Cannot believe this bigotry

I'm sure Marmark is not claiming to speak for everyone, but is speaking for herself.

Marmark sorry, I did misunderstand what you mean. That said, we've had many different cultures in Britain for decades if not centuries, including Syrians, so I don't agree with you at all.

Marmark, if you are saying your home = the country, you are saying you speak for all of us. Sorry, but you do not speak for many of us. We live in a democracy. We can speak for ourselves. You certainly do not speak for me.

When the Vietnamese boat people came over here, we learnt from their culture and they learnt from ours. Why do some people living here think our culture is so perfect that we cannot learn from others?

I'm talking about.Your home= the country.
I know I couldn't take any,we only live in a one bed bungalow.

I do remember reading about the young man, but not about his circumstances. Sad really.

I think the young man I posted about above came here to join his mother, so it would be sad if he left her to go back.
But that's what young people do - want to experience something different.

marmark that's a face full of patience Reuben's got on there! . Why would you think you would be asked to take in a refugee? If any joined your local community, it would be up to you how much contact you had with them. Judging by the response from people saying they could offer a home to refugees, even if there was an initiative to place refugees in other people's homes, there would be enough people who would be willing to help. There will be cultural differences, but that doesn't mean that there will be conflict. Is part of the problem that you live in an area where there are not many people who are not white and British? I am wondering how many people you know who come from a different ethnic background to you. I mean no offence with my questions.

Stansgran Given Syria is a desert country, the climate is not as different as you might think. The main difference is Syria has long hot dry summers. But away from the coast the winters are quite mild with frost, sleet and snow. On average the summers are quite a bit hotter than ours, but the winters can be colder. Our weather is more changeable so I think refugees definitely would find Britain colder and some might miss the warmth of the sun on their bones.

I'm sure many refugees will want to return home if they can at some point. Families will want to reunite.

There was a young man in the news the other day, I think he was from Iran. He has been here for 10 years but is asking to be sent back. He lives in Manchester and can't stand the weather any longer and the people in Manchester are 'rude and violent'.

It's about 16 degrees in Aberdeen today. How do the climates differ(sorry if this has been addressed earlier) ?never been to Syria.

Mamark, you are not being asked to have refugees move into your home. I couldn't share a house with my sisters, there would certainly be conflict. People moving into areas and natives of those areas can respect each other's different ways of life , even learn from each other

Have you seen what Yvette Cooper has to say today about the dark side of FB etc? It's in the Independent newspaper and is frightening. I've just been reading it online. Dreadful language and even death threats. It's unbelievable.

Getting back to the subject.
No,it's not just about housing Durhamjen.Its the cultural thing as well.If you invited people into your home,and they lived an entirely different way of life to you.Sooner or later there would be conflict.Thats a fact.

Thank you Charleygirl.Hes 3 and a half,weighs 5lbs,and is spoils rotten.This is him being groomed,He was sick to death of it.

I read it yesterday and was shocked at the nerve of the government doing something so underhand. It will be the nail in the coffin for social housing in this country and the public will not even be aware it has happened.

Agreed, Wilma, particularly about housing associations.
Have you read this?
www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/24/housing-associations-agree-right-to-buy-deal-with-government
I find it quite disgusting.

Nelliemoser I agree isolating families is not a great idea, but I think that is thought about these days. I saw a piece on TV this week about a Syrian family moving into their new home. The father and daughter were granted refugee status two years ago and more recently his wife and son joined them in the UK and they had just moved in as a family. I think it was in Bradford, but I might be wrong. The family were receiving support from a local Syrian charity that helps refugees resettle, as well as from other sources. I was impressed at the things already in place, such as special classes for Syrians learning English for the parents and for the children (the daughter was wearing a school uniform and looked about 6 yrs old). I got the impression there was a serious attempt to help them integrate into their new environment. The father was interviewed and he struggled with his emotions at his family living together in a safe place again. It was very moving and clear that it was still early days for the family and their new life together.

jen no, it definitely is not just about housing. I think what annoys me the most are the things people raise as the barriers to accepting refugees (I don't just mean in here). So many of these barriers are the result of political decisions. Housing is just one example. If people were not allowed to buy their council house, more council houses would be available. Despite the fact that councils are supposed to build a new house when they sell one, it's not happening. Now housing association properties are about to become available to buy. Why can't people see the problem with this when they talk about a shortage of affordable housing?

It's not just about housing.

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2015/09/24/torture-survivors-need-more-than-welcoming-words-from-govern

In the early 1980s some East African Asians (drafted into Africa by the Colonial British) were being expelled from what was once British East Africa by some dictator or other. My Jewish next door neighbour (my age) whose grand parents had fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century, was heard in the playground complaining about the arrival of more immgrants.

I hope the government don't try to do the dispersal act they tried with the vietnamese refugees earlier, there was a program on the radio about that last week. They made the point that people who have suffered the sort of trauma caused by wars etc, need to be with those they can share experiences and easily communicate with.

Ths splitting of communties appears to have caused a lot of social problems with some of the post war rehousing schemes where families were moved onto new estates well away from their previous social networks.

To do that with traumatised communities that have language and culture in common causes tremendous stress and leads to a lot of of mental health difficulties.

That idea of moving people to smaller properties and causing social isolation is one of the big problems of the B stupid bedroom tax rule.

And that begs the question about why only a fraction of new houses are being built?

Leaving the refugee situation to one side for a moment, the number of truly affordable homes being built is very small. The 2012 revamped Right to Buy was supposed to be on a one for one basis and this simply hasn't happened. Affordable Housing needs to include Social Housing and this is not an attractive option for making a lot of money. You can buy a new house and very few people will consider it is under the heading of Affordable Housing because it takes so much of the household income. We have to face facts that for a huge number of people now, wages do not support home ownership. Wages are not going to rise significantly, so Affordable Housing must include a massive Social Housing building programme, not overpriced private homes. The stigma of renting is still prevalent and this is an English/British peculiarity.

Where there's a will there's a way.

Reuben is delightful- how old is he?

www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-planning/housing/update/item/3781-brownfield-land-could-provide-up-to-one-million-homes

If these brownfield sites were developed, they would probably be in areas where there is more availability of work for the people who move there.
There is no need to encroach very far on our 'green and pleasant land'.

and enjoy the fresh air
Not if you saw the news re emissions!

Anyway, I was thinking as we drove through the green and pleasant countryside on our way back from food shopping today.

There are a lot of houses that are empty and need renovation.
There are a lot of brownfield and infill sites which could be used.
Building firms and even firms like Tesco (who intended building and are not now going to do so) own a lot of building land which they should be forced to release to provide homes both for the present population and future incoming refugees.

We surely don't need to build on farmland, golf courses, encroach on any national park land, destroy forests or use AONB if common sense is applied to this and an assessment is made of what land just is available.

Ok Anniebach.
Thank you Wilma.