I think this whole racist/bullying debate/bickering is getting blown way out of proportion.

Now I'm not saying that I condone this type of behaviour but if it upsets people that much.... don’t watch

Simple as that...... you have the power to turn off your telly. Because your all avidly watching Endermol have now got an extra million viewers!

Slate me if you like but that’s my opinion

I'm still watching

im hardly watching either kizzy only when notching else is on

Shilpa fights back tonight .. . cant miss that!!!

I dont have a problem with all of this... yes Shilpa is getting a lashing but she hasnt complained??? I woud have a problem if she went into the Diary room and said that she thinks she is being singled out and bullied.

But she hasnt!

Ooh shilpa fights back?? that will be great to watch, i dont think the situation is that bad in the first place, i think they edit it to the parts where all the bitchynes is going on.

Its such a blatant media hype

I'm watching because I will watch anything with Dirk Benedict in it! If he goes, I'm switching off.

im watching the highlights at night but i dont watch it live anymore

so if a woman was raped on the street but was too scared to tell the police - that makes it alright does it?

Insult deleted - warning will be issued next time

I beg your pardon????? You know nothing about me. And I did mention in my post that it wasnt right...... why are you bring up rape thats a strange comparrison

yea its absoloutely stupid.
makes no sense.

theres no racism whatsoever.

your not serious

I posted this on another forum. I'll just C+P

I'm not that interesting in watching anymore. I will though, just out of boredom, I guess.

I'm giving big brother a chance each time. I genuinley prefer non celebrity big brother, but i watch the celeb ones anyway. I'm fed up with the jojadedani bitching, so i AM on the verge to switching off my tv. But i'll give it another chance.

I agree with what you said in your post about the whole BB thing going over top but I cannot stress how strongly I disagree with what you said in the bit I've quoted above. I don't know exactly how familiar you are with the benefits position for migrants in the UK/Ireland but from your post, in my opinion, you seem to be quite uninformed.

Firstly, in Ireland, a migrant worker coming to Ireland from within the European Union cannot claim benefits until they can satisfy the "habitual residence" test. This is a test that requires the migrant worker to have been in Ireland for 2-3 years and be able to show that they have settled there for the foreseeable future. That means no state benefits for 2-3 years and they need some form of income in that time. Generally, they are there to work and not claim benefit.

The UK also has a habitual residence test for benefit entitlement but slightly different than the Irish version. Generally the british habitual residence test can be satisfied after 3 months residence in the UK. But the UK attaches an additional test to it and in order for anyone to claim benefit in the UK they must have a "right to reside". No right to reside, no benefit, simple as that.

For british nationals, the right to reside test is not a problem, obviously they have a right to reside in their country of birth and special rules exist for irish nationals so they are treated the same as british nationals.

For european nationals, they are very limited in how they get a right to reside so they can claim benefits. One way is for them to be working. In fact for nationals from the eastern european states (who only joined the EU in May 2004, places like Poland, Latvia etc), the only way they can claim benefits is by workin legally in the UK and they also must have registered that work with the Home Office. I assume you have no complaints about a migrant worker who is working here, and paying taxes then claiming benefits if he falls ill and stops work or if he has children.

A migrant worker from the established EU states (not the ones that joined in May 2004) can also have a right to reside if they are "workseekers". This allows them to claim Jobseekers Allowance while they look for work, but they only get this for six months and if they haven't got a job by then their benefit is stopped.

The worst part is fo those migrant workers coming from the new EU states like Poland, etc. If they come here, start work, correctly register their work but fall ill or have an accident so they can't work anymore before they have worked for a full 12 months, they are not allowed any benefit. So people could have been here, paid taxes for 10 months, get hit by a car or fall ill, and the Government just leaves them to rot. Once the hospital has treated them, they are turfed out on the street. No money, no income, no housing and no help from the state that they have already contributed their taxes to. Disgusts me.

The Irish economy is booming at the moment, largely due to the influx of migrant workers from eastern europe. The UK economy has also benefited massively from the same migrant workers, coming over here, working and paying their taxes. I can't get the exact figures at the moment but the increase in the UK economy since the UK opened it's labour markets to the eastern european states has been astounding.

And one final point, more on general principles rather than any facts but the British Empire at one point dominated half the world. They stripped countries of their resources (and at times their people) all to make the Empire great and we still get the benefits of that Empire today with our high standard of living. It's maybe time that Britain gave something back to these people who are comng here in order to simply try and make a better lives for themselves.

There's hardly a week goes by in Northern Ireland without something in the news about some polish guy getting attacked or some estonian girl getting raped by a bunch of thugs. This is true racism, this is the kind of stuff that should be highlighted, that people should be signing petitions over, that should make it onto the evening news and all the frontpages of the papers. Hell, for a while racist attacks had taken over in the news from the usual Northern Ireland protestant/catholic rubbish, and that really is something special.

Sorry to rant, but this kind of stuff really really gets my back up.

I'm still watching.

I'm still watching.
And now that so much stuff has been on the news, a lot more people are watching too, just to see for themselves what's happening!
Shilpa hasn't said anything - she's actually had nice stuff to say about the girls even though they bitch behind her back lots - she obviously doesn't know that.
Also, the snide racist comments are made behind her back purely because they dislike her - obviously she wouldn't put up with that if she heard it either. They're too cowardly to say stuff like that in front of her face.
It makes excellent viewing for some people, whilst at the same time boosting Shilpa's popularity. I don't like seeing it constantly though, it only makes me more angry.

I like watching to see the bonds between the HMs though, and the fun they have together either in pairs, or small groups - or even all together sometimes during tasks. The arguments shouldn't be an integral part of the show.

Well, to be honest, I'm only familiar with one aspect of it all. That aspect being single mothers.

My stepmum works in the area of support to mothers and single mothers in the country, both native and foreign. From what I have heard from her, there are quite a lot of immigrants claiming benefits. How long they have been around, I can't say.

I agree with Kiz...the only thing all this hype is doing...is giving big brother MORE viewers. The ratings are back up so big brother are happy. People are tuning in to watch as is all over the papers and news. Switching off would be the best way to hit them hard but people don't seem to realise that.