there is a painting of a belgian refugee from the first world war in the kelvingrove art gallery in glasgow. he is one of 200,000 belgian refugees who came to britain when that country was invaded by germany.

doubtless we have accepted many refugees during wars in europe and further afield. it's one of the reasons why we (still) have a reputation as a tolerant and inclusive society. why would anyone have a problem with that? surely we should be proud.

those of you who complain so frequently and vehemently against 'uncontrolled immigration' seem to forget that everyone is an individual with a story. be honest -how many 'immigrants' have you actually met and listened to? and of those people how many of them were trying to make life harder for you in any way?

the description of the belgian refugee painting adds that many belgians settled in glasgow. does anyone seriously believe that they -or the italians, pakistanis or irish and others are responsible for the deprivation and wasted lives in that city? (apart from you ake, obviously)

these and other problems in the country are caused by capitalism and particularly the free market global variety. we are pursuing policies coming from the tory party (and the usa, chinese, saudis etc) and their friends. this is the topic at the top of this discussion but some of us have repeatedly been sidetracked into discussing immigration. exactly as our government would like us to.

sorry for repeating myself -and getting sucked into the immigration theme- but, come on people! you surely wouldn't want to be mistaken for a racist - or even worse, a tory.