Channel crossings

[Tevion28]

Whats your thoughts on this are these people really desperate fleeing worn torn countries do you feel sorry for them etc

@Parker231

The U.K. is meant to be a multi cultural society so open to any race, creed, religion and nationality. Sounds like you only want British people to live in the U.K.?

I’m not British myself. But I don’t understand this argument at all. Immigration is allowed by the U.K. and it is one of the cheapest and easiest countries to emigrate to legally. But your argument seems to be saying that British people should welcome what is essentially illegal colonisation by tens of thousands of “refugees” paddling boats from the French coast?

I thought colonisation was wrong no matter who was doing to whom. But somehow, everyone is seems blind to the fact that colonisation is exactly what is happening to Britain right now.

An average of 1,000 people per day illegally arriving in boats on the British coast....how is this not colonisation?
www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17754/britain-migrants-english-channel

Britain initially illegally colonised North America with the 102 religious refugees on the Mayflower.

1,000 per day.....is not a small number.

@PlanDeRaccordement - I’m not British either - part of a family of a number of different nationalities.

Unfortunately many in the U.K. adopt the attitude of ‘not in my backyard’ when it comes to helping others who are in a much greater need. The U.K. is becoming less tolerant to other cultures.

@woodhill
I can appreciate it feels like an invasion. But being pedantic, invasions are done by armed forces from one country to another. Colonisation is the illegal settling of civilians en masse in another country (usually fleeing persecution of one form or another). It’s the “peaceful” sister to invasion.

[quote Parker231]@PlanDeRaccordement - I’m not British either - part of a family of a number of different nationalities.

Unfortunately many in the U.K. adopt the attitude of ‘not in my backyard’ when it comes to helping others who are in a much greater need. The U.K. is becoming less tolerant to other cultures.[/quote]

As I mentioned before, there are many, many countries where there are wars, conflicts, and other humanitarian crises. We are a small island and cannot be responsible for the whole world. We are already the most overcrowded large nation in Europe. I'm sorry but I think you're being frankly ridiculous.

The UK is known for being one of the most tolerant countries in the world, there is a limit to what people can put up with. Ever been to France and experienced their attitude towards immigrants?

No one is asking for the U.K. to help everyone but they don’t do their share as one of the richest countries in the world.

@Parker231

No one is asking for the U.K. to help everyone but they don’t do their share as one of the richest countries in the world.

Yes, the uk do more than their fair share. And we are not one of the richest countries in the world. We aren't even in the top 20. Australia are ahead of us. How many refugees do you see them taking?

@Parker231

A greater tolerance of others - cultural and religion. Opportunities to learn about different backgrounds, languages, foods and politics. Life would be boring if we were all the same.

Other cultures and backgrounds are interesting and educational I agree. However when the indigenous are made to feel threatened by newcomers tolerance is likely to disappear. Examples: no go areas for white people. Yes this is true. There is an area in Birmingham where signs were put on display saying "no white people after 10pm". Now that was interesting.

Oh and just to add to my post - can you imagine what would happen if a sign was put up satin "no black people." Fucking up roar I would imagine.

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/councillor-condemns-racist-graffiti-alum-13487385

@Parker231

No one is asking for the U.K. to help everyone but they don’t do their share as one of the richest countries in the world.

We won't be much longer if this carries on

Regardless of why they are coming here, we have a massive housing shortage, our schools are over subscribed, our NHS is at breaking point. We can’t just continue to allow thousands of people coming here day on day, month on month. The reality is that the majority of these people will work in low paid jobs, if they work at all, so will probably get UC, be put on social housing waiting lists, and take money from an ever decreasing pot. We can’t afford to accommodate them. And people asking why they come here for £37 per week - £37 is a fortune for a lot of these people who probably come from countries where they get nothing.

Concerning the % whose claims are successful, it's worth remembering the number may include the many thousands who've been granted an "amnesty" in one of the periodic attempts to fiddle the figures clear backlogs. The link below is from 2011, but it would be interesting to know what that figure is now:

www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/02/160000-asylum-seekers-granted-amnesty

The problem is the volume. We have 18m more people in the UK than when I was born. We have huge housing shortages, little NHS for many and we are paying a lot of money for those who come here illegally and do not seem able to remove over stayers at the rate we used to do.

Even if there are good reasons some people come here illegally (eg they are or become Christian or are gay and that means they have problems in their original country) the sheers numbers are just too many for us in the UK to be able to cope, given we have the highest tax burden for 70 years. Both Labour and Tory supporters largely feel the same. It is not that we have a problem with different people as long as they do not stop us showing our arms or disturb us - is the sheer weight of numbers particularly where newcomers outnumber the original people and thus a change is imposed which may not always be for the better without the original people agreeing.

This is not new. In 1066 the French came over, took our lands etc and before them we had Viking incursions and of course the Romans.

It is fine for those who are rich or who move via white flight to other areas but not for many ordinary people who don't have those privileged choices.

@Xenia

The problem is the volume. We have 18m more people in the UK than when I was born. We have huge housing shortages, little NHS for many and we are paying a lot of money for those who come here illegally and do not seem able to remove over stayers at the rate we used to do.

Even if there are good reasons some people come here illegally (eg they are or become Christian or are gay and that means they have problems in their original country) the sheers numbers are just too many for us in the UK to be able to cope, given we have the highest tax burden for 70 years. Both Labour and Tory supporters largely feel the same. It is not that we have a problem with different people as long as they do not stop us showing our arms or disturb us - is the sheer weight of numbers particularly where newcomers outnumber the original people and thus a change is imposed which may not always be for the better without the original people agreeing.

This is not new. In 1066 the French came over, took our lands etc and before them we had Viking incursions and of course the Romans.

It is fine for those who are rich or who move via white flight to other areas but not for many ordinary people who don't have those privileged choices.

Exactly this. When you go to the UAE you abide by the laws and customs in place. I do not blame any asylum seekers but I do blame the government.

No one is asking for the U.K. to help everyone but they don’t do their share as one of the richest countries in the world.

They don’t do their share? Please tell me, what is everyone’s “share” and why is it based on richness of a country, rather than, oh I don’t know how densely you are populated?

By the way, the U.K. is #24 on the rich list of countries. So, not really “one of the richest in the world” that phrase is often trotted out by people who have bought into the land of milk and honey, streets paved with gold mythology.

Forgot my rich list link
www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-richest-countries-in-the-world.html

@Tevion28

Whats your thoughts on this are these people really desperate fleeing worn torn countries do you feel sorry for them etc

Most of them. Yes.

This is not a small country. It could have been a rich country but it's completely mismanaged. I'm honestly tired of the rhetoric around asylum seekers. These are very few people. They are not going to rob us of our resources. That's the government's job ...

The UK is known as a tolerant country only inside the uk. Please trust me when I say this. Most people outside the UK think we are bigoted idiots. Just read their papers to find out what they think of us and our famously misplaced sense of exceptionalism.

Sam020 'Most people outside the UK think we are bigoted idiots'
So you talked to all these people then??

@stonebrambleboy

Sam020 'Most people outside the UK think we are bigoted idiots' So you talked to all these people then??

Like I said: try reading their papers

@Sam020

The UK is known as a tolerant country only inside the uk. Please trust me when I say this. Most people outside the UK think we are bigoted idiots. Just read their papers to find out what they think of us and our famously misplaced sense of exceptionalism.

What are they basing that on out of interest? We are far from perfect, of course, and there's plenty we could do as individuals, communities and a country to do better and we should; but where are these perfect utopias that are fully tolerant?

@Sam020
This is not a small country. It could have been a rich country but it's completely mismanaged. I'm honestly tired of the rhetoric around asylum seekers. These are very few people. They are not going to rob us of our resources. That's the government's job

The U.K. is not a small country?! There are 77 countries which are larger than the U.K. You are roughly the same size as Guinea. New Zealand? bigger. Ecuador? Bigger. Phillipines? Bigger Morocco? Twice the size. Chile and Zambia? Three times the size! Ethiopia? Five times bigger!

And the asylum seekers are not “very few people” .....

You need to really look at an accurate map of the world which doesn’t Center London in the middle and draw the U.K. island as if it were as big as Greenland and read about the millions of refugees/displaced people currently looking for asylum.

how about all the northern towns filled with male asylum seekers/refugees? they'll never work or marry and have kids as they're muslim and will never integrate.