Not strictly, but I could imagine many people perceiving it as racist.

Having now wiped the tea off my screen I want to thank you for the biggest giggle I've had in a long time.

Allowing the banks to run riot.

Uncontrolled immigration which is allowing a party like the BNP to gain support by people who feel forgotten about.

Troops being sent to an illegal war (Iraq) then returning in body bags without (during the Blair years) any member of the government showing any appreciation.

Incapcity and unemployment benefit being abused people now use the benefit system as a lifestyle choice rather than a safety net.

Preachers of hate being allowed to openly spout their racist filth on the British streets calling the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorists martyrs.

Anything else?????

bloomin excellent post

The other side of Wembley we never saw. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b9J8D3tOg

The other side of Wembley we never saw. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b9J8D3tOg

It either means you are very naive or not worried about racist thugs getting support.

I'm not sure what the word is. Vile. Ludicrous. Inhuman.

Course it is. As we all sit with our broadband connections discussing all the matches we will be going to, or which of the subscription channels we'll watch the NRL on. Then again, if that doesn't happen, we'll discuss how much alcohol we'll consume instead. Or which of our many games consoles we'll play on. Yeah, it's a terrible country.

i agree, just the word racist just doesn't seem to fit in this instance.

The evidence is plain to see how people can deny it when it is so obvious is beyond me. I could well understand a position of someone who felt that it had been overly politisised but to deny it is like denying there wasn't even a WWII ?

the country is in a terrible state (read mickey wires post)the things you are on about are nice to have but not essential and things like that are taken for granted..try watching the news you`ll see not everything in this garden is so rosey

The affluence of the lucky ones, doesn't disprove the point. There are a lot of areas of the UK where there is basically no hope, no education, everyone grows up trapped in a cycle of dole and anti-social behaviour and draining everyone else's tax contributions paying for their welfare and policing costs.

For a country of our wealth, we are not using our wealth well, if we compare our public services and transport network to some of our western european neighbours we are behind the ball game. I'm not saying they are all utopias as some of them have problems with unemployment and racial tension as well, but for the comparitive advantages we have we could be doing things better.

The recession has highlighted something very worrying about the UK economy for the long term. Our economy is based on very shaky foundations. Our manufacturing industry has died, we don't really produce anything, we are based on basically pushing money around and borrowing and speculating. That's why everybody gets so panicky about taxing bankers' bonuses, because if the City of London moved out there would be nothing bringing income into the country. But when you have an economy built on high finance gambling, rather than skills, it all comes down like a pack of cards when that finance sector fails, which is why the government threw money we couldn't afford and will take years of hardship to pay back, to prop it up.

Our economy is going into a steady decline and over time we will become a much poorer country unless we address this. The only way out is to seriously invest in upskilling our workforce, not just the talkshop schemes you get from New Labour, but in seriously developing the FE and HE sector, not just pushing everybody to do a mickey mouse degree but giving them options to do a higher level of education to give them a skill which they are interested in and which will be useful to the economy.

All we are going to get from New Labour is cuts to the FE sector, cuts to the HE sector, scaling back public investment, so that there are more people lounging around on the dole and everybody else has to cough up increasingly more and more to subsidise the dead part of the economy, the people who have nothing to offer and will never be able to get work regardless of whether we send all the immigrants home or not.

Precisely my point.

true...but mickeywires point hits the nail bang on the head....all you here nowadays is bad news..and the powers that be do naff all...probably the reason why people leave for a better life and you cant blame em....maybe we are the lucky ones but theres plenty who are not so fortunate

I shall be voting Conservative - the wife says David Cameron seems a decent sort of chap and my dad says they will finally sort out the Trade Unions once and for all ...

Depends what you want to hear.

I hear about the rlIn Harmony projectrl which is uplifting and magical, offering one of the most deprived communities in the country some hope. Public funding in there too.

I see my daughters contributing to local environmental planning through their school.

I walk around Warrington town centre and see all sorts of goods being bought by all sorts of people.

I see St Benedicts church revived with a massive Sunday evening mass because of the number of Poles in the area.