Somewhat OT, but I do hope that those who expound equality and diversity on this forum and others are of similar mind when travellers set up on a patch of land near them.
No sympathy from me, nor from most neighbours.
Stories abound of stolen plant and machinery being fitted with tracking devices, and located in a traveler camp.
The only way of retrieving the equipment is by substantial and illegal armed force. Traveler camps are are no go areas for the police, who will only enter after prolonged talks with "community leaders"
I find this intriguing. As somebody who remembers the “No dogs, no blacks, no Irish” signs appearing on “Rooms to let” advertisements, and as someone who remembers the colour bar that Bristol Omnibus Company had in the 1950s and 1960s, and hearing reports even today, of people being less likely to be offered job interviews if they’ve got a foreign-sounding surname, it appears that there is still work to do.
Some 30-odd years ago I was sitting in a pub with a local opinionated individual was holding forth about some travellers who had just moved in to a car park close by. Says he “crime has increased by 300% in Chippenham since those b****** turned up.” I asked for the evidence - had he seen the crime book? Did he know of any cases personally – not hearsay, but evidenced? The answer of course was no, although not stated as a one word straight answer!
I also mentioned that there was a joke doing the rounds at the time in Bristol. “Where do tyre fitters go for training? “ They go to watch a bunch of 6-year-old kids getting tyres off on Hartcliffe estate... There are good and bad in all communities. But generally we don’t tar ‘em all with the same brush
These days racism and sexism is completely non-PC and often illegal. But never mind all that – we are still allowed to be beastly to the gippos, and we don’t do it by halves, do we...