Just been into town for the first time in a year and can't believe the number of immigrants; Africans, Asians, Roma, and half the white people are from Central/Eastern Europe. Barnsley was 99% white British in 1991, what is it now 90%, 80%? That's a 900 to 1900% rise in the number of non-white British in 25 years. No wonder Barnsley voted for Brexit.
light blue touchpaper and retire to safe distance, cant wait for the " you can have an opinion so long as its same as mine brigade"
From when I moved to Barnsley in 1980 as a 9 year old, I can't remember meeting a non-White British person in my age group until I went to the sixth form at 16. I don't remember any at school (I presume the travelling community doesn't count?), but it was a long time ago so could be mis-remembering. The town was rife with casual racism, misogyny and homophobia back then (monkey chants were regular features of our home games). But, I can still remember the same casual racism in the older generation where I lived previously with a larger immigrant population, so that might just have been the prevailing attitude of the 80s.
Excellent, hopefully there'll be less racism from people who fear anyone who is different to them in a few years then as they'll get to know people from different cultures and realise the colour of your skin or the place where you are born doesn't determine what type of person you are.
just watch some of the so called "comedies" from that era that used to be called funny and you'll cringe at the dialogue
But what about the fact that some of these immigrant groups are more likely to be unemployed, more likely to be in Council Housing and more likely to commit crimes? The stats bear this out. What about grooming, gropers, honour killings, forced marriages, terrorism etc. When you import a culture you can't pick and choose which parts you want eg "I'll take the food but leave the religious intolerance", you import a culture wholesale, the bad bits as well as the good. And ultimately you end up with Fir Vale/Firth Park/Spital Hill and I can't see how that's good for Barnsley or anywhere else.
Walking round Wakefield earlier behind two foreign blokes, It did actually feel for a second that I was abroad listening to them. I suppose the surprisingly warm weather contributed as well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Go to most major towns - Doctors, Consultants, nurses, IT workers, Indian restaurants, Chinese restaurants, Lebanese Restaurants Mexican, Turkish, Greek, all came from migrants settling here and staring businesses and don't we love 'em. Barnsley still lacks diversity you get from other towns. The divesity that controlled migration brings is the plus side of the debate. Unfortunately it is the sheer numbers of people wanting to settle, regardless of race colour or creed ability to support themselves that is the problem. Unfortunately you cannot say that because it is racist, bigoted etc. etc. etc. to some idealists on here. However, it seems ludicrous and self defeating that even those with desirable skills and a desire to seek work cannot do so because they are not allowed to whilst seeking asylum. This stirs up resentment, costs money as they have to be supported by the state, and actively drives people into the black economy and also to disappear off the radar. I don't understand the logic. Why cannot they be given temporary work permits?
I get it, you're scared because it's something new to you. I feel really sorry for people who have never experienced being around people of different cultures all day every day and so carry around an irrational fear. Where I work there is a wide variety of staff and students from different backgrounds, when someone comes to borrow a book I just lend them the book, I don't think 'oh there goes a potential groomer' or 'I bet they'll commit an honour killing'. It's just a person. I talk to everyone, have a laugh, help with homework, be strict when someone is misbehaving etc. Who seriously goes around counting the number of people of each skin colour and then subdividing it and counting how many white people are British or not as they walk around? It's weird.
In all fairness many were actually parodies of racists. unfortunately for the terminally offended irony seems to have escaped them as a certain American black comedian Reginald D. Hunter pointed out when pilloried by the press for using the N word in a joke at the PFA dinner that was actually ridiculing white supremacists. I hate a lot of those comedies from the 70's like 'Love thy neighbour' not because of the 'racist text' but because they wern't actually funny. The whole point was though that the African neighbour was better educated, spoke better English and was generally more english than his racist white neighbour who called his neighbour 'Sambo'. that though was the biggest problem in that the attempt to show racists as inferior to the immigrants it came across that the reason these ethnic immigrants were 'better' was because the dressed behaved and acted in a manner more British and middle class than the racist white Brit. 'Rising Damp' was another example. Whilst the main humour revolved around the rather repulsive Rigsby, the sub plot involving his African? tenant relied on the same thing. educated, literate and cultured - i.e. British style cultured - African vs ignorant slovenly Brit. On the other hand some of the stand up comedy really does make you cringe...although it made me cringe even then.