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Topic: Off-Topic..Sincere good wishes to Great Britain
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Michael De Angelis
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1261
From: USA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted July 08, 2005 01:43 PM
There are no easy solutions, and blame should not be cast upon anyone. If at all anything, the world is confronted with barbaric individuals that will not stop unless they believe that they have fulfilled a need to destroy the fabric of western civilization. It is not easy to think or understand about the battles in the far reaches of the desert and mountainous terrain's of the world. Nevertheless, war is horrible.
My experience was cemented for me eight years ago, when I visited with my wife, your beautiful country- Great Britain. Some of the sights which we took in were the Cabinet War Room Museum, and the Imperial Museum. Indelible images that are compelling and not to be missed by anyone visiting this great nation.
It taught me that Londoners, have a strong resolve and are not willing to cave into appeasement.
We were also fortunate to be on a half-day guided coach tour that took us by Allied command and onto St. Paul's Cathedral. This wonderful tour guide- (His name was Bert) told us some interesting stories of Britain during the Blitz. One about his Grandmother, in which she had the thought of returning home to get her dentures, in the midst of chaos. She was then reminded that the opposition were not dropping sandwiches!
Another impression, which I had mentioned in an earlier thread, was in returning back to The Hotel Churchill in the evening. The hotel management and staff were very courteous, but the hotel patronage in the evening made us feel as if we did not belong in the hotel.
It was uncomfortable and needless to say, very discriminatory. Our money is just as good as theirs, and I don't care where their birth place or cultural descendants originated. This commentary is not a blanket slam against all those who have immigrated over into England, only an observation of people that display rude behavior, and need to assimilate into a culture, and not behave poorly upon others. Words were never exchanged, only the harsh glares of those upon us unsuspecting tourists.
I don't intend to sound uncivilized, but perhaps some wily rugby players are enough to track down and dismember these lousy louts of society that created the mess on the bus and in the tubes.
Michael
-------------------- Isn't it great that we can all communicate about this great hobby that we love!
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Tom Photiou
Film God
Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted July 08, 2005 02:05 PM
Exactly mate. My name sake is 50/50 English-Greek, Born and bred here like many i just find it amazing to see this Great country not only taking in people from around the world as free countries do but bending over backwards to help them all have there rights here, i.e, build mosques, etc, (try going to Saudi Arabia & drink some beer in public and see what happens to you)and its all thrown back in your face, The first mistake was when in the late 60's-early 70's the law allowed a turbin to be worn in place of a crash hat on a motor cycle. Remeber that? My point is, as you say, this is a great country, but if the law of the land doesnt stop bending to allow minorities rights over the mojority then in my humble opinion you aint seen nothing yet. I know of no other country where local councils ban the flying of the trditional flag, (union Jack) simply because it offends a minoirty. If they dont like it then i'm sorry they shouldnt be here. My Father came here as a lad of 12 and always worked for his living and never once claimed off the state, and he fitted in to this countries way of life, (& applied to be here without coming in the back of a lorry) Not too sure about what you see on the TV but in the real world in my workplace,(and pubs),of well over a hundred the anger was boiling and what ive said here is nothing to what the general public say. The great BBC seem to always withhold that view being a Politacly-correct bunch. We've now witnessed again first hand what happens when these twats donts get there own way. Lets hope its over and London gets back to normal.
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Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted July 08, 2005 04:00 PM
Tom, I am saddened to hear your comments about the immigrant population in the UK. I usually make it a point of principal not to enter into Political discussions on these forums, but as I have already posted on this thread I shall make one more posting and leave it at that.
Britain is a truly great country and a country that is truly made up of many cultures colours and Creeds. Migration into the UK isn’t a new thing [despite the fact that many of the tabloids would have us believe t started in the 1950s] it has been with us forever, how many of us can trace our DNA back to the Viking invasions or the Roman occupation of 2000 years ago? For my part my Mother is French and my Grandmothers family are Dutch, for all that Peckham is a truly Sussex name and my family line on my Fathers side haven’t moved more than 50 miles in 900 years.
It is very easy to criticise the immigrant population and easier still to pick out odd anecdotes, such as the turban-wearing motorcyclists to prove our point. But we should also be very mindful of the fact that the indigenous British race [if there is such a thing] have thought nothing over the centuries of colonising countries across the world and imposing their own values and customs on there unsuspecting hosts, further more we are still colonising parts of the world as we create ghettos in the Algarve, Portugal and France. It seems that the popular press feel that we should have one rule for immigrants to the UK but when we are the immigrants then a whole other set of rules should apply.
Lets not forget that the terrible atrocities in London on Thursday were no more to do with immigration than the Terrorist activities of the IRA, an IRA bomb never made me hate the Irish, what anger I had was for the individual bomber.
Further more we should not forget that Britain should be thankful to its immigrant population for its current economic prosperity. The Financial Times carried out an exhaustive study into the make up of the Uks GDP for the financial year ending April 2004, they found that the ‘non-indigenous’ population of the UK ie; the immigrant population, contributed some 11% of that years GDP amounting to some £2.5Billion. However this sector of society accounts for only 9% of the total population. In other words our immigrant population are either harder working than us, or higher earners, or both, whatever, they pay more Tax than the average indigenous Brit so we can’t acuse them of sponging off the state.
All I’m saying is, it is important to make an effort to get to know the facts and have a view of the wider picture before making a judgement on a whole group of people purely on the actions of a few. There is a bigger picture here and however tempting it is to suggest otherwise, there are no quick fixes.
There we are, that’s definitely my lot on this subject!
Mike
-------------------- Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...
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Tom Photiou
Film God
Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003
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posted July 09, 2005 03:24 AM
My last point on this one too, my points certainly arnt meant to be racist in any way, (how can they be as i said my dad was a greek cypriot) the best way for me to sum up my point is this, this country does need to look at how many people from other countries actualy can fit in here, this is a small island with 60 million people, New Zeland and France are imense in size with a much smaller population and sooner or later something here will give. We are breeding our own grown terrorist who will and DO follow the policies of other countries, we are seeing the results now . Couldnt help notice no one commented about some parts of Geat Britain banning the flying of our own flag so as not to offend others, are some people ashamed to be British and show it? How about the Americans, I cant ever imagine that happening over there, Americans are very patriotic and i believe thats a good thing, and they too are multi cultural so whats the problem here, BTW, how brilliant were our emergency services at responding, still the best in world i think reckon.
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted July 09, 2005 09:45 AM
The immigration problem in the US is much worse than in the UK. Great Britain is an Island, so it is relatively easy to check who is coming into the country. Not so here of course, where we have a 2500 mile northern border and a 1500 mile souther border. Millions of illegal immigrants have poured across the southern border with Mexico, and the Bush Administration will do nothing to stop it. In fact Bush want's to grant these illegal immigrants amnesty and the benefits of full citizenship rights. Why? Because US Corporations(who are large donators to the Rebublican party) are eager to employ illegal immigrants who are happy to work for a fraction of the wages ( and none of the benfits) of US citizens. And also Bush does not want to offend Mexican President Vincente Fox and Latin American voters in the US, who form a significant part of the Republican voter base. It is ironic, and hypocritical, of a president who is always expounding about his fight to make America secure, to turn a blind eye to this most obvious threat to our national security. The situation is so bad that private armed Vigilante groups have been formed in Arizona who patrol the border and turn the illegals back or have them arrested. I have no problem with immigrants, the US is a nation of immigrants and I am proud to be one myself. But let them go through the same lengthy process and scrutiny that I and every other European immigrant has had to go through. If they are here illegally, kick them out! Wake up Mr. President!
-------------------- The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection, Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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peter booth
Master Film Handler
Posts: 258
From: scarborough,north yorkshire
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted July 09, 2005 11:02 AM
Hi,a big thank you to all forum members who have sent good wishes and support in the wake of the London bombings,I live 200 miles away in Yorkshire but we still feel it here,an attack on London is an attack on all all of us,already there has been an arson attack on a Mosque in Leeds and with a large Muslim community in West Yorkshire can see more trouble on the streets,similar to the Bradford riots a few years back happening.Lets hope that the police make some early arrests and charge the offenders if caught,instead of letting them go home again as has happened in the past,best wishes to all,Peter.
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Chris Quinn
Master Film Handler
Posts: 372
From: England, Bedfordshire.
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted July 09, 2005 11:38 AM
First i would like to say how shocked i was and relieved when i found out that no forum members had been caught up in the horror, i feel so sorry for the families and injured, terrible, terrible day.
What ever the politics, there is no excuse for the murder of innocent men women and children. I am sure that decent law abiding peoples of all race creed and religious convictions are appalled by these terrorist attacks, unfortunately there is no answer to terrorism, no way to fight it, no winning formula, there will always be terrorists with some cause they feel is justified by the killing of people.
Sad day it was. Chris.
Better get back to the alien space craft before they miss me. Chris.
-------------------- The other half thinks i'm up to something. Shes right of course.
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