First post

Its always fiendishly hard to decide what to write about in a first postI could write an introduction, describing the fantistic moi and how incredibly brilliant this blog is going to be. I could jump straight into the deep end and discuss how America is protecting its own economy with the wars in Iraq. Maybe I should take a topical angle and discuss the racism flare that has errupted from the UK's Celebrity (Without a Celebrity) Big Brother. I could even go as far as discussing the current turmoil in Africa.

I decided against all these on the basis that each one is only of interest to a specific party, I thought to myself, what possible topic could affect the majority of people who would stumble onto this blog. Afterall, the wars America have started no longer interest the vast majority of people, racism has been over discussed and how many people out there can truthfull say that they have a deep interest in africa and not just a passing sorrow?

The answer I came upon is immigration.

While a deeply divided and much discussed subject I have seen very little in the way of subjective arguments on this. All arguments tend to verge on the extremes, the BNP saying that all immigration is bad, to the die hard supporters of freedom who point out the countless numbers of people who will be killed if returned to their native lands.

My personal view is mixed. My brother who is heavily dyslexic seemed doomed to some kind of low level factory work in our hometown, however in the last few years the number of polish workers has increased dramatically, to such an extent that all jobs of this kind have had their positions filled with the cheap polish labour.

In the same vein I also disagree with the fact that christian people have had to stop wearing religious objects due to the risk of 'offending' people of a different religion. My view on this is that if people come into this country they should aapt to the english way of life. Do not misunderstand me on this, I dont expect muslims to come over and convert to christianity (I myself am an atheist) But I do not expect them to come to this country and then complain about the christians. Britain is a multi cultural society, and people who move here should be prepared for this.

In the same respect though if a muslim came to this country I would expect any person to show respect towards his religion, as I believe anyone has a right to believe what they want, even if I myself do not believe that a said diety/ies exist.

Then there is the limits placed on immigration, how many people should be let in?

Britain is undoubtedly getting overcrowded, their are too many people claiming benefits (not only immigrants) and too few jobs. When someone immigrates to this country they are given all kinds of benefits that people who already live here are in dire need of. (Although our own residents are already abusing this, the fact that young single mothers think this is an acceptable choice of lifestyle, I know one mother who chose to have a child and live off our benefits system, this is unfortunately becoming more and more common)

Another problem with immigration is the outflux of money from our country, there are many people from mainland europe who come over to work at better wages but send a large portion of their income back to their own country. This is immensly damaging to our own economy, with many businesses now struggling to make money against the tide of superstores and e-commerce. Their have been many propositions to increase tax on money leaving the country, however this would be very hard to regulate, and already customs and excise are missing out on billions of tax from people purchasing products overseas and not paying duty on them, usually by having the product checked as a 'gift'.

However immigration does have many benefits, it brings in a diverse culture, new foods and skills, many skilled jobs in our country that are not being filled by our own citizens are being filled from abroad. It also saves the lives of many asylum seekers who are living in constant danger in their own countries. WhenI was younger and working in a factory I worked with an Iraqi who had fled for his life, as he had the countries army chasing him for voicing opposition against Suddam Hussain, had he not left his life and his families would have been forfeit.

Of course there is always the remaining fact that the people fleeing for their lives flee to the UK, neatly avoiding the multitude of other countries between us and them, where they would be just as safe from persecution. While the usual response to this question when posed is 'england provides a better life' or something similar, should this raelly be a factor when its a matter of life and death?
Then of course the people who come to the UK have to be let in because of their circumstances.

Fortunately the world is becoming more and more globalised, prices have to come into line or people will buy from and goto where things are the cheapest, hence the UK will soon have to go through a depression, along with America etc simply to compete with foreign countries where things are cheaper. I cannot predict this being a slow steady decline as due to credit facilities being stretched many people are living beyond their means and bankrupcies have all but trebbled over the last few years, a sure sign that things are starting to lose control. As the economy equalises people will move to where they want to be, more than there it makes more financial sense to be. Im thinking Jamaica, or maybe switzerland!