Bolton the 5th most asylum seeker populated town in UK

A report released today shows that the relative number of asylum seekers in Bolton is smaller than that of just four other UK towns/cities.

Can you believe that?

Well I certainly can, judging by a typical stroll through Bolton town centre these days. It's nearly always packed yet you don't hear a lot of English being spoken. I caught the bus a number of times last week and on three separate occasions there was somebody on a mobile, blabbering away in a language I didn't know.

If we're being blunt about it, Bolton in 2016 isn't Bolton as most people on here probably know it. For anybody buying a house in Bolton now, the chances of your neighbours being called Ainsworth or Cartwright or Greenhalgh are pretty slim.

It's not an easy one to be brutally honest about, but just how comfortable would you say you are about it all?

I'm not overly comfortable with it at all. I am all for doing our bit from a humanitarian perspective but there has to be a proper balance. Once the indigenous folk start feeling outnumbered by our foreign brothers, then they start to get twitchy and move away from the area to somewhere else where the locals are more home grown. The vacuum left behind soon gets backfilled by more immigrants and ultimately ends up being almost exclusively foreign occupation and in some places, 'no go'  areas are the order of the day. 
It's all very well telling us that we must all do our bit but it's the poorer former industrial towns like Bolton which are taking the brunt of the exodus from Africa and the middle east. At some point the bubble will well and truly burst but until then, mind how you go.

Everyone welcome at 1874's house.

My Jeremy Corbyn doll has got the spare room now, sofa's still up for grabs.

bwfc1874 wrote:My Jeremy Corbyn doll has got the spare room now, sofa's still up for grabs.

I'll be there in an hour.

On the rare occasion i do venture back to Bolton especially the town centre it does give an impression that there has been a massive rise in the number of immigrants and asylum seekers coming to Bolton.

I'm from Halliwell originally and still have friends there and i know there is a lot of tension around there and a lot of the locals are far from happy from what i hear and see on social media

Norpig wrote:On the rare occasion i do venture back to Bolton especially the town centre it does give an impression that there has been a massive rise in the number of immigrants and asylum seekers coming to Bolton.

I'm from Halliwell originally and still have friends there and i know there is a lot of tension around there and a lot of the locals are far from happy from what i hear and see on social media

And sadly Norpig, the situation is only going to get worse. The strain on public services like the NHS will only increase as the population of immigrants rises. The well off and rich can afford to go private and live in the well off affluent areas away from high immigration areas but the working classes will certainly feel the pinch. It's too easy to mark people down as being racist whenever genuine concerns are raised but immigration really has to be managed in order for it to work.

Sorry but blaming immigrants for the NHS crisis is a distraction from the real problem. 

I have a very close family friend who reports directly to Simon Stevens at the NHS, the problem is the biggest deficit in NHS history and a dangerous level of underfunding. We pay less than most Western European countries for healthcare in this country (per head far less than France, Germany and Sweden), if the NHS was properly funded it would not be in crisis.

Again, also worth pointing out that the NHS would not be going today if it wasn't for immigrant doctors and nurses.

bwfc1874 wrote:Sorry but blaming immigrants for the NHS crisis is a distraction from the real problem. 

I have a very close family friend who reports directly to Simon Stevens at the NHS, the problem is the biggest deficit in NHS history and a dangerous level of underfunding. We pay less than most Western European countries for healthcare in this country (per head far less than France, Germany and Sweden), if the NHS was properly funded it would not be in crisis.

Again, also worth pointing out that the NHS would not be going today if it wasn't for immigrant doctors and nurses.

The more people that use the system the more it will creak under the strain. The vast majority of immigrants do not pay for private medical treatment therefore they must be getting their healthcare treatment from the NHS. If you want to see first hand how the system works then visit the free Manchester Dental Hospital any day of the work from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. It is like being at a United Nations meeting.
Of course, we do recruit a lot of doctors and nurses from abroad but that is because of the amount of patients that need treating.

RT wrote:
Once the indigenous folk start feeling outnumbered by our foreign brothers, then they start to get twitchy and move away from the area to somewhere else where the locals are more home grown. The vacuum left behind soon gets backfilled by more immigrants and ultimately ends up being almost exclusively foreign occupation and in some places, 'no go'  areas are the order of the day. 


Just as "indigenous" folk move to areas which tend to be populated with people who share their ethnicity and culture, so do immigrants because at the end of the day it's a lot easier to stick with what you know that to make an effort to culturally integrate.

It's a two way street and yet it's often pointed out that immigrants make little effort to integrate - when in fact they are only doing exactly what the "indigenous" folk you describe are doing.

We'll never get a fully integrated cosmopolitan society until/unless ALL people make an effort to understand and co-exist with neighbours regardless of ethnicity or culture.

Despite this, the UK is doing a damned sight better than the vast majority of countries in terms of ethnic harmony.

bwfc1874 wrote:Sorry but blaming immigrants for the NHS crisis is a distraction from the real problem. 

I have a very close family friend who reports directly to Simon Stevens at the NHS, the problem is the biggest deficit in NHS history and a dangerous level of underfunding. We pay less than most Western European countries for healthcare in this country (per head far less than France, Germany and Sweden), if the NHS was properly funded it would not be in crisis.

Again, also worth pointing out that the NHS would not be going today if it wasn't for immigrant doctors and nurses.

You really are a bellend.

If you can't see that thousands of immigrants with no money is putting a strain on the NHS you are a bigger clown than I thought.

Reebok Trotter wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:Sorry but blaming immigrants for the NHS crisis is a distraction from the real problem. 

I have a very close family friend who reports directly to Simon Stevens at the NHS, the problem is the biggest deficit in NHS history and a dangerous level of underfunding. We pay less than most Western European countries for healthcare in this country (per head far less than France, Germany and Sweden), if the NHS was properly funded it would not be in crisis.

Again, also worth pointing out that the NHS would not be going today if it wasn't for immigrant doctors and nurses.

The more people that use the system the more it will creak under the strain. The vast majority of immigrants do not pay for private medical treatment therefore they must be getting their healthcare treatment from the NHS. If you want to see first hand how the system works then visit the free Manchester Dental Hospital any day of the work from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. It is like being at a United Nations meeting.
Of course, we do recruit a lot of doctors and nurses from abroad but that is because of the amount of patients that need treating.

So long as it's underfunded yes, the NHS won't keep up with demand. That growth in demand is not purely down to immigrants (in fact the Kings Trust's research on the impact of immigrants on the NHS was largely inconclusive), it's also down to people living longer, an ageing population and a lack of education around the dangers of what we put into our bodies. To blame immigrants for an increased demand is only one part of the story, to blame them for the NHS crisis is entirely wrong.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:Sorry but blaming immigrants for the NHS crisis is a distraction from the real problem. 

I have a very close family friend who reports directly to Simon Stevens at the NHS, the problem is the biggest deficit in NHS history and a dangerous level of underfunding. We pay less than most Western European countries for healthcare in this country (per head far less than France, Germany and Sweden), if the NHS was properly funded it would not be in crisis.

Again, also worth pointing out that the NHS would not be going today if it wasn't for immigrant doctors and nurses.

You really are a bellend.

If you can't see that thousands of immigrants with no money is putting a strain on the NHS you are a bigger clown than I thought.

Not what I've said, at all.

I do wonder if you can read sometimes.

You know, one thing that really pisses me off when it comes to funding the NHS, or any financial shortfall really, is the line, 'of course we have an ageing population", as though its all the fault of those greedy old people who don't contribute to the country's coffers.
As one of the ageing population, I would like to point out to all those people who like to point fingers, that I have arrived at this age, and stage of my life, as a fully paid up member of society. I have paid tens of thousands of pounds for my taxes, insurance, and everything else required of me. Just because I'm getting on, doesn't necessarily mean that I'm a drag on the country's resources. Of course, if I am, then I've fucking well paid for it over the years. I didn't just arrive on the shores of this country, asking for, and even demanding, to be given anything that I have not, in some way, contributed to, and nor do I want to see the institutions that I have invested in over the years (including the NHS) squandered in such a way that those people, regardless of colour and creed, who have worked hard to put it together are then pointed out as a reason for its failure.
Don't five away your heritage, because one day, you will need it.

Hope that wasn't directed at me Glos, because that's not the point I was making. I'm highlighting that people are living longer because of vast improvements in healthcare over the last 50 years and that contributes to an increased population in itself.

In very simple terms the NHS is funded by people's current National Insurance contributions - so those currently in work are paying for the service they may not currently be using.

Similarly to Glos I must have paid ten of thousands into the kitty over the years without having taken a fraction of that out from it. However as I get older and probably have more need for its services the money I have already paid in counts for nothing - it is those paying their NI contributions now that fund the service.

Now here is the rub.

Over the last generation or so the birth rate in this country has significantly fallen and as stated above life expectancy has increased. The two coming together at the same time has put a considerable financial burden on the NHS.

The only way to alleviate this problem is by allowing increasing amounts of (healthy) immigrants to take up legal employment and thereby pay their taxes and NI contributions and basically finance the burgeoning demand on the current health care provision.

Or in other words increased immigration of those wanting to and capable of working - is actually a necessity.

In fact the need for increasing labour supply to maintain the German economy was seen as one of the primary drivers for allowing so much immigration into that country last year.

As always it is money that talks louder than morals.

It's interesting to me how many very large families, of multiple generations rock up on our shores. 

I'm a supporter of immigration and it's many benefits but I do also believe there should be a benefit and continue to be.

bwfc1874 wrote:Hope that wasn't directed at me Glos, because that's not the point I was making. I'm highlighting that people are living longer because of vast improvements in healthcare over the last 50 years and that contributes to an increased population in itself.

No mate, its just that every time I see, or hear anything to do with money, and lack of it, then the wrinklies are always pointed at as one of the causes. It drives me nuts, and I think its so unfair considering their input over the years.

Sluffy wrote:In very simple terms the NHS is funded by people's current National Insurance contributions - so those currently in work are paying for the service they may not currently be using.

Similarly to Glos I must have paid ten of thousands into the kitty over the years without having taken a fraction of that out from it.  However as I get older and probably have more need for its services the money I have already paid in counts for nothing - it is those paying their NI contributions now that fund the service.

Now here is the rub.

Over the last generation or so the birth rate in this country has significantly fallen and as stated above life expectancy has increased.  The two coming together at the same time has put a considerable financial burden on the NHS.

The only way to alleviate this problem is by allowing increasing amounts of (healthy) immigrants to take up legal employment and thereby pay their taxes and NI contributions and basically finance the burgeoning demand on the current health care provision.

Or in other words increased immigration of those wanting to and capable of working - is actually a necessity.

In fact the need for increasing labour supply to maintain the German economy was seen as one of the primary drivers for allowing so much immigration into that country last year.

As always it is money that talks louder than morals.

Good point, well made Sluffy. Even though its the politicians who complain most, its as a direct result of their short-sightedness that we have so many financial problems, as can be

seen with pensions, national Insurance, and even road tax funds. If they had invested it when it was paid in, I doubt we'd have such a problem now.

gloswhite wrote:
No mate, its just that every time I see, or hear anything to do with money, and lack of it, then the wrinklies are always pointed at as one of the causes. It drives me nuts, and I think its so unfair considering their input over the years.

I've said many times the world would be a better place if we culled everyone between the ages of 15 and 25.

Are you with me?