[GiRTh]

My point is that the issue is not as bad a the politicians make out. Plus, many posts have referred to imigration laws. I was merely answering those posts with my expreiences as the son of an immigrant.

Imigration is a vote winner, people want to be proud of their British heritage, but I think the place it takes on some part manifesto's is deplorable.

[James]

I agree with Girth that immigration has often been viewed too negatively and it is very often very beneficial to a country.

There are many instances when mass-immigration has been economically beneficial to a country - like the Turkish immigration to (West) Germany after the Second World War, which was an important part of an economic boom, and what about the USA, which has been built up through people emigrating there.

Also immigration makes the culture richer and more interesting. Choice and variation are always good things to have in anything.

[Mike]

I should have been more specific in my rant about immigrants to be honest. I was talking about the ones that have come over in the last five years or so from like Iran/Kosovo, it might be different in other towns and cities but here it's madness it certain areas, their all walking around with the latest flash gear but do absoloutely nothing and get welcomed into the country, that sort of thing really annoys me as im sure it does many others too.

[nodisharmony]

Originally posted by Mike
I should have been more specific in my rant about immigrants to be honest. I was talking about the ones that have come over in the last five years or so from like Iran/Kosovo, it might be different in other towns and cities but here it's madness it certain areas, their all walking around with the latest flash gear but do absoloutely nothing and get welcomed into the country, that sort of thing really annoys me as Im sure it does many others too.

I think Mike, whatever we don't want the government to do, they will do anyway, whether it is to do with immigrants or not.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are just the same to me. Nothing much will change and the Conservatives will always say they could do better.

Neither can do better, it is just politics and money, money and politics.



nodisharmony

[Dan_]

Tony Blair has announced he will stand down as prime minister on 27 June.

He made the announcement in a speech to party activists in his Sedgefield constituency, after earlier briefing the Cabinet on his plans.

He acknowledged his government had not always lived up to high expectations but said he had been very lucky to lead "the greatest nation on earth".

He will stay on in Downing Street until the Labour Party elects a new leader - widely expected to be Gordon Brown.

In an emotional speech, Mr Blair said he had been prime minister for 10 years which was "long enough" for the country and himself.

Brown tribute

Mr Blair earlier told the Cabinet he did not want ministers paying tribute to him, adding "that can be left for another day".

But as the meeting was breaking up, Mr Brown said he "did not think it would be right to let Cabinet finish without offering thanks to the prime minister".

He praised Mr Blair's "unique achievement over 10 years and the unique leadership he had given to the party, Britain and the world".

His comments were greeted by "much thumping of tables" by Mr Blair's colleagues, the prime minister's official spokesman told reporters.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said it had been a "cordial, comradely" meeting with "quite a lot of laughter" and "leg-pulling".

Mr Hain, who is a candidate for Labour's deputy leadership, said Mr Brown would now "take up Tony Blair's mantle in the next period of our government".

The chancellor later made a joke about Mr Blair's departure plans in the Commons.

Answering a question on employment, he said: "There are of course 600,000 vacancies in the economy as a result of the... actually there's one more today as a result of announcements that have just been made."

'Good years'

Mr Blair's election agent and close friend John Burton said he expected Mr Blair to continue as Sedgefield's MP until the next general election, unless he was offered a major international job.

Former Cabinet minister and Blair ally Alan Milburn said thought the prime minister "slightly regretted pre-announcing his retirement" by saying he would not seek a fourth term.

He's going of his own choice - he's doing it at a time which he thinks is good for the country
Peter Mandelson

"I think he would have preferred to stay longer," added Mr Milburn but he said the prime minister had had "a good 10 years" and had "fundamentally changed the country for the better".

Mr Blair's official spokesman insists he will remain "focused" on being prime minister until Labour has chosen his successor - a process expected to last seven weeks.

He said Mr Blair still has lots of work to do on domestic issues and had a number of international commitments in the run-up to this summer's G8 and EU summits.

But with a new prime minister expected to be in place by the beginning of July, attention at Westminster has already shifted to his succession.

Mr Brown is unlikely to face a Cabinet-level challenge for the leadership as all of the likely contenders have ruled themselves out.

But he could still face a challenge from one of two left wing backbenchers - John McDonnell and Michael Meacher. The pair are meeting later to see if one of them can muster enough support to get on to the ballot paper.

'Paralysis'

Candidates need the signatures of 45 Labour MPs to enter a contest.

Six deputy leadership hopefuls will also be battling for nominations to enter the race to replace John Prescott, who is due to stand down with Mr Blair.

Conservative leader David Cameron has said the country faces seven weeks of "paralysis" until Labour chooses a new leader, accusing Mr Blair of running a government of the "living dead".

The Liberal Democrats have, meanwhile, tabled a Parliamentary motion urging the Queen to dissolve parliament and call a general election.

But European Union Trade Commissioner and close Blair ally, Peter Mandelson, denied that Mr Blair's last weeks in office would be as a lame duck leader.

"'He's going of his own choice. He's doing it at a time which he thinks is good for the country, is good for the government."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6639945.stm

[Ruth]

Originally posted by GiRTh
My point is that the issue is not as bad a the politicians make out. Plus, many posts have referred to imigration laws. I was merely answering those posts with my expreiences as the son of an immigrant.

Imigration is a vote winner, people want to be proud of their British heritage, but I think the place it takes on some part manifesto's is deplorable.

True. Immigration is actually a very positive thing in many ways.

People often get three separate issues mixed up, these being immigration, illegal immigration and asylum seekers. The political parties play it to suit themselves, because they know what will hit home with certain pockets of voters.

I remember having an argument about it with someone I used to work with. They were completely against immigration, yet they themselves wanted to retire to Spain.

[Bells]

I'm not bothered that Gordon Brown is replacing Tony Blair personally, I just think it's about time he resigned. Although the delaying has been getting annoying, a lot of unanswered questions were presented on Sky News to Gordon Brown live today (which I watched), and I think he answered them well. I'm not going to go into too much detail about it, but they focused mainly on how he felt becoming Prime Minister without having had to go through a general election, the UK's relationship with different countries, discussions on climate changes, etc.

It made interesting viewing and I think it will be difficult to go through all the changes any Prime Minister promises, but I really hope that although we're still sticking to the Labour Party, the same mistakes are not made. Probably wishful thinking on my part.