OH TO BE IN ENGLAND: We live in Britain’s ‘valley of strangers:’ Inside Muslim-majority northern town where locals say there is ‘no point speaking English’ and others say ‘no one talks to each other.’
Tariq Hussain admits he knew nothing about Keir Starmer’s plans to get tough on immigration, mainly because he’s been preoccupied with more pressing concerns lately.
His day job selling traditional Asian female clothes takes up a lot of his time and business has been slow. And when he gets home, he is on the phone to relatives and friends in Pakistan to check on their safety following recent tensions between the country and neighbouring India, which almost led to war.
But there is another more troubling reason why Mr Hussain was completely oblivious to Sir Keir’s pledge to overhaul a ‘broken’ immigration system, despite the fact that it could directly affect him and his family.
Speaking in his native Punjabi he confessed: ‘I speak little English even though I have been in this country for quite a long time. I don’t watch the British news because I don’t understand it, so what’s the point?
‘All my work involves dealing with other Pakistani people and my friends are all Pakistani so I don’t need to speak English. If I do, I get somebody to help me.’
In March, the London Daily Mail published an interactive Webpage headlined: How many people can’t speak English in YOUR neighbourhood? Interactive map covering England and Wales’s 36,000 districts reveals 43% of residents struggle with the language in one part of the country.
Naturally, this has made some of England’s more, umm, left-leaning and diversity-focused citizens quite cross:
We’ve gone from ‘immigration is our greatest asset’ to ‘we must cover up what is happening or there’ll be a revolution’ https://t.co/oQQCNKtaUP
— Calgie (@christiancalgie) May 18, 2025