To think Starmer has shot himself in the foot.

I agree. Photo driving licences have become a kind of default ID card. We need something similar for non drivers and then we're nearly there and can start expanding the use to link through to other official government websites like voting registers, access to NHS, immigration status, right to work status, etc. As you say, other countries have ID cards and some have had them for a long time, with no serious detrimental effects.

I agree. Photo driving licences have become a kind of default ID card. We need something similar for non drivers and then we're nearly there and can start expanding the use to link through to other official government websites like voting registers, access to NHS, immigration status, right to work status, etc. As you say, other countries have ID cards and some have had them for a long time, with no serious detrimental effects.

You only have to do the most miniscule bit of research - aka googling - to understand why Albanian people came to the UK. But I imagine that is beyond you.

I have no respect for people who describe fellow human beings as "illegals". None at all. And being as you neither know nor care the first thing about how the world works and the virtually insurmountable barriers presented to desperate people, I'll leave you to wallow in your ignorance.

I’d be fine with ID cards quite a few other countries require people to always have their ID.

Would benefit those who don’t have/need a drivers license or passport as a form of ID as well.

I really don’t get why people get angry about proving you have the right to live and work in the place you are living and working.

He is, and always has been an unprincipled self centred tosser. Why people voted for him fuck knows.

He will be gone well before the next election - probably sooner than later now

Right, and the finger wagging about correct language is exactly the kind of lecturing that has stymied debate and allowed ill feeling to fester.

How many refugees are Saudi Arabia or Russia taking?

Entering a country without a visa, right to live there, or work permit is illegal, and that makes you an illegal whether that is as an asylum seeker or economic migrant.

There are people fleeing conflict, but there are many not. For example, 42% of those arriving on boats in 2022 were Albanian. These are economic migrants that we paid to stay in hotels, gave free healthcare and other benefits.

WRT ID checks they stop people who look like a foreign worker. It happened to me once and it didn’t bother me. In fact it’s a minor inconvenience to live in a place with low crime. Believe it or not but some people go live and work in other places and accept their rules and act like a guest. If I didn’t like it, I was free to leave.

Entering a country without a visa, right to live there, or work permit is illegal, and that makes you an illegal whether that is as an asylum seeker or economic migrant.

There are people fleeing conflict, but there are many not. For example, 42% of those arriving on boats in 2022 were Albanian. These are economic migrants that we paid to stay in hotels, gave free healthcare and other benefits.

WRT ID checks they stop people who look like a foreign worker. It happened to me once and it didn’t bother me. In fact it’s a minor inconvenience to live in a place with low crime. Believe it or not but some people go live and work in other places and accept their rules and act like a guest. If I didn’t like it, I was free to leave.

Then deal with the problem.

Entering a country without a visa, right to live there, or work permit is illegal, and that makes you an illegal whether that is as an asylum seeker or economic migrant.

There are people fleeing conflict, but there are many not. For example, 42% of those arriving on boats in 2022 were Albanian. These are economic migrants that we paid to stay in hotels, gave free healthcare and other benefits.

WRT ID checks they stop people who look like a foreign worker. It happened to me once and it didn’t bother me. In fact it’s a minor inconvenience to live in a place with low crime. Believe it or not but some people go live and work in other places and accept their rules and act like a guest. If I didn’t like it, I was free to leave.

Well that isn't going to help anything is it!

People talk about "the boats" without much knowledge as to why it happens. Firstly there are very few safe (legal) routes to the UK, and you can't apply for an asylum visa from outside the country.

Secondly, people are trafficked on small boats. They don't necessarily get to choose when or where they go.

Yes small boat crossings need to end. People are being exploited, in the worst cases they are losing their lives. The government is not being honest about this because if they were, they'd need to open up safe routes and consider asylum visas.

People do not, under international law, have to stop at the first country they arrive at. When I hear people bemoaning that refugees have passed through several countries to get to the UK, I realise that they are racists. Because continue that line of thought to its logical conclusion and our island wouldn't have a single refugee. It would be geographically impossible.

Nobody who complains about immigration ever makes a distinction between refugees and other migrants. Not that one is good and another bad, of course. Diverse societies are healthy and normal. But it shows a complete lack of compassion to demand we take nobody in, whatever their circumstances. War, food shortages and climate change mean one day that migrant could be you.

It's insane how soft we are.

It's foolish though as it's going to lead to severe civil unrest.

Pragmatic politicians listen to the mood of the public, and act accordingly. If politicians don't listen to the public and don't change and act based on that, we'd be angry. He is simply doing his job. Adjusting to the mood of the public. Which is what we should expect from a leader and Prime Minister. Ignoring the public is political death.

(a) Nobody is "an illegal".

(b) How do refugees from war, oppressive regimes and the climate crisis fit into your utopia?

(c) Do you imagine many people would like living somewhere that the police regularly stopped them and demanded ID? Can you see any problem with that happening in the UK with our institutionally racist and misogynistic police force?

I used to live and work in 2 countries, both islands, that got immigration right.

They needed highly skilled people, and very low skilled people, and didn’t need people in the middle. If your company tried to get a work permit for a job that could be done by a local, it got rejected and they got a warning that their future requests would be denied.

In addition, there were very tight controls. You received no benefits, and you had to have private medical insurance. If you broke the law you had your work permit cancelled. Before you got your work permit you had to have a medical and if you had something they didn’t like (Hep C, aids ) it was denied. If you were a very low level worker, and you got pregnant, you work permit was denied.

Everyone got along mostly and we all celebrated and included everyone in each others festivals.

The both had loads of police who would be on the beat and they’d stop you, ask for your ID, and check it on some database. It was illegal not to carry your ID. They then took illegals away and then deported them without all the handwringing we have here.

Its simple, other do it and don’t have boat loads rocking up seeking asylum as they know they won’t get to stay and they’d get zero assistance.

I used to live and work in 2 countries, both islands, that got immigration right.

They needed highly skilled people, and very low skilled people, and didn’t need people in the middle. If your company tried to get a work permit for a job that could be done by a local, it got rejected and they got a warning that their future requests would be denied.

In addition, there were very tight controls. You received no benefits, and you had to have private medical insurance. If you broke the law you had your work permit cancelled. Before you got your work permit you had to have a medical and if you had something they didn’t like (Hep C, aids ) it was denied. If you were a very low level worker, and you got pregnant, you work permit was denied.

Everyone got along mostly and we all celebrated and included everyone in each others festivals.

The both had loads of police who would be on the beat and they’d stop you, ask for your ID, and check it on some database. It was illegal not to carry your ID. They then took illegals away and then deported them without all the handwringing we have here.

Its simple, other do it and don’t have boat loads rocking up seeking asylum as they know they won’t get to stay and they’d get zero assistance.

I used to live and work in 2 countries, both islands, that got immigration right.

They needed highly skilled people, and very low skilled people, and didn’t need people in the middle. If your company tried to get a work permit for a job that could be done by a local, it got rejected and they got a warning that their future requests would be denied.

In addition, there were very tight controls. You received no benefits, and you had to have private medical insurance. If you broke the law you had your work permit cancelled. Before you got your work permit you had to have a medical and if you had something they didn’t like (Hep C, aids ) it was denied. If you were a very low level worker, and you got pregnant, you work permit was denied.

Everyone got along mostly and we all celebrated and included everyone in each others festivals.

The both had loads of police who would be on the beat and they’d stop you, ask for your ID, and check it on some database. It was illegal not to carry your ID. They then took illegals away and then deported them without all the handwringing we have here.

Its simple, other do it and don’t have boat loads rocking up seeking asylum as they know they won’t get to stay and they’d get zero assistance.