Hoards Of Romanians & Bulgarians....

[Zacs-Master]

More evidence that the rantings and ravings of those who predicted a flood of immigrants were completely wrong:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/30/no-surge-romanian-bulgarian-migrants-controls-lifted

[Zacs-Master]

Care to answer my questions whilst you're here AOG?

[Zacs-Master]

And therefore is outside the parameters of this particular thread.

[DTCwordfan]

The ONS employment stats showed that there was a 7% increase in Romanian and Bulgarian employment in the last reported quarter (Q3) 26% since the beginning of the year but bear in mind, there tends to be a net emigration in Q1 and we are only talking 180000 people, folk doing jobs that UK citizens are not exactly rushing forward to fill.

[DTCwordfan]

And methyl raises a good point.

[Gromit]

The Office of Naational Statistics is a tool of Government and is funded by the Government. It may claim to be apolitical, but its direction and reach are determined by politicans. If you accept that, then I would use them as a source.

[anotheoldgit]

/// AOG, are you being deliberately obtuse? A surge is something out of the ordinary. As the stats point out, the 26% is in line with the last 7 years. ///

No it isn't it as in the second quarter of 2013.

/// There were 141,000 Bulgarians and Romanians working in the UK by June 2013 compared to 112,000 in March. ///

112,00 in March to 141,000 in June an increase of 29,000 in three months certainly a surge, read the headline.

"UK reports surge in Romanian/Bulgarian immigration"

[Svejk]

Hurrah, send some more;
http://www.lbc.co.uk/covent-garden-anti-pickpocketing-sign-in-romanian-102296

[youngmafbog]

Zacs and DTC, all I said is that I would like some unbiased figures.

Personally I dont trust the Guardian, nor the Oxford University nor the ONS as I think all three could have an agenda.

Why do you have to resort to personal insults and potential threats of wanting to shoot a few.

Really, get a grip. My mind is open, yours is clearly not.

[atalanta]

Whatever "surge" there is or isn't where Bulgarians and Rumanians are concerned, just wait until Turkey gets into the EU.

[Svejk]

Don't let them get to you, ymb. They haven't got a brain between the lot of them.

[sandyRoe]

That sign in Covent Garden, could it be there to reassure Romanian tourists that the police are trying their best to protect them?

[Svejk]

ha-ha sandy, very wry.

[jim360]

Who doesn't have an agenda? Equally those publishing the "true figures" might have the agenda of wanting to shut immigration down significantly or even entirely. I'd accept the Oxford Figures as probably having the least chance of bias, or at the very least try to understand the analysis rather than dismissing it as "probably biased" based on a possible, undefined agenda.

A lot depends on how you define "surge", too. In my own head a surge would represent at least a doubling of the previous rate, rather than a 26% rise, although this isn't exactly a scientific definition. But then neither is any definition of "surge", which is itself just emotive language to promote an anti-EU agenda.

[Zacs-Master]

We seem to have become mired in the perceived unacceptability of each other's statistics. There's one fact that exposes Farage's scaremongering rhetoric in all this tho:

'The lack of a surge in migrants from the two EU countries after seven years of transitional controls were lifted on 1 January 2014 confounds predictions by Ukip’s Nigel Farage and others that 5,000 Romanians and Bulgarians would arrive “each week, every week” for several years'

[Svejk]

What a strange alliance, globalised business interests and AB's champagne socialists. I can understand the former, wanting to maximise profits and undermine the working class. But I just don't understand what's in it for the latter.
This constant need to portray themselves as 'nice' people, perhaps, without actually thinking through just what it is they're supporting.

[jim360]

I flatter myself perhaps, svejk, but I think through these things a lot more than you give me credit for. In this particular case I'm just trying to quash ymb's unjustified scepticism about figures from Oxford University. Whether or not this means that there hasn't been a "surge" depends on how you quantify "surge", which is just a vague emotive description with no solid basis. That doesn't however stop the "anti-EU agenda" as I put it from being a legitimate position, but it would help their cause no end if they didn't exaggerate the issue.

Immigration in this country is high, and a lot of that is down to uncontrollable EU immigration. The catch is that this also gives us freedom of movement to the EU if we so wished (and many do). Whether or not this situation is desirable is a matter for a debate, one that I really hope we get a chance to have properly. But that debate should be grounded in facts, not fantasies, and sadly many arguments (on both sides) slip firmly into the latter.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890660/47-000-Bulgarians-Romanians-enter-UK-year-Number-live-increased-fivefold-eight-years.html

/// More than a quarter of a million Romanian and Bulgarian nationals now live in Britain – a figure that has risen by almost 50,000 over the past 12 months. ///

/// The number based here has increased more than fivefold in eight years – making up the equivalent of a city the size of Wolverhampton. ///

/// 46,000 working-age migrants from the two countries do not have jobs ///

[bazwillrun]

""The Oxford University-based "

no need to read any further than that.....tells me all I need to know

no doubt theyd have reached the same conclusion on blacks and asians....and look at us now....