is it fair to class romans, saxons, jutes, franks as 'immigrants' when the were more or less 'conquereres' ? most original british culture vanished with the the romans and anglo-saxons..then came along the vikings.. viking influences were eradicated in 1066.
merchants from italy were in the uk during 14th-16th century. flemish were here too 14th/15th century because of war and wool and cweavering trade, and in 16th century more flemish escaping religious persecution.
french protestants started coming here 17th/18th century, many stayed, others went off to america.
palantines came here 18th century.
so far, up to this point around year 1700, immigration was due to invading parties, and later escaping war and persecution in mainland europe.
around 1800, there was a small coloured population in london due to the slave trade..which numbers declined during the remainder of that century.
during 18th and 19th century, trickles of europeans entered the mainland. coincides with industrialisation??
even though britain had interests in india and the east during 18th century, there was no indian in the uk during this time..
irish immigration due to potaotoe famine.
the chinese trade in mid 19th century paved way for a very small handfuls of people to settle here, mainly through sailors etc.
belgian refugees were scattered abouth the uk during and after first world war.
poles arrived before, during and after second world war..
germans and italians remained here after they were held as prisoners of war.
in the 1930's, immigrants were fleeing nazi persecution.
after the confusion after WW2, britain started rebuilding, the came commonwealth immigration, which was the first organised wave of immigration, which was initaially meant to become a trickle. this seems to be the first instances of tension involved with immigration.
going back to the causes of immigration, it was originally invasions, then escape of persecution. later it became immigration through the industrial revolution.. then it became immigration through fleeing persecution of nazi and war.. then it became immigration through commonwealth connections...
all through history, immigration was in trickles compared to the uk populations of those times. actually, commonwealth immigration was actually coming down after the 1960s and 1970s..
britain didn't really have problems with 'illegals' up until this decade. after ww2, a person would have had to have permits. what happens now is that people are entering uk for economical reasons firstly and fleeing persecution at the same time.
probably what we are experiencing now is something that hasn't been experienced before and has been building up since the 90's. the scale of it, and the balance has been shifted so greatly..
multi-culturalism has been 'forced' on us and to accept it.. up until the 1950's, most uk immigrants have been basically form mainland europe. there were no real tensions. mostly, uk industry benefited from european immigrants with their expertise, and this helped british industries, bringing some of their culture with them.
the culture we have today is nothing compared to up until this point. did the uk have a language problem up until then?
after the 1950's, travel was being accessed easier, and people were catching onto this, even though you had to be quite wealthy to afford to travel. people were going on holiday abroad and for many, it was the first time. and when british people go abroad, they like to bring a little piece back with them, clothes, food, drink, literature etc. they may even marry someone by meeting someone where they had been. but that is usually in small droves now and then, nothing to cause a large scale shift. since the 1970's, britain and it's culture has been influenced by media. the public have always been swayed by some form of media, whether a newspaper or television.. attitudes change over the last hundred years.. our main source of information since the 1970's is the television, and the amount of that information being received by our minds day in day out is astronomical. whether it has benefited us as such, as most of the uk has been influenced by america one ay or the other.
britain has changed culturally. it was a balance in the 1970/80's. it was something new, something exotic, going to an indian resteraunt for example. the uk developed a taste for this, unfortunately a lot were wrecked or abused by british drunks after their night out and had no respect for indian culture. what has actually happened over an evolution, is that they just kept on springing up everywhere. so instead of having the one or two, it became the 5 or 6 and so on. people did not like this. even in europe, people were suspicious of foreign resteraunts, as often and common were stories of chinese cooking cats in their meals... and it was no supersticious tale.. the british public did not like it that eastern people were working here and sending their money back to their homelands to feed their families there.
ok, we learned to live with indians, pakistanis, west indians. and maybe even improved ourselves as a nation.
then came along the iraq war of 1991, and that started another influx afterwards, other disasters were springing up left right and centre. so the immigarants we have are a totally different breed than predecessors. and to put that on top of the European Union freedom of work movement, it is no wonder why they choose the uk as their only priority and first and only option.
the britain we have today is different than the one we had 10 years ago. the one 10 years ago was different than the one from that in 1989, 1989 was differnt than 1979 and so on..... the councils made a right old muck up in the beginning by displacing them into solitary areas, like dumping a population into a random area and letting them get on with it. as britain is either an atheistic society, protestant or catholic, suddenly find their own religion is under threat by mosques springing up. the equilibrium of the was distorted, and the whole identity of britain was distorted.
yes, we all can live with each other or learn to live, as there is only a certain amount we can consciencely learn to live with. governments tell us to respect the moslem. i don't need a government to tell me who i should accept, i can make that decision myself.
regarding the bible, what did god do? god scattered tribes across the lands, and gave them each a different tongue to speak in so to confuse.. (after destroying the tower of babel)..
britain is a nice land. so is germany. europe has it's problems with immigration. people just don't like to be swamped.
but when some wise spark says for people to speak english only, not only was it totally unprofessional and ill-thought, common sense should have been used or maybe a little patience.. then again, people haven't got the time to be patient anymore... maybe that's what is wrong with the uk, we do not have the time as previously enjoyed as part of our culture
. Obviously those who went back after the war don't count.