Denton and Gorton by-election - Green Party wins

bluejon said:
Pretty much what the bookies are saying.
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Obviously only rumours, but the Muslim vote in Levenshulme and in Burnage, probably in Gorton as well is going to the Greens to stop Reform. The amount of leaflets I’ve had from the Greens focusing on stopping Reform and pretty much nothing else about their policies, bar the odd leaflet, has been unreal. This election has pretty much been about stopping Reform by the Greens and to an extent by Labour. It’s pretty much about tactical voting and not policies. Or policies have been an after thought.
 
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Manc in London said:
Over a decade ago, Government and councils cut funding for adult courses, such as for those wanting to learn English, not to mention the substantial reduction in funding available to voluntary and community sector groups. Like many of the ills in our society, austerity is a major factor.

Of course, I do not know what all councils do but I do know that for many, they only use translation and interpretation services for important things. They do not translate all documents, for example. It mostly applies to things like some benefit claims, social care and so on. I do think that councils would benefit more from putting more information online and then it is the responsibility of the customer to use, for example, translation plug-ins.

I would not be too quick to blame councils and the NHS. They do have legal obligations, as laid out in the Public Sector Equality Duty within the Equality Act. Translation serves the wider public too. Especially in terms of promoting cancer screenings and tests, donation of blood, vaccination uptake etc..

One of my team recently carried out some research on MMR uptake as measles is a bit of a hot topic at the moment. Less than 66% of children in our area of London have had MMR. It was well over 80% just nine years ago. Likely due to rising levels of immigration. Now I know some communities are vaccine hesitant than others but I would suggest some of the drop-off is also down to the language barrier. Maybe less integration (not having the friend/community network to provide sage advice or share experience) and not signing up to a GP surgery is another - a common issue among new communities and partly explains why A&Es can be very busy. Anyway, I am not an expert in public health so cannot really add much to that.
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Why would we want any immigrant over here who couldn’t speak English to begin with? Why should the British taxpayer fund English courses for immigrants who can’t speak English?


Bonkers country.
 
I remember a Longsight Councillor being elected who couldn’t speak a word of English. He had to have a translator alongside him when he had to speak to English speakers.
 
The Northern Baptist said:
Why would we want any immigrant over here who couldn’t speak English to begin with? Why should the British taxpayer fund English courses for immigrants who can’t speak English?


Bonkers country.
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I’m sure we’ve had many immigrants going back hundreds of years that arrived not speaking English.I’d say most countries have all had immigrants over the centuries that didn’t speak the language when they arrived no big deal.The British Empire made quite a habit of it.
 
blueparrot said:
I’m sure we’ve had many immigrants going back hundreds of years that arrived not speaking English.I’d say most countries have all had immigrants over the centuries that didn’t speak the language when they arrived no big deal.The British Empire made quite a habit of it.
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I’m not talking about the empire and hundreds of years ago. I’m talking about today. Why would we want any immigrant arriving who can’t speak English to a decent standard to begin with? Possibly some very limited settings where they would be needed, but to be a productive citizen of this country who contributes financially to society, you need to be speaking English from day one and to a high standard.
 
The Northern Baptist said:
I’m not talking about the empire and hundreds of years ago. I’m talking about today. Why would we want any immigrant arriving who can’t speak English to a decent standard to begin with? Possibly some very limited settings where they would be needed, but to be a productive citizen of this country who contributes financially to society, you need to be speaking English from day one and to a high standard.
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I’m assuming you support City? Are you aware of some of our players would not be classed as a productive citizen under your definition?
 
The Northern Baptist said:
I’m not talking about the empire and hundreds of years ago. I’m talking about today. Why would we want any immigrant arriving who can’t speak English to a decent standard to begin with? Possibly some very limited settings where they would be needed, but to be a productive citizen of this country who contributes financially to society, you need to be speaking English from day one and to a high standard.
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Many immigrants arrive with little or no English, learn English and contribute as much or more to the country than some born here speaking English as a first language, including many persecuted at home. Alway have and hope always will. That’s a country I have always been proud of and hope I always can be.
 
BridgyDids said:
I’m assuming you support City? Are you aware of some of our players would not be classed as a productive citizen under your definition?
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Somehow I don’t think they’re talking about immigrants that play football,earn £100k+ a week and pay 45% tax
 
The Northern Baptist said:
Why would we want any immigrant over here who couldn’t speak English to begin with? Why should the British taxpayer fund English courses for immigrants who can’t speak English?


Bonkers country.
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You don't know how ridiculous things have got.

Me and my wife, both first gen immigrants from India, have a daughter born here, schooled here, only speaks and reads English. Which we are fine with, maybe sometime we might give her classes in Hindi just for the heck of it.

The interesting bit is, kids have some sort of checkup around 2 years or so, with basic checks on health, development indicators etc - and the lady (some kind of nurse / counsellor) spent a major part of our session berating me for making English my daughter's first language, and for not making her prioritise an Indian language.

That's how mental things are at the government and council level.
 
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