The Invisible Immigrants
There is a lot of debate about immigration, but an incident last night got me thinking.
I was waiting to go in to see a performance of the Grand Hotel Budapest last night in the Barbican, when I got chatting to a lady sitting next to me.
She was speaking immaculate English, but I got the impression that she wasn’t from London. So I asked where she was from and was rather surprised she came from Austria.
A few weeks ago, I got talking to a well-dressed black guy on a train, who again spoke perfect English, but was surprised to find that he had been born and brought up in Dusseldorf in Germany. He was a temporary visitor and was going home for the weekend, but you wouldn’t have said immigrant immediately, although you might have thought he was a child of immigrants.
I could quote lots of examples over the years, but these days spotting immigrants is not always easy, as many do not follow the supposed stereotype.
Many immigrants like my American fitness trainer or my Australian physio, would not be picked out as immigrants say on the bus or train.
I do wonder how this all effects our views on immigration.
I also wonder, if Britons don’t go and work in say Germany or Sweden, as much as their natives might come here, because our language skills are so atrocious.
My Letter In The Times Yesterday
I had a letter in The Times yesterday about BBC Radio, under the headline of Let’s Hear It
Amid the debates about the BBC’s licence fee some are questioning the value of the BBC’s radio stations …
Sir, Four years ago I was in hospital in Hong Kong after a serious stroke. Luckily, I had a laptop with me and I was able to listen to BBC radio
online.
BBC radio aided my recovery and certainly allowed me to keep my sanity. Those who would like to see the abolition of BBC radio should try six weeks in a hospital where the television and most of the staff are all in a foreign tongue.
I might add, that I now think that most patients in hospital should be allowed a computer or smart phone to fix their mind. Subject of course to it not conflicting with their treatment.
Is This An Innovative Approach From TSB?
I picked up this article on Moneywise this morning. The headline is.
TSB launches current account paying 5% interest
The 5% is only available on your first £2,000. As a comparison, my year-to-date figure on Zopa for around £150,000 is 4.94% at the moment, after all bad debts and charges.
But it was this that caught my eye in the article.
TSB will also allow customers to ‘try before they buy’ in that it won’t insist customers transfer all direct debits and standing orders to the new Plus account immediately; indeed, there is currently no timeframe for when direct debits must be ported across.
One of the reasons, I’ve not moved to another bank, is that I’d like to test drive the on-line systems first. To me, ease-of-use and copious information are two of the most important things in any on-line account or system. So being able to check these without commitment is very important.
So as we seem to be seeing a features race in banking, you could say we live in interesting times.
A Must View Web Site For Savers And Investors
Out of curiosity, I wanted to find out, what was the rate you’d got on savings in 2008.
So I searched Google and found this page on a web site called Swanlowpark. This is the first statement on the home page.
This website centres on one theme: how well have your savings kept their value when compared to inflation.
Website is not-for-profit, there is no advertising.
Looking at the page for annual savings rates, there are some interesting figures. Draw your own conclusions or read the author’s comments here.
The Anonymous Widower 