The Poles are back
I see that Poles are back again on top of the tabloid hate pyramid. It's been a while since the Mail and Express decided that demonising our friends in Eastern Europe was a good idea, but all of a sudden, it's started again. Things had gone quiet, but we're back to the spectral Poles, coming over here and draining our benefits.
I noticed down the side of yesterday's Express front page (in which Princess Diana also made a welcome return) some guff about "You can only have a job if you're Polish", which must have garnered plenty of attention - probably traffic from Stormfront and BNP forums, the core demographic - because the Poles are right back on the front page again today:
In all the excitement about NOW POLES GET FREE ABORTIONS ON NHS, it's possible to imagine that this will be a story that launches a thorough investigation into what's going on, the reasons behind it, and so on. But don't worry if you thought that was going to happen. This isn't about what could have been an interesting story regarding women from the former A8 European nations flying to Britain to have abortions because their home countries won't allow it - a practice which has gone on for quite a few years with women from Ireland. Never mind that shit! Here comes the scare!
POSTERS advising Polish women to fly to Britain for free abortions on the NHS sparked outrage yesterday.
The advert – which borrows tastelessly from a famous “Priceless” credit card campaign – is promoted by a Polish feminist group. It was condemned last night for encouraging “abortion tourism”, and piling pressure on the hard-pressed NHS.
They urge women to take advantage of EU rules allowing Poles free medical care in the UK.
And it tells them it is cheaper to fly to the UK to end an unwanted pregnancy than to pay for an illegal backstreet termination in Poland.
It's a bit pathetic really. Instead of a story showing that women are coming from Poland to the UK for abortions because of the cheap air fares - which I don't doubt probably goes on - the only evidence is a poster from a Polish feminist group. As well as that you've got a 'critics' and a 'source' coming up, plus a MigrationWatch quote - which in my book counts as no sources of any real quality troubling the scorers and stacking up this story.
Critics:
Critics warn that Britain is at risk of becoming the abortion capital of Europe.
Where's the evidence to back that up? Oh, there isn't anything, no quote from anyone. So who are the critics who said this? It's probably wrong in some way for me to suppose that the reporter did a frantic ring-around of the most anti-abortion rent-a-gobs they could find, and couldn't get someone to say that, but put it in the story anyway. Probably very wrong of me to suspect that. But I'd be grateful if you did bear in mind, whenever anyone tells you that the difference between blogging and real journalism is that journalists have to use sources and stand up everything they say, that it's total shit.
Source:
A Polish source said yesterday that thousands of Polish women already flee the strict Roman Catholic country’s anti-abortion laws every year to undergo the procedure on the NHS.
Who's this Polish source then? Again, it would probably be wrong of me, for some reason, to think that there either isn't one, or it's just some anecdotal evidence from someone the reporter has spoken to, rather than anyone who actually knows what's going on or who has any evidence. Again, as I said, I don't doubt this goes on; but that's not the same as being able to stand it up using facts and stuff rather than "a Polish source".
MigrationWatch:
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of think tank MigrationWatch, said: “We should insist the Polish government take action to have these posters removed.” He said the NHS was in danger of becoming an “international health service” and called for NHS clinics to make sure that those who turn up for free treatment are entitled to it.
You may remember from the other day that in my book MigrationWatch is a wanktank, not a thinktank, as the word thinktank not only implies that some thinking actually goes on, but also lends a sliver of credence to the views of these people that makes them out to be more than just a pressure group complaining about every single immigration issue that ever gets raised. Which is fine, and don't get me wrong, there's a place for that. But please. Pressure group, not 'thinktank'. Let's be honest about this.
Also, that quote from Sir Andrew is a good reminder of the kind of people you're dealing with. Here's someone who wants state intervention to prevent free speech from a group of feminists in Poland. I'm sure if a Polish 'thinktank' demanded that Sir Andrew be prevented from communicating his anti-immigration rubbish in Britain, he'd be equally delighted. No, you say...?
It's sad to see Poles back in the newspapers like this. I had kind of hoped that the demonisation of them, and other Europeans, might have come to something of a halt of late. But no. Whether this new injection of suspicion is anything to do with the coming election, I don't know, but I wouldn't fall off my chair if it was. Still, when you have 'critics' and 'sources' and MigrationWatch to help you, you can pretty much create a story out of thin air. So there will be more... there will be more.
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March 16th, 2010 - 09:42
And of course it isn’t advising women to come to England at all, but arguing for a change in abortion policy in Poland. In fact the whole argument of the poster is based on the fact that flying to England for a safe abortion is a ridiculous thing to have to do: it could be paraphrased as “The only way for a Polish woman to have a safe abortion is to go to the extraordinary lengths of flying to England, when this should be available in Poland”.
March 16th, 2010 - 09:50
I’m surprised the suggestion isn’t to start charging everyone for abortions to stop this tide of filthy polish whores who obviously sleep around and get themselves pregnant knowing that the UK NHS is there to allow them to use abortion as contraception.
It’s sad that they’ve singled out the Poles since, as you say, women from the Irish republic come over here in their thousands. I’m very proud to live in a country that allows women to make their own decisions about their bodies
March 16th, 2010 - 10:04
As I understand it to get free healthcare within the EU, travellers must have their E111 form (now an EU healthcare card). These details mean that the host country charges the home country for any medical treatment.
I might be wrong, but I thought that’s how it works. You can travel anywhere in the EU for your healthcare, if you’re on holiday and are taken ill you don’t get charged, but your government pays.
So, not ‘Free Abortions’ then. Ones that the Polish government will be paying for.
As I say, I might be wrong and I fully expect to be corrected!
March 16th, 2010 - 10:57
“Critics” warn that Britain is at risk of becoming the abortion capital of Europe.
To which one is tempted to reply “So. Fucking. What?”
March 16th, 2010 - 11:15
I’m set to reprise my show about anti-Polish sentiment called Poles Apart this week, I was worried it may seem passe but clearly not.
March 16th, 2010 - 13:21
Seems like perfect timing!
March 16th, 2010 - 11:32
Something you and your other readers could consider as a response to the above:
No doubt, as good citizens, you will be checking your entry in the Register Of Electors for your area so you can perform your civic duties at the forthcoming General and Local Elections. Whilst looking for your name you may like to see how many of your fellow electors have *foreign* names and what elections they are entitled to vote in – the first page of each Polling District list should explain the categories – if they choose to.
So, for example, in the Polling Districts where I live, a market town, there are a number of residents from the Eastern European EU, some temporary, some seasonal and slowly but surely, some permanent, with the voting rights that go with their status as *citizens* allowing most of them a local government vote and, again, slowly but surely, a national government vote (apart from a source of labour, tenancy and consumerism, they have been virtually ignored by the local and regional politicians and *leaders* – no *foreign* lending books in the local library and just one dictionary for one of the *foreigners* languages, for example).
No doubt as proud upholders of our country’s democratic traditions, our newspapers, national and local, will be encouraging our fellow citizens to participate fully in the upcoming elections, perhaps even printing guides to getting involved in the most common *foreign* languages for these European Union Citizens or EUROPEAN UNION CITIZEN as it is printed on the Register Of Electors (annoying some of our other fellow citizens, I hope) I wonder whether anybody here has ever seen an *immigrant* buying a copy of any of the newspapers AV has been describing for us?
Meanwhile, it would be a terrible thing, would it not, if the self-selecting disaffected awkward squad that read and write these kinds of blogs and comments were to likewise encourage our *new* neighbours to use the democratic rights they have as our fellow citizens, especially if it was suggested that councillors and councils and MPs and parties who routinely misrepresent them in both meanings of the word could be given a simple lesson in democracy in May.
What’s the *immigrant* press (here and in their home countries) take on our delightful print media, national and local – maybe we can involve them in some way in the elections?
March 16th, 2010 - 12:32
Hey Anton, you massive junkie, you’ve swapped The Daily Mail for The Daily Express.
March 16th, 2010 - 13:21
Bah. Rumbled!
March 16th, 2010 - 19:09
hmm.. Nadine Dorries, Tory MP, did actually say that Britain would become the ‘abortion capital of the world’, never mind Europe. we’e covered it on the ssy blog here: http://ssy.org.uk/2010/03/pro-nuclear-power-pro-nuclear-weapons-pro-army-pro-life-thats-us-the-tories/
March 17th, 2010 - 10:51
Ah yes, Nadine Dorries, the woman who maintains that a submarine-launched nuclear missile is not a weapon of mass destruction…
March 16th, 2010 - 19:30
Hmmm, I remember reading on the Marie Stopes website that 7000 women come from Ireland every year for abortions. In fact they give advice on how to get to the UK from Ireland and discounts for women travelling from Ireland.
March 17th, 2010 - 13:35
what’s so ironic is that we don’t have abortion on demand in the UK anyway. and, as you say, the women in northern ireland (let alone the ROI) have been forced to come to england for years because they can’t get access to abortion at all.
if polish women are denied their basic human right to autonomy over their bodies in poland then i welcome them to the UK to have an abortion. no woman should be forced to go through an unwanted pregnancy. i am proud that i live in a country that recognises this (despite aforementioned comment that we don’t have abortion on demand). if we become the abortion capital of the world, then good. rather that than a country that deprives women of bodily autonomy.
i am so so angry about this express/sun article. not only is is anti immigration and anti poles, but it is also anti women and relying on people’s racial prejudices and their prejudices against abortion to whip up anger and hate.
shame shame and shame on them.