What with the tie-in here to self-serving, uncaring, incompetent local politicians and the many similarities around the country in matters of change and disgruntlement, I post this below... [it was to be either here or under 'Apathy'...enjoy]
"I read with interest your feature looking at the impact of eastern European migrants in a part of Southampton I am intimately connected with ('It's like you're not in Britain' - anxiety grows on the streets of Little Poland, 7 March). I was born and raised in the Freemantle neighbourhood, and 50 years on I find myself as an elected ward councillor for the area. A few weeks ago I attended a coffee morning hosted by Alan Whitehead, the local MP, and attended by residents (including many traditional Labour voters). A major area of concern was their sense of a "loss of identity".
While some of this anxiety can be attributed to the recent and rapid growth in the number of east European migrants and a proliferation of Slavic convenience stores, there are other important associated factors. These include: the loss of community pubs and their conversion to "local" convenience stores owned by the large supermarket chains; the conversion of many semi-detached houses and former offices into apartment blocks and houses in multiple occupation; unrelenting car parking and traffic problems related to this housing overdevelopment; and the replacement of traditional stores with takeaways, massage parlours, pawnbrokers and payday loan shops.
I would suggest that the real threat to the way of life of the traditional white working class in Freemantle (which has embraced a rich mix of ethnic groups since the last century, such as the Irish, Scottish, Afrikaners, Maltese, Italians and Greeks) is not from their new Polish, Czech, Bulgar or Vlach compatriots. A common foe exists in the form of unscrupulous landlords, exploitative, low-wage employers and the banks.
Cllr Dave Shields
Labour, Freemantle ward, Southampton "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/13/labour-mixed-messages-on-immigration