National identity?

Last Saturday I walked around the continental market in Newark, it was lovely, lots of different sounds and aroma’s in a bustling atmosphere. I perused lots of different French stalls selling meats and cheeses among other delicacies. The French traders periodically have a market in Newark and it’s always popular; whilst they speak to each other in French they make an effort to speak English whilst selling their wares.

It occurred to me how France has more national identity and culture than England, like Germany it’s keen to retain its customs, cultural ways and national pride. I then looked closer to home for answers but found myself thinking it was places like Wales, Scotland and Ireland that were more protective of their ways and cultures. Welsh is still widely spoken and taught and Scotland is still steeped in tradition. Ask a foreign person about English culture and they will probably say ‘fish and chips’. In the future how will England be known or perceived and will it still retain a national identity?

Newark is a market town close to the Lincolnshire border and surrounding it are vast tracts of farmland, the people now coming to work this farmland are mainly from eastern countries such as Poland who come to settle and work as cheap farming or factory labour. Delving deeper into the influx of east Europeans I found some disturbing facts.

Since 2004 an estimated 600,000 east Europeans have entered this country since the EU admitted 10 more countries back then and now Polish immigrants are the largest single group numbering 300,000.

The huge influx is rapidly changing the labour market especially in London and the south east; Slough council in Berkshire warned that its schools were struggling to cope after an estimated 10,000 east Europeans have arrived in the area in recent months. A friend of mine in Slough says that figure could be more and the high street there is full of foreign accents.

Next year Bulgaria and Romania are set to join the EU and it’s estimated by researchers that a staggering 45,000 ‘undesirables’ are already intending to pack their bags and head here with more to follow.

Now, I’m not racist, for the record my godfather is from the Caribbean and I love the multicultural identity Britain has, its unique in the world but I do feel if the trend continues that somewhere down the line we are going to lose any national identity we have. I’m all for diversity, its good to see Chinese and Indian restaurants or shops on the high street, they have become part of our culture but what lays ahead if the influx of immigrants continues?

Where I live there is a large Polish community, most came post war to work in the mines, they were hard working and integrated into society. Back in the 50’s and 60’s the government who realised we were short of labour invited Caribbean’s and Indians over to work doing jobs in the public service sector, mainly in London. These people still retained their cultural identity, enriched our culture by bringing their own here but yet they integrated well into our society. They worked hard and often became valued members of community such as doctors etc because education and opportunity was excellent here.

Now I’m not saying the new influx of east Europeans don’t work hard, in fact they work for the minimum wage doing jobs here that our native populace would ‘rather not’ so you have to commend the new immigrants for being industrious and hard working. On the flip side of the coin though you have to be aware a lot have set up crime networks trafficking people or drugs because it’s easy to do so here. We can’t take it as read that all enter this country with good intentions, many don’t. I’ve also witnessed instances where east Europeans come across as arrogant, in the bank the other day an east European guy was ranting in his native tongue at the bank teller, making no effort at all to try and speak English. Some seem aloof and arrogant in the fact they know they have it good here, a welfare state, national health and better shopping and housing than they have back home.

But this post isn’t about blaming east Europeans, the problem is with the government who have let it happen. Add this to the fact that some firms now often don’t look at English people to fill positions as a first choice, they go for cheap no nonsense labour that now seems readily available. Farmers and factory owners, corporate fat cats and people exploiters are also letting this happen, spurred on by relaxed laws and low wages – it means more profits for them after all. In this country there are around 3 million long term unemployed, there is also a pool of around 7 million Britons not working, some are single parent mothers, some have retired early and some are in full time education. So why isn’t the government using more initiatives to get our own people working, educated and trained?

Some people are saying ‘The Government is starting to put foreigner’s rights first and its citizens last’ but then again we have become a lazy nation in some respects with the cushion that is the easily exploited welfare state. Being well travelled I’ve noted that in other countries if you don’t work, you don’t eat – we have it so good here at times and take it for granted.

Niall Ferguson’s excellent ‘World at War’ made me think last night when he said we in western Europe are producing an average of one baby per family where in comparison some African and Middle Eastern families are producing up to eight per family. The disturbing fact is, as our population and work force shrinks other populations grow and are starting to look westward to resettle; parts of Europe have already been nicknamed ‘Eur-abia’.

So in looking to what the future may bring we have to look to past examples. When economies start to fall or governments struggle the populations begin to blame ethnic minorities for its problems. I could state examples such as Yugoslavia recent ethnic cleansing or also the fact that ethnic unrest there led to the first world war, we can look back at the Jews in Germany, to Cambodia or many African countries, its always ethnic minorities that bear the brunt of nationalist hatred when things go wrong.

Will the modern day humanistic society let this happen to this country or will we lapse and follow suit when things go wrong, are we heading for such a thing by letting so many immigrants into the country and not addressing fundamental problems closer to home?

And in closing, to go back to my initial first two paragraphs - are we becoming an apathetic nation who is losing its national identity?