Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Malcom writes English. Not riddles, allusions or obscure one-liners.

Instead of chasing Farage with 'bold new crackdowns,' why not shut the country down like communist Albania. So no one comes in and then tell everyone to suck up the consequences. I'm sure brain boxes from Reform will tell us how to prevent economic collapse. Some of my neighbours have poor English and have little time to learn on night shifts in jobs locals don't want to do. Sometimes hear them pass my house at 6.00 am speaking Lithuanian and Bulgarian. How dare they? Bastards!

Migrants coming to live and work in Britain will be expected to speak much better English under a bold new crackdown from Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government.

In a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system to be unveiled in a white paper next week, ministers will demand that overseas workers meet a significantly higher standard of English before being granted a UK visa.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... kdown.html

"Immigration, immigration, immigration." Things ain't what they used to be.

Except it isn't. Most left-wingers would agree that migrants acquiring new skills to help them get better jobs is a good thing. Yet learning the language a skill that is essential, is considered to be an outrageous policy designed to pander to Reform.

Best way to learn a language is live in the country that speaks it, that's why so many come here. But you don't pick it up quickly or well as you're working your arse off in fields and don't go out much beyond your immediate circle, so what?

Well, for one thing, it leaves you open to exploitation. Canada gives free compulsory language lessons to immigrants, for example, and if it's along those lines, then it's not a bad thing in my view.

Youngian wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 8:57 pm Best way to learn a language is live in the country that speaks it, that's why so many come here. But you don't pick it up quickly or well as you're working your arse off in fields and don't go out much beyond your immediate circle, so what?

A goodly number of my father's friends and colleagues never bothered to learn English - they went to work with others like them, they came home and often shared a house with others like them. It was notable that it was the ones that never married that were like this - all those who married were bi-lingual (and in my father's case, tri-lingual)

There's nothing new here: if you needed to deal with the system, you got your English-speaking mate to help you.