It used to be a wonderful place to live. Lots of people from all over the world, my maternal grandparents came to east London as refugees. But now, it's swung too far the opposite way. My home borough - Newham - was the first where incomers outnumbered the locals. Most east enders have moved to Essex and further afield. It is not the same place now. I urge you to watch the BBC documentary The Last Whites of the East End. Then you'll have a better understanding of what's happened.

And actually, LT has a pretty good knowledge of east London.

I am but I'm going off evidence to support my view. The vast majority of Londoners voted to stay in the EU which would suggest they don't think immigration is a huge problem

As Greg said, if Londoners didn't like multiculturalism they wouldn't have voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, and they certainly wouldn't have rejected one of the nastiest dog whistle campaigns in British political history to elect the city's first Muslim mayor.

If anything London isn't multicultural enough. When I visited New York last month one of the most noticeable and lovely things for me was just how diverse it was. Thousands of people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds all coexisting peacefully.

Sure But not on 2 edges they did not
They Voted OUT of the Fecking EU.


Its what you need young Fellow
Extra Harder Work
make you ready to become a CEO , down the road

you mean the propaganda fuelled crap trying to paint a picture of white flight in newham by filming scenes in an asian market miles away in whitechapel? the programme that featured a man complaining about immigrants when he was half black and a woman that said she'd be disappointed if her children didn't have relationships with white people. that's your source?

So according to you a man who is "half black" must be an immigrant? Lovely. :umm2:

Not sure if intentional, but you've just made it very clear that you find the word "immigrant" to be an insult.

No?

London, being so very multicultural now, voted to stay in the EU. That's probably because a huge proportion of people living in London now are incomers. Places like Basildon and Brentwood, home to hoards of east Londoners who've moved out of London, voted overwhelmingly to leave.

Or maybe it's because they are tolerant of people from other cultures and backgrounds?

Don't be stupid, Greg just insinuated that a person isn't able to be concerned about immigration because they're "half black". How does he know they aren't British? Back up your lies or retract immediately.

You imply that the white indigenous people from east London are all intolerant. The fact is that London has always been multicultural. I worked at the local college where over 100 languages were recognised. My school had kids from all over the world. However, in the last ten years it's tipped the balance. More people came, more locals left... it's not the same place now. And no one asked them whether they wanted things to stay the same or to increase immigration. It's changed the whole culture, people who've been there for generations and mixed quite happily with other cultures - there were black people in what became Newham in Victorian times, the Royal Docks brought people in from all over - barely recognise the place. It doesn't make them xenophobes and it doesn't make them intolerant to feel that the balance has been tipped too far.

"Must be an immigrant? Lovely :umm2:"

There's nothing else needed to back it up :shrug:. There's no possible explanation for what you said, other than you considering "being an immigrant" to be a negative thing.

Anyway... "retract immediately"? :joker: Are you planning to sue? :worry:

Umm I didn't say he wasn't British. I was just saying he was hypocritical to moan about immigrants when he was descended from immigrants himself

Use the full quote please... So according to you a man who is "half black" must be an immigrant?

The "lovely" was directed towards what Greg said, not the 'immigrant' bit. :crazy:

If you had actually watched the programme you'd know the people featured in it had no legitimate concerns like the supposed strain on the economy from unfettered immigration, it was nothing more than colour and culture. so him being the child of immigrant does make him look stupid in this scenario.

Where did I say that? I have no idea whether he is an immigrant or not, nor does it particularly matter to me, because I don't find the idea of someone being an immigrant to be any sort of slight on their character. I'll reiterate that I can't think of any reason for you to say "lovely :umm2:" other than considering it to be a negative. You wouldn't, for example, say "So you assume because he has medical knowledge he must be a doctor? Lovely :umm2:"

I don't find that hypocritical, I don't see why minorities aren't allowed to think for themselves and have their own opinions? Maybe he feels there's 'too much a good thing'? Some of the most vocal anti-immigration people are immigrants themselves.

Neither do I because I haven't seen the clip. Again, my "lovely :umm2:" was directed at Greg's comment which pretty much insinuated that he must be an immigrant because he's half black. Maybe he's British? If he is indeed an immigrant I would have expected it to have been in that post to make an argument that he is hypocritical. This isn't difficult to grasp.

Then they have assimilated into the 'I'm alright Jack' British culture very well then haven't they?...Who said multiculturalism was impossible?

When I read the first post my immediate reaction was I doubt you're old enough to remember what the area was like before immigrants. I am certain you are younger than me and I can state I definitely do not remember what my town was like before immigrants moved in. I know this cuz my parents were those immigrants.

In the second post I see you're referring to an influx in the past ten years so that clears that up but one thing that bothers me is that I dont recall - in my area yours may be different - that things were so harmonious back then. I dont recall there was as much of an effort to fit in that I remember eg one of my friends that I went to school his mother never spoke a word of English in my presence. My recollection is that this country has always had issues with immigrants coming in its just now there are a different set of cultures at the focus of the issues.

Again, even the word "insinuated" has negative connotations. "Insinuated that he must be an immigrant! Eww, yuck etc"

er the BBC

You're truly clutching now darl. Bless. :flowers: