kestrel

Yes I am aware of this, I'm from Sheffield and my family worked down the pit, in the mills and fought in both world wars. I certainly don't subscribe to the view that people who don't have a job are just lazy. I just think that after watching this programme it seems the Roma's main crime is just hanging around outside and generally acting like they live in a festival camp site, there are clearly some cultural issues at play. That woman from the cross who just stands there while her kid runs away from the police as if it's absolutely fine, has no excuse, she's just a complete scumbag. Being unemployed is one thing, letting your kid hang around outside shops, with his face covered by a scarf, abusing the police and generally terrorising everyone is quite another.

I'm not claiming everybody who immigrates to this country has escaped a warzone more that growing up in a third world country doesn't provide you with as many opportunities to live an honest life as if you live in England. At no point did I say that opposing mass immigration was racist either, just the posts about 'swarms of asians' etc.

Haha true, I'll give you that! I went in on my high horse and then immediately descended to the same level. My main criticism of the level of discussion was around posts of the ilk of 'I've seen Asian kids throwing their takeaway boxes on the floor' etc..... What I'm really trying to say is that all these people criticizing the Roma etc need to look in their own back yard. The Roma have been persecuted, harassed and generally treated like crap for literally centuries and they still aren't as bad as these kids in the cross who have every opportunity to live a decent honest life. I just think it shows that race doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not you act like a complete twit.

It's a shame that a sensible debate about policing can't be had without it descending into an embarrassing display of racism. I've worked in communities all over the north including some really deprived areas in Leeds, Bradford, Donny etc.. BY FAR my least favorite place to visit was Parson's Cross. There are issues with youths in other areas, in areas with high immigration it's often a problem that the older generation might not speak English/be that involved in the community which allows their kids to go off and be scumbags without them really realizing, in all of these situations once the parents find out about what their kids have been up to they are embarrassed, ashamed and want to do something about it. In Parson's Cross most of the parents are completely aware of what their kids are up to and they couldn't give a toss. These are white families who have had generation after generation of opportunity, of free health care, of one of the best education systems in the world. These aren't people who had to move to this country to escape some brutal warzone, these are people who's sum total of their entire ancestry living in one of the world's most affluent countries is to be sat on their front gardens drinking cans of special brew and moaning about immigrants while their kids ratbag around the streets. The answer isn't to resort to 'American style policing' ( have any of the clueless people who suggested that ever actually seen the levels of crime in American inner cities?!?!?! Trust me it's less 'kicking footballs at windows' and more 'dozens of murders a week' all American heavy handed policing has led to is total distrust of the police in some areas and an 'us vs them' attitude. The issue for me is the fact that whenever anything goes wrong in this country we all look for someone to blame. The recession was caused by bankers not by my 10 credit cards, 100% mortgage and brand new beamer i got on credit even though it's worth about half my annual wage. Those people in Parson's cross will no doubt blame their problems on immigrants (if they don't work), 'scroungers' (if they do work) or if not probably just the government. If your community is awful, if your kids are running riot and if your neighborhood is on national tv for being full of scumbags then it is YOUR fault, nobody elses.