Gypsy/Traveller 'Culture'

EDIT: Also, according to the ex-superintendent on that program on Channel 4 last night, in certain theft and deception related crimes, travellers make up about 70% of those committing the crimes, so a much higher incidence than with 'normal' people.

This year some of them broke open the gate to my granddad's field, came in, and refused to leave for about two weeks. The effect this had on him (having recently been discharged from hospital following two strokes), was horrendous.

Now I hate to ever agree with the comments on the Daily Mail website, but on the subject of gypsies/travellers, I can't help but be opposed to this 'way of life'.

To me, as a community they seem to have a complete disregard for British law. Although this is not always the case, they often set camp on private land without the owner's permission. Whether or not you agree with the concept that land is a commodity to be bought or sold, the fact remains that such a law exists in the UK, and this community often deliberately breaks it.

There are also the largely reported social problems from the community. I can't say I know for sure to what extent this is true, but there have been reports of illegal activities such as bare knuckle-boxing, dog fighting, and so forth. They are also linked with other 'petty' crimes, most commonly theft. Another issue is that the sites they leave are often reported to be filthy, with rubble, refuse, scrapped cars, and untreated sewage all left behind.

Now I'm not suggesting for one moment, that all travellers are like this - I'm sure most live law-abiding lives. But the most annoying thing, for me at least, is that we're reluctant to tackle the lawlessness because as soon as any attempts are made to do so, they'll play the discrimination card. To use an example from Dale Farm, the signs saying 'Stop the raceist eviction', and the UN adviser likening the eviction to ethnic cleansing in China and Zimbabwe. Surely though, this has nothing to do with ethnicity, just the enforcement of the law?

So do these people really have no desire to make any contribution to the country they live in, or am I completely misreading the community?

I'll have a look. Just wonder if the police officer would have the balls to point out that gang rape is a very highly represented crime by black offenders what with the police's issues with race and all.

not really a similar comparison though is it. considering gypsy refers to a way of life rather than a race.

Can't we just keep them in caravans? Trust me you want to keep them there because imagine having them as your neighbour ( which I did for three years ) :/

Aaaaaand suddenly the idiotic OP makes sense

The evictions aren't in any way racist. The same thing would happen if a bunch of other people were illegally living on someone else's land.

My dad works for an insurance company, and you wouldn't believe the amount of claims he gets for building with lead piping, steel struts - basically any sort of metal being plundered by 'travellers'.
There's another thing that bothers me. 'Travellers'. In what way do any of these people engage in any kind of actual travel other than when they relocate their caravan because the police have caught up with them?
They're not even proper gypsies. Racism is a problem for gypsies in countries like Hungary, where they physically stand out due to having darker skin, but gypsies in this country aren't actually a different race!!

I know that they get terrible coverage from the media and there's probably a ton of nice, normal, law-abiding gypsies in this country, it's just that I don't recall seeing any recently...

Okay then. Swap race to religion and replace the crime from gang rape to terrorism.