Peace, Love and Not Much Understanding

It would be easy to think that even the evil Daily Mail would take a rest from printing bigoted tripe over the season of goodwill. Alas, the Mail continued apace with articles knocking foreigners, asylum seekers (in France but obviously heading here), the Government and the weather (which is the Government's responsibility).

The Christmas message by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster Cathedral produced the usual plea for compassion towards the less fortunate.

A theme which is much in the news in Britain at the moment is the question of the many immigrant peoples who come to our country. Most immigrants come to our country because they wish to have a better life and work so as to provide for their families.

"What concerns me at the moment is our attitude as a nation to these many immigrants. Many of these people are trying, for perfectly good reasons, to enter Britain and they need to be welcomed.

"I understand that immigration needs to be controlled. However, sometimes they must feel like Joseph when he returned to Bethlehem after exile in Egypt, simply excluded because they are outsiders."

Surely, even the barking mad Mail commenters would concur with this at this time of the year; we are, after all -according to Mail Reader Lore - a Christian country.

Here are the comments:

Being Irish himself, he would say that wouldn't he?
- Roger, Brighton

Not sure what point Rog is making but others make the same hint. Oh, he's Irish. Therefore he's an immigrant so he must feel empathy. What a bad man! It gets worse of course:

Take them to Ireland then!
- Maureen Thomas, Bristol

Maureen I think we should take you across the Irish Sea and drop you off half way

Is he so short sighted to see that we are already drowning under a massive tide of immigration?
- Malc, England

Malc is not so much short sighted as short changed in the brain cell department. Note the use of the kind of hyperbole favoured by the BNP etc.

Jobs, housing, health care, education, cash outlays... More welcoming? Cartier watches and Bentleys?

- R M, London, UK

The sad thing is that these myths of free handouts at the expense of the indigenous population are repeated until they become seen as fact.

There are 65 comments; only about 3 are vaguely favourable to this traditional Christian tenet of looking after the less fortunate, of all being brothers and of being a good samaritan. The irony and hypocrisy is that the same mouth-frothing bigots demand that outsiders stick to our so-called Christian religion and bemoan that Christmas is being banned (without giving examples - see 5CC and Obsolete for demolitions of this fallacy). This is what Peter from Lincolnshire thinks ( I give him the benefit of the doubt as to his ability with thought processes as it's Christmas/Winterval)

Not a thought for the rest of us? He could talk himself out of a job if Christianity becomes a minority fringe religion and then subsequently persecuted.

- Peter, Lincs

Peter would like to see the return of the Crusades maybe? Anyway, the rest are just as depressing so I will leave it to a beacon in the darkness of Planet Mail (from this area too!)to set the record straight

Sad, here we are at Christmas but so many bigotted responses to this priests simple request for a little kindess to be shared with our fellow man. Don't any of you realise that if it weren't for immigrants settling in this country, down the centuries, that very few of us, me included, would be living in this wonderful country of ours. Some of the views expressed here make me ashamed to say I am British sometimes.

- Alonso, Wirral

THANK YOU ALONSO