Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

But was that the plan of the Canadian government in the first place to off set an aging population in the future?

If you go back 60 years, it was from this period onwards that Canada's net migration was in the hundreds of thousands. Back in 1965 Canada had a population of about 18 million and now it's roughly 41 million, an increase of 23 million, but the fertility rate has gone from 3 to 1.3 and the median age has gone from 24.5 to 40.6. In contrast, the UK population has grown by 16 million in the same period but the fertility rate has gone from 2.8 to 1.5 and the median age has gone from 34.1 to 40.1. I thought the policy for mass migration was to off set an aging population, yet in the next decade the % of Canada's population of the 65 plus is predicted to surpass the UK with the median age being 45.

Canada is in the group with Japan, Italy and South Korea as having the lowest fertility rates in the world, Canada has certainly seen a boom in population in the last 60 years, but the figures would suggest it's mainly down to migration numbers and not multiplying as in live births.

 

@CanadianLori I don't know the Canadian systems but in the UK all information about benefits is produced in every language known to man - and probably a few more besides. Information should only be available in the languages of the country. Anybody unable to speak, read or understand those languages should have to pay for their own interpreters. That was supposed to happen some years ago but didn't. Presumably some 'human rights' mob got involved.
Failure/refusal to learn the language of the country they reside in isn't unique to people coming to the UK. There are many Brits living particularly but not exclusively in Spain who seem to glory in the fact that they can't speak the language.

 

Any one who thinks you can offset an aging population using immigrants is clearly in cloud cuckoo land.
It won't work, main reason being that wave the immigrants age as well, so basically your eventually making the problem worse.
Add to that any dependants they have tagging along.

It's a short term fix for a long term problem.
I don't know what the answer is but it certainly ain't that idea

 

Not only birth control frowned on or forbidden but legal abortion too. Wasn't all that long ago when protesters used to be outside Abortion Clinics here in the UK with the intention of intimidating both staff and patients as they entered the clinic.
There was an interesting item on the local news yesterday when police arrested 7or 8 people at a Recycling Centre in Somerset who were apparently "illegally working". They were also said to be employed at below the Minimum Wage . No mention yet of what, if any, legal action is to be taken against the owners of the centre nor what will happen to those workers.

 

Yes and J D Vance among other Americans was definitely hacked off that we'd banned these protests and the intimidation associated with them.

 

@Philippa There are potentially massive fines for employing illegal workers. Up to £60k per worker. There have been cases reported in our local press of businesses being forced to close because they can't afford to pay the fines.
The workers will probably be ordered to report to their local police station every week, but will simply disappear into the black economy again. Until there is secure accommodation to lock them up until they are kicked out, nothing will change.

 

It's very scary that J D Vance and his ilk are running the most powerful nation on Earth, or it is according to the Orange One.

 

@KT53 One problem with certain Asian immigrants is that they don't want their women to know they have rights here that they could never dream of in their home countries so they don't let them learn English and end up as restricted and exploited as ever. For those who can read, publishing health and other info in Urdu and the rest is a revelation.

I do think that if you move to another country for whatever reason you should adopt the local language and rhythms of life and not impose the ones of the country you left and which, presumably, are the reason for your leaving. I despair of Brits here who can't or won't bother to learn French and then complain about the funny ways of the French because they don't understand anything just as I feel sorry for women here required to wear full Muslim head to toe coverage. No sector of a decent, fair society should be thus restricted.

Rather than encourage immigration, Japan seems to think robots are the way forward. That fills me with trepidation of a different kind.

 

The recycling centre are highly unlikely to face prosecution, unless they knew that the workers did not have the right to work in the UK. It is the agency that provided them with the workers that will face prosecution, as they should of been vetted prior. There was an instance last month of a construction firm being fined for employing illegal workers, but the company filled for insolvency before the fine was imposed, so highly unlikely the fine will ever be paid, as other creditors will get priority over any assets first.

There has been a few raids in our county, mainly nail bars, hair dressers, car washes and takeaways for employing illegal workers. All were fined but all have filled for insolvency before the court case, all were trading as LTD companies. The fine is then an unsecured debit and is very unlikely to be paid. The courts might have issued out fines running into the millions, how much is actually paid is a different matter. If people are aware of the fines for employing illegal workers, I am more than sure they will be doing so in the full knowledge it will not cost them financially.

 

@Obelix-Vendée I agree with you about Brits not learning the language when living in another country. We were on holiday in Spain a few years ago and went on a Jeep Safari. At the first stop the driver asked people where they lived. One Brit said he'd lived in Spain for about 20 years. The driver said he must be pretty fluent in Spanish. The response shocked everybody. It was "Am I f***. Why should I learn Spanish when I spend my time with other Brits and every Spanish f***er speaks English anyway" That is pretty much verbatim. Possibly needless to say, but nobody had much to do with him for the rest of the day.

 

@KT53 You may well be right about what will happen to the workers I mentioned. What wasn't made clear was whether they were "illegal immigrants" or were "illegal workers". I'm probably being incredibly thick but if ( and it's a big IF at the moment ) they entered the country legally and have the documentation to prove it, what regulations stop them from being legally employed if the jobs are available ? If they are here legally, it must be more beneficial for them to be working and earning rather than the govt, aka tax payers, having to subsidise them. Wasn't there something recently about young people being offered £5k towards buying a house if they opted to get a job ?
As for your story about the Brit on safari in Spain, I remember you posting that before - it doesn't make any better reading the 2nd time around. I came across similar attitudes during the time I lived there too. Make the effort and it is always appreciated.

 

I can't understand how you can live in another country and not pick up at least some of the language.
Unless you are a hermit.

 

Nothing will change, the current government, especially Yvette Cooper proclaimed that under labour there had been 35,000 returned migrants in the first full year of the current government, she went on to say that it was a 24% increase in enforced returns from the previous year under the Tories. However, there is quite a large percentage of those that left voluntary.

The BBC contacted the home office regarding a full breakdown on the returns but they were unable to provide this.

However, we can look back at the last full set of published returns figures which cover the period between July (when Labour came to power) and December 2024.

Over this period there were 17,300 returns.

Out of this overall figure, 6,150 returns (35%) were categorised as "other verified" - in other words, individuals who left the UK without notifying the government. This was the largest single returns category out of the 17,300 returns.

So when the government announce there has been record number of returns under their watch, then using the word "enforced" is very misleading.

 

They we bragging this morning about how many had been returned to France under the one in one out scheme, and went on to say that its a lot more that went out under the Ruanda plan, No mention that they used every ruse they could think of to stop the Ruanda plan working.
And also, one in one out, what the hell does that achieve, over a thousand in one day came in on boats this week.

 

@Philippa A person who arrives legally in the UK and claims asylum cannot work legally whilst the process of deciding their application goes through. An illegal immigrant won't have any documentation to entitle them to work in the UK. In both instances the employer will have failed to confirm their right to work.