To applaud Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, and think Suella Braverman is looking like a fool for not even understanding the comment

[Nimbostratus100]

Lineker called the immigration policy cruel, and compared the language and attitude of the government to 1930s Germany.

I hundred percent agree with him

Braverman started denying that anything that is happening in UK is comparable to the holocaust

She is spectacularly missing the point. The holocaust didn't happen in the 1930s

What happened in the 1930s was the slow and steady build up of racism and aggression and hate, that resulted in the holocaust in the 1940s

And the noises coming out of the government are very much like 1930s nazis

For those of you that don't have any interest in Match of the Day, Gary Lineker, the main presenter, has been suspended, in spite of being a sports commentator, and NOT a news reader or involved in current affairs programming, and NOT bound by the impartiality clause, and his two top fellow presenters have refused to appear without him

So either the BBC bosses (tory appointees) have scored a spectacular own goal,(unintended pun) in trying to supress Lineker's opinions, and turning them into world wide headlines,

OR!

Maybe they are secretly working against the government by choosing a course of action that will actually make the tories look like complete fools, while pretending to support them!

Years ago I had to research the Jarrow March so I looked at some old local newspapers on microfiche (ie papers from NE England nor Germany) and I was surprised. Obviously this was 1936 so nobody knew what was coming but the choice of language and the way Jewish people were discussed was very similar to the way the DM might fear monger about immigrants on boats today. I'm talking both in editorial pieces and in the reader's letters.

It's also worth remembering that the kinder transport, while amazing, also separated children from their families; only allowing children into the U.K. because such was the fear of accidentally letting the 'wrong' type of person in. On arrival Jewish children were given a document with their rules for living here including what jobs they were and were not allowed to train to do, avoiding speaking in their own language and not criticising the British government. I often wonder how many more problem could have been saved from death if only adults could have travelled with their children.

I love history and my pet hate is how poorly British history is understood by many British people. It is not taught properly at all in schools and it leads to people who don't understand that history is a complex and nuanced thing taking faux offence.

So in short I generally think GL is a sanctimonious bellend but in this instance I feel he's said something pretty accurate!

Careful. Raising taxes is socialist talk. Are you Corbyn in disguise?

I thought Rishi Sunak was most in favour of raising taxes, while else as Chancellor and PM has he overseen the highest teaxes in the UK?
Did but Jeremy make hime do it?

U.K. has had immigration of 200,000 to 300,000 per year since 2003.
Since 1960 Germany’s population has increased by 10 million while the uk’s has increased by 20 million.
So much talk about other countries taking more immigrants than us so how can you explain this discrepancy.
Germany taking 800,000 in 2015 is not comparable with the numbers we have to deal with here overall.

But his grasp of history isn't sketchy it's fairly accurate. The only error he's made as far as I can see is assuming it's just a reflection of the language used in Germany. There was vast mistrust of Jewish people right across Europe so language that fed that mistrust was used in other places too; including as I mentioned before in the U.K. I'd go so far as to say the similarities are startling. Same language; different target.

🤣🤣🤣🤣
Blimey………..

If this is correct then it’s a fair point

If your (and my) suspicions are right, those voters only have themselves to blame.

Being in the EU gave us the right to return asylum seekers to the "first safe country" in the EU that they entered. I doubt if it's a coincidence that the number of people arriving on our shores in small boats has increased massively since we threw away that right. Anyone who voted for Brexit believing that the UK would "take back control" of its borders was conned, and it serves them right.

Brexit voters need to accept that they bear a good deal of the blame for what's happening, and suck it up.

Anycrispsleft was talking about refugees. You are talking about general immigration. Not the same thing.

We can’t celebrate and encourage “talent” to speak out on the Qatar World Cup and issues in that country but not accept them commenting on home issues.

This!

Well done Gary, Ian, Mark & Alex! 🙌🙌🙌

"Decent conservatives" 🤣👍

This is exactly what we need 👍👍👍

There are one or two other differences between Germany in the 1960s and now, that might have some bearing on the matter.

Mmm
Mein Kampf was written in 1925, and this was the basis of German Govn from 1933. Internment camps and segregation was happening well before then for Jews, Romany Gypsies and Catholics.
There is nothing that is startlingly similar.

Uk also has a birth rate of 12 whilst Germanys is 8.5 one of the smallest in the world. Germany has been desperately encouraging immigration of younger adults of child bearing age for some time now.
They also have a lower population density.

It's not correct. Immigration is not the same as approving and settling refugees.
-
Claim: “We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.”

Fact check: Correct. Relative to the population, the UK is below the EU average in terms of the number of asylum seeker applications received.

When it comes to granting refugee status to people who have submitted asylum applications, seven EU countries issued more positive decisions than the UK in 2021, when the UK issued 10,492 positive decisions. This includes Germany, which issued 59,850, France 33,875, and Italy 21,805.

inews.co.uk/news/uk-take-fewer-refugees-european-countries-gary-lineker-comments-fact-checked-2194937?ico=most_popular

Several other websites have fact checked this also, and agreed.

It's disgusting anyone could consider voting for them. Really disgusting.

Some useful stats

According to UNHCR statistics, as of November 2022 there were 231,597 refugees, 127,421 pending asylum cases and 5,483 stateless persons in the UK including recent Ukrainians refugees.

That’s only half a per cent (0.54%) of the UK’s total population.

In the year ending September 2021, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in the EU+, followed by France (96,510) .

I can't find a 2021 figure for UK, but in 2022 there were 74,751 applications. Which is still lower than the peak back in 2002.

(The number of asylum applications to the UK peaked in 2002 at 84,132. After that the number fell sharply to reach a twenty-year low of 17,916 in 2010, before rising slowly to reach 32,733 in 2015.

The number fell, then rose again and then dipped during the first year of the pandemic (2020). In 2022, it rose to 74,751 applications, the highest level since 2002.)

www.refugee-action.org.uk/about/facts-about-refugees/

This is all true.
But there are more people around the world who have a right to live in the UK by decent.

If everyone took up that right we d be completely buggered.

Each country takes different things into account….not just population density, affordability and birth rates.

This would make an interesting thread, especially with MNs from other countries on.

Birth rate does look lower in Germany, but I’ve only found it expressed differently

When considering how many refugees to take it is the land area that is important not the population. So Norway are shockingly bad in Europe at taking refugees, and worldwide Antarctica is a disgrace.

What?!

Norway is a bigger country by land area than the UK but takes 1/15th of the refugees this is shocking.
Antartica makes up 12% of the Earth's land area and took no refugees last year. By some calculations they should have taken 12million.

Focus on Antarctica not Germany. It’s very important you do.

Those penguins have always been selfish fuckers.