And now we're to blame for raising birth rates...

New baby boom to put 'enormous' strain on NHS

"Birth rates have been on the rise for a decade, due principally to immigration, with the number growing by about 12,000 a year."

Seriously???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9670272/New-baby-boom-to-put-enormous-strain-on-NHS.html

Hey, don't blame me. I'm with Prissy on this one.

I read in the paper, and see on the news, almost every day, that immigrants are draining benefits, and taking jobs, and having too many kids.

I have no access to benefits, I have yet to really use the NHS (I think I have got to the doctor twice, in almost two years!?), I am unemployed, and I have no kids.

I'm an immigrant 'failure' - LOL!!!

Whatever... They say the same thing about immigrants in many parts of the USA.

Ditto, Lara. Shame on us for not living up to the stereotype! 

Another example of the media using "immigrants" when what they really mean is "EU Migrants".  There was a boom here in Coventry in 2008 and I certainly didn't hear any American accents around me on any of my hospital visits.

Ha well SlicesMissus, they do mix us all in together, don't they!

Also, many articles and news reports on 'spouse visas' somehow morph into the topic of forced marriages and sham marriages.

I am surprised by the responses in this thread.  How many times have posts been made that someone has complained about immigrants, it is pointed out that Americans are immigrants and then the complainer says, well I don't mean YOU!

So now a baby boom is attributed to immigrants and those in this thread are saying - not me, I am not one of THOSE immigrants.  

Well my comment was meant in a light-hearted, joking manner (note the "Prissy" reference). I can't have children. When people say, "Oh I hate sitting next to babies in planes...or children running around restaurants...etc.", I always say, "Hey, don't look at me!" It's just how I cope.

I am surprised by the responses in this thread.  How many times have posts been made that someone has complained about immigrants, it is pointed out that Americans are immigrants and then the complainer says, well I don't mean YOU!

So now a baby boom is attributed to immigrants and those in this thread are saying - not me, I am not one of THOSE immigrants.  

I was thinking the exact same thing!

Yeah, I'm saying "Whatever... Not this immigrant" and if I had a couple of kids, I'd say, "Oh, ha ha, yup, that would be ME!"

If the article said, "People in England commute 45 minutes to work" and I did not commute 45 minutes to work, I'd say, "Not this commuter!"

Whatever.  

So now a baby boom is attributed to immigrants and those in this thread are saying - not me, I am not one of THOSE immigrants.   

A baby boom seems like the most reasonable thing to "blame" on immigrants - compared to the claims of:
- "they're stealing all our jobs" (not true if there's a fair/open hiring process that chooses the best applicant)
- "they're taking all our men/women" (really? because clearly Joe Smith would have chosen to marry you over everyone else if only that nice Polish girl hadn't come along)
- "they're mooching off the benefits system" (not possible if you're a legal immigrant until you've got ILR)

People migrating and then having kids, and thus raising the annual birth rate, is a valid concern, wherever the immigrants come from. Obviously if birth rates among non-immigrant families increase as well it's not all the fault of the immigrants, but it does seem like a valid statement that immigration is causing a rise in birth rates.

People migrating and then having kids, and thus raising the annual birth rate, is a valid concern, wherever the immigrants come from. Obviously if birth rates among non-immigrant families increase as well it's not all the fault of the immigrants, but it does seem like a valid statement that immigration is causing a rise in birth rates.

Right, except really a rising birth rate can be seen as a GOOD thing. A lot of Western countries have a birth rate below the replacement rate, which, combined with higher life expectancies, can be disastrous for the economy in the coming decades, to say nothing of the social welfare system. More older retired people plus fewer workers to support them is a recipe for disaster. Hence a lot of European countries incentivizing having more kids. But then again, immigration can do the same thing and we all know how much that is demonized so  .

That makes sense, I suppose I view the UK as unique, in a sense, because it's an island that can only fit so many people. (Perhaps that's a silly notion.) My impression is that the UK isn't a country that wants/needs to incentivise having kids.

Personally, I'm not sure that "have more babies!" is really the solution to "there are more old people living longer than young people" - it will just be a spiralling problem unless you decide to somehow dictate how long a person can live. I don't run government, though (thankfully!), so the people who do probably have a different take on the matter.

but it does seem like a valid statement that immigration is causing a rise in birth rates.

I am not arguing that it is valid or not.  I have no problem with immigrants being blamed for birth rates.  I was pointing out that people on this thread were distancing themselves for the "other" immigrants causing the "problem," when in the past this very attitude has been pointed out as offensive (and rightly so).

Personally, I don't see 'immigrants having children' as 'a problem' at all... but to each her own...