Singer Morrissey has sparked controversy by claiming British identity has disappeared because the country has been "flooded" by foreigners. The 48-year-old former Smiths star, whose parents were Irish immigrants, suggested that immigration was one of the reasons he would not move back to Britain.
Morrissey, who has spent most of the last decade living in LA and Rome, told NME magazine that countries like Germany still had their own identity and complained of not hearing "British accents" on the streets.
Asked whether he would move back to Britain, he said: "Britain's a terribly negative place. And it hammers people down and it pulls you back and it prevents you.
"Also, with the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears.
"So the price is enormous. If you travel to Germany, it's still absolutely Germany. If you travel to Sweden, it still has a Swedish identity. But travel to England and you have no idea where you are.
He added: "It matters because the British identity is very attractive. I grew up into it, and I find it quaint and very amusing. But England is a memory now."
He agreed that immigration was enriching the British identity but added "you have to say goodbye to the Britain you once knew".
In a follow-up phone interview, Morrissey told the magazine: "I just think that it could be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion.
"And that's not true at all. I am actually extremely worldly and there are other reasons why I would find England very difficult, such as the expense and the pressure."
He said: "My favourite actor is an Israeli, Lior Ashkenazi, and my favourite singer was born in Iraq and now lives in Egypt. So I'm not a part of Little Britain. And by that, I don't mean the show, obviously."
Asked about his parents moving to Britain, he said: "It's different now. Because the gates are flooded. And anybody can have access to England and join in."
Admitting that he would be "pilloried" for his comments, he added: "You can't say, 'Everybody come into my house, sit on the bed, have what you like, do what you like.' It wouldn't work."
NME wrote: "Morrissey, the son of immigrants who has lived for most of the past decade in either LA or Rome, wants others to have the freedom to travel the world like him, but implies he would shut the gates to people coming to live in the UK.
"He might once have been the voice of a generation, but given his comments in these two interviews, he's certainly not speaking for us now."

 

 

http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna...ml&e=l_news_dm

[atsonicpark]

hmm.

i'm guessing he met a non-british guy that wouldn't eat his shit and he got ticked.

[Rob Instigator]

morrisse can say whatever he feeld like saying. It is his opinion. I know nothing of UK immigration whatsoever, someone from UK enlighten us?

[atsonicpark]

All I know is it has something to do with cunts, twats, wankers, and bollocks.

[the ikara cult]

Nice to see Morrissey has upped his workload as an experimental social psychologist.

He has a new record coming out soon.

[█████████]

well, welcome to the XXI century,
and no this is not just happening in the UK, what a narrow minded person.

every developed country is or has experienced massive immigration mainly because social and economical dispair in between developed and developing countries keeps on increasing.

[Rob Instigator]

would this not be more along the line of JINGOISM, and not RACISM?

Morrissey vs. the NME

27 November 2007
Morrissey vs. the NME
Many of you in London will have seen today's NME with Morrissey on the cover while others around the UK, the rest of the world and online will discover it during the course of the week.
We had agreed to do a cover story with the NME in October around the New York shows to announce details for 2008.
We were alerted to the fact that the NME were potentially doing a hatchet job on Morrissey on the 16th of November by an anonymous post on morrissey-solo.com.
We immediately contacted the magazine's editor Conor McNicholas who refuted the suggestion that the NME would be anything less than supportive and personally posted on the site categorically denying the "rumours and untruths."
As you will all see from this week's cover story, this was not the case and appears to simply have been a strategic action to ensure we did not take legal steps to stop the interview being published.
We believed his assurances that all was well until we received the following email from Tim Jonze who did the interview:
"Hi Merck,
Hope you're well. I should mention that for reasons I'll probably never understand, NME have rewritten the Moz piece. I had a read and virtually none of it is my words or beliefs so I've asked for my name to be taken off it. Just so you know when you read it.
Best,
Tim"
When we received this we immediately called Conor McNicholas who after a three day delay responded in the form of the email that follows:

"Hi Merck.
I need to drop you a line about the Morrissey piece running in NME this week. It's going to be much stronger than we'd originally discussed.
Having lived with Morrissey's comments from the second interview and discussed with the editorial team we're running a piece where the comments aren't ducked and NME's position is made very clear.
While Morrissey is obviously entirely entitled to his point of view we're not beholden to re-print them without comment. And given that his views are not those that we'd normally expect to come from someone in the very liberal world of rock'n'roll, we're not able to either support them or print them without comment.
Obviously no-one is accusing Morrissey of racism - that would be mad given what Morrissey says - but we do say that the language Morrissey uses is very unhelpful at a time of great tensions. I am - as I say in the magazine - fully confident that Morrissey's comments are simply the result of a man in his 50s looking back nostalgically on the England of his youth, but his reasoning for that change is unreasonably skewed towards immigration and as a title we think that's wrong. I think he's simply naive and doesn't understand the atmosphere here. I don't think he wishes anyone any harm but I don't think he understand the climate or the possible interpretation of his comments either.
The feature is, I believe, a fair and balanced piece. It's not sensationalist but it doesn't ignore the story either. I have been particularly careful to include all the key moments where Morrissey mitigates his position or makes a strong commitment against racism. The reaction of both you and Morrissey has been very much on my mind when making decisions surrounding this piece.
As you know, I wish I'd never fond myself in this position making these very difficult decisions. I have, to be honest, found the whole experience very depressing. I don't have a reputation of running pieces such as this because it's not in my nature. I am also a huge Morrissey fan, my gold disc for 'You Are The Quarry' is still one of my proudest possessions and still takes pride of place in my living room. And while I'm sure Morrissey didn't sign off each of the discs and its recipient, I felt it was a measure of where I'd got the NME to with him. What I'm trying to make clear is that I never wanted to be in this place but as editor I've simply not had another option.
I'm not going to try and second-guess your reaction but I can imagine it won't be great - another depressing factor given how much I've genuinely enjoyed working with you over the last few weeks. During this whole difficult process you never been anything other than balanced and reasonable - far more than most other managers I've worked with! - and I've really appreciated that. I wanted you to get a heads-up in advance of publication. Hopefully we'll speak soon.
Conor."

Please note that Mr. McNicholas' email above was timed to arrive after his magazine was printed therefore preventing us from stopping the printing.
When / if you read the interview, please look at the credits which are unique:
Interview - Tim Jonze
Words - NME
When reading it we request that you think for yourself and consider what is question and answer and what is inflammatory editorial on the part of the NME which we assume can only be intended to create controversy to boost their circulation at the expense of Morrissey's integrity and for which no journalist is willing to be credited. It might as well say "anonymous."
There is virtually no other artist with a more meaningful following across the history of the NME and it would appear that Mr. McNicholas thought the "new" NME could gain some credibility at Morrissey's expense. The story reads like a cynical exercise by yet another NME editor trying to put his name in the history books via a poorly thought out and terribly executed attempt at character assassination.
As we all know, the NME does not speak for its readership, the artists do. Artists like Morrissey. The NME also does not speak for Morrissey. Anti-racist songs such as "Irish Blood, English Heart," "America Is Not The World" and "I Will See You In Far Off Places" tell you the true measure of the man.
Conor McNicholas made a decision for reasons known only to himself to betray our trust and make himself out to be a hero at Morrissey's expense.
As you can see from the legal letter below, we will be unrelenting in our quest to bring him / NME to justice.
By the way, the good news of the day is that Morrissey signed his new record deal with Polydor / Decca this afternoon! We will soon be scheduling new singles and albums for next year, but one thing you can count on not happening is a 7" cover mount on the eNeMEy!
Sincerely,
Merck Mercuriadis
28th November, 2007
PS We are also delighted to announce that the six Roundhouse shows have all sold out. Thank you all for your support!

http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news

[tesla69]

Morrissey isn't the only one who feels this way, supposedly 1000's of Brits are fleeing to Canada and Australia and New Zealand. My understanding is that with the EU, anyone from a member country can move and work in another member country. What a great way to keep wages low. There is strong thought control against having any opinions about immigration. My personal gripe is it keeps housing costs high - I have to compete against new immigrants for the same cheap housing. I can't afford $3,500 a month apts.

[NWRA]

Originally Posted by tesla69

Morrissey isn't the only one who feels this way, supposedly 1000's of Brits are fleeing to Canada and Australia and New Zealand. My understanding is that with the EU, anyone from a member country can move and work in another member country. What a great way to keep wages low. There is strong thought control against having any opinions about immigration. My personal gripe is it keeps housing costs high - I have to compete against new immigrants for the same cheap housing. I can't afford $3,500 a month apts.

You're spot on. There has been an influx of migrants into Britain, mainly from Eastern Europe, and, as you say, it keeps wages low and housing costs high: that's the basic rule of supply-and-demand. I have no idea how a normal couple on average wages can afford a house nowadays, without having a very miserable, frugal lifestyle.

There have been reports of builders in Southampton being paid half of what they were paid five years ago, and that is if they can find work at all. And local schools, hospitals, etc, are finding it hard to cope with the same facilities as before (which weren't enough then) but hundreds or thousands of more people suddenly needing them. It's idiotic to accuse someone of racism for implying that things might be getting out of hand.

The whole 'British identity' is confusing for me because I don't know what British culture is. But I would hate to visit, say, Dublin and to see its Irishness replaced with a homogenised 'multiculture' like London has.

I find it funny how NME see themselves as champions of diversity despite being the most stereotypically 'white middleclass' magazine you can imagine; perhaps that's why their take on migration is so naive and sunny (‘its enriched our culture’ – what does that even mean?), ignoring the real effects of it.

I get the feeling with this interview that NME realised they were wrong when they accused him of racism in the '90s - wilfully misinterpreting his lyrics so they could accuse him of it, and create a 'scandal' - and wanted an excuse to say, 'see: we were right all along!' rather than admitting their previous wrongness.

Soon music interviews will be so careful and guarded, they will be like those interviews to promote an actor or actresses’ new film you get on The Jonathon Ross Show, a matey smugfest where interesting questions have been forbidden by the star’s ‘people’.

[racehorse]

i like the way morrissey (whose parents were irish immigrants to manchester) is complaining about a loss of british identity due to the influx of foreigners in a telephone interview from his luxury apartment in rome.
reminds me of the daily mail website, in the comment section, when people with screen names that say "Pete Smith - South Spain" complain about the decline of britishness.

somehow you just know that pete smith doesn't speak spanish, lives in a british ghetto of luxury villas and will never dream of eating "that foreign muck".

still, i disagree with the nme's take on this.

they have inflated it to such a degree that, as NWRA says, people are going to be much more guarded in what they say in interviews, which will result in vapid, meaningless interviews.

[racehorse]

Originally Posted by NWRA

You're spot on. There has been an influx of migrants into Britain, mainly from Eastern Europe, and, as you say, it keeps wages low and housing costs high: that's the basic rule of supply-and-demand. I have no idea how a normal couple on average wages can afford a house nowadays, without having a very miserable, frugal lifestyle.

if i were a normal couple, i'd try and see this as a challenge, rather than a battle lost.
e.g.
say there was a british born builder supporting an average sized family. perhaps an idea for this builder - whose wages have been lowered due to the willfullness of polish people to work for cheap - would be to try and rise above the bottom line which the new polish workers create.
work hard. rise up. become the best builder in the world. people will remember your good work and pay you more.
it's far too easy to place the blame on something - to resist change instead of working with it.
everything is always in flux. we were all immigrants once.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by racehorse

if i were a normal couple, i'd try and see this as a challenge, rather than a battle lost.
e.g.
say there was a british born builder supporting an average sized family. perhaps an idea for this builder - whose wages have been lowered due to the willfullness of polish people to work for cheap - would be to try and rise above the bottom line which the new polish workers create.
work hard. rise up. become the best builder in the world. people will remember your good work and pay you more.
it's far too easy to place the blame on something - to resist change instead of working with it.
everything is always in flux. we were all immigrants once.

no one will pay you more if the polish guys will do it for a fraction of the cost

[strictlycommercial]

Its messy issue whatever way you look at it. There is the problem that anyone expressing legitimate fears about immigration automatically gets stamped as racist, but then there's also the problem that most concerns about immigration arn't really that legitimate; the ex-pat in LA bemoaning the death of Englishness would definitely qualify as the latter in my oppinion.

Cultures, even languages, shift over time due to all kinds of preassures, which isn't to say that you can't try to hang on to what you like about your culture (which is usually an airbrushed, nostalgia ridden, but not entirely useless version of what it truly was/is), but that the chances of it remaining intact and unchanged to any great degree is beyond wishful thinking, immigration or no immigration.

Some people don't seem to be able to keep the real issues separate.

[SynthethicalY]

His talking about immigration issues while he is in L.A? That is funny.

[Rob Instigator]

Morrissey lives in Rome now.
he left LA a while ago.

[SynthethicalY]

Nevermind then.