Others said the campaign had a darker side and stirred up fear of newcomers. Some backers of the Piddington referendum compared their fight against the asylum accommodation to the 1940 Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.
Villager Herbert Owen, 76, said after voting on Tuesday that the independence referendum “isn’t just about Piddington,” adding: “It means everything our grandparents, our parents fought for. Today is the Battle of Britain.”
Comparing unauthorized immigration to an invasion has become increasingly common among politicians including Nigel Farage of Reform UK, and far-right groups that have been active in organizing and attending anti-immigrant protests.
What a bunch of assholes. From earlier in the article:
Residents of Piddington, which has a population of about 350…
That makes sense. Small town people need to have no say over issues pertaining to classes of people who are “different” from themselves. They’re too insulated and lack exposure to those who aren’t like them to properly recognize that they’re human beings in all the ways that they’d recognize if they knew someone from said class.
Brief story: decades ago, while I was on excellent drugs at a rave, my homophobia (thanks, Mom!) instantly disappeared when I realized the hilarious gay guy, in a group of us smoking cigarettes, was no different from me. “He just wants to take his drugs and have a good time on Saturday night,” I realized. He was no different from me!
Small town people need drugs and a good time with people unlike themselves.
That’s nice of them to show me what village i am not going to visit. Glad moronic racists are happy to show themselves on the map
Not even to take a piddle on piddlington?
I think this could be a thing. Wouldn’t want the new housing for migrants to smell like piss, after all. Gotta put our best foot forward….
Wait until Pissborough decides to secede.
For that, I might license my food truck name to some peeps over there.
(I’m gonna name it “all due respect”. Well sell asparagus, radishes, beer. Anything that can make your piss extra stanky. We’ll be located across from Trump’s grave.)
Nothing racist about opposing 1000+ migrants being suddenly moved into your area which previously had 300-400 people. Doesn’t matter where they’re from - that’s going to completely change the way of life.
I remember when people were happily housing Ukrainian migrants after Russia first attacked. The government even paid out grants to help people do it. It does 100% matter where they are from. It seems that it’s a lot more difficult to welcome people into the country if they aren’t the same colour as you.
Or maybe it is easier to integrate ukrainians than deeply rural people escaping from wars caused by Europeans and US.
Honestly I think it’s deliberate, at that point the problem isn’t who is being moved in it’s that there’s no way the existing infrastructure and services can support the population suddenly quadrupling. Easy way to manufacture a small crisis to drum up anti-immigration fervor.
If this is the piddington I think it is, they’re not that far from the outskirts of Bicester (pronounced bister) which has had an almost nonstop expansion since 2013 and is home to one of the most hyped up nothingburger shopping “villages” I’ve ever seen which means constant tourists in the area in a much more disruptive way. Also turns out this migrant housing place is going to be in Bicester itself so I can’t even comprehend the self-importance required to try to secede like this…