I have a feeling that what Britain is experiencing now is a sort of mass hysteria immigration, which will probably grow another bit, then peak and dwindle away. This has come about because the Communist Bloc countries were like pressure cookers for half a century – bubbling away, pushing on the sides but with nowhere to go. The outside of the pressure cooker to the people inside seemed paradise: idealized out of all proportion.
Once the lid was taken off they all poured out enjoying this new freedom and being on a par with all other Europeans, and who can blame them.
Seen from a certain perspective it is a huge compliment they are paying to the UK to choose this country – a huge compliment to British hospitality, and British ideals and way of life. I don’t think they’re coming to scrounge off the British – it’s genuine admiration. They want to be, and see and touch.
The bad side of such a headlong and unrestrained rush is that it can be overwhelming to the locals. Too much, too quickly, too frightening.
However it is unlikely that the UK will be damaged in the long run as all migratory waves broaden horizons, add new energy and loads of new initiative – they’re like a blood transfusion. They should also, ideally, spark off a new interest in local tradition not only in the newcomers but also in the locals who may have let it wane.
In the long run there will be benefits all round, though at the moment all this can seem too worrying.
"by the way, no-one has answered my question as to how welcoming you were to mass influence from Germany and Russia???
If you are referring to the
WWII invasions of Poland by the Germans and the Russians, and are drawing some parallel between those and the Polish immigration wave into the UK
now, then you have shown a grotesque lack of familiarity with facts and surprisingly thorough absence of common sense.
