My mother would like a word with you, Sam!

*the crowd begins to chant raucously* fight.. fight.. FIGHT

 

You're not helping.

 

Ladeeeez and Gentlemennn!!!

What a great posting year 2002 is starting out to be! Two days in and we're arguing over some misbegotten chemical stuff that Americans call "cheese". Eh.

 

That's not what this arguements about, Mr. Observant.

 

Alright, Ms Know it All, what is it about then?

 

Reread, Sparky.

 

Personally I'm with Mr Blunkett on this issue: if people want to come to this country, then they should either be able, or learn to speak English. How that is an insult I don't know... but having seen plenty of feedback, I know I'm in the majority...

 

...and is Jesus still a white man?

 

What feedback is that? The only feedback was Beth and Chet...

 

Put yourself in their shoes, Mat. They leave their home. Everything that's familiar to them for whatever reason. They end up in a completely foreign country not speaking the language, knowning nothing and no one. All they have is a small group of like individuals. Of course they'll gravitate towards them and attempt to hang on to the one thing that makes them them. Their language. Given time and a developing sense of security they'll learn the language. Patience and compassion, my friend.

 

The whole point Matt is that most immigrants DO speak english and contribute to society in positive ways. It's only a tiny fraction of the public who don't thinks so.

 

Don't those little bags of nuts have a warning on them as well:

"WARNING: This product may contain nuts"

well, hopefully they will...

anyway,

Nick "I'm not going to get involved in the OTHER arguement Long

 

....and they are either over 50..or have a penchant for world war 2 german military history

 

thas' right.

 

Out of interest Matt, how many immigrants have you met, worked with, talked to? Or did you just decide to be a bigot without meeting any of them?

 

If most immigrants DO speak English already, why the initiative then from the Government hmmm?!

As for myself, I live in London so I have seen a lot of different cultures. My best friend at school was Asian and his parents didn't speak much English at all. But they got by okay because they had the family to support them financially and socially...

EDIT: Pooda... feedback from forums, letters, postings, friends... anyone I've seen who had a comment about Blunkett's initiative. 99% were in agreement with him...

 

My best friend at school was Asian

Well that makes it all OK then.

The government initiative was badly handled and will cause incitement to hatred as it in an excuse for far right groups to stoke up emotions. And it is still looking at a small minority that cannot speak English. My parents both speak fluent English and they are immigrants who moved to the UK in the sixties.

I work in social services and have come across loads of immigrants/asylum seekers as I used to be the liaison for the authority with The IND. Out of the hundreds that I have talked to, only a handful needed translators.

I?m sure at Imperial college you came across immigrants by the barrel load and at HP you have them everywhere so you know more about this than anyone else.

ED: And I'm sure that the forums and articles you read are the most balanced pieces of tripe available. If you ever got into the real world you may see it is a bit different.

 

We live in the 21st Century..which mean's our countries borders are less refined..this is the global village where all cultures can react with one another and learn from one another..

We are becoming more tolerant of one another's faiths..whether we are hindi, budist, C of E or a fan of Jay and Silent Bob..we got to learn to live with one another..

Would you like it if you were treated differently or with such coldness when you were in the states seeing your blessed Andrea?


Please be advised..this does not include The French

 

feedback from forums, letters, postings, friends... anyone I've seen who had a comment about Blunkett's initiative

You must lead one boring life if all you do is send letters around talking about this kind of stuff...

And I'm with Arun. We're all residents of Starship Earth, so get used to it! Who cares what language people speak, what colour their skin is or what their preferred breakfast consists of?! Besides which, some asian babes are fairly hot!

 

LMAO....

Be warned Sam..with Asian girls..you got to watch out for their brothers...

No one likes to be run over by a Golf GTI full of Emporo Amarni suited hombres

 

Whereas I don't believe it will cause incitement to hatred. But I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point...

 

LOL, that's Sikh boys Arun. And yeah, you do have to watch out for them. Especially the ones from Birmingham.

 

One of me mates at school was a Bangladeshi... I know what's in store if you mess with the sisters. His brothers ran an indian restaurant... they had lots of big knives... they weren't afraid to use them for non-culinary purposes...

 

all I said was that she's like a Kit Kat..

 

Poods... hardly boring... but I hardly spend my life just doing that now. It's hard to avoid it at times, I just keep myself up to date on opinion and current events. Though I will agree on the Asian babe bit... I have dated one as well...

//thinks back... well you can't accuse me of not being part of Starship Earth seeing as my last 4 gfs have all been foreign now. Does that say something about the talent here though?!