Reflections on life in the UK in 2006
I recently wrote an article on the PR disasters in the UK in 2006 which prompted me to reflect on how 2006 affected the UK population generally.
Several things occurred to me as key issues: the ongoing saga of the war in Iraq, Muslim terrorists in our midst, water shortages and the unwelcome invasion by Poland. Here is a brief reflection of those issues – I will keep if short because otherwise it might be seen as some rant by a deranged left-winger, which I certainly am not!
Let me start by underlining what an amazing place the UK is to live and work. But, our tolerant and genuinely welcoming nature has been taken advantage of.
Our politicians took us into a war in Iraq largely to support our American cousins. The talk of weapons of mass destruction was a smokescreen for securing oil long term so as to stabilise the global economy; but there is even a case to make for that it was just that lying is not our way of life.
It is possible that the Americans actually had intelligence that those weapons existed. But, if so, then their incompetence is staggering. If not, then they lied. Either way, they dragged the UK into the war with them.
But, from a UK citizen’s perspective, the inefficiency of government departments of getting us into an unwelcome war is overshadowed by the fact that we sent our troops into the field with equipment that wasn’t readily available, didn’t work or was unsuitable. Stories of soldiers being killed, whose lives could have been saved had they not had to lend their safety equipment to others going out on patrol, beggars belief.
This war has sparked off a major menace here in the UK. The Muslim terrorist is a well known phenomenon world-wide, 2006 saw the development of home-grown British Muslims training to be bombers and suicide bombers. This has resulted in a deep mistrust of the whole Muslim community by ordinary people and intolerance.
The courts have had to try cases where Muslim women wanting to go about their work covering themselves completely in black, except for an eye slit. I have to say that I do not want my child being taught by someone dressed like something out of “Star Wars”.
Even in my home town on Basingstoke, a lovely town in which to live, there was a fire bomb attack on the local mosque. This would have been unimaginable just a few years ago!
Let’s now turn to water shortages. Readers from abroad who have visited our green and pleasant land will now that the green fields and hedgerows stay green because of the regular rain. So, the government sit back and let the water supply companies, now largely owned by foreign corporations, put our prices up at the same time as turning a blind eye to them letting thousands and thousand of gallons pour away in leaks in the pipe work. Because global warming is changing our climate, we are having less rain so instead of sorting out the leaks, the water suppliers threaten to cut off supply and put up stand pipes in the street. In the meantime, they ban us watering our gardens or washing our cars. There is no national grid of water pipes to transfer water from areas well supplied to those less adequately supplied, but the authorities talk about piping in water from abroad!
Finally, I come to the Polish invasion. I voted for Tony Blair’s government in each of the last two elections so I feel particularly let down by them. Many people warned them that, when Poland was admitted to the European Union which then allowed their citizens free access to any member country, we would be deluged by Polish immigrants seeking work. Germany, for example, realised this and set limits on the numbers coming into their country,
Our incompetent government assured us that this wouldn’t happen here. 345,000 of Eastern Bloc immigrants have piled over the border.
345,000!
Yes, this is a staggering number. So, what is the impact? It is horrendous. The Polish are in huge numbers in every town. Every shop you go in has Polish staff serving you; some have a reasonable command of English but many just scrape through and you have to struggle to make yourself understood. In factories, many are employed who speak no English at all and cannot mix with their fellow English workers making for divided groups of employees.
They have taken a hold of the rented accommodation making it difficult for local people to find places to rent. They have taken most of the lower paid work leaving English people struggling for work. And, because their way of life is so different – they have no concept of customer care or saying “please” or “thank you” they can be so rude. And they drive round in untaxed and uninsured cars because the driver cannot be charged as it would not be possible to enforce fines or convictions when they give their address, which who knows might even be fictitious, in Poland.
Headline Promotions, Press & PR which my PR consultancy here in the UK, was asked to arrange a series of events for a nightclub for the Polish community. The local Council, aware of problems with the large numbers of Polish immigrants in the area, promised to put some money into this to try and get them together. But, the Police advised against the idea. They said that large groups of Polish men already get together in town centres, drink excessively and then either fight amongst themselves or pick fights with innocent groups of English party-goers. Nice!
So, what is the UK government’s solution to this problem? They are opening the floodgates for hundreds of thousand of Bulgarians to come into the UK when Bulgaria enters the European Union. Other countries are imposing limits but ours isn’t. Yes, you could not even make this up.
If I were a betting man, I would put a few pounds on a civil backlash, for sure, before the Polish flag (pictured) is flying over much of the UK!
