Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:


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205 Responses to Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

  1. archduke says:

    very interesting points made on the vt killer video

    Psychiatrist: Showing Video Is ‘Social Catastrophe’
    http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/VATech/story?id=3056168&page=1

    “I think that’s very important for the viewing audience to understand. This is not him.These videos do not help us understand him. They distort him. He was meek. He was quiet. This is a PR tape of him trying to turn himself into a Quentin Tarantino character,” Welner said. “This is precisely why this should not be released. Parents, you should cut the pictures out of the newspaper. Do not let your children see it. Take them out of the room when these videos are shown. Because he’s paranoid and his agenda of blaming the rest of the world is unedited.”

    i found it so chilling that i immediately switched over if mini-archduke was in living room.

    oh by the way. the dead ringers impressionist on QT is a leftie and likes Gordon “pick my nose” Brown.

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  2. Jon says:

    “…because an increase in labour supply drives down wages.”

    Actually the Civitas bloke was saying just that – but the moonbat leftie said something like “The TUC didn’t see it like that” I didn’t quite follow his argument as he was squeeking like a maniac.

    I do think we are confusing the old fasioned worker with socilaism. Things have changed – this idiot was not inerested in immigration. Its the infliction that some people get because they want to feel important. He sounded like some NUS undergradute in his first year.

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  3. GCooper says:

    archduke writes:


    bit more evenly balanced this time around, 2 tories , 2 lefties, 1 luvvie.
    (bit better than the usual 5 to 1 ratio)”

    Not really. As it turned out:

    “jan ravens: dead ringers impressionist also deluded leftie moonbat”

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  4. archduke says:

    yeah. i noticed that as the show progressed. was unaware of her moonbattery beforehand.

    “Jon | 19.04.07 – 11:26 pm |”
    it is curious how the TUC are extremely silent on the issue, considering that its the low paid that are the most affected by the driving down of wages.

    traditional left and right standpoints seem to be inverted on this issue. maybe thats why traditional “old” labour voters are switching to the BNP.

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  5. GCooper says:

    archduke writes:

    “yeah. i noticed that as the show progressed. was unaware of her moonbattery beforehand.”

    Still, I suppose it was inevitable.

    After all, the BBC would never employ a Right wing comedian, would it?

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  6. archduke says:

    more on the VT killer.
    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OJPBU00&show_article=1

    disturbing, if true.

    quotes:

    “As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China,'” Davids said.

    “There were just some people who were really mean to him and they would push him down and laugh at him,” Roberts said Wednesday. “He didn’t speak English really well and they would really make fun of him.”

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  7. archduke says:

    further to the above, i would put forward a theory that racism against people of oriental origin is completely overlooked in our society. people of Far East extraction dont jump up and down and go running to the CRE or set up a “Oriental” council of Britain – hences its overlooked (and this is probably the case in the USA as well). some good may well come out of this VT massacre. it may cause some people to examine their attitudes and to more firmly educate their children on how we are all human beings.

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  8. Ultraviolence says:

    The BBC is full of indulgent know-nothings who are quick to chuck around “we’re all human” and “one world” slogans.

    But they wont report the desecration of Jewish graves. Because the BBC is now a slow-motion Nuremberg rally waving around totems of their infernal god-king John Lennon.

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  9. archduke says:

    john lennon? eh? good musician and songsmith. love his music (except for his “give peace a chance” phase.. crap song. otherwise, damn good tunes)

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  10. archduke says:

    “The BBC is full of indulgent know-nothings who are quick to chuck around “we’re all human” and “one world” slogans.”

    but the bbc have a “some are more equal than others” animal farm attitude…

    i actually do believe that we are all human, but if you are a raging Jihadist and nutcase SWPer who wears a “we are all hezbollah” tshirt, keep well away from me. to support or give excuses to an ideology that wants to exterminate millions of people (i.e. the jews) is something i have no truck with whatsoever.

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  11. archduke says:

    bbc news 24 have a piece on gary kasparov and putin and russia.

    i’m a bit unnerved that our country has giving asylum to an oligarch nutter who wants to overthrow a democratically elected Russian president.

    then again, i also remember that Britain gave refuge to another nutter about 150 years ago. Karl Marx.

    i do like that tradition of britain – to be a home to the contrarians of the world. and that is admirable.

    trouble is , the Moon God head choppers have taken advantage of it.

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  12. IiD says:

    Good Morning.

    I was speaking to a friend of mine this morning and he pointed out strange goings on with Q/T last night.

    Firstly there were two points of debate regarding the ME-I gather Tonge got the usual “happy clappy’ treatment for her ‘moral stance’ but Raven went down like a lead balloon……

    But more interesting was the reaction IDS got when he spoke out about the ‘unpopular intervention’ in Iraq in which half the audience AGREED!

    And when mentioning Iran there was even stronger backing for IDS line.

    Of course now the UK government is undertaking the policy of “withdraw by stealth”
    Then one can’t help but notice that the void is quickly being filled by the IRGC/Al Quds. Which why British casualties are increasing.

    “How can it possible get worse in Iraq” cries Raven.

    Oh I don’t know-you could try reading about the Iran-Iraq War to get a “flavour” of what is to come.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_war

    And the further the UK goes down the road of capitulation and appeasement the more ‘unnerved’ the UK public will become regarding our defence posture. It seems the events of the frightened 15 and AJ are starting to make people have there “Nick Cohen moments”.

    Shame it’s too little too late…

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  13. IiD says:

    Regarding the Lennon/Beatles thing.

    IMVHO both are very overrated with there sickly bubble gum pop songs.

    I’m always reminded of the story of when Glen Mattlock from the Sex Pistols left the band after admitting to ‘liking the Beatles’.

    The rest of the band was so disgusted with this revelation that the mighty Steve Jones admitted to having a ‘five knuckle shuffle’ in a sandwich that Mattlock was eating…

    Mattlock got so upset he left the band ‘ín tears’… (Only to come back for the reunion some 20 odd years later.)

    The moral of the story: Don’t leave your sandwiches unattended if you’re a Beatles fan….

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  14. Rachel Miller says:

    This morning’s Today programme featured an article on the proposal by some MPs to allot themselves exemptions from the ‘Freedom of Information’ Act. James Naughtie was of course all disdain, and asked (paraphrasing) how this was possible of ‘an institution in this fair country’.

    I have just written to the Today website to point out that the BBC, another British institution, is currently pouring licence-fee payers’ money into their own attempt to gain an exemption from the Act regarding the Balen Report, and suggesting that Naughtie might consider not being so bloody smug in future.

    (Not in quite those words.)

    Anyone else who heard this, do write in too!

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  15. BaggieJonathan says:

    Archduke

    Re:John Lennon

    Imagine

    Frequently voted top all time song, why?

    Appalling sentimentality.

    Naive in the extreme.

    Disingenuous.

    Ridiculous series of suggestions throughout.

    And the crowning turd:
    “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can.”

    He was a multi millionaire with a vast estate who also spent far more money than I will ever got in my whole life.

    I’m sorry but I don’t go for foul hypocrites like that.

    Its the IBC mentality, dont do as I do, do as I tell you.

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  16. UK Daily Pundit says:

    Israel Blamed for Kidnap of BBC reporter … by former BBC reporter

    http://the-daily-pundit.blogspot.com/2007/04/israel-blamed-for-kidnap-of-bbc.html

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  17. Rueful Red says:

    Lennon was the middle-class art-school Beatle, so of course he wrote the “working class hero” song.
    “Imagine” works as a shibboleth – people who find it profound are the sort of people you don’t have to waste any more time with.

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  18. Rueful Red says:

    By the way, the link about Lennon at the beginning of these comments doesn’t seem to work.

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  19. Alan says:

    IMMIGRATION: points system.

    Reports in today’s media suggest that the Government’s points system is too little and much too late:

    “Migrants in the Blair years swell population by 1.5 million”

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk

    Also, late in the day, the BBC has changed from being hostile, to reasonable, in its attitude to Migration Watch. Why? Is it simply a case of faulty presumption by the BBC for years that anyone who recommends immigration controls is a moral outcast? Anyway, Migration Watch has been consistent throughout, and now maybe the BBC is catching up with the useful website:

    http://www.migrationwatch.org

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  20. mister scruff says:

    “BaggieJonathan | 20.04.07 – 11:23 am ”

    imagine is indeed a godawful song. “strawberry fields” or “day in the life” are much much better in my view.

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  21. Biodegradable says:

    Ironically, On This Day Enoch Powell made his famous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/20/newsid_2489000/2489357.stm

    Some of the comments in ‘Your Memories’ are interesting:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/april/20/newsid_4468000/4468381.stm

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  22. Biodegradable says:

    My complaint seems to have had some effect, although I haven’t had a reply directly from the BBC:
    http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/6132934229456045223/#338221

    The caption is the same but the image no longer shows a Christian chapel.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Saudi Juvenile prison Beating caught on mobile cam:

    If buffering takes to long click on “View Original Version” just below screen
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=feb_1176984256&o=1

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  24. Ultraviolence says:

    I told you John Lennons influence is pernicious.

    Imagine a socialist a suicide note: Imagine.

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  25. will says:

    Alan “Also, late in the day, the BBC has changed from being hostile, to reasonable, in its attitude to Migration Watch. Why?”

    YouGov are currently polling, asking 4 questions on the BBC’s coverage/attitude to immigration. Who has commissioned that, I wonder?

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  26. Block 813 says:

    “Frequently voted top all time song, why?”

    Because he got shot……harsh, but true.

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  27. Alan says:

    Al Beeb headline:

    “Philippine group beheads hostages”

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6574773.stm

    What ‘group’ is this then? Could it be a religious group? I’ll read through the first paragraph (in block type):

    “Abu Sayyaf militants have decapitated seven hostages and sent their heads to troops on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, the military says.”

    So,these murderers were ‘militants’, whatever that means.

    I’ll turn to the Jihadwatch site, and see what I can learn there about it:

    Can this be the same story?:

    “Philippines: Jihadists behead seven Christians, deliver heads to military.”
    http://www.jihadwatch.org
    First line of Jihadwatch report:

    “‘Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks…”(Qur’an 47:4)

    Which report seems to be concealing something, and which report is giving it to us straight?

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  28. Ultraviolence says:

    “”Frequently voted top all time song, why?”

    Because he got shot……harsh, but true.”

    Death makes you a celebrity. Like Mary Manson.

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  29. bob says:

    Militants! That’s a relief – I thought maybe it was a case of Nationalists. But what on earth is Derek Hatton doing in the Philippines?

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  30. Joe says:

    I agree with the John Lennon comments

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  31. Ultraviolence says:
  32. Jon says:

    “The suspect arrested by detectives is a local local – he was bailed to return to a London police station in May. ”

    Whats a “local local”?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6575327.stm

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Celebrating Islamo-Fascism Awareness Day:

    In one of the most extensive demonstrations ever staged by American college conservatives, close to one hundred university and college campuses across the country yesterday held an “Islamo Fascism Awareness Day.” Thousands of students were involved in the event, which was coordinated by the Terrorism Awareness Project, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center whose objective is to counter college students’ lack of awareness about the War on Terror and the disinformation about it propagated by radical faculty and student groups.

    A total of 96 colleges and universities, including Pace University, Columbia, Duke, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Purdue, Ohio State, Alabama, Colorado and other prominent schools, together with three high schools and two military bases, marked the event by showing Obsession http://obsessionthemovie.com/index1.php a documentary film using materials from Arab TV rarely seen in the West and interviews with authorities on Middle East politics, former jihadists, and experts on terrorism to take the viewer inside the worldview radical Islam and its plans for world domination.
    More
    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27950

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  34. amimissingsomething says:

    I’m sure the frogs got a mention then, too.
    TheCuckoo | 19.04.07 – 12:51 pm |

    i don’t think this site does itself any credit allowing cheap ethnic slurs

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  35. Jon says:

    Do you think the BBC read this blog.

    “The suspect arrested by detectives is a local local – he was bailed to return to a London police station in May. ”

    Has now changed to:

    “The suspect arrested by detectives lives locally and he was bailed to return to a police station in May.”

    Do suspected murderers now get bail?

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  36. Anonymous says:

    A 12 minute excerpt from the film Obsession
    http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/trailer-12min.php

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  37. amimissingsomething says:

    IiD | 20.04.07 – 9:11 am

    i know one sparrow does not make spring, but this IS the group that produced the greatest (secular) song ever written…

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  38. archduke says:

    “Biodegradable | 20.04.07 – 1:44 pm”

    Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech was badly misintrepreted. its central theme was NOT immigration – it was about the introduction of the race relations bill:

    “Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood.'”

    He was also warning about this bill being a vehicle for the fragmentation of society. He was also against the bill on principle, as it effectively criminalised a thought or opinion – a “thoughtcrime”.

    30 or so years on , and we have 7/7, Trevor Philips admitting the the failures of “multiculturalism”, the nuttiness of political correctness, and the 1 mile exclusion zone around Westminster where you can get arrested for wearing a “bollocks to blair” t-shirt.
    wiki page:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_Speech

    full text of speech:
    http://theoccidentalquarterly.com/vol1no1/ep-rivers.html

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  39. Biodegradable says:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/ 6577095.stm

    The BBC hates you.
    Ultraviolence | 20.04.07 – 8:52 pm

    What is it with these links to YouTube hidden behind fake BBC links?

    You’ve already posted this on at least one other thread.

    I don’t want to see a tribute to a mass-murderer.

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  40. Ultralove - - says:

    “he was also against the bill on principle”

    Yes but what is freedom of speech for? For freedom of action. And what is defending hate speech? An endorsement of hatred.

    There is only one attitude to be taken towards immigration and foreigners: Unqualified acceptance.

    You can twist and turn but there is simply no other rational position to take on immigration. All perpectives other than total acceptance and endorsement are false and tantamount to pure evil.

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  41. archduke says:

    “Ultralove – – | 21.04.07 – 1:44 am”

    read up on Voltaire.
    there are many variations of his quote,but the most commonly known is

    “even though i detest what you are saying, i will defend to the death your right to say it…”

    and what is your definition of “hate” speech? who determines what that is?

    if somebody in government is determining what is “hate” or not, then the individual has less freedom.

    i dont think you quite get what Enoch Powell was really on about.

    (for the record, as a libertarian i have no problem with unlimited immigration – but as long as we also have completely free markets. the big reason for non EU immigration to the EU is because of EU anti-free market protectionist policy, which pays farmers here to grow nothing, whilst ensuring that a farmer in Ghana cannot sell his goods to us…)

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  42. Mark says:

    Re:
    isnt it odd how supposedly “lefties” are pro immigration, when the people most badly affected by immigration are the working classes , because an increase in labour supply drives down wages.

    logic would dictate that people on the RIGHT should be pro immigration, being pro free market and such like.

    There’s more to it than that:

    Lefties are only pro-immigration when it comes to certain groups.

    Their points system would work as follows:

    Q1: Do you have professional skills or qualifications ?
    Score 0 points for Yes, 10 for No.

    Q2: Do you intend to start in tax-paying business as soon as possible after arriving ?
    Score 0 points for Yes, 10 for No.

    Q3: What is your command of the English language?
    Score 2 points for Excellent, 4 points for Good, 8 points for Poor, and 10 points for None (except for understanding Benefits – see below)

    Q4: Are you familiar with the benefits system?
    Score 10 points for Yes, 0 for No.

    Q5: Do you have any belief or religion ? If so, which is it ?
    Score as follows: -10 for Christian or Jewish, 0 for none, 5 for others except Islam, 10 for Islam.

    At the risk of sounding like Richard Littlejohn, the Left’s ideal immigrant is a Muslim with three wives and ten kids.

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  43. deegee says:

    archduke:
    an increase in labour supply drives down wages

    There is no evidence that it does. I do concede this is a complicated problem.

    Firstly, high immigration countries as Australia, Canada and the UK have not seen an overall drop in wages over time.

    Secondly, immigrants tend to take the lowest paid jobs that locals (or to be fair, less recent immigrants) don’t want to do at any price. They force the next level up and either move up themselves with time and education or are forced up when the next wave of immigrants arrive.

    What may force wages down is outsourcing to other countries. 🙁

    Thirdly, immigrants are new consumers and often boost the economy.

    Fourthly, other factors may be as or more important. Take for example, shipbuilding. According to Wikipedia, Thanks to the quality and productivity of its shipyards, South Korea is the world’s largest shipbuilding nation in terms of tonnage and numbers of vessels built, in spite of high labour costs. In terms of numbers of vessels built Japan also remains a leader, mainly thanks to the legendary build quality and productivity of Japanese shipyards. China is currently the third largest shipbuilding country. Could it be that loss of orders in English shipyards due to technology and other issues leads to loss of jobs and lower wages?

    Perhaps PC thinking is the problem? We don’t want to admit that certain immigrants from particular countries cause a disproportionate share of problems or accept our own failings may be a contributing factor.

    BTW I am an immigrant and child of immigrants. Anti immigrant feeling gives me a chill.

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  44. archonix says:

    I really don’t understand this constant refrain of “they do the jobs we don’t want to do”. It’s bollocks, frankly. Know what my first job was? Working in a meat packing factory. It got me started on the jobs thing and gave me an incentive to look for something better. Granted, I didn’t particularly enjoy working there but I wanted the job because it paid me money. Yes, I did move on from it because I had higher ambitions. The point is, a lot of people rely on jobs like that to survive.

    Based on my experience in places like that I would actually argue that minorities and immigrants are less likely to want those sort of jobs. There were about 200 people working in the place. I counted 3 black people, one indian and one korean.

    As I’ve moved up to a nice middle-class standard of living I’ve encountered more and more people with the attitude that imigrants are taking the jobs that ‘we’ don’t want to do. What they mean is they’re taking the jobs that they don’t want to do. Having started out in a very working class background (and, really, I hate this whole class thing but it does illustrate the problem quite well) I can tell you that these people are idiots. The working class do want to do those jobs, but they’re often driven out of the market by immigrants who work for cash at below minimum wage, or who, for various reasons, are tax exempt and so cost less. I am simply sick of this assumpton that we have to import a work force. We have a work force!

    This isn’t a screed against immigration. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, my wife is technically an immigrant. My sister in law is an immigrant from paraguay. My other brother is courting an asian indian girl from france. I have no problem with immigrants and immigration but I do have a problem with people who deny the huge impact uncontrolled immigration has on the economy and on people’s jobs.

    The problem is largely one of our own making, of course. The inculcation of the working class with an entitlement attitude makes them more expensive to employ, so that needs to be sorted out, but this doesn’t change the central point; we don’t need immigrants to do these jobs.

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  45. archonix says:

    In addition to the above, I forgot to mention that the simple laws of supply and demand demonstrate that a large labour pool drives down wages. In the sector I work in at the moment there’s a glut of jobs and a shortage of potential recruits, which is driving wages up in a bid to attract those recruits. The details are different but the dynamics are the same. If you have trouble getting people to work for you because of a small labour pool, putting up new-starter wages as an incentive always works to bring in the workers. If you have few jobs and a large labour pool then you can dictate the wages at a much lower level, because people are more desperate to get the job and more willing to take the cut in income.

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  46. The Fat Contractor says:

    deegee | 22.04.07 – 11:25 am
    I’d vote with archonix on this I think. When I first started working I did alot of ‘joe’ jobs. You know the sort of thing, the dirty and unpopular jobs. When I got tired of coming home filthy and not being able to get the smell of fish or shit off me I re-trained in to IT.

    Now the sorts of jobs I did when younger are now done almost entirely by immigrants. The white working class have not all re-trained as I did, most just became NEETs and, like the homeless, disappeared off the radar.

    IT used to pay very well (6 figure salaries were not uncommon.) However the Government’s hatred of IT nerds (how can an nerd earn more than me attitude) and it’s belief in the panacea of immigration created the Foriegn Technical Visa or FTV. This now means that jobs that once commanded £60/hour now attract £15. All of a sudden IT is not such an attractive occupation.

    There was no shortage of skills to encourage the creation of FTVs, BTW. Far be for me to suggest that some of the large corporations donated some cash and got cheap staff in return. I’m sure the Government doesn’t really behave like that.

    I don’t blame the immigrants for this but I do blame the Government.:o(

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  47. TheCuckoo says:

    amimissingsomething:
    I’m sure the frogs got a mention then, too.
    TheCuckoo | 19.04.07 – 12:51 pm |

    i don’t think this site does itself any credit allowing cheap ethnic slurs
    amimissingsomething | 20.04.07 – 10:04 pm | #

    I was (for some now unfathomable reason) actually talking asteroid impacts and frogs – the small, green, amphibious creatures. Nothing else, honest!

    So, yes, you were missing something. 😉

       0 likes

  48. TPO says:

    amimissingsomething:
    I’m sure the frogs got a mention then, too.
    TheCuckoo | 19.04.07 – 12:51 pm |

    i don’t think this site does itself any credit allowing cheap ethnic slurs
    amimissingsomething | 20.04.07 – 10:04 pm |

    Please tell me this is an in-joke between you two and that I have nothing to despair about.

       0 likes

  49. Biodegradable says:

    TPO:

    I’m guessing here.

    Frogs = French

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  50. IiD says:

    Hmm…

    Now I live in Holland I HAVE to learn Dutch to stay in the job market.

    No 78 different translations here….it’s Dutch only paperwork.

    Why dosen’t the UK do the same-insiste on English only?

       0 likes