Cllr. Gavin Ayling

Without the usual, “Why can’t we all just live in peace” naivete:

The BBC’s recommendation feature on “Have Your Say” allows the public’s opinion to be heard in a public place without BBC/political interference. Surprising the result, No?

Terror raid receives no news headlines shock: West Brom Blog has more.

A man attacks someone because of something he’s heard.

Do you (a) blame the man; or (b) blame the person who said what the man heard?

Of course you blame the man, not Jack Straw.

Jack Straw has been “courageous” to say what he thinks about his Muslim constituents who wear the veil. And I think he’s right.

The trouble with his comments is that, as a member of this government, it is expected that what he wants will be introduced as legislation. This is why Letwin has offered the warning that the state should not prescribe what people may wear.

The veil is a significant barrier to reasonable communication and it is an obvious marker of difference. The Muslim Public Affairs Committee suggests that the veil is not the cause of any Muslim-non-Muslim conflicts. I believe the veil is a metaphor for the ghettoisation of Islam within the UK.

If you listen to Straw’s entire interview with Today, though, you hear the normal calls for equal rights etc. Let’s be clear, right now and forever: No-one in the UK needs legislation to have equal rights. The only way rights can ever be taken away is with legislation and the fact that the only legislation that there is that deals with ethnicity attempts to mark skin colour as some significant distinguishing feature; that there are employers paid by the taxpayer who admit to turning away white job applicants because of their skin colour should be enough for us all to say: “Enough”.

I want to be clear:
- There should be no legislation that refers to skin colour/religion.
- There should be no legislation that tells people whether to wear a veil, hijab or burka.
- There should be no difference in requirements for a passport photo due to religion or skin colour.
- There should be no legislation that refers to skin colour/religion.

The inclusion of the last one twice was quite deliberate.

It will be interesting to see how powerful blogs are in achieving an apparently simple aim.

Sign the pledge to campaign against anti-semitism (which is on the rise again): Stop Anti-Semitism.

According to the figures available, those who immigrated to the UK since 2004 make up nearly 1 in 60 of the population.

The imminent EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria represents a new source of immigrants to the UK. There are voices, not least Frank Field, who are calling foul, but there’s really no justification for restricting immigration from these new members.

The EU is about free movement of people and free trade. Now anyone with even a small idea of the EU’s working will know that we are not getting anything similar to free trade in many, many areas. So the only tenet of the EU that Britons signed up for under Heath and that is actually functioning is free movement of people.

If we turn around now and say “Sorry Romanians, sorry Bulgarians, you cannot come to the UK because, though we want access to your markets, we don’t want your people.” then we are removing that final part of the EU that we all agreed to.

I agree that the UK is suffering a change in culture… A sort of negative zionism by multiple cultures. And I agree that the time has come for a serious look at our immigration policy… But I don’t think that should mean double-standards on the EU. Let’s leave the EU and say what we really think! Let’s join schengen, let’s sign a free trade agreement with the EU and remain a country in our own right.

At the same time, let’s let English culture redefine itself to include our newest members. Let’s prepare our schools to cope with the children of our mostly young immigrants when they are born. And let’s not confuse immigrants (those who come here) with the legislators that we think are getting the policies wrong.

According to the BBC’s The World programme on BBC Four this evening, Italy, Spain and Malta are struggling with the number of illegal immigrants coming from Africa to work here (where “here” is the EU). As Leanne said earlier on this blog, the people who manage to leave Africa are probably the very people who could reverse the problems Africa so evidently has.

Let’s work harder and more seriously at improving the economies of Africa so that there’s no reason to jump on that ship in the first place. The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy’s abolition would be a good starting place.