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No it really was about immigration. A lot of people, and that includes British Black and Asian people,ironically, didnt like the feeling that they were being sw

No it really was about immigration. A lot of people, and that includes British Black and Asian people,ironically, didnt like the feeling that they were being swamped by people who spoke a different langauge, that were crowding their schools and health service. I knew a lot of people at all different levels of British society that voted to leave because of this, form all races and economic classes. I voted to leave because I found the EU undemocratic, inflexible and overegulated, I also didnt like the strong strain of xenophobia and racism present in continental European politics that could infect the UK through EU legislation. But I also knew that was the reason Leave won the vote in the UK.

1_player 5y ago
> like the feeling that they were being swamped by people who spoke a different langauge, that were crowding their schools and health service That's the most ignorant of excuses. Do these people think we come to UK to get benefits and because we're weak and sick? People immigrate when they're young and healthy and of working age. They don't crowd the health service and are net positive taxpayers and contributors to the economy. But of course the average "immigrants are stealing our jobs" voter isn't capable of deep concepts like this. Sorry, but as a son of immigrants and an immigrant myself I have no patience for ignorance and small-mindedness. Now we've left the EU, BoJo offered temporary visas to drive lorries during the fuel crisis this summer and there's no one to pick the potatoes and parsnips out of the British fields. Where the queue of Brits to replace the Eastern European immigrant farmers that have gotten the boot thanks to Brexit?
- drumhead 5y ago
  We all know why no one's doing those jobs, its because they were low paid. Shouldnt farmers have been paying more or was low paid labour from Eastern Europe a good thing?
mmarq 5y ago
> A lot of people, and that includes British Black and Asian people,ironically, didnt like the feeling that they were being swamped by people who spoke a different langauge, that were crowding their schools and health service The English school system is an undefinable classist mess, where you either spend a fortune in housing or in school fees or you surrender to your child being practically illiterate. The NHS is a burning barrel of crap, compared to its continental homologues. They are sources of complaints among expats and of morbid curiosity for those living in the continent (I went to the GP with a broken arm, and all they gave me was paracetamol, do you know an Italian doctor in the UK? - random Italian on the NHS). Nobody moves to the UK for its public services and nobody swamps anything. Anybody suggesting that Germans or Frenchmen or Spaniards are flooding the UK (read London zone 1 to 3, for the rest is closer to Ukraine than to Germany) is either ignorant or racist or a combination of the two.
- drumhead 5y ago
  It wasnt Germans, French or Spanish though was it, it was Romanians, Polish and Bulgarians.
  - mmarq 5y ago
    To be honest, I’m kind of fed up with the normalisation of hate against Europeans and, in particular, Eastern Europeans. As if the Britons were some kind of a master race with a God-given prerogative re: ranking nationalities or races. If you have a theory re: why Poles are inferior to Brits, you don’t have to share it with me.
    - drumhead 5y ago
      I dont have any particular axe to grind against foreigners, and there is no normalisation of hate against any particular group in the UK. They have some of the strictest anti discrimination laws in Europe. Im sure if you were say gay or black and living in say Poland or Romania you'd have a much harder time and be discriminated far more against than if you lived in the UK, so the idea that the British alone think they're better than others is wrong isnt it. The racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and islamophobia in Eastern Europe is far worse that the UK, so what does that say about them?
      - theplumber 5y ago
        >> The racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and islamophobia in Eastern Europe is far worse that the UK, so what does that say about them? I think it says that socially(i.e discrimination wise)EE is still a developing region while the UK is degrading. UK was seen as a model for many european countries. I don't think it'a the case anymore and I don't think the anti-immigration story is over in the UK. That being said I can't wait for the UK to lecture Eastern European countries on immigration...imagine that hypocrisy
      - mmarq 5y ago
        You wrote: > It wasnt Germans, French or Spanish though was it, it was Romanians, Polish and Bulgarians. as if this weren’t the result of normalisation of hate against Eastern Europeans. Not that I care much, I’m not Eastern European, but I’d try not to contradict myself in the space of one and a half sentence. > so what does that say about them? That there isn’t any “them”. Your neighbour is your neighbour and doesn’t bear the sins of his fellow countrymen.

1_player 5y ago

> like the feeling that they were being swamped by people who spoke a different langauge, that were crowding their schools and health service That's the most ignorant of excuses. Do these people think we come to UK to get benefits and because we're weak and sick? People immigrate when they're young and healthy and of working age. They don't crowd the health service and are net positive taxpayers and contributors to the economy. But of course the average "immigrants are stealing our jobs" voter isn't capable of deep concepts like this. Sorry, but as a son of immigrants and an immigrant myself I have no patience for ignorance and small-mindedness. Now we've left the EU, BoJo offered temporary visas to drive lorries during the fuel crisis this summer and there's no one to pick the potatoes and parsnips out of the British fields. Where the queue of Brits to replace the Eastern European immigrant farmers that have gotten the boot thanks to Brexit?

drumhead 5y ago
We all know why no one's doing those jobs, its because they were low paid. Shouldnt farmers have been paying more or was low paid labour from Eastern Europe a good thing?

mmarq 5y ago

> A lot of people, and that includes British Black and Asian people,ironically, didnt like the feeling that they were being swamped by people who spoke a different langauge, that were crowding their schools and health service The English school system is an undefinable classist mess, where you either spend a fortune in housing or in school fees or you surrender to your child being practically illiterate. The NHS is a burning barrel of crap, compared to its continental homologues. They are sources of complaints among expats and of morbid curiosity for those living in the continent (I went to the GP with a broken arm, and all they gave me was paracetamol, do you know an Italian doctor in the UK? - random Italian on the NHS). Nobody moves to the UK for its public services and nobody swamps anything. Anybody suggesting that Germans or Frenchmen or Spaniards are flooding the UK (read London zone 1 to 3, for the rest is closer to Ukraine than to Germany) is either ignorant or racist or a combination of the two.

drumhead 5y ago
It wasnt Germans, French or Spanish though was it, it was Romanians, Polish and Bulgarians.
- mmarq 5y ago
  To be honest, I’m kind of fed up with the normalisation of hate against Europeans and, in particular, Eastern Europeans. As if the Britons were some kind of a master race with a God-given prerogative re: ranking nationalities or races. If you have a theory re: why Poles are inferior to Brits, you don’t have to share it with me.
  - drumhead 5y ago
    I dont have any particular axe to grind against foreigners, and there is no normalisation of hate against any particular group in the UK. They have some of the strictest anti discrimination laws in Europe. Im sure if you were say gay or black and living in say Poland or Romania you'd have a much harder time and be discriminated far more against than if you lived in the UK, so the idea that the British alone think they're better than others is wrong isnt it. The racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and islamophobia in Eastern Europe is far worse that the UK, so what does that say about them?
    - theplumber 5y ago
      >> The racism, homophobia, anti-semitism and islamophobia in Eastern Europe is far worse that the UK, so what does that say about them? I think it says that socially(i.e discrimination wise)EE is still a developing region while the UK is degrading. UK was seen as a model for many european countries. I don't think it'a the case anymore and I don't think the anti-immigration story is over in the UK. That being said I can't wait for the UK to lecture Eastern European countries on immigration...imagine that hypocrisy
    - mmarq 5y ago
      You wrote: > It wasnt Germans, French or Spanish though was it, it was Romanians, Polish and Bulgarians. as if this weren’t the result of normalisation of hate against Eastern Europeans. Not that I care much, I’m not Eastern European, but I’d try not to contradict myself in the space of one and a half sentence. > so what does that say about them? That there isn’t any “them”. Your neighbour is your neighbour and doesn’t bear the sins of his fellow countrymen.