Its election time in the UK and TV is covering debates of the three party leaders for the first time. I find it peculiar that TV has not been used for political debate forums before, as I believe its a brilliant media to connect with a “Reality TV” generation that wouldn’t read long manifestos.

As everywhere in Europe  discussion  here also ends up being about immigration.  Being an immigrant myself it can be rather frustrating to listen to bigoted remarks and uninformed opinions. EU immigrants are different than refugees as are commonwealth immigration different than general immigration. But it all gets lumped together. UK is part of EU and therefor enjoys the privilege of being able to buy property and live in the EU. Just like other EU citizen can  rightly work and live here and  some of us even enjoy it.

But Ive had enough of the narrow minded comments- so much so that after a report in BBC south news last night I actually emailed  BBC with a complaint. this is what I wrote:

Dear BBC  South News

Watching your 6.30 pm news coverage, I felt compelled to comment.
I’m surprised at the limited perspective on your coverage of immigration. Blending EU immigrants together with refugees and illegal immigration, making all immigration seem illegal.  Many of us are here as EU citizen and contributing to the economy here. As Brits so obvious migrate to the rest of Europe, and that does not seem to be talked about at all,  perhaps the costing of  for example the British community in Spain should be highlighted. Many, mainly elderly, are clearly wanting to enjoy the benefits of moving to sunnier climates, but as an aging population their medicals etc are paid for by Spanish governments.

Perhaps instead of only portraying immigration as a problem look at some of the benefits of attracting skilled and educated workers to Britain. The following clip, for instance, showed a lady (clearly immigrant) who as a Doctor had contributed to finding a better medicine solution to cancer.

Sincerely
Kirsten Øster-Lundqvist

And today while walking through Bracknell Town center I was approached by a UKIP ( UK Independent party) representative that wanted to give me information. My responds was not a polite no thank you, in  a VERY LOUD VOICE  I told him that: NO I’M not interested in your material as I am one of those immigrants you want ot get rid of, and walked away…

Perhaps as I have no vote in this election– being Danish I’m not allowed to vote for UK Parliament- which I think is fair- I seem to be a lot more vocal about the election. Maybe I am just tired of being told that some people are inferior- due to nationality  or other groupings, and sometimes thats is how I feel in my church; that because I’m a woman Im not as equal as if I had been a man. In the conference I work. 90% of members in the conference are Caribbean/British or African/British and of the 10 % white churchmembers, most are from Eastern Europe or other immigrants like myself.  So not many white Brits in the Adventist church in England making it an interesting working dynamic. I enjoy and thrive in the multiculturalism that is my church, and I live with being what I am a minority and a foreigner and nothing cant change that. I as a white woman in ministry in South England is very much a minority, both due to my colour and due to my gender. But should that make me less ?  The funny(or sad)  thing is that should I move home to Denmark I would also feel foreign there…