I deplore Jim Ratcliffe's words. (owner of Man U)

Long story short - and check with ChatGPT later.

"Fish and chips" as a concept did originate in England. The fried fish idea was taken from Sephardic Jewish/Iberian origins. The fried chips idea was taken from Belgium. The combination dish is ours though.

Primrose53

theworriedwell

Primrose53

I agree with what he said. It was just a few sentences and it seems to me it was just one word that offended SOME people. It wasn’t a foul mouthed rant, but a very brief and quietly spoken opinion.

We all know the NHS is full of people who came here many years ago but they came here LEGALLY and are greatly valued and respected. We have first hand experience of surgeons, nurses, doctors, cleaners etc as my son had major surgery last Oct at Addenbrooke’s and is now having chemo elsewhere.

Jim Ratcliffe paid £110 million in tax here in 2017/2018 before he decided to spend half his time in Monaco. To be honest I would probably do the same just as many other very wealthy Brits have done!

They didn't all come years ago. I was in hospital and my named nurse was from the Philippines and she'd been here a few months.

So he's just an immigrant where he is, don't know why he feels able to comment.

You are right. Qualified staff are still coming here legally from other countries and rightly so. No problem with that.

There is a problem with that. The Philippines government have paid for that medical training.
That came into effect in 2018 because the government realised the country needed more doctors.
My own nephew did the same with his law degree which the tax payer had funded. Within months of getting his degree he moved to America.

"According to the 2021 Census, England and Wales are
81.7% White (74.4% White British), with a growing ethnic minority population. The largest minority groups are Asian (9.3%), Black (4.0%), Mixed (2.9%), and Other (2.1%). London is the most diverse region, while the percentage of white British decreased from 80.5% in 2011 to 74.4% in 2021. "

"Based on 2021 Census data, approximately
90.3% (53.8 million) of usual residents in England and Wales identified with at least one UK national identity. Conversely, around 9.7% (5.8 million) of the population in England and Wales held a non-UK national identity, an increase from 8.0% in 2011. "

"Less than 1% of of the UK's total population is a refugee or seeking asylum."
In the UK, approximately 47% to 48% of asylum seekers are granted refugee status or other forms of protection at the initial decision stage as of mid-2025, down from a peak of 77% in 2022. When including appeals, which often overturn initial refusals, the final grant rate is generally higher than the initial decision rate. "

All the above AI generated.

So basically those of you who have a big problem with immigration, what is your solution? Most people in the UK are either perfectly legal UK citizens or here legally with a visa. The current government has actually been successful in reducing the levels of immigration and has also speeded up the time it takes to get asylum seekers processed. I guess we don't want to emulate what's happening in the US with ICE rounding up people on the streets at gunpoint, so what is your actual issue with immigration and what is your solution?

I am not sure 'what do suggest we do about the mess we have created' is a vote winner.

😄

foxie48

Oreo

Too much immigration is a very real problem there’s no point in trying to hide that.
Even the government is trying to get numbers down.

Of course "too much immigration" is a problem but what is "too much"? The vast majority of immigration is to those areas of our economy or services where we cannot recruit nationally or related to student visas that help to reduce the cost of educating our own students. Net migration has fallen drastically since Labour came into power, yet people still seem to think that immigration is a huge problem. It's not. It is nowhere near as problematic as it was in 2022, our net migration figures are reducing not increasing.

The government wouldn’t continue cracking down on numbers if there weren’t too many.
Illegal immigration is a real problem too, less in numbers but more problematic.We know nothing about them, many lies are told by them, as to true age, true nationality and true past criminal history.

It is complicated indeed, Galaxy. Campaigning for labour on the doorstep and being greeted by most who have decided to vote Reform is a lesson in Not Knowing. so now I'm talking about those who are willing to talk...

I tell people the % who are actually here as in the "Boat" irregular immigrants and thats the first shock, as I've found the assumption is much, much higher - like 80% ish? so having explained that, and the new changes to reduce regular legal immigration and what many do that we really need..

...I then ask politely, what will Reform do? And many times it's "he'll send the boats back".

And explaining why he cant simply do that, I say well.... imagine if we in the UK suddenly had people we dumped back on our shores or at airports illegally, how would we feel? And what is being done but how its a problem all over Europe...

and no, I haven't had doors shut in my face because its quite hard to do to a much older person with white hair who also asks about their needs and so on,

but I doubt there are many who change their minds. They want a magic solution to this oh so intractable problem.
And no, I don't start going into the do we want what is happening in the USA as if they aren't hearing "what Farage promises about the boats is not possible" there is no point.

Galaxy I don't see having a diverse population as a "mess" nor do I see an issue with issuing work and student visas to people from abroad if it fills jobs we need filling and helps our educational institutions to operate more economically.
I've lived in a big city, worked with people from different communities and now I live rurally. It's a very "white" population and the racism is palpable despite locals never having had any real contact with anyone outside this area except at the excellent Indian restaurant in the town. Fortunately we also have many people who have moved from other areas and commute to the city who, in the main, have very different attitudes.
So what is it that drives these hostile attitudes to immigrants, most of whom are British citizens or here legally on visas, who are paying taxes and contributing to our society?

And, btw, Ratcliffe plays greatly on the sympathy side as he has set up charitable foundations to encourage more into sport/young people and so on.
But all is not as its seems. I'm not saying he has done nothing, and glad for that, but he has also been investigated by the charity commission. (2023)

"The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation, a grant-giving charity named after and founded by a man reported to be the wealthiest in the UK.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that the regulator was investigating the foundation after it helped to fund a multi-million pound luxury skiing clubhouse in France, open only to paying members.

The newspaper raised questions over the charity’s public benefit after reporting that prospective members had to be approved by two current members, pay a £25,000 joining fee followed by annual membership fees of £6,000.

The super rich creates a charity that benefits the rich or well off? Further in the article, it reveals that the charity claimed £7.4 million in gift aid in 2021.

www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/commission-opens-case-into-charity-founded-by-uks-richest-person.html#:~:text=£22m%20donation%20from%20founder,public%2C”%20the%20accounts%20added.

I really question why he thinks he has the right - ^simply because he is rich and powerful^- to pontificate in the manner he does and get the publicity.
We don't live in a plutocracy like the USA.

I am sure you don't foxie, but many people do, and they have been saying that via the ballot box for over a decade. Perhaps that us the problem.

Is.

I assume he thinks he has the same right as every other famous person who shares their views with us. Gary Lineker, Russel Davies, Terry Christian, and so on.

As a family we moved out of London, our area was no longer recognisable.Today just about half of the population of London is foreign born.
It’s diverse where we live now in the South East but nowhere like London.It’s fine.
Some cities and towns have changed completely and that fact needs to be understood.
There’s been almost unlimited immigration with no thought at all given to UK citizens already here, including the many black people who came over in the 50’s and 60’s and also to the Asian families who settled here at the same time.They aren’t happy either.
Where the asylum seekers who come here on small boats are concerned it’s a huge problem that the Conservatives never got to grips with but Labour must!

Hostile attitudes to immigrants is driven by fear.
People don't like change. They fear that immigrants will change their towns and villages. They will happily be treated by a foreign doctor from Africa for instance but would feel uneasy if he moved in next door.

It's heartening to know that many younger people don't feel this way. My GCs have close friends of different colour or religion than they are.

Galaxy

I assume he thinks he has the same right as every other famous person who shares their views with us. Gary Lineker, Russel Davies, Terry Christian, and so on.

Do they live in tax havens?

No but the statement from Wyllow asked why he had the right to pontificate simply because he was rich and powerful, my response was to that.

It isn’t irrational fear that towns will change, they really have done.
I think few people would worry about the GP moving in next door but they do worry about the area being full of houses of multiple occupancy and Turkish barbers, vape shops, foreign food shops,nail bars and so on.
I think it’s arrogant to dismiss people’s worries .

Fair enough. I feel though that any one who moves elsewhere to avoid paying their share forfeits the right to comment publicly about the country they’ve deserted.

Many of us, if not most of us on this forum have friends of different colour or religion, this has nothing to do with the over immigration problem.

Immigrants go where the work is Oreo, most services in London find it difficult to fill vacancies so it's bound to be a magnet for people who want to work.
" London accounts for approximately 22% to 25% of the UK’s total economic output (GDP/GVA), despite having only about 13-15% of the population. In 2023, London's economic output was £618 billion, contributing to nearly a quarter of the national total. "
The village that I live near to has changed over the last 20 years. Locals complain about the number of new houses, fields being sold for development, the fact that the town is full of charity shops, the local schools are full and it's difficult to get doctors and dentist appointments etc. It's a 99.99% white population but there's still racism!

Basgetti

Fair enough. I feel though that any one who moves elsewhere to avoid paying their share forfeits the right to comment publicly about the country they’ve deserted.

INEOS the company owned by Mr.Ratcliffe currently employs approximately 4,000 people across seven sights in the U.K.

I imagine he is extremely interested in what goes on here.

Basgetti

Fair enough. I feel though that any one who moves elsewhere to avoid paying their share forfeits the right to comment publicly about the country they’ve deserted.

But remember that Ratcliffe has paid a fantastic amount of tax in the UK for many years.If he chooses to live elsewhere now he’s older that’s up to him.

There’s only one reason anyone moves to Monaco, god awful place.

sites not sights, I wish my iPad didn’t think it knew better than me 🤦‍♀️

Basgetti

There’s only one reason anyone moves to Monaco, god awful place.

Have visited Monaco frequently, and going back again this year, it is definitely not a god awful place

One of the other reasons (not just tax) it attracts the rich and famous is its illegal to photograph anyone without their permission, so no paparazzi snaps