As an ex Linton ‘hand’, I was drawn to this post. I make no comment on what has been already posted but would like to recount a conversation that I had with a waiter in a hotel in Banjul, all be it just before I retired 12 years ago.
He asked me what England was like, and how much did people earn. I told him that as a barman he could expect to get the minimum wage, which the government had set at about $10 per hour. I also told him it was cold and wet!
His eyes lit up and he exclaimed that he was amazed, and that on that sort of money he could live like a millionaire. I tried to disillusion him, and quoted the amount of tax he would pay, the price of a pint of beer, the cost of accommodation and the price of a loaf of bread.
He said that he did not believe me. He said that we Europeans just told them that to put them off going. He had seen television programmes and films and he knew how we lived. What I had just said was lies.
Since then he would now have access to the likes of youtube, and the internet so I doubt that his opinions have changed.
Leaving the horrors of persecution is one thing, but I feel that a lot of the ‘economic migrants’ have a very distorted view of what to expect when they get to Britain.