Immigration... Talk About it and You're a Racist.

I need to get something straight. At this current moment in time, I'm not the biggest fan of our Prime Minister, David Cameron. He's a toff who's trying to relate to 'the average joe' whilst taxing us, making cuts in all the wrong places and protecting his banker buddies. But, that aside, he has got some good ideas, I just wish he wasn't being a massive dick about things.

One of his most recent speeches saw him addressing the issue of immigration. He mentioned that it takes time to build up a community and people who move into that community with little wish to 'integrate' and know little or no English cause "discomfort and disjointedness in some neighbourhoods." I was actually refreshed to hear someone speak intelligently about immigration and I suspect within the next few days people will be branding him a racist. I hope this is not the case, he's a bigot, but there's no evidence to say he's a racist. What he has indeed bought up, is that which has many politicians sweating and something which is rarely bought up. I no way endorce the BNP and their very extreme views on foreigners in Britain, but the fact that they were able to become such a well-recognised political party is down to the overly sensitive way we view discussions on immigration.

The simple fact of the matter is that immigration can be a bad thing. Especially when it is not moderated. Illegal immigration is a bad thing and it's not racist to say that. There are serious problems with having unknown persons walking around a foreign land with no grasp of the language or culture.

The ways in which immigration causes problems in the UK is that these people are often taken advantage of and this in turn has a knock-on effect to the rest of us. Companies get cheap labour, we get screwed out of jobs. Thankfully, this is not rife in the UK as we have a bad habit of moving jobs abroad rather than moving people in to work, however it is one of the many problems caused by unmoderated immigration policies.

The part of immigration which I am most exhasperated by -- and the one I am most familiar with -- is the portion which sees people uneducated in the laws of this country; walking the streets doing as they wish. There is no particular race or creed that is more likely to commit crime, however there is noticable effects of having people who are not educated in British laws in the country. Some unfortunate cultural characteristics can sometimes be carried into Britain as a result of incorrect integration into the public. For example, women in some cultures are very much 'seen and not heard' whereas the ladies in this country enjoy the same freedoms as the men. When I was in the police, there was a large amount of negativity towards the females I served with and domestic violence towards women was widely overlooked by the communities in which it took place. Why? I actually heard someone once say 'it's part of the culture', which is an incredibly racist thing to say... apparently. I certainly wouldn't be brave enough to say what culture this person referred to.

I also recall during my times with police, many occasions where someone would not have tax or insurance on their vehicle, or would have no regard for traffic signals and markings. Not through any disregard of the rules, but because there was a large portion of people who came into this country not knowing that these things were required to drive. Unfortunately, traffic crime was probably one of the least negative things to come out of a lack of integration... Murderers were protected by people and violence was often condoned or straight out encouraged by the leaders of a community. An eye for an eye seemed to be something that was inbuilt into some cultures and the thought of bringing the police into a matter that was seen as 'easily resolved' never occurred. If someone stole your wife, you go out and you stab them. They learn their lesson and you get your revenge (I use this as an example, because this actually happened and was a recommendation of a community elder). I'm not attacking a culture for these barbaric methods of dealing with problems, I'm attacking our government which for so long has simply overlooked the fact that people need to be properly integrated.

There are whole areas in certain towns and cities where one race or creed is prevalent over every other and this should not be the case. This is not integration. In the past, the governement has failed to address the fact that some of these communities are poorer and as a result they often have higher crime rates than surrounding areas. Addressing this is not racist, it's intelligent. Crime and poverty shouldn't have anything to do with culture or race, but because of the way our government houses immigrants it often does.

Right about now some people would assume I'm racist because I've dared to bring up the issue of immigration. Immigration can be a very good thing for a country; indeed much of this country was at some point in history immigrants. Only some Welsh and Scottish families can actually claim to be 'true' Britons as the rest of us came across with the Normans or the Saxons. The case is even worse in America and Australia where pretty much everyone is an immigrant.

Immigration is something which is needed and should be managed properly. David Cameron has had a lot of bad ideas and seems to have somewhat of a jaded view of the public but this is one area where he's actually correct and seems to be going in the right direction. Integration is better than simply grouping up a race of people in a single area and a tougher stance on asylum should certainly take place. Afterall, the rules of asylum state that an asylum seeker should request asylum in the first safe country they get to. As Britain is an island, that should rarely be us. Also, if someone commits a serious crime in the UK, I don't see why we should be so aversed to sending them back to their country of origin if they've come into this country seeking asylum.

It is worth mentioning that there are many, many 'non-white' Britons, people who have lived and worked in this country and contribute more to the country than many of the true racists who only want a 'white Britain'. It is only because of the lack of action the government has taken on the people (white or otherwise) who have entered this country illegally that groups like the EDL and BNP have been able to flourish in towns where conflicts between races are common.

It's fantastic that we live in a multi-cultural nation, but it's a shame that these nations are so seperate from each other in some areas.