In the last 24 hours I have witnessed behaviour which makes me fear we are regressing far worse as a society than I had previously imagined.
Golders Green bus station; a man of Jamaican origin, in a conversation criticizing this government; he then informs me: “Wait until all the Bulgarians and Romanians come over here next January, taking more of our jobs and our houses!”
His attitude surprised me, because he might perhaps have understood what persecution feels like, remembering the position of immigrants in the 1950s. I told him not to worry because the chances are nobody with any sense would wish to come to country where so many people rely on food banks and where we allow the poor to die of hypothermia anyway.
The next minute I boarded the 83 bus to Hendon, where two or three stops later I experienced the most fearful racket as a very angry, racist, white man kept letting everyone know he was English! This offensive person, who was anything but English judging by his abysmal manners and lack of fair play, was hoping for a reaction which he did not receive. He then turned his insults from the Jewish to the Black race and I changed my seat; because my stomach was actually churning, I sat downstairs, and as he got off about two stops before Hendon Central he made the most loud, vile and disgusting insults possible to people he regarded as foreigners.
I turned my head away and so did others, everyone was afraid and sickened. When I got off, I said to the driver: “As these images are all recorded are you not able, please, to ask your manager to allow the police to investigate who this man is and issue him with a punishment or warning of some kind?”
The driver looked haggard and told me, he experiences this sort of behaviour on an almost daily basis.
Today was the last straw when a black man I have befriended who collects money for food banks and spends hours doing his bit for the less fortunate standing in the freezing cold in Hampstead High Street, told me someone had shouted at him earlier: “Go back to where you come from.” I tried to reassure him, that this is his country. I was so disappointed that behaviour like this could occur in my beloved Hampstead, where a variety of nationalities make up my neighbourhood and my circle of friends.
Since 2010 there have been so many hate messages promoted by the less responsible media and I am fearful where all this anger is going to lead. Something must be done to put a stop to it. So many of the problems we have in this country are caused by those who attack others without knowing the facts of their situation. I am grateful to the church for the work they have done during these austere times; unlike some politicians the church is working to unify the people of this country. I feel we should use the New Year to put into action the message of love and peace we were given through the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, so that we may all live in peace and harmony with one another in 2014 and beyond.