StevenH72 said:Carol M said:A small island like ours cannot withstand an open doors policy, surely you can see that?
Agreed, but expressing your shock at the % of 'immigrants' is irrelevant.
Why is it irrelevant? It is far from irrelevant, in fact that is the most relevant thing about the problem, the percentage of immigrants we have coming into this country and our 'shock' at the problem because a problem it certainly is.
StevenH72 said:is decreasing and has been for some time. I agree that there needs to be a clamp down on "benefit tourists" and that net immigration needs to continue to improve to a point where there is an equilibrium. I strongly disagree with those asking for the UK to close it doors to immigration.
Nobody is saying that immigration should cease entirely, that is not an option. What is an option is controlled immigration. The amount of people coming to live here is not acceptable whichever way you look at it. We cannot sustain the numbers.
StevenH72 said:, the issues of: where will people live? how will the NHS cope? How will we support the welfare bill? These are problems we will face with our ever ageing population. How do we solve that? Cut all medical research and limit NHS availability to ensure that a few more people die prematurely.
Yes, of course we will still face these issues but with the added strain on resources from vast numbers of immigrants this can only make the problem much worse, whether they are benefit 'scroungers' or working here.
StevenH72 said:Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to any of these problems. Our advancements in medicine, health, quality of life etc coupled with our resistance to increase tax contributions/ retirement age is the real danger in my eyes. We want the government to help support the retired and needy, yet we don't want that help to come from our own pockets. It's simply not sustainable.
There are a lot of problems with government and politicians, but there are just as many problems with the general public's intolerance to change. We're all metaphorical Nimby's in some way or another. Unless our attitudes experience a paradigm shift, immigration will be the least of our problems.