stella40
Posts: 417
Joined: 1/11/2006
From: London, UK
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave
Now we know why we are being swamped with Polish immigrants.
Are you sure you know?
If not I can provide a fairly simple explanation. In the 1980's we saw the demise of heavy industry and manufacturing which was replaced largely by service industries, the supply of retail and consumer goods, financial companies, multinational corporations and so on. Along with these changes came the 'free market economy', a more competitive mortgage and financial services market and increased consumer spending.
During the 'boom and bust' years of the 1990's when people got heavily into debt via mortgages and this increased consumer spending consumer spending dropped as did profits and these corporations and businesses had to find new markets. This new market turned out to be Eastern European post-communist countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
Up to this time the Poles were quite happy in their concrete flats, driving Trabants and Wartburgs, smoking Mars and Carmen cigarettes, using Zelmer and Amica domestic appliances and so on. But the 1990's brought freedom and the West in the form of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes, Whirlpool washing machines, Renaults, BMWs, Mercedes, and so on. Then came the property boom, and many moved out of their flats to larger houses or purpose built apartment blocks for mortgages, banks appeared, as did shopping centres, supermarkets and the free market economy.
This has caused the same transformation, i.e. from heavy industries and manufacturing to service industries, shopping centres, and so on. However much of Polish business has either been forced to close, bought out, or taken over. Unemployment went through the roof.
There has been some sort of controlled migration, but controlled by who? Go figure. I can remember that in November 2003 Tony Blair declared an amnesty on illegal Poles in the UK which was backed up by the Polish authorities declaring a similar amnesty for Brits and the Irish. At this time news stories started appearing in the Polish media "500,000 jobs for Poles in the United Kingdom", and there has been a mass exodus of Poles to the UK. Along with Lithuanians.
These new Eastern European migrant workers appear to be very welcome in Britain, especially from an economic or employment point of view. They are qualified, hardworking, they share flats and thus housing costs so they can take offers of minimum wage employment and still have plenty of disposable income.
quote:
ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave
Seriously tho' you dont answer a very important question. Why do all these subsidies need to be handed out for "youth schemes " and "drama workshops" ? Why cant these youths do a bit of work and pay their own way ? Only arskin'
I now work mainly with adults but the answers are more or less the same. Not many of these youths (or adults) want to work or pay their own way is one answer. But another answer is that not many employers are willing to employ them. This is not just because of appearance - baseball caps, trainers, bling, sports clothing, saggy jeans, Norwegian smiles in girls, Dagenham smiles in boys, etc - but such things as knowledge of basic English (many young people think textspeak has replaced the English language), dug issues and alcohol issues.
With adults you also have age, gaps in employment, lack of references, drug and alcohol issues, sometimes obesity and appearance, and then you do have a lot of people on benefits who are in quite substantial benefit traps, either through being single parents, families, etc who cannot take lower wages.
Then you have the other obvious answers of crime prevention and education, and basic motivation.
quote:
ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave
The theatre is very heavily subsidised is it not ? For what ? For instance the theatre in Leicester has recently received massive grants to rebuild and to subsidise their productions. That would not be necessary if they offered a product the public wanted. Would it ?
Same with the Civic theatre in the city where I live.
As for ballet. Well Albert Steptoe called that poofs football, so what can I say ?
Dont lets forget Opera of course !!
Repertory, i.e. first class or professional theatre is, yes. But some of it isn't. Take many of the musicals staged in London's West End, for example.
But here seeksfemslave I kind of half agree with you, and then again I don't.
I feel that there are too many subsidised productions of Shakespeare and classic plays. How many more 'new' productions do we really really need of Hamlet, for example? Last year I was forced to sit through a terrible three hour butchering of a Eugene O'Neill play. How it got financed with a grant, I cannot explain. I'm one of the lucky people in theatre who doesn't always need funding, my work sells well enough to pay for itself, I can get bums on seats, and have actually successfully staged productions without any funding. But I keep it small.
But then again I disagree. How does the public know it wants a good play when that play has never been produced before? It's not like a concert where you can sell a CD or play excerpts on radio. You cannot preview a stage play like you can a film or a television programme.
And does the general public always know what it wants? I cite the General Election as a prime example.
quote:
ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave
All on the Gravy Train NO?
Many yes - and boy don't they let us all know it! But everyone? No.
_____________________________
I try to take one day at a time, but several days come and attack me at once. (Jennifer Unlimited)
If you can't be a good example then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.
|
RE: Bernard Manning dies - 
Profile
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread