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

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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!

"People already in this country can’t get access to health care, dental care, education, can’t afford housing, heating and food."

13 years of Conservative government have gone well then.

I’m not sure about charging as some people might want to apply without funds.

It seems more safe routes will be set up but this

and you could then have a better system of deciding what to do with those who arrive on them.

seems to be the issue. Currently there’s not a legal framework for this better system. If you mean they are not allowed entry or did you mean something else?

The problems you refer to in your final paragraph are exactly the same in the overwhelmingly white British, middle class town I live in, @Tryandlivemylifeandthensee , so I don't think it's migrants that are causing the lack of access to housing and public services.

I know- it's an absolutely disgusting comment to make. A very disturbed and disturbing individual.

Do people in this country such as GL genuinely believe that Suella Braverman et al are working towards this happening here?

No, they don't. But the this Government is using a particular group of people as scapegoats and dehumanising and demonising them. The parallels are clear.

MOTD was going long before Lineker. Non one is indispensable. This will give the BBC a chance to renew the format and introduce some fresh faces. They can also save a lot of money. I look forward to it. This programme is about football not hard left political shit stirring.

Because people don't want to see things that don't fit with their personal paradigm, and the government lies to them repeatedly by using phrases like "illegal migrants".

It's a severe lack of critical thinking.

I am no fan of Gary Lineker after his comments about women's football.

Having ploughed through the whole thread what I find disheartening is that there is so little room for grown up, rational debate.

I am, or have considered myself to be, a traditional "bleeding heart liberal" but I have to admit that I have found it hard to accept that my teenage dd's school (large comprehensive in fairly deprived coastal town) has had a special assembly advising the girls, yes ONLY the girls, not to go into town after school, and has also changed the girls, yes ONLY the girls PE lessons to self defence classes. The fact that this hasn't happened before (have had older DC go through the school) but has happened when a v large hotel has been filled with young male asylum seekers is no coincidence.

A couple of weeks ago there were demonstrations on opposing sides, which were thankfully peaceful.

On hearing about all this my initial reaction was as it has always been, which is that we should welcome refugees etc etc.

I am not ashamed to say that the fact that my dd's freedom to walk around her own home town is now being curtailed has made me think long and hard about the issues.

I expect some on here will accuse me of exaggerating but I am a pretty fairminded person (and have never voted Tory and likely never will).

I do however think that shutting anyone with concerns down as a fascist is unhelpful and only polarises things even further.

@GobbieMaggie

When did GL discuss UK politics on MOTD?

Gary Linekar is hard left? 🤣🤣🤣

I agree on giving someone else a chance. Football has benefited from renewal with the team as it is now.

Aaaah - so those silly House buyers won’t get on their bikes and find the empty houses - that’s the problem.

It's not 'hard left political shit stirring'. That sounds to me like something straight off a right wing tabloid. As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, it is apparently perfectly acceptable for people associated with the BBC, with right wing views, to express said views without fear of censor. Lineker might not be on the same page as you with his own philosophy on life but I don't see why he is not free to express them when others who work with the BBC can.

Will it? As things stand at the moment, no-one with any self-respect will take over. Do you want MOTD presented by Jacob Rees-Mogg?

Aggie - I have a teen daughter and I'd be bloody furious too.

But swift application processing and return's agreements would resolve the need to put asylum applicants up in hotels.

Allowing the Home Office to get in to this state and develop the backlog is that issue - under the Conservatives.

"Home affairs select committee chair Diana Johnson says their report found that it was not small boats arrivals which overwhelmed asylum system.

Instead, poor resourcing of system was "significant factor" in asylum processing backlog growing to 160k people since 2013."

twitter.com/pippacrerar/status/1633092026093785088?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Also is advocating removing people from TV because of their views not akin to 'cancel culture', which normally gets people with right wing views hot under the collar?

Whatever is said by whoever does not change the facts that the country is over populated and under resourced. We don't need more and more people who cannot fir whatever reason financially support themselves.

There I said it - coz that's MY RIGHT.

You don't have to agree with me but you have to agree with my right to say it.

I live in France.
I'm white.
I wouldn’t want to be a black migrant in France.
Macron tried to bring in rules to stop the police in Paris from being filmed whilst they ‘police’ ( mainly black) people.

My friends electrician is from Somalia, they home school their dc because they were the subject of racism at school.

Also migrants are more likely to speak English than French and if they want to work that’s important.

And taxes aren’t covering the basics because of the shocking priorities of the Tory government.

Of those poor soles lost at sea, or trapped in containers and died we should remember that those who have been identified by their families were all economic migrants but were travelling to the uk to claim asylum. This was proved and admitted by their families.

Simply not true.

And well done for ensuring that GL's thoughtful and compassionate views are given as wide an airing as possible for days and days.

If the BBC hadn't reacted the news on the radio this morning with not have included someone reading out GL's words.

I think what we really need is a new government.

I am going to end up spending far too much time on this thread, so am going to get off for now. But I leave this, which has made me chuckle.Roger Melly to the rescue!

Isn’t that a poor reflection on France though that should be changed?

The prejudice and anti semitism in 1930s Germany was directed at their own citizens, not immigrants. Not the same thing at all.

Many people want a safe, legal route for asylum seekers, and a system that allows their applications to be processed in a fair and lawful manner, without demonizing them as part of some sort of invading army.
There is a safe route, fill in the application papers in your home country and fly in for a fraction of the price of paying a people carrier.
Problem is unless you are from a war torn country you will be refused entry at customs. Because you have no entitlement to residence.
Germany returned 13.000 last year but still have 50,000 they have yet to send back. It’s not just the U.K.