AIBU to be worried about the next Refugee crisis

[Gin96]

The numbers are starting to accelerate again, the poor people stuck in Greece camps but people from the EU have lost interest, I wonder how this is going to end? Will the EU open the borders again?

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/16/catastrophic-conditions-greet-refugees-arriving-on-lesbos

Wait until they start arriving from Australia...

We can’t just throw up our hands and say we don’t have enough housing for people already living in this country. The country is rich enough to provide for everyone living here, but due to the vast inequality between the rich and the poor (which is vaster than any other country in Western Europe) we leave British families to rear children in poverty, living in B&Bs and relying on food banks.

If we had a more equitable society we would be able to provide for more refugees, who as someone said unthread, would repay us in contributing to the economy in later years.

And yes, climate change will contribute to the number of refugees from the global south, who are already bearing the brunt of its impact.

God this thread is depressing.

Children. Many of these are children. Traumatised, sick, exhausted, orphaned children.
This country should hang its head in shame that we seek to block children coming to join relatives.

So those who want wholly open borders how many would you have here? There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet and we are a very small country.

If the “hope” is that I will be able to see toddlers drowning in the Mediterranean and people leaving their homes in the hundreds and thousands in fear of their lives because living homeless and hopeless with their families is safer then I’m happy to be hopeless.

Xenia a lot of your focus seems to be that you feel you pay too much tax and that people aren’t grateful for your contribution. I honestly have never met a refugee who isn’t profoundly grateful for having found safety, What would help you feel more appreciated?

As far as the tax bill goes, what would you rather happen? Are you happy to take an extra holiday a year or buy one of your children a car at the expense of those with less than you?
I find it bizarre that ANY adult could walk past a starving cold and frightened child and be thinking about their savings. Of course we cannot help everyone, but could you help one?

Just had a read through some of 5zeds comments. She/he is clearly not very bright, constantly contradicts her/himself.

5zeds doesn’t have any answers, just likes to virtue signal.

Does it matter how “bright” someone is?
If virtue signalling is saying I think we should help refugees particularly children, then obviously “yes”. I don’t think it’s that niche a stance though. I DO think we should help. I’m not sure why this has attracted so much attention.

( @AdaKirkby are you posting under more than one name on this thread?)

@CaptainButtock

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/climate-change-and-the-end-of-australia-238860/amp/

@5zeds

You can’t grasp that more than one person may disagree with you, therefore all the people disagreeing with you are actually the same person, posting under different names. Right.

It was a question @Ada (that you haven’t answered), not a declaration.

Are you a proponent of shutting all the borders and ignoring the dying and destitute?

Being over PC has caused people’s hearts to harden. Look at Rotherham, it’s still not PC to mention it and if you do your racist.

www.spiked-online.com/2020/01/15/we-have-to-talk-about-these-pakistani-gangs/

I had hoped the phrase 'virtue signalling' would have died a death after the election. It one of the most over used phrases on this site, you don't make the other person look or feel small by using it you just make yourself sound like a fucking bellend.
@Xenia you got your Brexit you won your election what exactly more do you need for the incessant whining about your tax bill to stop? Feel free to take your millions and relocate because you're certainly not happy in this country, I strongly suspect, if you were crowned Queen of the World, you'd still have fucking something to whinge about. You'd be on here moaning that your serfs weren't deferential enough and didn't they know how lucky they are that you continue to allow them to live.

So those who want wholly open borders how many would you have here? There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet and we are a very small country

Drama queen. How can you make absurd Implications like that and expect to be taken seriously? Who has said borders should be erased or that 8 billion people should come here?

It’s unsurprising you don’t get much from conversations like this if you insist on dragging them into ridiculous directions spouting statements that have no basis in any kind of reality.

It’s probably worth pointing out re: adult asylum seekers - a huge proportion of these adults, are well educated, highly skilled and amongst the better off of their peers- it costs so much to make it from say, Aleppo, to the uk, that very often it’s the doctors, lawyers, architects etc who actually make it here. Seeking asylum for political reasons often means that you stood against a despotic regime. These are people personally I WANT. Bright. Tenacious. Brave. Resilient.
I’m delighted to be living in the same street as the Syrian asylum seekers - who invite my son for play dates, bring food round at Christmas and Islamic holidays, and chat to
me about everything from the poetry of Rumi to the Meghan and Harry nonsense - far more so than I am the xenophobic, beige, small minded Britain First supporters at the other end of my street who let their dogs shit on my driveway.

5z, I don't have the money to buy a child a car. I will be going on a holiday this year (one). I am lucky that after 30 years of working full time I can afford that. Would would I like? My tax bill to halve and my council tax to halve and to have a much small state.

Of course I didn't say 8 billion would come here but if it were free entry to the UK a lot would like to come so presumably those who want free borders I just wondered what their limit was. Eg if being gay is a risk in Iran (it is) would you be happy everyone in Iran who is gay could come here?

So if you want to pay half your (personal? Company?) Tax and half your council tax what are you willing to cut or who do you expect to pay for it? . How is NOT helping wretched desperate people in Lesbos positive?

I don't have a company. I feel I pay too much tax even the council tax is £3600. I don't use the NHS - eg I saw my GP once in 15 years. I don't drink or smoke etc. I haven'#t used state schools. I pay the children's university fees so no student loan costs to the state there. May be we could let parents set the student loan cost against their tax bill for starters. I would like the state to provide a lot less all round. Eg no foreign aid (£300m paid to Pakistan last year). I would move some obligations to the old from state to family for example - a lot f our tax goes on older people, the NHS and state education.
I have loads of ideas but this Tory Government is high tax big state so don't worry - there is no chance of anyone with my views coming to power any time soon in the UK.

5zeds clearly doesn't live among these people. My home town (a London suburb) has been trashed beyond recognition and we're living like sardines. Why they don't house them where there's more space, I just don't know.

Of course I didn't say 8 billion would come here but....

But, but, but.... why even post it then if you agree the notion is irrelevant? You’re the one who posted it to illustrate your (hysterical) point.

If every Iranian homosexual wanted to leave for fear for their lives then I would like to see an international effort to help them do that. If the U.K. was the only option then I think we’d have a moral obligation to relocate them, yes.

Most refugees would like to be able to go home so peace in the region is a long term goal, short term they should be assisted and given asylum that allows them to become productive members of society.

5zeds clearly doesn't live among these people. are “these people” refugees or just any non-white/immigrant you are exposed to? .

@Xenia so your suggestion is that we remove pensions/funding for the elderly, shut down state schools, and privatise healthcare. Yikes!

Thank you for writing this article @Writerandreader

Some of the individual stories you covered in your story are utterly heartbreaking. E.g. the upbeat Halila and the little child with their foot oozing.

Were you extremely upset afterwards and how did you cope with your hands being tied.

I didn't say that. I said remove some responsibility for the old to their relatives as is the case in Germany. Nor would I close state schools but I have a very long list of things I would certainly cut back in many of those areas. Nor would I get rid of teh NHS but I would strip it back to more essentials. We waste lots of money in the UK.

Someone suggested above I voted Brexit. I didn't, I voted remain.

Iran has 88 million people. If 1 in 10 are gay that is about 8.8 millino would potentially come here to avoid abuse tt home (and ditto for many others even in the Carribbean - we just cannot take those numbers of people). Instead we can certainly encourage islam and other cultures to be kinder to gay people but we just do not have the room nor the political will nor will of the people of the UK to have open boarders even for all those abroad who face persecution such as because they are gay at home and want to practise their sexuality publicly. In fact when I was in Iran twice on business the most common question I was asked was how to get to the UK rather than would you like to emigrate to Iran, not surprisingly.

I agree with the writer of this article saying that it's a multi-pronged approach that we need to take. Yes - we need to deal with the immediate crises, but we also need to look at government policy on arms deals etc. There are probably 10 other ways we could stave off wars and such in the next 50 years - but is there the will to do it? We voted Tory overwhelmingly a few weeks ago (I didn't). I don't think we give a fuck.

BTW - pleasantly surprised that Ireland is richer than Britain who doesn't even feature in the top 25. After the torture they submitted us to and the imbeciles they assumed us to be - IN YO FACE ENGLAND!!!!

There are billions being traded for arms globally. Then we all go 'Oh - tut tut - look at those barbarians fighting each other again'. When we've fucking armed them! The billions being spent on their countries could be spent on educating their people, creating positive societies. But the hatred runs deep within these nations and the current generations are not exempt from war so that will continue until war is stopped and a generation or two doesn't carry that hatred any longer.