The Mail on Sunday

[Gus]

I had heard a while ago that Peter Hitchens, their investigative writer had been in town, and todays paper tells a lot of home truths.

The Review section has a pic of the Stump with the headline "Boston, Lincolngrad" on the front page.

Certainly worth a read!!!!

[Pete Brooksbank]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2037877/Boston-Lincolngrad-Peter-Hitchens-investigates-strange-troubling-transformation-sleepy-English-town.html

[Steviemas]

Excellent article, hit the nail on the head, I,ve no doubt all the loony left brigade will be on here slagging him off as a racist, welcome to Bostonia peter.

[Pete Brooksbank]

Excellent article, hit the nail on the head, I,ve no doubt all the loony left brigade will be on here slagging him off as a racist, welcome to Bostonia peter.

Nah, it's not racist. Bit paranoid though, isn't it? Suggesting that Boston was part of some huge social experiment by the Labour government simply to piss off right-wingers? That's the thing with all these conspiracy theories: politicians are all too busy trying not to get screwed by the media or stabbed in the back by their colleagues to have to time to plot anything on that scale....

[RamMalc]

Right up until the fella reckoned it was the government it'd never crossed my mind to be them , sounded more like BNP or another right wing group's organising tactic to be honest

[Shoddys Lane]

Excellent article, hit the nail on the head, I,ve no doubt all the loony left brigade will be on here slagging him off as a racist, welcome to Bostonia peter.

Steviemas
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 99


Re: O/T Raids in Boston today
« Reply #15 on: September 13, 2011, 06:19:51 PM »    Reply with quote
 I'd rather Boston be seen as boring, than having these drunken foreign scum running amok through our town  stabbing each other, how wonderfully enriching they are to our county.

You seem to have a problem Stevie baby.I wonder where your ancestors  came from? Have you read the replies in the above post? You got that wrong

[Shoddys Lane]

I had to smile at an article in the Standard some weeks ago about the local BNP/English Defence League councillor who is doing very nicely thank you renting accomodation and shop premises to immigrants. 

[Mr Tickle]

I had to smile at an article in the Standard some weeks ago about the local BNP/English Defence League councillor who is doing very nicely thank you renting accomodation and shop premises to immigrants. 

I think that "The Baltic Shop2 shown in the article belongs to him as well :-)

[Martyn Bishop]

The 'quality' of this paper is well reflected in the other bits of 'news' shown on the page links. As Boston only has 3% unemployment, well below the national average, there can't be many locals about who are unwilling to work.

[Poros]

Me again, always controversial.
If you have the time and the intelligence to really read the article properly, it says absolutely nothing. Fence and sitting springs to mind.

[green hats mate]

The bad news Martyn is now a bigger portion than ever of the working population in Boston are on the minimum wage .   And some skilled workers are having to take jobs at less than the union rate.   Little prospect of any improvement over the coming years .
Bad news for the workers , great news for the bosses . 

[wayne, york pilgrim]

the article makes out there is only 9,000 foreigners, bullshit. when you walk through town you pass more immigrants than locals. probably double that are likely to be illegal. there will be more heading bostons way, as long as the local kids are too lazy to get off there arses and get in a pack house. also because of poor further education facilities and professional jobs in the town people locals who have ambitions have and will leave.
as for an housing boom, bullshit. its cheap as chips in boston. and certainly not many building sites going on from what i can see.

[flynny69]

That article could've been written without even visiting Boston. Lazy journalism, with no real point to the piece, just a guy stating the obvious for a quick buck?

After finishing my degree, I haven't returned to Boston, other than seeing relatives, but it has nothing to do with the recent immigration. There are a real lack of opportunities for young people in the local area, but Boston isn't the only place to have mass immigration over the past few years. The local council, among others have to be culpable for poor state of affairs in the area. Lack of investment in education and people, not just young people coupled with huge expenditure on 'assets' such as the Dabsi PRSA or whatever it is masquerading now as these days has had just as much impact on the demise of the area.

[Maxross]

Genuine question - is there such a thing as an illeagal immigrant these days?  I thought that since the Eastern block countries joined the EU that they were pretty much all here legally now due to the freedom of movement laws.  

I think its unfair to say that every young person in Boston is too lazy to get a job and I agree with the comments about the lack of opportunities in Boston.  With the influx of cheap labour its undoubtably caused a downward pressure on wages making more mundane jobs less attractive.  The fact that there is also a low number of proffesional jobs makes the labour market in the town pretty uninspiring.  Unfortunately succesive councils have been unable (and in some cases unwilling)to take the necessary steps to attract the decent large scale industry that would provide these type of jobs to the town.  I guess when you look at our geographical location and poor transport links this shouldn't be a suprise.  In fairness to the local council many of the steps required would need county and government backing that has been virtually non existent over the years, however it would be nice to see a more intensity from them when putting forward our case.  Its pretty easy for them to ignore us - BBC: "Can we have a bypass please?"..Lincolnshire Highways: "Er...No" BBC:"Oh okay then, are you sure?"  Lincolnshire Highways:  "Well MAYBE in 20 years, we'll see..."

Although there is no doubt having a large influx of cheap labour has exacerbated the problems with the labour market, but most of the problems regarding job prospects have been around for many years.  Blaming the "foreigners" is all too convenient and lets too many people off the hook. If we aren't careful to analyse the causes properly  the chances are things unlikely to improve any time soon.  

The social problems are a seperate issue and no doubt cause divisions in the community.  Obviously those from different nations have been brought up with different values and customs to ourselves.  Perhaps more integration between the communities is whats required?  Maybe if people have a stake in their community rather than being outsiders they are more likely to care how it views them and they are more likely to conform to its values.  

[Lord Cutler Knobhead]

What a difference 10 minutes down the road makes though.  Spalding as a town is growing at a massive rate and already looks different to I remember it as a kid.