Thursday 14 March 2013

'Guardian' Subtext - 'Ugh! These Dreadful People'...

Wesley Andrews is working his way through a hefty fry-up at the Retro Diner, a no-nonsense cafe on the Shirley Road in Southampton decorated with union flags, portraits of British bulldogs and images of scooter-riding mods. His sausage, bacon and eggs go cold as he launches into an attack on the system that he says has turned this street into one of the most ethnically diverse in the UK.
You can almost see the shudder as the 'Guardian' hack writes this, can't you? How could these people turn down the chance to have delightfully chic Armenian delis and hardworking Polish gardeners and Philippino nannies?
"It's like you're not in Britain," he says. "You can walk up and down this road and not hear anyone speak English. That makes me angry. I know people who've come here, don't work, don't pay taxes but get a big house on the state. I've spoken to people who tell me they're here for the free money."
Oh, no, we know that's not true, don't we? Clearly, these people saying this must be pawns of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!
A 28-year-old support worker who cares for people with disabilities, Andrews is from a white Labour-voting family. He is well-educated and well-read. As he speaks, his fellow diners at the Retro nod and grimace. They do not consider him an extremist
The baffled incomprehension of the writers face at this point must be wondrous to behold. Clearly, he must be thinking, this place must be an age-old Tory stronghold?
Across the road, James Morris, 74, an an antiques dealer, flies the union flag from his Old Curiosity Shop. He was born around the corner and has seen the street change beyond recognition. Morris, like many here, has always voted Labour (the party has held Southampton Test since 1997).
"But I'm going to take a close look at what Ukip are saying. I'll be listening to those boys carefully before the next general election."
This is going to be an increasing problem for Cameron, and it won't matter how many BME meetings he forces his MPs to go along to...
Naturally, not all residents are as strident as Andrews and Morris. Neil Walker, the owner of Retro, is quick to explain that he was not trying to make a political statement by opening a very British-looking cafe: "It was a business decision. I thought there was a gap in the market for good old staples. Actually I think the Poles and all the other races here have brought good to this area. They've made it more vibrant."
Quentin Thatcher, an estate agent, agrees: "For us, they've created a demand for housing locally, which has helped our business. They are hard-working, plain-speaking people – good to deal with."
Yes, there's always people who profit. Usually, that's all they do - because they live elsewhere!
What of the younger generation? Outside Richard Taunton sixth form college, a few minutes walk from Shirley Road, a group of black teenagers bounces a football. "I don't think there's a problem," says one 17-year-old.
"A few years ago, it was my parents and grandparents having a tough time. Now it's the Poles who get the stick. I'm not going to say people shouldn't come here."
One of his friends adds: "The EU means we can all go wherever we want, doesn't it? If I can't get a job here when I leave college, I'll go abroad. The world's a big place. You don't have to stay and work where you're born."
You are in for a shock, kid - you won't find other EU countries quite so welcoming!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bunny

Julia I don't agree entirely with your final comment, just as I don't agree entirely with the Kid's comments but do largely. There is a caveat to both view points, the world is a big place and with a UK passport you can access a lot of it with ease. With a good qualifications and experience you can access it with ease and be welcome. As an unskilled migrant your comments are spot on Julia.

As an English bloke working in Ukraine (until Sunday) I was there due to qualifications and experience, which the locals don't have. The fact that I had an uncle on the Murmansk Convoys also went down well. If I was an unskilled worker, with minimal education I wouldn't be here and i wouldn't be welcome.

Twenty_Rothmans said...

"I voted Labour and now the place is full of foreigners"
Who'd a' thought?

"A 28-year-old support worker who cares for people with disabilities, Andrews is from a white Labour-voting family. He is well-educated and well-read."

So well-educated and widely-read that he has a non-job. I expect that the Guardian journo would think I was bloody Einstein.
Until I filled his milquetoast, smug grid in, that is.

Please don't get on my norks about people who work in old people's homes - I volunteered as a schoolboy, and I still know many caring, hard-working people who perform this onerous task.

There is a disconnect, however, between being well-educated and taking on this work without getting some sort of title to go with it.

Budvar said...

Except Bunny, you're not moving to Ukraine, taking much needed housing, taking their jobs, or taking their women.
Also you're not living in a Brit ghetto, not bothering to learn the lingo, claiming child ben for kids you may or may not have back in UK and sending it back home.
Working on a short term contract because the locals don't have the skills and fucking yourself back to where you came from once the job's done is a hell of a bit different.

Anonymous said...

Black teenagers, how many of them are there in Southampton these days?

Robert the Biker said...

I've always thought this 'always voted X' thing was a big part of the problem; people vote tribally and the smug party gits get on with doing as they please knowing that support is there come hell or high water. Result is that parts of the country are unrecognisable to the average person but they get cries of Waayyyycism or bigggotttwy from the shit of the Guardian if they mention it. Time and past time to support EDL and vote UKIP before we find ourselves supporting the SD (brownshirts) and voting for some bloke with a dodgy 'tache.

Dick Puddlecote said...

Eating a fry-up? How common! Don't they have pine nut panninis in Southampton? ;)

blueknight said...

10% of the population of Southampton is Polish. When the doors were opened, the Govt. of the day did not expect so many immigrants to come here.
The same thing could easily happen when Bulgarians and Romanians are allowed in.
And by Bulgarians and Romanians, read
Roma and be afraid.

Anonymous said...

Bunny

Mr Budvar I agree entirely, except for the fact that some prick has just tried to kick off with me tonight. My entire point is that Julia is right to an extent and so it the kid to an extent.

If I was an unskilled immigrant then Julia's comments would be bang on, if the black kid was not an unskilled worker but skilled with something to offer then he would be bang on.

My entire point is that both points are correct to an extent, as I say if I was unskilled and with minimal education I would not be welcome. This is not a concept the Guardian understands but it is a concept that Norman Tebbit in his Telegraph blog understands perfectly.

staybryte said...

blueknight

"When the doors were opened, the Govt. of the day did not expect so many immigrants to come here."

Yes they did. I hate our political class. Hate. Them.

JuliaM said...

"With a good qualifications and experience you can access it with ease and be welcome."

Indeed so, but as Budvar points out, the Devil is in that detail, isn't it?

"So well-educated and widely-read that he has a non-job."

Indeed!

"I've always thought this 'always voted X' thing was a big part of the problem; people vote tribally and the smug party gits get on with doing as they please knowing that support is there come hell or high water."

Yup, it builds complacency. Why change?

JuliaM said...

"When the doors were opened, the Govt. of the day did not expect so many immigrants to come here."

Ah, really? I agree with staybryte - they knew full well what they were doing...

Anonymous said...

I agree Julia.

They knew exactly what they were doing.

Feral.

Anonymous said...

Just heard at St Marys:

Kiedy byłem małym chłopcem tylko

and

kiedy święci idź maszerują w

blueknight said...

After the doors were opened, the Govt. of the day said they had not expected so many immigrants to come here, is what I should have said..

And 'the political class hate us' is what Staybryte should have said

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX scooter-riding mods.XX

HA!

WE won boys!

How many mods do you see today? How many Bikers? :-) :-)

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX Naturally, not all residents are as strident as Andrews and Morris. XX

WHAT THE FUCK!!??

"Strident"? Has this arsehole never heard a raised voice in his fucking LIFE? Let alons an "angry" one???

Are ALL Brits now reduced to fawning, wet nelly wankers, scared of their own shadow?

Love to see this cunt in a pub on Saughihall Street on a Saturday night!

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX a group of black teenagers bounces a football. XX

I see the driveler also has problems with his English. "A group BOUNCE"


XX You are in for a shock, kid - you won't find other EU countries quite so welcoming! XX

Sorry Julia, YOU are full of bollox this time!

Britain, as a country for immigration, is WAAAYYY behind Sweden (1st place), Germany and France. I Believe also, that Holland and Denmark take more immigrants that the U.K does.

Anonymous said...

Not going to debate the figures (by population density almost certainly England beats those countries, if not the UK as a whole), but from my knowledge of Germany (a great country) immigrants are generally better educated and contribute more, better integrated with a noticeable lack of diversity consultants there. Nothing wrong with taking in immigrants when its in your interest, indeed my wife is one, everything wrong with trying to create little Albania/Pakistan/Nigeria and the right to claim benefits without contributing first.

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX Anonymous said...

Not going to debate the figures (by population density almost certainly England beats those countries, if not the UK as a whole), but from my knowledge of Germany (a great country) immigrants are generally better educated and contribute more,XX

No. MOST of them are so badly educated, that they are considered dyslexic in their OWN language!!

Turkish rocket scientists stay in Turkey......

Edward M. Grant said...

There is a caveat to both view points, the world is a big place and with a UK passport you can access a lot of it with ease.

If by 'a lot of it', you mean the EU, yes. But most Britons won't speak the language and unless they have valuable skills that companies will pay well over local wages for, they'll usually be worse off than living in the UK. There's a big difference between getting on a bus to London in Eastern Europe when you already speak passable English and can earn more for an unskilled job in the UK than you did as a doctor at home... and going from the UK to an Eastern European nation whose language is incomprehensible and whose average wage is less than UK dole.

As for the rest of the world, the vast majority of Britons don't qualify to emigrate to other English-speak nations any more. There are so many Britons trying to escape that those countries have massively increased their immigration requirements to keep the numbers down.

JuliaM said...

"HA!

WE won boys!

How many mods do you see today? How many Bikers? :-) :-)"


And the music was better in those days too... ;)

"...from my knowledge of Germany (a great country) immigrants are generally better educated and contribute more, better integrated with a noticeable lack of diversity consultants there."

In the business districts, maybe. But Germany's not free from issues.

"There are so many Britons trying to escape that those countries have massively increased their immigration requirements to keep the numbers down."

Can you blame them?