zip106

Not quite sure what to make of this.
It's not April 1st, is it?

Sneinton Postmaster Deva Kumarasiri bans poor English speakers

eta - Sneinton has a very high immigrant and Asian population.

bugeyeandy

I keep seeing ETA popping up on all sorts of forums of late, what does it mean?

zip106

Edited to Add.........

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) is a Basque terrorist organisation

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

On a more serious note being a Postmaster i have an idea where he's coming from, but one the other hand he's also out of order, and knowing the Post Office they will not approve what he's doing. He doesn't have the authority or a good enough reason to ban anyone just because they don't speak English. I know how frustrating it must be. I don't have a lot of EU immigrants that come in asking/trying to ask for things, what does **** me off are the pikeys that cant read or write or are dyslexic wanting you to fill in forms or address stuff for them yet they have enough nouse to drive £40k cars

salsa-king

Deva is a funny guy.. he's our/was our local post master till they shut his PostOffice in the Cuts last year.


He's now at Sneinton PO, he's SriLankan and can speak english... ok


he's also Councillor Deva too!!

Turbohot

I appreciate Deva Postmaster's sentiments over adapting to where one lives now, but I can't see why he has to ban people. In his own words: in Rome, do as Romans do. Ok, fine. But what about Deva himself, then??? In Britain, you have to bend yourself backwards to fulfil minoritys' demands He should learn to bend (either way would do) as British do, he is not in Sri Lanka any more

Going by his comments that media has highlighted, Deva seems to have his brain engaged in the colonial past, and body in this racist/race card flashing present. If he can wriggle out of that mid-position, he may show some flexibility and tolerence to what is about. Banning half a dozen non-English speaking people from his post office is not exactly a pearler for his business brain.

mykp

dont entirely agree with his sentiments, but being married to a foreign national it does make me wonder at the lack of language skills displayed by some foreign settlers especially when I think about the hoops the immigration service made us go through so my wife could come and live here. Especially in the language dept.

Before they would consider her application to come and live here she had to prove she could speak english and had a 30 minute verbal test at the start of the application process (after you've paid £370 that is). Fail the test and the application finishes and you have to reapply (and another £370!).

salsa-king

deva's being interviewed on GMTV this morning... lol

urban

iTrader: (1)

Be like Australia

Live in our country, speak our language, abide by our rules or get the **** out.
Assuming we actually let you in our country in the first place!

davegtt

Exactly, I shouldnt imagine they'd let someone in if you couldnt even spell the name of the country either

davegtt

Mixed feelings about this tbh, fair enough if hes seeing someone coming in cashing in benefit cheques and struggling to say please or thank you. That is pretty ridiculous. But what about a tourist wanting a stamp etc? How does he differenciate?

urban

iTrader: (1)

Indeed and they didn't

I didn't check my spellings unfortunately.

Anyway, still stands

Nurse Gladys

At least this guy has stood up and had the ***** to say what alot of us have been thinking for a long time.

The thing I wonder about is if it were the average 'middle classed white guy' doing this I bet any money he'd be done for racism!!

Having worked for HMRC for many years it is surprising the number of people pleading that they don't speak the language and don't understand - however when it comes to refunds and / or benefits they know the language or rather the system inside out!!

Come to the UK - we're a soft touch!!

fatherpierre

Imagine if the postmaster was a UK born, white man.....

Would it have been reported differently? I think so.

Good old Daily Mail dross

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

May be I should give it a try

fatherpierre

You'd (probably) be arrested for racial discrimination....

The wonderful world of the UK!

The Zohan

<nods>

scooby L

I'm on the fence about this one.... yes I'd like all English residents to speak English (even if it's pigeon English) but I keep picturing our ex-pat's over in costa del crime etc... all nipping ot the post office and yelling (in a broad London accent) give em sam stamps por vev'ore.

Shudder....

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

And have the business taken off me too!

scooby-tc

iTrader: (2)

Good for him.Every service in this country should follow his example.Fit in or ship out

Guv

iTrader: (8)

+1 good on him, up at the PC mob

fatherpierre

Not being able to converse in English is hardly a crime, and this is the usual crap printed by the DM.

How many of us can speak another language well enough to enter a foreign PO and transact?

The world is changing - get used to it.

davegtt

Exactly FP. I went to the post office in Guatemala and struggled with my Spanish trying to ask for stamps to send postcards to the UK... I could easily get by in a restaurant or a bar etc. Knew all my greetings and basic conversation blah blah but a post office was somewhere I didnt consider. Luckily it wasnt his post office but instead, I found the locals to be very helpful and understanding of my lack of Spanish language skills at the time and found patience to help me get what I was after.

The Zohan

I would imagine that if you lived there, went in every week and never bothered to learn the language then they may get a little bored of you and you lack of bothering to learn the indigenous language. Chances are this post master see's a lot of the same people day in day out...

Currently this is Great Britain.
The predominant language is English, has been for a while now.
People who come to live here need to learn the language to fit in and integrate with the rest of British society to allow them to socialise with other British people. To understand our ways and customs for example. otherwise it is likely they will stay in small groups/communities from thier native country who ahve settled here who only speak thier language and do not intergrate which is a problem.

Does anybody disagree or feel that this is wrong?

davegtt

Yeah I agree, anyone going in the PO for benefits etc then sure. He would know they are residents etc and can understand the fustration he would have. But you also dont learn a language overnight.

I do agree with the second paragraph too, I understand, after reading somewhere last year (I cant recall where though) that Urdo is the most spoken language in Oldham at the minute, and look at the problems they have in that community between differing races that are "trying" to integrate.

fatherpierre

Nice edit

Still a crap story.

Did the postmaster speak good English when he 1st came to the UK?

If people move here and don't learn the lingo then they are lessening their chances of getting on and earning, etc. Their choice.

fatherpierre

Surely the 1st thing you do (after going to the DSS) when you move to the UK is learn the language to get on?

Where I work ( London) the Turks seem to be the ones that don't bother with learning English.

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it helps matters when the dss have their aplication forms for benifits in pretty much any language going

darts_aint_sport

Good point. Not exactly rocket science is it, the more we bend for other people to use their own (non-english) languages, the less inclined they will be to spend money learning English. And then their kids don't grow up speaking english either. The local paper where I live comes in English and the back few pages are all in Urdu (or something similar).