New NME Morrissey interview???

I see that the interviews were done on October 25 and November 5. According to the article below, there were momentous reports about immigration in the UK during that time. In the Times, Andrew Green wrote about them on November 4.

I've pasted the article below not because I agree with everything he writes but because the news reports he cites could offer some justification for Morrissey's comments-- if Green is correct about the three "events", the subject of immigration did not "come out of nowhere" as the NME claims and-- again, if he is right about public opinion polls-- it would appear that Morrissey's concerns are hardly limited to middle-aged shut-ins.

Would any UK fans care to comment about Green's article? Is it an accurate picture of the concerns in your country? Or, if Green is wrong in his conclusions, is he at least right about some of the stories he cites?

(Apologies in advance if Andrew Green is a Pat Buchanan-style nutcase. I haven't read his stuff before.)

Hold back the immigrant flood

Andrew Green

Just occasionally a series of events crystallises public opinion and transforms the political landscape. That is what has happened with immigration in the past fortnight. Three events stand out.

The crucial wake-up call was publication of the government’s latest population forecasts. They were truly shocking. They showed that, if immigration continues at the level the government now assumes, the population of the UK will grow by more than 10m in the next 25 years - that is equivalent to 10 cities the size of Birmingham; 70% of the increase will be due to immigration.

The public were taken aback by these numbers. They are now beginning to realise that we face the most critical decision for a generation. Not since the referendum on the Common Market in the 1970s have we confronted a decision that will so greatly affect the lives of our children and grandchildren. Do we set about a massive building programme, constructing a virtual Birmingham every 2½ years and do we accept the fundamental changes to our society that will flow from immigration on this scale? Or do we take action now to cut immigration sharply?

Next was David Cameron’s decision to speak about immigration for the first time in two years. His speech on Monday called for a “grown-up” debate, set out the dilemma in measured terms and outlined Conservative proposals for both an annual limit to immigration and, importantly, a substantial reduction in numbers.

He clearly struck a chord. It was not long before we had Labour and Conservatives competing to sound tough on immigration - an extraordinary transformation from the days when people hardly dared mention the topic for fear of being accused of racism.

The third event - if such it be - was the farcical episode when the government’s count of the new jobs taken by foreigners changed three times in a day, ending up roughly double where it began. The outcome was another blow to confidence in the government’s ability to manage immigration.

The genie is now well and truly out of the bottle. Public opinion is extremely strong - 80% disbelieve the government’s honesty and competence; 75% want to see an annual limit; two-thirds fear that our culture is under threat. Only one in three believe that immigration brings economic benefit to Britain.

The immigration lobby claims there is little that the government can do. It is all down to some mysterious force called “globalisation”. They are wrong. In fact, immigration to the UK took off in 1997. The prime cause was a series of policy errors by the present government. First, it abolished such border controls as it inherited. Then it trebled the number of work permits to 150,000 a year, plus dependants. Finally, it hopelessly miscalculated the inflow of east Europeans.

...

Failure to act now will mean that our society will be changed beyond recognition - and especially our cities. London is one-third immigrant and half of all babies born there have a foreign parent.

...
Sir Andrew Green is the chairman of Migrationwatch UK​
 
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Oh,here's the pic:

DSC_0001-1.jpg
 
I guess the Times is somewhat right-wing. I checked out the Guardian website and found two interesting things.

One is an article, dated October 23, which details the findings of a new population study.

The second is the search feature on "immigration". Look at the articles published between October 25 and November 5 here. Lots of talk about immigration in the air around that time. Perhaps "flood" was the wrong word to use, but is it not remarkable that "the impact on England would be equivalent to adding the entire population of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the English total"?

Again, I'm not trying to say Morrissey's comments are totally blameless. Just pointing out that there seems to be some important context for his words, context the NME ignored. Morrissey was probably following the news in England and was simply speaking about current events. The NME tried to portray him as a raving racist who began talking about immigration without any prompting at all.
 
First of all, this is my firsty post for a good while. This is largely (though not toally) due to the fact that I was unable to access this site for a long period, for reasons best known to somebody else.

Anyway, I was browsing my uni shop and saw Morrissey's face smiling out at me. I picked up the magazine and saw it was NME. This was obviously a drawback but, I thought, it's Morrissey and, in the same way I do when Oasis are on the cover of some mag, I bought it anyway. I should have known better.

The interview started well enough but after the "British identity" comment the interviewer just would not let it go. I can sort of see why he wanted Morrissey to clarify his views but Morrissey certainly never condemned immigrants. It could be argued that he criticised immigration itself and the policy of immigration which currently exists in this nation, but I have read far, far worse. I certainly have issues with how immigration is managed and the current policy but that does not make me a racist.

In my view, it was a sensationalist headline and the comment at the end was both unfair and uncalled for. This c***, whoever the f***ing hell he is, has totally misrepresented what was printed. Who is even to say that what was printed was what Morrissey even said? As for the 'Bengali...' and NFD comments, again they were unnecessary because anyone who thinks either of those songs has racist undertones has either not read the lyrics/listened to the song properly or is just stupid. Don't even get me started on 'Finsbury Parkgate'.

I feel a letter to the Non Musical Entity coming on, if the c***s will print it. Utter waste of £3.00

Rant Over.
 
The last paragraph of that interview, about Morrissey not speaking for NME anymore, angers me so deeply. I have worked for a anti-racism in football charity for three years, voluntarily. I hate racism, i hate the very notion that race or ethnic origin should be used to judge. But what Morrissey says in that interview is TRUE! The more cultures that live in the UK, the less of our original identity is left. If people from other countries, with other beliefs, live her, we must, and should, accomodate their beliefs - religious, social etc. The fact is, however, that British culture is going to take a back seat, and is already doing so. We are slowly becoming a multi-cultural society. At the nightclub i used to manage,we would have over a dozen immigtrant a week try and get work. The fact is, we don't own the land that is the british isles. if people want to lvie her from poorer countries, that should be allowed. but we need to do it legally, so that things don't go crazy, adn so these people can have a standard of life that they are moving her to achieve.

What Morrissey is saying in this interview, as far as I'm concerned, is this. We need to control immigration better, so that it benefits the people coming here, and the people that already live here. If we don't, things will get out of hand and our country's tradition will be lessened. That is not a racist comment. That is a fact. I hope he sues them. Go on, NME, go and attack actual racists in the entertainment world. There's enough of them. f***ing political correctness gone mad!
 
Can anyone explain to me what this British culture that we seem to be losing actually is?

I'm serious.
 
Is there some weird definition of racism in England that I'm unaware of?

Yes - we are currently in a situation over here where if you aren't 100% positive about all immigration being a positive thing then you will be tarred as a 'racist' by certain people. It's a sort of knee-jerk political correctness - people like the NME don't want intelligent discussion or shades of grey in an argument.
 
Not only that, but Morrissey did say that "racism is silly", which it is. So I don't see what the c***'s problem is.
 
I just prefer the old Morrissey who would have just put out a witty statement and laughed the whole thing off.

Yeah well, didn't he try this with the initial racism issue in 1992, and ended up getting hounded by it for a decade?
 
The NME says that the "immigration problem" is a serious and delicate taboo subject which calls for discussion and debate, yet at the same time, decry Morrissey comments as offensive. How can anyone have a sensible debate if any sides of the argument use such overblown hyperbole is beyond me. You can't have a sensible debate if the medium is judge, jury and excutioner.
 
Can anyone explain to me what this British culture that we seem to be losing actually is?

I'm serious.

Curry houses making way for tapas bars
Irish pubs turning into swanky pretentious wine bars
Mosques in houses being built into flats
Warehouses being built into mosques



Tescos
 
The latest NME article warrants legal action, in my opinion, because of the final section containing the NME's editorial position. Basically it paints Morrissey in the worst light possible because the editors are implying a malicious syllogism: "Categorically we don't support racists. We don't support Morrissey's views". The third part is unstated but clear: Morrissey is a racist. They crossed the line. They deserve whatever legal action is coming their way and I don't fault Morrissey one bit.

Using logic here, I can't decide if the NME's argumentative style best employs a straw man, or if they are simply begging the question.
 
Curry houses making way for tapas bars
Irish pubs turning into swanky pretentious wine bars
Mosques in houses being built into flats
Warehouses being built into mosques



Tescos

Are you suggesting the British cultural identity is therefore something that stands in opposition to the things you list above?

You haven't really listed what the precious British cultural identity is...
 
The NME says that the "immigration problem" is a serious and delicate taboo subject which calls for discussion and debate, yet at the same time, decry Morrissey comments as offensive. How can anyone have a sensible debate if any sides of the argument use such overblown hyperbole is beyond me. You can't have a sensible debate if the medium is judge, jury and excutioner.

That's the thing - people like the NME don't want a sensible debate, or anyone holding views that don't agree entirely with them.

On a related topic I was shocked the other day when I saw that debacle on the news over the debate they were going to have at Oxford University with Nick Griffin and David Irving that was dirupted by angry protesters. Now I don't agree with either of these people's views, and I'm certainly not trying to lump them in with Morrisssey as he hasn't said anything anywhere near as inflammatory as they have, but the fact that people couldn't even have an open debate was sickening, and showed me that in the UK freedom of speech is dead, and certain people don't even want to allow civilised debate over certain subjects. Amazing, and quite sad really.
 
Hi snapyou THANKS FOR THE SCAN.

Well after reading this I am certain that the NME SUCK! How the hell they can put those quotes on the cover and get all righteous and start picking at words and do their absolute best to start a fight and cause an issue... again?

The last time they did this, they lost credibility in the end... at least in my view, and really - they never even got it back so I am not surprised.

Anything to get attention and leech and sell magazines - that's what it looks like to me. They sound like a pack of angry teenagers with a poor vocabulary and a black and white understanding of the world and everything that they hear... twisting words into fight talk.

bastards... worthless rag.
 
... the debate they were going to have at Oxford University with Nick Griffin and David Irving that was dirupted by angry protesters. Now I don't agree with either of these people's views, and I'm certainly not trying to lump them in with Morrisssey as he hasn't said anything anywhere near as inflammatory as they have, but the fact that people couldn't even have an open debate was sickening, and showed me that in the UK freedom of speech is dead, and certain people don't even want to allow civilised debate over certain subjects. Amazing, and quite sad really.

Agree with you there.I would much rather hear their views than be told what to think. They are a couple of dodgy fools BUT i would defend their right to free speech.
 
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