in the UK and elsewhere in Europe has never been easier.
Mr. Glenn, large numbers were clearly bullshitting, and the Syrian Government (which could really do with the money) was flogging passports at around £150 a go after the idiot Merkel said she'd basically take anyone who's Syrian.
CDU/CSU - 32,5 % (Tories) SPD - 22,5 % (Labour) Greens - 9,5 % (Green) FDP - 6,5 % (Lib Dems) Left - 10,0 % (SWP/Corbyn Labour) AfD - 12,5 % (UKIP) Other - 6,5 %
Highest ever score for AfD and CDU/CSU down 9 points from the election. This would still produce a grand coalition, but one which would be much less stable given that they would be down from a joint 68.2% to around 55%.
'Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.'
The problem is some of the immigrant communities have now reached a critical mass in terms of size and concentration that makes insulating themselves from the rest of the country a viable option. And this problem is only going to get worse as we permit an endless further inflow...
It'll get worse still if there's a big China-related recession with millions more made unemployed across the continent and still greater government spending cuts (and, in the worst cases, defaults).
As far as providing impartial informtion,Prof John Curtice,a humble public servant,comes out on top as usual.For anyone considering a bet on politics,he is the gold standard. I'm surprised there has been no blood on the floor of the polling companies who appear to be hiding somewhere in a huddle.The sacrifice of a big beast,like Peter Kelner,for example,may satisfy punters more.
'Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.'
But that problem, and others, is much lessened if there is a large and concentrated community of like-minded people which can provide employment and other services. Pace your previous comment, being a hard-line muslim in the UK and elsewhere in Europe has never been easier.
Which is why imposing our cultural values on them (as the PM is attempting to do) is very important.
As far as providing impartial informtion,Prof John Curtice,a humble public servant,comes out on top as usual.For anyone considering a bet on politics,he is the gold standard. I'm surprised there has been no blood on the floor of the polling companies who appear to be hiding somewhere in a huddle.The sacrifice of a big beast,like Peter Kelner,for example,may satisfy punters more.
I'm not sure the primary purpose of polling companies is to satisfy gamblers
Mr. Flashman (deceased), could be wrong, but I think Time's Person of the Year goes to impact, not whether it's good or bad.
Indeed. However she was probably awarded it as a humanitarian. I very much doubt she will be remembered for that reason...
No she wasn't, re-read the article (or read it for the first time if you haven't). She won it for being the "world's most powerful woman" and incredibly influential on what was happening. For better or worse.
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that, but we will get to a point where being a hardline Muslim is going to become very difficult in Europe. The backlash is beginning in the US already with companies pushing back against daytime prayer breaks and such. Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
I hope you're right, because that's the optimistic outcome.
The history of nations with 20%+ Muslim minorities is not a happy one. At all.
''The history of nations with 20%+ Muslim minorities is not a happy one. At all.''
Reading this morning's thread, it appears Donald Trump 'lunatic' 'bonkers' 'totally off the chart' and 'unworkable' temporary muslim ban is becoming less of all of the above by the day.
It is about terrorism. Do you really care about the Fujianese grandmother? The (English speaking, indeed English) people who want to blow us up dislike our version of society to the point whereby they would like to impose their own upon us. One of the elements of which is the subordination of women. By trying to address this element, we therefore make progress against this alternative society.
It is not just about terrorism. It is about integration. You cannot have a functioning well-adjusted cohesive society where there are isolated and separate communities within it with views and a culture fundamentally at odds with the views and culture of the nation as a whole.
Such separation can be a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. But it can also be a breeding ground for views and behaviours which are fundamentally at odds with Western culture e.g. views about women - see Rotherham and Cologne, for instance, or about gays or about free speech or about the role of religion in public life etc. And while a diversity of views can be a good thing, when views are so far apart that they are fundamentally incompatible then the invisible ties which link us together as a nation snap with damage to us all and to the nation, to the society, to the idea of society and community. This is not a good thing, indeed, IMO, a bad thing.
Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.
And how many convictions have we seen so far? None. Not one. Zero.
The idea we would tolerate this atrocity if it happened in white communities is beyond irrational. So why the F do we tolerate it - for that is what it is, toleration - in African/Muslim communities?
It's not going to stop until people doing it to their kids get decades in jail.
The obvious way to deal with this is to make this an offence of strict liability. If a girl is found to have had FGM, her parents are automatically responsible in law and the girl and any sisters are made wards of court.
u choose to make your home here you should speak our language.
ciety.
It is not just about terrorism. It is about integration. You cannot have a functioning well-adjusted cohesive society where there are isolated and separate communities within it with views and a culture fundamentally at odds with the views and culture of the nation as a whole.
Such separation can be a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. But it can also be a breeding ground for views and behaviours which are fundamentally at odds with Western culture e.g. views about women - see Rotherham and Cologne, for instance, or about gays or about free speech or about the role of religion in public life etc. And while a diversity of views can be a good thing, when views are so far apart that they are fundamentally incompatible then the invisible ties which link us together as a nation snap with damage to us all and to the nation, to the society, to the idea of society and community. This is not a good thing, indeed, IMO, a bad thing.
Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about tolerance and adhering to the once-important idea that anything is legal unless it is illegal.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
So it is terrorism above integration or everyone speaking English. I don't care if people don't speak English; likely as not subsequent generations will.
I mind very much, however, that there is a group of people willing to use force to impose their views of society on ours and that onesuch view is the subordination of women. I think, coming back to the origin of the discussion, that Cam's strategy will help to break down the structure of these closed communities and as I mentioned earlier, he has navigated the path well and identified what is surely transparently obviously the greatest threat to our society.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights.
New analysis from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the SNP’s plan to halve air passenger duty would save the top 20% of earners £73 whilst the poorest would save just £4.50.
''The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.''
Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one. With our human rights industry.
Cameron's policy is ludicrous, panicky, illogical nonsense.
As far as providing impartial informtion,Prof John Curtice,a humble public servant,comes out on top as usual.For anyone considering a bet on politics,he is the gold standard. I'm surprised there has been no blood on the floor of the polling companies who appear to be hiding somewhere in a huddle.The sacrifice of a big beast,like Peter Kelner,for example,may satisfy punters more.
I'm surprised that more hasn't been made of how horribly wrong the online pollsters got it.
There may have been some herding of all polling companies towards the end, and particularly towards the levels reported by YouGov and Populus, who reported most frequently and hence set the average, and hence set the expectations. However, the phone companies started diverging from the online ones in March, reporting more Con leads and bigger Con leads.
By contrast, the online companies trotted out the same, wrong, figures day after day with extraordinary regularity: literally just a point at most up or down throughout almost the entire campaign. It was as if they'd damped or adjusted out every movement, whether real or not.
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that, but we will get to a point where being a hardline Muslim is going to become very difficult in Europe. The backlash is beginning in the US already with companies pushing back against daytime prayer breaks and such. Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
I hope you're right, because that's the optimistic outcome.
The history of nations with 20%+ Muslim minorities is not a happy one. At all.
Well it's only 5% here, but you are correct that on the continent in northern Europe things will get a lot worse if the policies don't change. Closing the border should just be the start. Refusing entry to any more immigrants and deporting the ones who have arrived already is the next step. Genuine asylum seekers from Syria need to be given a renewable temporary visa which can be revoked once Syria becomes habitable again. Everyone else needs to be told to fuck off.
Sadly I don't think we will ever get to the truth, although I think Epstein has come closest to it. What this country thought it was doing granting asylum to an individual like Boris Berezovsky God alone knows.
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that, but we will get to a point where being a hardline Muslim is going to become very difficult in Europe. The backlash is beginning in the US already with companies pushing back against daytime prayer breaks and such. Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
I hope you're right, because that's the optimistic outcome.
The history of nations with 20%+ Muslim minorities is not a happy one. At all.
I handed a portion of my children's inheritance over to Shadsy one day before the GE after two major polls produced the same (wrong) result using different methods (allegedly), right down to the same utterly preposterous decimal place. My children's inheritance was handsomely secured but they have not forgiven me for failing to wager the whole damn lot. One sees their point.
''The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.''
Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one. With our human rights industry.
Cameron's policy is ludicrous, panicky, illogical nonsense.
It's the right policy, whether or not it can be sensibly implemented is for another discussion. The merits of the policy are pretty obvious though.
Personally I would have people take an English test in the British Embassy/Consulate/Commission before giving anyone a visa, but that might not be an easy task.
Andrew Sparrow Labour has never polled this badly at this point of electoral cycle since WW2, Press Association analysis says - https://t.co/kFnuLeQv7T
The endpoint of all this is expulsions. Not just a cessation of immigration, but actual and brutal expulsion.
I do not see a future for Islam or Muslims in Europe, if immigration continues as it is. The host countries will react with great violence, in the end.
I don't think it will get to that, but we will get to a point where being a hardline Muslim is going to become very difficult in Europe. The backlash is beginning in the US already with companies pushing back against daytime prayer breaks and such. Muslim employment in the UK is pitiful because companies don't want to chance it and end up with someone who wants to disappear three times a day for half an hour to the mosque or some prayer room, or if they are denied that then open up a racial discrimination case. The hairdresser who didn't hire the Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf was, I think, a warning sign to a lot of smaller employers. No one wants to take the risk.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
I hope you're right, because that's the optimistic outcome.
The history of nations with 20%+ Muslim minorities is not a happy one. At all.
I'm more "cheery". I think 10% (fast approaching in France and Belgium, maybe Sweden - and we're not far behind)
Look at your list. All of the countries with 10%+ Muslim minorities have seen war, political division, huge civil strife, in recent decades
Yes you are right. All completely foreseeable and avoidable, but people didn't want to be 'nasty' by thinking ahead
English lessons will not solve it, the suggestion will add fuel to the fire.
What amazes me is that conservatives adopted an immigration strategy that says 'allow in too many to integrate then force integration by re education' rather than 'only allow the amount that will integrate naturally'
Maybe they should be called 'breakandrepairatives' rather than 'conservatives'
Mr. Flashman (deceased), could be wrong, but I think Time's Person of the Year goes to impact, not whether it's good or bad.
Indeed. However she was probably awarded it as a humanitarian.
What happened in Cologne wasn't "humane".
Oh I absolutely agree. Unfortunately the voting was completed during November, when most of the world was still in denial.
To be fair, she's still had the most impact. The consequences of that policy - still in place and still delivering a constant steady and heavy flow - will be felt for decades.
If the migrants are allowed to stay, that fundamentally changes the nature of many parts of Germany; if they're expelled, it'll be an action that will be agonised over for years and years; only if they leave voluntarily is there likely to be a happy outcome.
We need to fix Syria. And Afghanistan. And North Africa.
@AndrewSparrow: Labour has never polled this badly at this point of electoral cycle since WW2, Press Association analysis says - https://t.co/kFnuLeQv7T
Mr. T, aye, rapidly growing economies often have sudden and sharp (relative) declines. Be interesting to see how bad it gets for China and whether that affects the political situation.
Xi's more militaristic approach could well see China seize the southern sea resources (I do wonder if they'll eventually shoot down one of the US/Aussie planes doing fly-overs).
The Chinese economy is picking up, it is the US economy that is slowing sharply. They suffered greatly during the past 200 years, at the hands of the West and Japan in particular. Let them develop in their own time.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about tolerance and adhering to the once-important idea that anything is legal unless it is illegal.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
(snip for length)
Really good post IMO. I think the fight against terrorism and criminality like FGM is actually hindered by the attempt to tag on to it grumbles about different cultural habits and lack of integration. If I were a moderate Muslim, I'd feel annoyed and alienated by the attempt to make me "more English" - I'll be as English as I like and no more, that's bloody part of being English.
In fact, it's because I'm white and English-born that I feel free to say cheerfully that there are aspects of foreign countries that seem to me to work better. If I was Pakistani-born and said that about Pakistan, people would look at me suspiciously and wonder if I was an ISIS sleeper.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is pledging more than £100 million extra cash for colleges over the next parliament to help them reverse the fall in student numbers.
Colleges have endured "appalling treatment" from the Scottish Government, she claimed, with statistics for 2013-14 showing the number at colleges is down by more than 140,000 since 2007-08.
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
What they did is get rid of all the knitting classes and such like , those type that had a few days but sucked all the money and were good for showing you had lots of students doing multiple courses and achieving zero. They have concentrated on real full time education courses that lead to employment. Huge improvement but lets the useless Tories and Labour roll out tractor statistics. Davidson is your typical lying Tory , will misuse statistics for personal glory.
PS: Like Labour she can make up any fairy story given they will have ZERO chance of ever having to implement them.
'The obvious way to deal with this is to make this an offence of strict liability. If a girl is found to have had FGM, her parents are automatically responsible in law and the girl and any sisters are made wards of court.'
What an excellent idea. I wonder why it hasn't been adopted?
'Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one'
Of course not. It is just posturing. The government has no stomach whatever for really tackling this problem - they just want to appear to be 'doing something' as usual. It's all about generating news headlines.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is pledging more than £100 million extra cash for colleges over the next parliament to help them reverse the fall in student numbers.
Colleges have endured "appalling treatment" from the Scottish Government, she claimed, with statistics for 2013-14 showing the number at colleges is down by more than 140,000 since 2007-08.
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
I'm pretty certain my film appreciation class (go watch a couple of films a week then talk about them with some nice middle aged people) would have been filed under middle class rather than working class.
u choose to make your home here you should speak our language.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about tolerance and adhering to the once-important idea that anything is legal unless it is illegal.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
So it is terrorism above integration or everyone speaking English. I don't care if people don't speak English; likely as not subsequent generations will.
I mind very much, however, that there is a group of people willing to use force to impose their views of society on ours and that onesuch view is the subordination of women. I think, coming back to the origin of the discussion, that Cam's strategy will help to break down the structure of these closed communities and as I mentioned earlier, he has navigated the path well and identified what is surely transparently obviously the greatest threat to our society.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about standing up to bullies. Those who stop girls having an education, those who will kill women on the grounds of some breach of "honour", those who want to stop women marrying whom they want or who want to force young men to marry women they barely know and/or have no feeling for, those who want to stop women associating with whom they want, those who want others to stop criticising their religion or indeed describing it in any way they want, these people are bullies.
And bullies should be faced down not indulged.
Tolerating the intolerable - and much of what I've described in the preceding paragraphs are crimes and no amount of dressing them up as part of some "culture" can disguise this fact - is not tolerance. It is weakness.
u choose to make your home here you should speak our language.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about tolerance and adhering to the once-important idea that anything is legal unless it is illegal.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
So it is terrorism above integration or everyone speaking English. I don't care if people don't speak English; likely as not subsequent generations will.
I mind very much, however, that there is a group of people willing to use force to impose their views of society on ours and that onesuch view is the subordination of women. I think, coming back to the origin of the discussion, that Cam's strategy will help to break down the structure of these closed communities and as I mentioned earlier, he has navigated the path well and identified what is surely transparently obviously the greatest threat to our society.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about standing up to bullies. Those who stop girls having an education, those who will kill women on the grounds of some breach of "honour", those who want to stop women marrying whom they want or who want to force young men to marry women they barely know and/or have no feeling for, those who want to stop women associating with whom they want, those who want others to stop criticising their religion or indeed describing it in any way they want, these people are bullies.
And bullies should be faced down not indulged.
Tolerating the intolerable - and much of what I've described in the preceding paragraphs are crimes and no amount of dressing them up as part of some "culture" can disguise this fact - is not tolerance. It is weakness.
I think you are replying to a post that I didn't write.
It's effective sabre rattling though, it demonstrates a change in attitude. I've no idea why we're paying for immigrants to learn English, but we are where we are in the entitlement culture.
'The obvious way to deal with this is to make this an offence of strict liability. If a girl is found to have had FGM, her parents are automatically responsible in law and the girl and any sisters are made wards of court.'
What an excellent idea. I wonder why it hasn't been adopted?
'Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one'
Of course not. It is just posturing. The government has no stomach whatever for really tackling this problem - they just want to appear to be 'doing something' as usual. It's all about generating news headlines.
I don't like Islam much. At all. On the other hand there are many people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin I work with who I like a lot. They're basically secular though. I do hope we can find a way to make Islam 'go away' in our society - as in less less in my facer, lees problematical, less annoying. Either Islam itself becomes more accommodating of host culture or it doesn't. If it doesn't I suspect that a much more violent, expulsive credo will take root. Will the Europe of the 21st Century have the pogroms and violence and expulsions it did in the 20th - only this time with Muslims instead of Jews? Maybe. The worst thing is I'd much prefer that than see my daughters lose their personal, sexual and visual freedoms. I'm probably not alone in feeling we've just about reached Peak Muslim.
CDU/CSU - 32,5 % (Tories) SPD - 22,5 % (Labour) Greens - 9,5 % (Green) FDP - 6,5 % (Lib Dems) Left - 10,0 % (SWP/Corbyn Labour) AfD - 12,5 % (UKIP) Other - 6,5 %
Highest ever score for AfD and CDU/CSU down 9 points from the election. This would still produce a grand coalition, but one which would be much less stable given that they would be down from a joint 68.2% to around 55%.
Not sure I buy all of those descriptions.
I'd have CDU as Blairites. I've always thought that Blair was in essence a Christian Democrat and didn't really fit that naturally anywhere in the British system.
The FDP are far to the right of the British Lib Dems; they're more old-school classical Liberals: free-market libertarians.
The rest I'd go along with. AfD are the interesting ones. They were more centralist (Tory Eurosceptic) but underwent internal ructions and were overtaken by a more radical faction. They're still not extremist but will have a lower ceiling on their support now. One thing I'd watch for is their support in the east, where cultural sensitivities of the past aren't as strong.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights.
New analysis from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the SNP’s plan to halve air passenger duty would save the top 20% of earners £73 whilst the poorest would save just £4.50.
Yes - but how long before former Labour voters in Scotland wake up to what the Tartan Tories have been up to?
You really are a bumptious oaf. Your assumption that all Scottish people are thick and vote without knowing what is going on is not just offensive. Methinks you have had too much sun in that tax haven and addled what little brain cells you previously had , or maybe just your hatred of all things Scottish blinding you.
It could be argued though, from a utilitarian viewpoint, that making the whole of Europe a much worse place by accepting unlimited immigrants, is justified.
Let's say the average happiness index in Europe was 80, and the average of a Syrian under Assad/Isis was 10... If by accepting all these immigrants and the rape, molestation etc that a minority bring, the European satisfaction level, including that of the previously unhappy Syrians, was 50 then it's been for the greater good and we should wear it
I don't know whether to be impressed or appalled that the pollsters are chiefly blaming poor sampling. It's impressively honest, but terrible for their reputation.
Shy Tories / lazy Labour / late swing - i.e. people not doing what they said they would - might collectively have been presentable as an explanation for the miss, but they've put their hands up and said "we can't actually do the basics". [I understand that the basics are hard!]
As for herding, it's only natural that those producing outliers will look at refining their methodology, since the default assumption should probably not be "we are right and all the others are wrong". The media herded their opinion to the polls as well.
Depending on how much you trust the anecdotal private polling stories, survey design looks like a fruitful avenue to pursue. I would also like to see Facebook give polling a shot.
''It's a fucking great race-bomb waiting to go off. It's insanity turned into policy.''
And it's a bomb that will be going off just as David Cameron tries to persuade us to stay in the EU.
I find it incredible, if true, that Cameron is hoping to hold the referendum in the spring because of the effect the anticipated summer surge of migrants would have on the result
I don't like Islam much. At all. On the other hand there are many people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin I work with who I like a lot. They're basically secular though. I do hope we can find a way to make Islam 'go away' in our society - as in less less in my facer, lees problematical, less annoying. Either Islam itself becomes more accommodating of host culture or it doesn't. If it doesn't I suspect that a much more violent, expulsive credo will take root. Will the Europe of the 21st Century have the pogroms and violence and expulsions it did in the 20th - only this time with Muslims instead of Jews? Maybe. The worst thing is I'd much prefer that than see my daughters lose their personal, sexual and visual freedoms. I'm probably not alone in feeling we've just about reached Peak Muslim.
I'm pretty certain my film appreciation class (go watch a couple of films a week then talk about them with some nice middle aged people) would have been filed under middle class rather than working class.
The Scottish Government’s long standing policy of offering free university tuition for domestic students has not benefited the poor and has led to existing social inequalities becoming more entrenched, academics have claimed.
The conclusion, which challenges the assumption that the abolition of tuition fees in Scotland 15 years ago has improved people’s opportunities and made the country a fairer place to live, is set out in a new book edited by three education specialists at the University of Edinburgh.
The authors argue that Scotland’s universities have been “prioritised” by Holyrood at the expense of schools and colleges, where existing inequalities have become further embedded.
CDU/CSU - 32,5 % (Tories) SPD - 22,5 % (Labour) Greens - 9,5 % (Green) FDP - 6,5 % (Lib Dems) Left - 10,0 % (SWP/Corbyn Labour) AfD - 12,5 % (UKIP) Other - 6,5 %
Highest ever score for AfD and CDU/CSU down 9 points from the election. This would still produce a grand coalition, but one which would be much less stable given that they would be down from a joint 68.2% to around 55%.
One problem with the grand coalition is that it robs the country of a heavyweight opposition. If the election did produce a result as the polls suggest - which would likely mean another CDU/CSU-SPD coalition - it would make AfD the official opposition in British terms.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel.
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is pledging more than £100 million extra cash for colleges over the next parliament to help them reverse the fall in student numbers.
Colleges have endured "appalling treatment" from the Scottish Government, she claimed, with statistics for 2013-14 showing the number at colleges is down by more than 140,000 since 2007-08.
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
They have concentrated on real full time education courses that lead to employment
Which has benefited the Middle Classes at the expense of the poor.
Whatever else it is, I think Britishness is about tolerance and adhering to the once-important idea that anything is legal unless it is illegal.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
(snip for length)
Really good post IMO. I think the fight against terrorism and criminality like FGM is actually hindered by the attempt to tag on to it grumbles about different cultural habits and lack of integration. If I were a moderate Muslim, I'd feel annoyed and alienated by the attempt to make me "more English" - I'll be as English as I like and no more, that's bloody part of being English.
In fact, it's because I'm white and English-born that I feel free to say cheerfully that there are aspects of foreign countries that seem to me to work better. If I was Pakistani-born and said that about Pakistan, people would look at me suspiciously and wonder if I was an ISIS sleeper.
Having that duality where British Muslims feel a greater allegiance to their "home country" than the country in which they were born, raised and educated is what creates the problems we have now. I feel no more allegiance to India than I do to any other nation in the world outside of the UK. India may be where my family come from (via east Africa), but that doesn't mean I fell more Indian than I do English or British.
This is true for a lot of outside cultures. I can see people in the British Indian community that have the same duality and hold India closer than this country and I don't like that either. I think the difference is that when an Indian does it, there isn't really any conflict between Indian/Hindu/Sikh culture and British culture. The values are different, but compatible. The issue is that Muslim values are not compatible with British culture. On women's rights, gay rights, transgender rights, respect for other cultures and tolerance/acceptance of Jews there are massive and unbridgeable differences between what British people consider acceptable and what Muslim people consider acceptable.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
You should look at reality on education instead of listening to Labour drivel.
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
What they did is get rid of all the knitting classes and such like , those type that had a few days but sucked all the money and were good for showing you had lots of students doing multiple courses and achieving zero. They have concentrated on real full time education courses that lead to employment. Huge improvement but lets the useless Tories and Labour roll out tractor statistics. Davidson is your typical lying Tory , will misuse statistics for personal glory.
PS: Like Labour she can make up any fairy story given they will have ZERO chance of ever having to implement them.
Good morning all. I couldn't care less about Scottish educational policy, but it's a good place to express my general frustration about the death of non-academic F.E. courses.
Our local F.E. used to offer a raft of things like 'spinning and weaving', which while supremely useless in that dreary, Brownian universe where humans are merely economic units-of-measure, were still wonderful places where older people could meet, learn and socialise.
All the college provided was a classroom - people funded the tutor themselves. It's a shame that we can't appreciate the intangibles that things like knitting classes provide.
Cameron's sudden decision to ban veils and force people to learn English has come a bit out of the blue, hasn't it?
If you think he's suddenly become interested in improving the lot of disadvantaged minorities you haven't been paying attention.....
Absolutely. Perhaps Dave will write a stiff letter criticising whomsoever was responsible for previous cuts to funding of the teaching of English to immigrants. Probably the Libdems...
No-one should be allowed to immigrate here unless (a) they already speak some English; and (b) are willing to pay to learn/improve their English.
FFS! What is it with being so bloody wet that we won't even expect people who have chosen to move half-way round the world to come here to make some bloody effort to turn themselves into British people.
We're not a hotel. We're a country.
In the words of the late great Seamus Heaney: “We are not simply a credit rating or an economy but a history and a culture, a human population rather than a statistical phenomenon.”
Time for people who come here to understand this and to join in fully. If they want to live in their country of origin, they can push off there.
How long before our friends on the Left in Scotland who vote SNP finally twig that the SNP is all about middle class perks?
Nicola Sturgeon has been challenged to match "record with rhetoric" on tax in the first debate between party leaders ahead of the Holyrood elections in May.
The SNP leader and First Minister came under pressure to set out "progressive" policies during the event hosted by Dundee University Students' Association.
SNP plans to cut air passenger duty (APD) were criticised by opposition leaders during the debate at the University of Dundee.
not as callous and uncaring as the rabid right wingers down south
Release your inner Tory Malcolm....you know the APD cut will benefit other middle class folks like you, while it'll be the poor, who cant afford to fly who will pay - as they already are in declining numbers going into tertiary education.....in caring (sic) SNP Scotland.....
APD makes no difference whatsoever to me , it going will help poorer people afford flights.
New analysis from the Office for National Statistics has shown that the SNP’s plan to halve air passenger duty would save the top 20% of earners £73 whilst the poorest would save just £4.50.
Irrelevant, what is that as a proportion of income? I suspect that £4.50 is a higher proportion of income for the poorest 20% than £73 is for the richest 20%. So cutting the tax is a progressive policy like cutting taxes generally is. Good Tory-lite policy.
Ha Ha Ha Carlotta is using the barmy Labour numbers to rubbish the SNP, you could not make it up , a chump could refute them in no time.
Comments
Harry Cole
Ouch: Sadiq sort of candidate that "justifies people's distrust in politics..Corbyn's man for union politics". Attacks Heathrow flipflop
Again another reason to prefer Tory-lite SNP to be running Scotland rather than the socialists.
Colleges have endured "appalling treatment" from the Scottish Government, she claimed, with statistics for 2013-14 showing the number at colleges is down by more than 140,000 since 2007-08.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/education/conservatives-pledge-100-million-to-reverse-college-student-number-decline-1.918917
I know, I know, its working class Vocational Course numbers that are down while Middle Class Degree courses are steady (albeit with fewer poor students.....)
It was worthy of mockery only a decade or two ago. Now we have the likes of Burnham arguing against people being encouraged to speak English. In Britain.
Such separation can be a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation and terrorism. But it can also be a breeding ground for views and behaviours which are fundamentally at odds with Western culture e.g. views about women - see Rotherham and Cologne, for instance, or about gays or about free speech or about the role of religion in public life etc. And while a diversity of views can be a good thing, when views are so far apart that they are fundamentally incompatible then the invisible ties which link us together as a nation snap with damage to us all and to the nation, to the society, to the idea of society and community. This is not a good thing, indeed, IMO, a bad thing.
Cultural relativism, separation, a lack of integration, a form of self-imposed apartheid within our country are bad things even if people are not blowing us up. We need to deal with the terror threat but we also need to deal with and change the wrong-headed approach which downgrades Western culture and which refuses to exercise any sort of judgment about cultures and behaviours which we consider to be worse than ours.
If the former, I bow to your sophisticated intellect; if the latter you really do need to get out more.
http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/blog/entry/the-snps-plan-to-cut-air-passenger-duty-will-help-the-richest-few#sthash.pJXWjZYa.dpuf
The Corbynistas’ love of Putin is a toxic trap
The suppressant effect of failing petrol prices is beginning to diminish.
Topping
I read it as an allusion to As You Like It, 5.4. 67-81 (Touchstone on the 'lie seven times removed').
Have a read of this, it's obviously in German, but it is an immigration centre worker's account of what goes on there.
Google translate:
Of course you may not generalizations about all refugees under any circumstances, there are many of them who are very friendly to be very grateful, very willingly integrate and are very happy here. But if I'm honest, then the collaboration with 90 percent of those who I meet are rather unpleasant and unfortunately not as I thought they would be.
First of all, many of them are extremely demanding. They come to me and demand that I right now give an apartment and a fancy car and preferably also a really good job, because that is what I am here for. If I reject this and instead try to explain to them that I can not, then they are often noisy and sometimes very aggressive.
Second, they often make very unreliable information. There was, for example, a resident who came with his deportation notice to me and wanted to know what would happen now. I explained it to him, he then went. Soon after he came to my colleague and suddenly showed completely new identity documents with a different name and said he was the man with the different name. He was then no longer recognized, but only moved to another camp.
it has even become worse - frankly, especially in recent weeks, as more and more men from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia or Libya, have come here. They were even more aggressive.
I have started to dress differently. I put on loose-fitting pants and exclusively high-necked tops.
And I no longer take the train to work - because lately a colleague was followed by young men to the metro station and even molested in the train.
BBC report on Paris Ritz fire is headlined: Paris Ritz: Fire at hotel linked to Princess Diana
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35351013
Mind you, my first thought was of the Hamiltons.
It's appalling. We'd never sanction parents cutting off ear lobes or little toes.
The problem is some of the immigrant communities have now reached a critical mass in terms of size and concentration that makes insulating themselves from the rest of the country a viable option. And this problem is only going to get worse as we permit an endless further inflow...
Post Rotherham, the whole tide changed. The media may not like to reflect it, but even my Labour friends and relatives post on Facebook about criminal charges/Islam.
The PM insisting that Muslim women learn English and play and equal role in society is just the start here.
There is an underlying 25-35% of Muslims in this country who don't feel any sort of allegiance to the nation, I think by the end of 2020 many of them will find it tough to live here and may consider moving to a country where Sharia and the kind of society they want to live in already exists. Changing the benefits system to a contributory basis and limiting child benefits and child tax credits to just two children will push a lot of workless Muslim households into rethinking their presence in this country.
BBC Louise
Patients from Kent could be treated in hospitals in Calais and Le Touquet by the end of this financial year - April 1st under new contracts
NHS South Kent Coast Commissioning Group says it has signed contracts for Kent patients to be treated at hospitals in Calais & Le Touquet
It's been confirmed Lodge Hill in Kent is one of 12 MoD sites to be sold off to enable 15,000 homes to be built
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/alexander-litvinenko-the-man-who-solved-his-own-murder
Anyway, my point is that when she or any of her Anglophone friends went to the doctor/hospital or whatever, they had to pay for an interpreter themselves. I cannot understand why the government in the UK provides a "free" interpretation service, leaflets in multiple languages and so on.
But that problem, and others, is much lessened if there is a large and concentrated community of like-minded people which can provide employment and other services. Pace your previous comment, being a hard-line muslim in the UK and elsewhere in Europe has never been easier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year
Charlie Hebdo, Sun, Star and lads' among titles banned from sale at 32 UK universities, research finds https://t.co/AfEk00sRCS
Giuliani got it in 2001 which was for how he dealt with 9/11.
CDU/CSU - 32,5 % (Tories)
SPD - 22,5 % (Labour)
Greens - 9,5 % (Green)
FDP - 6,5 % (Lib Dems)
Left - 10,0 % (SWP/Corbyn Labour)
AfD - 12,5 % (UKIP)
Other - 6,5 %
Highest ever score for AfD and CDU/CSU down 9 points from the election. This would still produce a grand coalition, but one which would be much less stable given that they would be down from a joint 68.2% to around 55%.
I'm surprised there has been no blood on the floor of the polling companies who appear to be hiding somewhere in a huddle.The sacrifice of a big beast,like Peter Kelner,for example,may satisfy punters more.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Europe
Wir müssen verrückt sein... Es ist wie gerade eine Nation häufen sich seine eigenen Scheiterhaufen
Reading this morning's thread, it appears Donald Trump 'lunatic' 'bonkers' 'totally off the chart' and 'unworkable' temporary muslim ban is becoming less of all of the above by the day.
We wouldn't be having this exchange without the terrorism angle. When I walk through Chinatown I don't worry that such separation is a breeding ground for extremism, radicalisation, etc, etc. I think - how nice: very colourful, great char siu bao.
I don't think that the Chinese are going to subvert our culture and I don't mind that many don't integrate and perhaps there are many families living together, the elder members of which can only speak Hokkien, because generally they don't want to overthrow the state by force.
So it is terrorism above integration or everyone speaking English. I don't care if people don't speak English; likely as not subsequent generations will.
I mind very much, however, that there is a group of people willing to use force to impose their views of society on ours and that onesuch view is the subordination of women. I think, coming back to the origin of the discussion, that Cam's strategy will help to break down the structure of these closed communities and as I mentioned earlier, he has navigated the path well and identified what is surely transparently obviously the greatest threat to our society.
Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one. With our human rights industry.
Cameron's policy is ludicrous, panicky, illogical nonsense.
There may have been some herding of all polling companies towards the end, and particularly towards the levels reported by YouGov and Populus, who reported most frequently and hence set the average, and hence set the expectations. However, the phone companies started diverging from the online ones in March, reporting more Con leads and bigger Con leads.
By contrast, the online companies trotted out the same, wrong, figures day after day with extraordinary regularity: literally just a point at most up or down throughout almost the entire campaign. It was as if they'd damped or adjusted out every movement, whether real or not.
Sadly I don't think we will ever get to the truth, although I think Epstein has come closest to it. What this country thought it was doing granting asylum to an individual like Boris Berezovsky God alone knows.
http://order-order.com/2016/01/19/dromey-would-ban-trump-welcome-dictators-and-head-choppers/
Personally I would have people take an English test in the British Embassy/Consulate/Commission before giving anyone a visa, but that might not be an easy task.
Labour has never polled this badly at this point of electoral cycle since WW2, Press Association analysis says - https://t.co/kFnuLeQv7T
English lessons will not solve it, the suggestion will add fuel to the fire.
What amazes me is that conservatives adopted an immigration strategy that says 'allow in too many to integrate then force integration by re education' rather than 'only allow the amount that will integrate naturally'
Maybe they should be called 'breakandrepairatives' rather than 'conservatives'
If the migrants are allowed to stay, that fundamentally changes the nature of many parts of Germany; if they're expelled, it'll be an action that will be agonised over for years and years; only if they leave voluntarily is there likely to be a happy outcome.
We need to fix Syria. And Afghanistan. And North Africa.
Or build a wall.
In fact, it's because I'm white and English-born that I feel free to say cheerfully that there are aspects of foreign countries that seem to me to work better. If I was Pakistani-born and said that about Pakistan, people would look at me suspiciously and wonder if I was an ISIS sleeper.
PS: Like Labour she can make up any fairy story given they will have ZERO chance of ever having to implement them.
What an excellent idea. I wonder why it hasn't been adopted?
'Does anybody on this site, anybody, think a single muslim woman will be deported from the UK in the next five years because they don;t speak English. Just one'
Of course not. It is just posturing. The government has no stomach whatever for really tackling this problem - they just want to appear to be 'doing something' as usual. It's all about generating news headlines.
And bullies should be faced down not indulged.
Tolerating the intolerable - and much of what I've described in the preceding paragraphs are crimes and no amount of dressing them up as part of some "culture" can disguise this fact - is not tolerance. It is weakness.
Tories need to balance the message right now.
I'd have CDU as Blairites. I've always thought that Blair was in essence a Christian Democrat and didn't really fit that naturally anywhere in the British system.
The FDP are far to the right of the British Lib Dems; they're more old-school classical Liberals: free-market libertarians.
The rest I'd go along with. AfD are the interesting ones. They were more centralist (Tory Eurosceptic) but underwent internal ructions and were overtaken by a more radical faction. They're still not extremist but will have a lower ceiling on their support now. One thing I'd watch for is their support in the east, where cultural sensitivities of the past aren't as strong.
Let's say the average happiness index in Europe was 80, and the average of a Syrian under Assad/Isis was 10... If by accepting all these immigrants and the rape, molestation etc that a minority bring, the European satisfaction level, including that of the previously unhappy Syrians, was 50 then it's been for the greater good and we should wear it
Shy Tories / lazy Labour / late swing - i.e. people not doing what they said they would - might collectively have been presentable as an explanation for the miss, but they've put their hands up and said "we can't actually do the basics". [I understand that the basics are hard!]
As for herding, it's only natural that those producing outliers will look at refining their methodology, since the default assumption should probably not be "we are right and all the others are wrong". The media herded their opinion to the polls as well.
Depending on how much you trust the anecdotal private polling stories, survey design looks like a fruitful avenue to pursue. I would also like to see Facebook give polling a shot.
And it's a bomb that will be going off just as David Cameron tries to persuade us to stay in the EU.
Halal slaughter et al in our shopping FFS.
I detest it. It's about 5-10% of our population and wags the dog every day. I'm sick of hearing about them. And their sense of entitlement.
An integrated part of society doesn't attract this sort of special pleading or timidity from the host country.
The conclusion, which challenges the assumption that the abolition of tuition fees in Scotland 15 years ago has improved people’s opportunities and made the country a fairer place to live, is set out in a new book edited by three education specialists at the University of Edinburgh.
The authors argue that Scotland’s universities have been “prioritised” by Holyrood at the expense of schools and colleges, where existing inequalities have become further embedded.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/free-university-tuition-in-scotland-has-not-benefited-the-poor-say-academics-a6757546.html
Tartan Tories feather bedding the Middle Class on the backs of the poor.....
Why not just admit it?
Give in to your inner Tartan Tory......
This is true for a lot of outside cultures. I can see people in the British Indian community that have the same duality and hold India closer than this country and I don't like that either. I think the difference is that when an Indian does it, there isn't really any conflict between Indian/Hindu/Sikh culture and British culture. The values are different, but compatible. The issue is that Muslim values are not compatible with British culture. On women's rights, gay rights, transgender rights, respect for other cultures and tolerance/acceptance of Jews there are massive and unbridgeable differences between what British people consider acceptable and what Muslim people consider acceptable.
Our local F.E. used to offer a raft of things like 'spinning and weaving', which while supremely useless in that dreary, Brownian universe where humans are merely economic units-of-measure, were still wonderful places where older people could meet, learn and socialise.
All the college provided was a classroom - people funded the tutor themselves. It's a shame that we can't appreciate the intangibles that things like knitting classes provide.
FFS! What is it with being so bloody wet that we won't even expect people who have chosen to move half-way round the world to come here to make some bloody effort to turn themselves into British people.
We're not a hotel. We're a country.
In the words of the late great Seamus Heaney: “We are not simply a credit rating or an economy but a history and a culture, a human population rather than a statistical phenomenon.”
Time for people who come here to understand this and to join in fully. If they want to live in their country of origin, they can push off there.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/sometimes-we-can-hardly-stand-it/