The U.K., the place of my birth but, now, a place that is almost unrecognizable in certain areas. The County of Kent, where I grew up, known as The Garden of England, feels different, as if there is a pulsing undercurrent of unrest. My loved Thomas Hardy County of Dorset, pictured on Christmas cards (Remember those?), breathes the fresh air with innocence of an uncertain future. London, of course, has always been a multicultural city, since being established by the Romans, and where it was usually difficult to distinguish one culture from another but, now, there is an obvious ‘frontal attack’ by an increasingly dominant, and vociferous, Islamic community ... and the government appears to lack any authority for which to display the necessary control.
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| My Peaceful English Country House |
Most English villages developed around small farming groups. Produce marketing established the eventual village shop; A religious need built a church; eventually, a sense of community introduced the Public House (Pub). Over the years, there were more shops, churches and, certainly, more pubs, as towns and cities were born (Please excuse the simplification).
Today, Christian churches are closing, and Islamic domes are constructed above their roofs. Many shops are boarded up because of changing customer needs and, in their place, some are reopening with signs written solely in Islamic script (The Quebec language police would have a heyday with that). The need for social community takes place in the mosque (although the ‘need’ for some Muslims is doubtful), and, thus, the once-popular pub has closed, and dereliction has taken over ... a probable breeding ground for extremists.
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| No, this is not Dhaka, Bangladesh, but London, U.K., 2013 |
A good friend of mine who made a more extensive tour of the U.K. recently, wrote to say that he was forced to double-check his air tickets because he felt sure that he had landed in Pakistan by mistake. He wasn’t exaggerating.
One is bound to ask, why do Muslims emigrate to a country that sells world-famous pork sausages, tasteful ale, and listens to glorious choirs singing in cathedrals every Sunday.? If I had wished to become an Australian, I would have gone to Australia, but I admired the Canadian way of life and came to Canada. Is this new wave of immigration the result of Muslims wishing to become British because they admire the British way of life? It seems such an alarmingly sad question when they carry banners saying, “Kill the Queen” and “Sharia law for everyone”.
I think this to be a very important question for a country like Canada which believes, wrongly, in a policy of multiculturalism. In 2012, 257,515 immigrants and 23,056 refugees came to Canada, and the Minister for Immigration states that these numbers are planned to continue in the future. It may be too late for the U.K. (and France), but it could be a warning for us.
The U.K. and Canada (and other similar countries) occasionally make changes to their respective list of “safe” countries, (Countries from which refugees are no longer accepted). It occurs to me that refugees from these countries who have enjoyed the safety, and benefits from our welfare systems, could be deported back ... certainly, if they have not proven to be productive members of our society (I have written elsewhere about the huge number of criminal immigrants in our over-crowded goals).
I see it as the thin edge of the wedge, that requires a sensible strengthening of immigration and deportation laws.
As a Postscript, my attention is focussed on our indigenous communities. They are Canadians too, yet we segregate them to wilderness reserves. I am tempted to suggest that we set up reserves for refugees too, after all, Australia does it. Remember, qualified immigrants come here after a long intensive scrutiny to integrate and become tax-paying, employed Canadians, whilst refugees come to simply escape politically and culturally unsafe countries. I imagine that when the word travels globally that refugees in Canada no longer live in highly subsidized, high-rise apartments, etc. (usually, better than low-income Canadians) there would be an remarkable reduction in refugee numbers ... simply because some of them are not refugees, but ‘queue-jumpers’.
Now, we shall discover if controversy creates discussion, anonymously or otherwise.
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