So the pikeys have moved into a village just over from me

[Burney]

I pointed out that, ironically, for a lot of british people the idea of being told what to do, how to think and who to let into their country by Germans was a huge motivating factor in the leave vote. And that our record on immigration stands favourably alongside pretty much anyone else's.

Now, this didnt go down well with those around me, particularly with one chap who got quite irate. People get very angry when you suggest, even for a moment, that britain has generally proved to be a pretty welcoming place for immigrants for quite some time.

Our record on acceptance of and behaviour towards our immigrant population compares very favourably with pretty much any other European country you care to name. The Germans seem to think the fact that they have recently let a million or so keen rapists into their country recently gives them some kind of moral dunghill from which to crow. Pricks.

[Peter]

Our record on acceptance of and behaviour towards our immigrant population compares very favourably with pretty much any other European country you care to name. The Germans seem to think the fact that they have recently let a million or so keen rapists into their country recently gives them some kind of moral dunghill from which to crow. Pricks.

They kind of need some credit in the bank so I do understand that. However, they do not get to spend it here, and certainly not with me.

To the people around me drivelling on about immigrationover the past 10 or 15 years I did point out that London has coped admirably with wave after wave of immigration for a century. Just because a bunch of ****kickers in rural Essex are hearing their first foreign accents it doesnt mean the rest of us are.

[Burney]

They kind of need some credit in the bank so I do understand that. However, they do not get to spend it here, and certainly not with me.

To the people around me drivelling on about immigrationover the past 10 or 15 years I did point out that London has coped admirably with wave after wave of immigration for a century. Just because a bunch of ****kickers in rural Essex are hearing their first foreign accents it doesnt mean the rest of us are.

The thing is that that argument (which is one I've smugly reeled off myself in the past) is rather undercut by the sheer numbers and by the misapprehension that London and the rest of the UK are in any way similar. The number of immigrants who have come into this country since 2000 is emphatically not the relative trickle that came since 1945. It is possible to cope with the pre-2000 numbers quite easily. The post-2000 numbers are unprecedented in our history, however, and not easily coped with.

The other fact is that London has been able to 'cope' because it is one of the wealthiest cities on earth and attracts a disproportionate amount of investment in its infrastructure. Other parts of the UK have never received anything like that level of investment and simply cannot cope with the need to house, educate and attend medically to these numbers of people. So you're not comparing like with like.