To think if you've escaped a war zone, have shelter and food a wristband is no hardship

[Lj17lj]

I might get slammed but I really don't see the issue. I've went on very expensive holidays and festivals and have to wear a wrist band for weeks on end, its fine. When I go to the steam room in local gym I have to wear a band.

I really can't see the issue. It's not the same as forcing a tattoo on someone.

You have got to be taking the piss. No one can be this fucking stupid.

I'd say that after fleeing war the last thing they need is to be branded with a wristband.
Or stamps, for that matter.
I'd be happy with giving them money to spend as and where they ser fit.

It was done out of ignorance rather than malice no doubt. But they've stopped it now which rather suggests they've taken on board the sensible opinions/ criticism of the vast majority of the public and realise it was a stupid idea. Op, you don't integrate people by marking them out and enabling their abuse, even if your intentions are good. The free school dinners analogy is a good one. These people deserve their dignity and respect as well as shelter and food.

Putting the rights and wrongs of wristbands aside, what are we doing about the so called "people" who are abusing those wearing them? Has there been no comeback on them or has the blame just been heaped on the rather naive people who came up with the no doubt well intentioned idea of wristbands in the first place?

I agree Cheby.

I suspect this whole news story has been blown up out of proportion, just like the red doors thing the other week. Wearing a wristband to identify yourself in this situation isn't a hardship and I doubt anyone actually complained about it: being attacked is the issue.

Not that the responses to this thread haven't been charming but it's all academic now as they've got rid of the wristbands.

As a short-term solution whilst proper ID cards are implemented I see no problem. They were not made to wear the wrist bands to mark them out for abuse, they were made to wear them so staff could identify who got what, and it is not the authorities fault that idiots were attacking those who wear wearing them.

Those who were abusing people for wearing wristbands will just carry on abusing anyone they see as different. Removal of wristbands will not fix the problem. Accents and skin colour are not so easy to take off.

Soo all inclusive holidays is the same as trying to live a safe life rightyo then.

I think the Education Select Committee's suggestion to improve holocaust education is a good one.

Absolutely agree. Of the 38% of people in MENA countries who have heard of the Holocaust, less than a quarter believe it has been accurately represented by history. Prejudice against Jews is rife there, and most of the Jews in those countries have been driven out by persecution. Newspapers and politicians are often guilty of spreading anti-semitic hatred and holocaust denial. Anti-semitic incidents in European countries are on the increase.

We will need Holocaust education more than ever in the future.

The stars imprinted on jewish identity papers were done so they could be Identified and administered correctly by nazi civil servants. Arguing this was simply an admin issue isn't very intelligent.

If you are not on a windup OP, then you are spectacularly ignorant and lacking in basic human understanding and empathy.

I'm glad the wristbands have been withdrawn. However the sentiments in the OP are spectacularly dense and lacking in empathy.

Of course it was just an admin issue! Do you honestly think they gave the refugees wristbands so they could be more easily targeted by members of the public? No, they gave them wristbands so they knew who to give free food to and who not. A clumsy and short-sighted solution possibly but then most authorities aren't exactly known for their circumspect and holistic ways of working.

The abuse by members of the public is an unintended consequence. And I still say removing the wristbands won't stop it... If people are disgusting enough to attack people because they're refugees then they're not going to stop because they don't have a wristband. The wristbands aren't the problem, the ignorant attitude of some of the public is.

Keeping track of who is entitled to food etc and the whereabouts of people whose status here is still being ascertained is not a bad thing in theory - look at Sweden, for example:

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-sweden-admits-we-simply-don-t-know-where-they-are-after-14000-illegal-immigrants-go-a6752491.html

But the stigma of highly visible wristbands is certainly not the right way to go about it in practice.

Let's just sew a symbol on their clothes. Make them really stand out.

OP's disappeared after a goady post. Quelle surprise.

Maybe stupid people should be made to wear wrist bands so we can avoid them.**
*
This*

Of the 38% of people in MENA countries who have heard of the Holocaust....

MENA - hazarding a guess at "Middle-East & North Africa"?

I'm disabled. I get DLA and am entitled to 'carer' concessions at some places. Perhaps I should have a wristband, too? And be grateful?

Not sure what discussing asylum seekers in the UK has to do with Holocaust Awareness in the MENA region, but I can have a guess as to the snide intention behind that post.

OP, YABU. But you knew that, anyway.

They can take it off anytime they want

I do wish people would bother to check before they say things! If the band's were taken off they couldn't be put back on again. If they removed them they got no food.
People can be so ignorant. No wonder horrible things happen in this world when there are people who don't bother to learn about what really goes on.

FWIW I think this was a clumsy but well-meaning attempt to identify who was eligible for free meals by a contractor which likely isn't very affluent - I mean did any of you see Lynx House on the news? It didn't exactly look like the kind of place overflowing with cash. Wristbands are a cheap and easy solution - you can buy them on the internet for pence and they don't need any major admin. They're not necessarily a good solution but with the budget I imagine they're on it was the best they could come up with.

I think this is probably just an organisation trying to do the best they can with few resources and which made an error of judgement, which has been blown out of all recognisable proportion. The comparisons to the Nazis and the Holocaust are disgusting, unwarranted and hysterical - not to mention completely disrespectful to those who loved through those atrocities.

Lockheart. I agree, it is likely to be a question of poor judgment rather than deliberate oppression.

However, I don't agree that the comparison with Nazis making Jews wear yellow stars is unjustified. That's not because I think the company in question wants to commit genocide. It's because one of the many lessons that period of history has taught us is that administrative processes carry meaning. One of the most chilling aspects to the Holocaust is the elaborate administration involved, in categorising Jews (and other groups), marking them out, and gradually, step by slow step, restricting their freedoms.

This, as alluded to by some PPs, was an Othering process - a brilliantly effective one - whereby those groups were first tacitly and then explicitly understood by the whole population to be less deserving, a burden on taxpayers, a blight on 'normal' society, and finally, an infestation to be exterminated.

As a result of this understanding, we should now be more aware of how even apparently minor steps in an Othering process work to affect public attitudes. Because a process is expedient, cheap or efficient doesn't exempt it from examination. Bad things come from allowing such things to happen.

I think someone made a well meaning but unthought out mistake

Those poor burgers have been through enough

Your post OP has left me saddened