It is only stating the bleeding obvious. Rapid immigration has damaged community relations in (many)parts of England, a report by the Commons communities and local government committee says. In three areas with very high immigration - Peterborough, Burnley, and Barking and Dagenham - community cohesion is among the lowest in the country, the MPs say. The report said there was "significant public anxiety" over issues such as pressure on public services. Ministers said action was being taken to minimise the impact of immigration.  The key conclusion of this  report is that ..guess what..yes, we need to spend more public money to "ease the transition"of this immigration.  Too late. These areas have been over-run and the societal damage is done. The politicians that presided over the problem now dare to tell us how it can be solved! The answer is simple; mass deportation of all illegals; the insistence of full integration into British society and the total acceptance of British laws; and the putting in place of rigid border controls. Oh - and leaving the EU would also assist. 

Did you see that a series of tragedies involving immigrants off the coast of Spain have raised fears that the summer could see a record-breaking death toll in the region, as North African refugees embark on increasingly perilous routes in smaller boats to avoid detection.

According to human rights agencies, there has been a sharp increase in the numbers of people attempting to make the sea crossing from North Africa to southern Europe, many of them from sub-Saharan conflict zones such as Eritrea and Somalia. After a week of disasters and rescues at sea that has shocked Spaniards, authorities have identified the coastal port of Almería as the new favoured destination for human traffickers attempting to avoid increased police patrols and surveillance.

A total of 51 migrant deaths at sea has been reported this year, but the actual mortality rate is certain to be far higher, since the bodies of many refugees are never recovered. The Red Cross estimates between 2,000 and 3,000 people die trying to reach Spain every year. In the past few weeks there has also been a surge in the number of migrants landing on Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island - only 120 kilometres from the African coast. One official from UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency, said that, since the start of the summer and the arrival of calmer seas, the number of arrivals on Lampedusa had doubled, and it is presumed that many more have been lost at sea.

The tidal wave of North African immigration continues apace, with the verminious human traffickers taking full advantage of third world misery. However Europe should defend its borders, we do not need this tsunami of (Muslim) immigration.

How benevolent we are as a society - welcoming all those needy asylum seekers.

Like Nasser Fahad Al Fadhly, 35, who was formerly Nasser Fahad Al Ameri; Razi Kreedy, 31, formerly Kazi Al Ameri; Duab Zamel Albadry, 26; Nasser Mihthaf Alfadhly, 37, formerly known as Nasser Fadel; Lafy Al Dafhery, 34; Ahmed Rahim, 29 and Khaled Atek Alfadli, 30. 

These guys were Iraqi and Kuwaiti nationals who claimed they had been tortured in their homelands. The poor souls were also claiming disability allowances here in the UK because of their treatment in Iraq and Kuwait. They had claimed that they had suffered torture and were receiving medication and treatment for depression as a result. Naturally the British State coughed up the readies to keep them happy.

Now they have been convicted of making £200,000 by faking insurance claims for car crashes. They were caught submitting more than 50 bogus claims before they were detected. They sought cash for supposedly high-value cars that had already been written off when the accidents took place.

Will we deport these crooks? I'll not hold my breath.

I note that the popular writer Ian McEwan has launched an astonishingly strong attack on Islamism, saying that he "despises" it and accusing it of "wanting to create a society that I detest". His words, in an interview with an Italian newspaper, could, in today's febrile legalistic climate, lay him open to being investigated for a "hate crime". Instead I think it demonstrates that he is a most sensible man who tells it like it is!

 

"In an interview with Guido Santevecchi, a London correspondent for Corriere della Sera, the Booker-winning novelist said he rarely grants interviews on controversial issues "because I have to be careful to protect my privacy". But he said that he was glad to leap to the defence of his old friend Martin Amis when the latter's attacks on Muslims brought down charges of racism on his head. He made an exception of the Islamic issue out of friendship to Amis, and because he shares the latter's strong opinions.  "A dear friend had been called a racist," he said. "As soon as a writer expresses an opinion against Islamism, immediately someone on the left leaps to his feet and claims that because the majority of Muslims are dark-skinned, he who criticises it is racist. This is logically absurd and morally unacceptable. Martin is not a racist. And I myself despise Islamism, because it wants to create a society that I detest, based on religious belief, on a text, on lack of freedom for women, intolerance towards homosexuality and so on – we know it well."

What's the problem with this? Islam DOES seek to return us to the dark ages and eradicate all our LIBERAL values. McEwan should be given an award for services to free expression.

Can't say that I am in any way surprised to read that Britain is the focal point for Islamic terrorism across Europe. Are you?

An analysis of the terrorist threat by Europol, the European Police Office, has concluded that the dangers posed by militant groups rose to unprecedented proportions in 2007, with steep increases in the number of arrests, plots and attacks. But Islamic terrorism, particularly through a rejuvenated al-Qa'ida, was highlighted as the most significant security threat to the authorities in the UK. At least one person is arrested every day across Europe under suspicion of involvement in Islamic terror conspiracies or attacks. Europol warned that the UK was recognised as fertile ground for radical Islamists seeking recruits to their jihadist campaigns, with "young, radicalised British citizens" often used to mount attacks.

So far so what - you may ask? We all kinda know that the UK is militant Islam's floating military base and it is a miracle that there have been more terror attacks on UK citizens, thanks mostly to the great but largely unreported success of our intrepid intelligence services.

Professor David Capitanchik, a terrorism expert at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said: "We certainly face a greater threat, partly because we have such a large immigrant population which is more vulnerable to radical Islamic thinking... We are paying the price of giving political asylum for so long to individuals who were wanted for terrorist-related offences in their own countries."

 The "I" word again - Immigration. Until we seize complete control over who enters our land, and until we ruthlessly expunge all those who threaten us through their continued residence here, the threat will only deepen.  There will be a terrible price paid in British lives for the serial failure of British politicians to insist on controlled immigration. The cost of unfettered multiculturalism will be weighed in rivers of blood.

68% of Italians wish to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsie, expelled, according to a new opinion poll. The survey, published as mobs in Naples burned down Gypsy camps this week, revealed that the majority also wanted all Gypsy camps in Italy to be demolished.  On the attacks in Naples, Umberto Bossi, the head of the Northern League party said: "People are going to do what the political class cannot." Meanwhile the defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, said  he would consider deploying soldiers to Italian streets to help fight crime, while a group of Bosnian Gypsies in Rome said they were mounting night guard patrols of their camp to defend against vigilante attacks.

Bang on cue, Europe's leading ..ahem...human rights watchdog urged the government to prevent attacks on Roma communities. Christian Strohal, head of Vienna-based OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said: "The current stigmatisation of Roma and immigrant groups in Italy is dangerous as it ... increases the potential for violence."

You can say what you want about the Italians but the fact remains that Italy is their country and if they want to see the Romas expelled from it, isn't that their right? Who speaks for Italy if not the Italians? If they seem intolerant, perhaps one needs to live there before criticising them? The reality is that Romania has and is exporting criminality on a considerable scale and Italy is not the only country with this problem. I spoke to a man in Dublin a few weeks ago who was telling me the various financial crimes that the Romas in Dublin are scamming in the Irish capital. Crime has been falling in Romania as its criminal class spread out across the European Union, perhaps Italy is merely giving a foretaste of what lies ahead when a political class ignores the will of the people?  

Sometimes you read a news story that almost defies further comment. This is one of them.

"One of the nine Afghans who won the right to live in Britain after hijacking a plane is now working at Heathrow airport as a cleaner. Nazamuddin Mohammidy was one of a group who took over an internal Afghan flight in 2000 and landed it in the UK, where they threatened to kill those on board unless they were granted asylum. Now it has emerged Mohammidy was recently arrested while driving a car around the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport."

What more to say? 

So, do you think that Her Majesty the Queen was RIGHT to put on this Islamic scarf and take off her shoes whilst visiting a mosque in Turkey? I do think it was right as it shows respect and courtesy for a foreign culture, characteristics Britain used to be proud of and which Her Majesty always exhibits. However what really concerns me about this visit is that it  designed to aid UK Government policy to lever Turkey into the European Union. Should this happen, there will be millions of Turkish muslims queuing up to travel to the UK - and you can be sure that nothing will be done to stop this. So, in a way, the Queen is allowing herself to be used to advance a political agenda designed to eviscerate the United Kingdom further by bringing even more Islamists into our country. That's the unveiled truth here, and for that reason, I condemn this visit. The Queen has to have a mind of her own and must be accept being used as a dupe in a broader political game. 

It's a fruity disaster! Millions of pounds worth of soft fruit and vegetables are likely to be left to rot in fields this summer because of a shortage of foreign pickers caused by the falling value of the pound and new restrictions on the number of seasonal labourers allowed to enter Britain, farmers' leaders have warned. Oh no! If ONLY we just opened our borders to whoever fancied coming in then this strawberry apoclayse might be averted. 

Listen, this is a faux problem. There are PLENTY of people who can do this work - and guess what? - they already reside in Britain!They are the work-shy welfare parasites. Stop their benefits and hey presto - we will never want for Strawberries again. Now, if only this can be done in time for the Wimbledon fortnight!

What is to be made of the marriage of a 13 yr old girl and 14 yr old boy in true Romany style?

In their wedding day finery, the newly-pronounced husband flashes a glance to his friends for support. His bride masks her nerves with an icy expression. But these are likely to be more than big day jitters because the groom is just 14, his fresh-faced bride 13. And this profoundly shocking 'marriage' of two Romany children did not take place in a remote Eastern European village. Rather it was in a smoke-filled pub in the East End of London.

There are fears that underground ceremonies could become common as the number of gipsies in Britain rises following the eastwards expansion of the EU. Countries such as Romania and Poland, which have large Romany gipsy - or Roma - populations, have cracked down on such weddings by threatening prosecutions on underage sex charges. Campaigners fear that, as a result, the weddings may be moving to Britain. Most of the Roma at Monday's celebrations lived in Poland before moving to Britain around ten years ago.

Isn't the richness of the multiculti agenda so thrilling? Where were the police?

Interesting to view what has happened to UK immigration ever since the Labour Party came to power in 1997. Why it's almost as if Labour has gone OUT OF ITS WAY to bring in Asian and African immigrants. Perish the thought!

Excellent article here on Enoch Powell's famous and accurate "River of Blood" speech made 40 years ago. The political left and those gutless shills on the right such as the Cameronians all misrepresent  both what Powell said and also what he meant in that speech.

"They start by saying Powell was a racist, which is a deliberate lie. They then say that anyone who mentions immigration will now be tarred with that brush, which must therefore be a lie as well. This is convenient for those who have betrayed the people of this country by imposing an immigrant community so large upon it that it struggles to integrate - and, indeed, who have betrayed many of those immigrants too.."

Heffer gets this one 100% correct.  He concludes...

"Powell was the greatest Conservative thinker in political life in living memory. He foresaw what were then unimaginable tensions caused by forcibly altering the character of a country. We should remember him tomorrow with enhanced respect. For he was right."

You'll remember earlier this week the liberal media seizing on selected  "leaks" from a Police report into the impact immigration was having on UK crime.

In essence, they all trumpeted the idea that the hundreds of thousands from Eastern Europe and beyond who have come here are no more criminally inclined than the natives. At the time I disputed this and now it comes to pass that we were being spoon-fed LIES by the liberal media.

The police report when published in full ACTUALLY makes it clear that there has been a "huge surge" in organised crime caused by this unprecedented immigration!  Further, Mike Fuller the (black) Chief Constable of Kent has advised Government that there has been  a 33% increase in violent crime due to migration surges in his area. A Whitehall memo reveals that 80-85% of all cash machine theft was carried out by - Romanian gangs? Who'd have thought that, eh? In London last year a third of all those charged with criminal offences were foreign. Romanians and Lithuanians topped the crime poll. Around a third of all sex offences and 50% of all frauds in London are carried out by those who come from abroad. Last September, the government itself revealed that it was anxious about 45,000 potential criminals coming from Romania and Bulgaria. Oddly enough, crime has FALLEN in Romania over the past year or so - can you guess why?

Look, I accept that many foreign people are law-abiding but the fact is that the tsunami of uncontrolled immigration HAS created a major problem for our police forces, at a tremendous cost. The multiculturalist elite in the media prefer to pretend otherwise, hence the outrageous spinning that took place earlier this week. Thanks to the multiculturalists, Britain has become a preferred destination for the criminal class - and if they originate in the EU, there is NOTHING to prohibit them coming in and thieving in our land.

Yesterday the liberal media was abuzz with the " news" that despite "one million" eastern europeans surging into the UK, there was no significant increase in crime. Hurray for the multiculti agenda and to hell with with those of us who say otherwise. However all was NOT as it seemed with yesterday's spinning of the report before it was published.

"A  chief constable led calls for a cash boost to fight the "significant challenges" of migrant crime committed by eastern Europeans. Julie Spence, the head of Cambridgeshire Police, made the call as an official report from the Association of Chief Police Officers warned of a "huge surge" in organised crime caused by their influx."

..and then the report states..

"EU migration has brought with it a huge surge in the exploitation of migrants and organised crime. EU accession migrants are continuing to present challenges across a range of policing activity, including minor public order, increased violence and drink-related offences. Notable changes in crime patterns include extortion, 'dipping' [pickpocketing], human trafficking and a growing sex trade. Smaller police forces in rural areas, where hundreds of thousands of eastern European migrants congregate to work on farms, are facing "the biggest challenges".

So - nothing to see here, just move along -  pay no attention to the facts.. 

What a hoot. The influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe into Britain has not fuelled a rise in crime, according to a police study. This "study" which turns out to be anectodal accounts by "detectives and community officers" is further undermined by the rather inconvenient fact that the nationality of criminals is not required information. Goods news for all those law-abiding Romanians and Bulgarians, right?

Useful insight here from the BBC of all places of just how open to abuse the British citizenship test is. Since 2005, most foreign nationals applying for British citizenship have to prove both proficiency in the English language and a knowledge of British culture before their application is successful. But it appears that there are people out there who are prepared to take the test on behalf of others, for the right fee, of course. As one of these culprits puts it,

"With Chinese people, it's not easy for them to tell," he explained. "Normally, they can't tell the difference so we try our best to avoid going into those test centres where there's an examiner who's from the Philippines. Because they are from Asia, it's easier for them to tell the difference."

Utterly cynical, criminal and absolutely predictable - so what has government done to counter it?

Excellent article here from Jeff Randal on the folly of the proposed "Eco-towns" - the wrong answer to the wrong question.

 "It's the oldest trick in the dodgy salesman's book. If the public isn't buying what's in store, simply rebrand unwanted goods with trendy labels designed to create an impression of must-have merchandise. In the new-media boom of the late 1990s, old-technology companies baffled us into believing that they had a vision for the future by adopting an internet suffix, eg, a toilet-roll manufacturer became Loopaper.com.

 

More recently, under pressure from the forces of political correctness, many troubled companies are trying to appear caring, inclusive and green. Never mind that the fundamental business is rooted in pollution or warfare: the addition of a buzzword changes perceptions. So, household bleach is renamed Organic Cleansing Fluid and - hey presto! - it flies off the shelves.

After a fourth consecutive election defeat in 1992, Labour finally cottoned on to the power of rebranding and has been at it ever since. The party machinery has developed a mastery of language distortion to achieve goals that it knows would be rejected by the electorate were they set out in plain English. Labour became New Labour. The red flag had already been swapped for the red rose. Tony Blair never dismantled our civic institutions: he "modernised" them. Gordon Brown did not sign up for a European constitution: it was just "a treaty".

The Government's latest fraud, a work in progress, was unveiled yesterday with a shortlist of 15 locations for new towns in England. Ministers will pick 10, with five to be built by 2016 and the other half completed by 2020. But these will not be just any old towns, they will be "eco-towns" and therefore, in Labour-speak, undeniably a good thing. By stamping "eco" on their plans, ministers expect, indeed demand, universal approval. Woe betide those who reject them; you will be accused of ruining the planet.

Then to  cut to the chase..

"This is the real issue, not the Government's bogus bleating about a need for "affordable" housing (code for subsidised). The immigration boom did not happen by accident. It was not, as my colleague Simon Heffer pointed out on Wednesday, the result of incompetence. There has been a deliberate and coldly calculated effort to transform Britain into a Labour-voting multi-cultural melting pot.

For years, ministers have peddled falsehoods to give credibility to their dangerous social experiment. They insisted that importing lots of poor people would somehow make us rich. They claimed also that these new arrivals would solve our pensions shortfalls and soak up job vacancies.

 

Flogging us eco-towns won't deal with the fundamental problem, namely the fact that a nation that wilfully operates ithout borders sets in chain a series of disasters of which a housing shortage is but one. Building eco-towns over the cracks will achieve nothing.

Migration may increase the size of the national cake, but it also increases the number of people who are entitled to a slice of this cake. -- Bob Rowthorn, professor of economics at Cambridge University

Back in October of last year, Professor Rowthorn pointed out that mass migration has actually lowered per capita GDP - or output per individual worker -- in the UK since 1998.

Now a House of Lords committee is coming to the same conclusion. From Saturday's Telegraph (cheers, Darren!):

"Our overall conclusion is that the economic benefits of net immigration to the resident population are small and close to zero in the long run," the report will say....

The inquiry by the committee, which includes two former chancellors and several former Cabinet ministers, is the first to try to balance the costs and benefits of large-scale immigration....

I've been arguing for a while now that we need to balance the costs and benefits here in the Republic, too. In any discussion on immigration to this country, immigration advocates point to the economy and claim that we wouldn't have had such a booming economy without them (although it's probably more likely that our monetary policy -- i.e. floating the Irish currency between 1993 and 2001 -- created the Celtic Tiger).

Alternatively, many argue that the taxes that (legal) immigrants pay must put the RoI in the black as far as immigration goes since many of the immigrants from Eastern Europe (especially Poland) have not brought families with them and so they are not so much of an expense on the national budget. Perhaps not -- but we do not know for sure since no one (as far as I know) has done a financial reckoning such as the UK studies described above.

The 2006 Irish Census tells us that roughly one-third of Polish people in the country are, in fact, married -- and that 7.5 per cent of Polish people in the country are between the ages of 0-14. (Keep in mind that the census wildly underestimates the number of Polish immigrants in this country -- the government believes there are at least ca. three times as many as the census figures.) So, the Polish community is consuming the national cake as well as contributing to it.

Furthermore, €90 million in child benefits have gone to the children of immigrants back in their home countries -- 80 per cent of these claims were made by Polish immigrants. So, while the families of many immigrants may not be here in body, many are virtually here and need to be factored in when calculating the costs of mass immigration to the Rep of Ireland.

In addition to the economic costs, we should not forget the social costs to both the RoI and the UK (and every other country that is currently experiencing mass immigration). From Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam:

...in the presence of diversity, we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it’s not just that we don’t trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don’t trust people who do look like us.

The Rep of Ireland needs to calculate both the financial input and the costs of mass immigration to this country. That includes expenses such as crime, health costs, reduction in wages, etc.

I suspect that the situation here is not all that unlike the UK or France where mass immigration has not proven to be an economic plus. In the absence of a "balance sheet" on immigration, however, it remains difficult to have an informed discussion about mass immigration to this country.

New Sisyphus has argued many a time (although not on his blog, as far as I can see) that the Catholic Church is very pro-immigration and regularly advocates strongly for greater immigration. This wasn't actually something that I paid attention to until after he mentioned it (cheers, NS!) -- and I am starting to realise that he is correct.

From Friday's Irish Independent:

Bishops warn of State powers in immigration bill
By John Cooney
Friday March 14 2008

Catholic bishops are preparing for a potentially major Church-State clash over draconian powers which they fear are being given to the Government in immigration legislation currently before the Dail.

Opposition to the controversial Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill has been signalled by the bishops in a strongly worded statement issued at the end of their three-day spring meeting in Maynooth....

You can understand, of course, where the Church is coming from -- with mass attendance rates in the Republic at below 50 per cent (in 2006), the bishops are no doubt looking towards immigrants in order to get some warm bodies in the pews. And the tactic is working:

Newest arrivals enliven Irish Catholicism
Will immigrants help prevent Ireland from a steep decline in religiosity?
By Daniel Strieff
March 17, 2008

DUBLIN, Ireland - Less than two years ago, St. Audeon’s Catholic Church was dying. It offered one sparsely attended weekly Mass in Latin and was on the brink of closure.

Now resurrected as the main home for Polish Catholicism in Ireland, the central Dublin church is one of the most dynamic in the country, providing 18 services a week, 11 of which are in Polish, and drawing up to 5,000 parishioners every Sunday.

The fate of St. Audeon’s illustrates how this country’s recent immigrant wave, roughly half of which is composed of Catholics, is helping to re-energize Ireland’s Roman Catholic Church, an institution that had been in steep decline, caused in part by a series of sex scandals involving priests over the past two decades....

I wonder, though, if the church authorities ever consider at all the effects of mass migration on the host society? Or even the effects on the immigrants' countries (see here and here)?

See also: Immigrants re-energise Irish Church