To be so angry with our government treatment of refugees.

[Kendodd]

First Syria
Then Afganistan
Now Ukraine
They see a crisis and put every barrier they can get away with to keep people out.
The first two they pretended 'ooh security ' so many young men, they're all Islamist terrorists.
Well what's their excuse now? This lot are all women and children.
I suspect the truth is this plays well with their bluekip 'they're not coming here' base, that's why they do it.
I'm not even going to bother writing to my Leave supporting Tory MP about this one. No fucking point. I'll just get the Tory HQ lies back about how we're doing more than any other country for refugees (actually heard Johnson say that on the radio yesterday).
I'm ashamed to be British.

As I said, it was the standard issue Tory HQ templar. None of the actually points I raised were answered. As I said in my first post, what's the point.

@PenStation

Write to your MP. They might be a stupid tory wanker but they are obliged to reply provided you keep it polite and factual.

Really? I don't think that I have ever had a reply from my MP.

Mine always replies - sometimes it takes a while and sometimes it’s a cut and paste job if the issue I’ve raised is one multiple people are raising. I thought they were obliged to respond.

My MP is Stella Creasy...so I like to think we're on the same page about most things. She has replied to my emails though.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60701941

Here you go OP and others who say they want to help, all your problems are solved. How many will you be taking?

Thank you.
I can probably take a small family. The lower the number the longer I could host them. Family of four, a couple of months, single women or with one small child, much longer term.

@DetailMouse
There's no link to apply in that piece you posted?

If they took Ukrainian refugees whilst decades of refusing most of the black and brown ones, even taking the bare minimum no of Syrians and Afghans. Then I would be truly disgusted.

The govt policy has always been shit with regard to refugees. The tories and hostile environment made it worse.

But hey ho, surely that's the tories raison d'etre, come into power to make everything worse whilst people waste years seeing their "good deeds" and not bothering/wanting to vote them out.

Yes, it's bad how the home office haven't helped the people coming from Ukraine who are at Dover, but I am so fucked off with how the UK is always bashed on here by people,

Although I agree that we should help Ukrainians that are at Dover, why are we receiving so much HATE for not taking in 10s of 1000s of them? We are 1700 miles away, we have no particular links to that country, they are not even in the EU, OR NATO, and despite some people saying 'I know LOADS of Ukrainian people' I have never even met a Ukrainian person in my life.

Why are we getting so much shit for not taking 10s of 1000s of refugees when there's a multitude of countries (over a dozen) between us and Ukraine?

There is so much loathing for the UK, (especially England) even from its OWN PEOPLE. No wonder people voted for Brexit. NO OTHER country EVER receives so much shit. I'm sick of it tbh.

You don't have to like a place just because you were born there. I don't loathe the UK but I do loathe its government and the people who agree with their policies. I'm not going to become a flag-waving cheerleader for the British government just because I am British.

There are things I do like a out the UK, like the countryside, the history, the humour and the general sense of safety of living in the UK.

Don't be so melodramatic. It's not loathing, it's more shame. These people are running for their lives. A lot of them have family here and we're the only country that's making them jump through hoops. It makes us look petty and spiteful and I think we're better than that.

@OhMygodddd

It’s all well and good taking them in but the country doesn’t even have the infrastructure to support the citizens already here.

It does. Its government is, however, unwilling to fund that infrastructure properly.

@MurmuratingStarling

Yes, it's bad how the home office haven't helped the people coming from Ukraine who are at Dover, but I am so fucked off with how the UK is always bashed on here by people,

Although I agree that we should help Ukrainians that are at Dover, why are we receiving so much HATE for not taking in 10s of 1000s of them? We are 1700 miles away, we have no particular links to that country, they are not even in the EU, OR NATO, and despite some people saying 'I know LOADS of Ukrainian people' I have never even met a Ukrainian person in my life.

Why are we getting so much shit for not taking 10s of 1000s of refugees when there's a multitude of countries (over a dozen) between us and Ukraine?

There is so much loathing for the UK, (especially England) even from its OWN PEOPLE. No wonder people voted for Brexit. NO OTHER country EVER receives so much shit. I'm sick of it tbh.

I don't hate the UK and know loads of amazing Brits.

I do hate a lot of govt policies and attitudes, and struggle that people support them.

Seems the UK is backtracking now. It should be clear to anyone with a brain - even Tory voters - that this isn't some accidental artifact of "the system". This is the system

Don't you dare try and justify it. Because it's simply inhumane.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/emmanuel-macron-lashes-uk-for-not-doing-enough-for-ukraines-refugees-315865/

Speaking at the end of an EU summit in Versailles on Friday, Mr Macron reportedly criticised Britain’s visa policy which required applicants to make them in person in Brussels or Paris.

According to The Guardian, the French president said this further exacerbated circumstances for those fleeing the war.

He added: “Despite all the grand statements… the British government continued to apply current rules that meant they did not welcome Ukrainian refugees who wanted to reach British soil saying they have to travel hundreds of kilometres in order to apply for a visa.

NO OTHER country EVER receives so much shit

How do you know? Do you keep score? How does that work then?

Pointing out that the UKs tendency to high blown rhetoric (oh the poor Jews/Bosnian Muslims/Syrians/Afghans/Ukrainians, we stand with/next to/right behind you) is rarely matched by much in the way of action might annoy you but the truth is people can see right through us. Popping a flag on your Facebook account or sending a packet of nappies to Poland with Bob is all very well for a warm glow but, as an actual national response, it's pretty pitiful.

It's like the school dinners thing last year. They take the worst possible position until they realise that it's unpopular or they're shamed into by someone like Jack Monroe or Marcus Radford and then there's a reluctant climbdown.

beguilingeyes

Don't be so melodramatic. It's not loathing, it's more shame. These people are running for their lives. A lot of them have family here and we're the only country that's making them jump through hoops. It makes us look petty and spiteful and I think we're better than that.“

This. Most Ukrainians wanting to venture as far as the UK have family here. They don’t want residency, they want to return home as soon as they possibly can: I imagine that you would, too, were your husband, father, son still there?

Every other country in Europe understands this and is behaving accordingly. That we don’t is embarrassing.

‘There is so much loathing for the UK, (especially England) even from its OWN PEOPLE. No wonder people voted for Brexit. NO OTHER country EVER receives so much shit. I'm sick of it tbh.’

As a Serb national married to an American I can assure that isn’t even remotely true. Pretty sure the Germans might want a word about that one too.

The UK is being asked to take a fair share of refugees, which is quite different to all of them. The vast majority are not coming to the UK, and nor are they trying to. It’s not unreasonable to expect the UK, as one of the richest countries in the world, which (judging by rhetoric) wants to take a position of leadership within Europe/NATO in response to this crisis, to do more than they’re currently doing.

Also, I would actually say criticism is a demonstration of love for your country. If you want improvements to be made then you have to identity the negatives. Blindly defending your country against criticism, however warranted, doesn’t help it advance.

I volunteered in lesbos in a refugee camp, helping families (often children) escaping Syria.

They were cold, wet, sometimes hypothermic. Always grateful- grateful to be sleeping in a disgusting, unsanitary tent, in a muddy field.

I couldn't imagine the horror they were escaping- it must have been so awful that they felt it was safer to risk their lives on an overcrowded boat.

I'll never forget their faces- the heavily pregnant woman I met- the kids playing with balloons so unaware of what lied ahead...the man who told me he was an engineer and how much he loved his life in Syria. The pain in his eyes. How much they were losing- how much they'd already lost.

It would break my heart to come back from a night shift, after seeing hundreds of life jackets washed ashore thinking of those who hadn't made it. To switch off, I would go on my phone, open an online news outlet - and be horrified at how much the media had misrepresented the situation out there. User comments on articles would read "they'll take our jobs", or "it's not our problem".

If you had no home, were in grave danger, had children to look after, what would you do? Your only hope would be the help of others. Turning your head and saying it's not our problem is just inconceivable

Thanks for sharing that @wisteria90 - so sad what people have to endure. We absolutely should take our share of refugees as a minimum.