I’m an Englishman who’s happily lived in Bahrain for the last 25 years. So how come last weekend I travelled 3,000-plus miles to join 150,000 people (some say many more) in central London protesting immigration?
The event was the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in Whitehall, next to the Houses of Parliament. The huge crowds, including many people from ethnic minorities I should add, felt like a defiant celebration.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not against immigrants or immigration. But what’s happening now to the UK is not immigration as is usually understood by the term. It feels like invasion.
Illegal immigrants arrive on boats from France almost daily – over 50,000 in the last twelve months alone. Nearly all are fit young men, and they know that upon arrival in England it’s unlikely they will ever be made to leave. They are given immediate access to all sorts of benefits unavailable to many British people, and housed in taxpayer-funded hotels – often turning quiet villages into places of fear. Crime spikes, with foreign nationals overrepresented in gangs and assaults, including sexual assaults.
Of course, not all these new arrivals are guilty of crimes, but it’s a large enough minority to make a difference. Some are also potential terrorists; the UK government and security services admit they have no idea who most of these men are.
The UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, told a BBC reporter in 2017: “There will come a day when we see far more radicals, extremists and terrorists coming from Europe because of (a) lack of decision-making, and trying to be politically correct”.
It’s not just illegal immigration that’s a problem. For reasons most can’t grasp, total legal immigration now runs between 400,000-900,000-plus yearly, made up primarily of unskilled people from poor countries. Though I don’t blame them for seeking a better life, Britain cannot forever open itself up to the world and remain recognisably British.
Nearly every city in the UK now has areas that have become foreign ghettos, breeding isolation, not unity. And it’s getting worse.
So called ‘grooming gangs’ have for decades operated in many English towns. Literally tens of thousands of English girls, some from the age of 12, have been passed around and mass raped by gangs of mostly Pakistani men. Authorities covered it up and let it continue for years, it’s said because they didn’t want to be accused of being ‘racist’.
In London, the indigenous English are now the minority in their own capital city. Neighbourhoods shift to enclaves where English fades, customs blend or clash. Schools overflow, hospitals strain, housing vanishes. It’s a demographic overhaul, changing the cultural fabric without consent. The public was never asked if they wanted this. If they had been asked, the answer would be a resounding ‘no’.
For too long people have been bullied into silence. Speak out, and get smeared as ‘racist’ or ‘Far-Right’. Such cynically weaponised terms have been used to silence genuine concerns, but faced with the reality of the situation these words are finally starting to lose their power over people.
I love Bahrain. I love the warmth of its people. I also know that Bahrain would never accept in their own country what the British are being told to accept in theirs.
Bahrain is rightly in full control of who can (and can’t) enter their country, for how long, and on what terms. Expats like me are guests and expected to respect the culture, contribute to the economy, and follow the rules. Break them and we can expect to be quickly deported. That’s not only right, but sane. Such firmness fosters harmony, not resentment. I wish it were the same in Britain.
Nick Cooksey
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