Cannot believe this bigotry

MarMark1 Reuben is a cutie! I so miss having a dog to walk.

There will always be somewhere to walk our dogs and enjoy the fresh air. At the moment nobody in England is supposed to be more than 15 minutes from a park area. It's one of the considerations planners take into account when looking at planning applications.

SuzieB nice post

Your not self righteous SuzieB, I too accept it must be difficult in some cities but these people are fleeing bullets, bombs and gassing , they need a place of safety, they wouldn't risk their lives in those awful boats just to look for jobs

I think this is a different petition to stop the bombing.

www.change.org/p/security-council-stop-the-bombs-so-syrian-refugees-can-go-home

I remember well those signs Anniebach. My father came from Birmingham and was taking my mother and me through the city when we kept seeing all that stuff about dogs, blacks and Irish. My mother, from a sheltered life in Wales, was absolutely appalled. Not that my father wasn't - he didn't have a racist bone in his body - but I've never forgotten the incident and the look of disgust on my mother's face and hearing it in her voice.

We're mongrels in my family, albeit it ones from the British Isles (English,Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Jewish) and I have taught my children to be very proud of that fact.

I recently left a knitting group I'd started because two members were constantly saying the refugees shouldn't be coming here. It served them right if they drowned, and they should all be sent back to their country of origin. I truly was speechless - so speechless that I couldn't even argue with them! I think they're the only two left in the group now.

But I'm not being complacent about this. Or, I hope, self righteous! I live in a town where you rarely hear English spoken until you get into the centre and I can understand why people feel alienated in their own country. In addition to the Asians who came in the 70s we now have areas where only Eastern Europeans live because there is plenty of work our way.

We could afford to house a lot more people - British and refugees - if we stopped pretending we're an important world power and ditched Trident!

Enjoy Mamark, I have one like Reuben - Lottie . Please don't get stressed, we can't give safety to millions but we can for some

Thinking about Cameron's refusal to play ball with the quotas. Hope the EU doesn't remember this when he starts negotiating with them prior to the EU. vote in UK

This is Reuben

Ok,Anniebach.its a beautiful day,I'm off to the park with Reuben.x

Start building houses and there will be work

Mamark, there will always be trees , rivers , conkers, we will not end up standing shoulder to shoulder , your grandchildren , like mine, are in more danger from the internet . Mountains , fields , rivers will not vanish , sadly neither will violence , hope you head ache clears up quickly

Seasonal work is already an opening for immigrant labour and there are discontented murmurings among established groups who will not take kindly to the possibility of losing their jobs to refugees.

Because of the overcrowding,Anniebach.At the moment the best things in life are free.To everybody.For example,walking in Plymbridge woods with my little dog.The sun shining down through the trees on to the river.Beautiful.(until a bleddy biker nearly knocked me for six)Mind,that's another story.Playing over Saltrum with the kids,collecting conkers.When there's limited space,who will have first choice? Not the likes of me,I don't suppose.
Will it be even safe enough.Not blaming any particular group for violence,but resentment can be the cause.
I don't know.Ive got a head ache now.You explain it.

roseq. of course I am totally aware of those facts, and the jobs involved (although most of the labour is on short-term contract at very low wages for foreigners- but this is another story- perhaps an opening for immigrants here)- but I never thought it is a good idea to encourage strawberry eating (and most of them taste like nothing and go off very quicky) or any veg out of season, and covering the country over with polytunnels is a disaster for wildlife and ecology, bees, etc.

But yes, all the issues are very complex indeed, and all are a political choice for land use- and one we can inlfuence with out vote and with our purse (shopping habits- I am sure I am not the only one here who chooses to eat in season and to love tasty strawberries in June all the more because they are not available at other times).

There are still some disused airfields which are close to main roads/towns etc., and military engineers are trained to assemble temporary accommodation in a very short time.

If you get rid of the polytunnels and strawberries you will deprive farmers of an income and many workers of their jobs.
Although I will agree they are a blot on the landscape, this is farming land, you can't just take it and build on it.
Increased populations require more food - ok, not necessarily strawberries but vegetables, potatoes - if necessary the land could be used to produce foodstuffs more essential than strawberries.
Why do many people never think where their food comes from, it doesn't just arrive on the shelves from space.
[sigh]

I must say, having spent time visiting Welsh hospitals over the past few years, both as patient and visitor I am always surprised at the number of 'home-grown' Welsh staff, doctors, nurses, admin, etc, working in them.
(In reply to jingls earlier post)
I didn't notice that Chris Bryant had any accent at all!

G23 you have prompted me to contact my local councillor again.
I emailed him a couple of weeks ago and he assured me that plans were being discussed.
Like you, I'm in Scotland and support our government's stand.
I'm sure that we have similar accommodation standing empty.
I worry that if a few families are placed in flats in outlying housing estates where significant problems exist, there might be more resentment than support.
Your LA scheme sounds excellent and I hope to find that something similar is planned here.

The idea of being a refugee was one of my childhood nightmares. Can't even begin to think how I would react in that situation.
And yes, that White Helmet video is amazing.

absolutely jingl- just saying it is possible and does already exist. The great thing about prefabs and carvan parks, etc, is that although ugly, they can be put up and dismantled in a jiffy with little permanent scars left.

Certainly, as far as I am concerned- I'd get rid of the year round strawberries and those pollytunnels.

All I am saying is that land use, just as financing education or the NHS, are political choices, and don't happen 'out of the blue'. Who do you think is going to be making billions on the development of private health care, for instance?

I also just found this video shared on fb, which has an animation video explaining Syria
Syrian Refugee Crisis Explained

Constance thank you for posting that link. I feel humbled and hopeful to see people doing that job. I signed the petition and will share the information with as many as I can. God forbid I ever have to live in such circumstances.

Mamark, it has always been the same , this doesn't explain how refugees will deprive your grandchildren from the simple things in life

The video in your link is amazing constance. Poor little baby. I think local rescue workers are heroes. Thank God the little boy survived.

I guess there's a need for affordable holidays granjura.

I think looking at England from a plane gives a false impression of the country's crowdedness or otherwise, because of our National Parks.

Can I just point that Syrians are not all Muslim? They are also Christians and even Atheists...

And most of them only want to be here temporarily to avoid the barrel bombs being rained on them or the attacks from nutter fundamentalists who hate women.

I was impressed by these guys, who try and help:
www.whitehelmets.org/