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!

Well said
But there’s only a few of us on here and I have to get in the queue for a bedsit as I live in Dover, or used to live. The council decided to pay my landlord more as a bulk rental for migrants so I got chucked out.
Thank god there’s an Internet cafe for MN

Totally agree.

If you require people to be perfect before you will be prepared to listen to their views, then you are guaranteeing that you will never have to listen to anyone ever again. And you'll therefore never take the risk of having your view of the world challenged or changed.

I know, I meant it would be in the scenario I proposed.

I can't stand sport, but I'm now following him. So that's +1.

I don’t want to hear the opinions of a tedious crisp salesman

So don't follow him on Twitter? I don't, I wouldn't have heard any of his opinions if people hadn't made such a fuss about it.

I’m sure someone will quite fancy Linekar’s salary and a huge viewing. I’m sure they actually have to speak to people first though and he has to actually go.

Did someone really type "sharia law" with a straight face?

Great post

LakieLady
If we were in the EU, we could have taken advantage of the "first safe country" provision in the Dublin agreement, but the people who voted for Brexit put paid to that

That's funny because this article on an info for migrants website seems to think that Germany is not having much success with Dublin agreement returns;

[In 2022] Germany tried to send back over 68,000 migrants to other EU countries under rules governed by the Dublin accords. The majority of those attempts failed.

in 2021, Germany issued 10,427 take back requests to Greece, but just one person was actually returned. Germany also issued 6,623 requests to Italy in 2021, and just 287 were taken back.

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/46133/germany-unable-to-send-back-most-migrants-under-dublin-rules

Indeed. He didn't just go down to Dover and pick some some random of a boat . They were throughly vetted. Massive publicity stunt to burnish good ol' Gal's credentials

The reason is the same. The government for the past 13 years has had no interest in the people of this country, but rather has concentrated on enriching their mates.

Then stop perpetuating the lie that asylum seekers are some how illegal.

I didn't say it didn't exist.
I don't think immigration is the root cause of schools/hospitals/housing being broken. Its to do with Government priorities and funding - Austerity, brexit, pandemic, war, truss-o-nomics

This government likes to blame others for their mismanagement- first the EU, now immigrants.

Stopping small boats is going to do fuck all to benefit housing/hospitals/schools

Yep. Same in my northern town too.

Nobody in football. The players won't even agree to be interviewed by the BBC today. Everyone with punditry experience refused, who doesn't already work for Sky/BT.

I am personally delighted that the BBC will be paying through the nose (60 million) for TV rights with nobody watching.

It all loops back to the fact that football has got captured by the radical left wing social justice warriors.

Well, that's a big improvement from how it was in the 80s, when nearly every London club had a significant number of far-right supporters, and making monkey noises and throwing bananas at black players was standard practice on the terraces.

I lived near a football ground for many years, and at one point people would avoid going shopping at certain times on home game days because of the large groups of skinheads and their disgusting racial abuse and chanting.

good for Gary

It’s not really on the list of things I’m exercised over. If there’s demand someone will pick it up. BBC or otherwise.

Personally, I find it hard to understand why he's the highest paid person on the BBC! I'd get rid of him just for that. Plus this would be a good time to clear out this older generation and get younger, and cheaper!, people on. I never understand why the broadcasters just keep using the same people over and over.

My family love match of the day with Alan and Ian too. Two generations come together for this. But with their friends the younger ones tend to go on YouTube.

I am not a fan but on the occasions I've watched I see that the 90s footballers have a wealth of experience from players a generation or two before them to draw on which they often reference and makes it more interesting.
They think it's a pain but are in agreement that GL is standing his ground and has the support of his colleagues.

You can prove anything with facts.

I'm saddened by posters' inability to separate how they feel about the immigration and asylum policy from the issue of whether or not Lineker should be allowed to air his views.

I'm horrified by how this thread has degenerated overnight into baseless flinging of opinions which are not in the slightest bit data based.

And the comment on rape was abhorrent.

I've got no issue having a reasoned debate but when people are so easily swayed by populist rhetoric, it's deeply disappointing,

It's no wonder the country is in the mess we're in.

PLEASE. Don't be sheep and follow what you're being spoon fed. Do some reading and find out what's really going on, what immigration and asylum routes the UK has, what is being proposed and the numbers and costs involved. Then let's have a debate.

Of course someone would if it wasn't working for the BBC, who have acted appallingly.

Don't try and make out that this is one man's crusade and he is easily replaced.

Well how exactly would you measure support given there hasn’t been an actual referendum? His colleagues support him, and the MOTD commentators do as well. There’s nothing in his tweet that isn’t true, and BBC rules are that contributors do not have to abstain from political commentary in a personal capacity

There was plenty of information about the potential consequences for anyone who cared to look into things for themselves, rather than swallow the UKIP spiel.

The potential risk to peace in NI and being unable to exercise the provisions of the Dublin agreement regarding asylum seekers were there to see for those who could be bothered.

I think we're a long way from Sharia Law. What does worry me is that when it comes to the safety of our daughters (in my town as previously mentioned) emotions are bound to run high. So far, according to my dd, the behaviour of these young men has been limited to following girls around town and waiting outside shops when they go in, and cat calls, verbal harrassment and taking photos. This in itself is unacceptable and I'm sure most people would agree. It is extremely intimidating for two 14 yrs old girls to be followed by a group of 10 young men. My worry is that should any actual assault occur, there will be repercussions and possible violence.

It really is a complex issue and needs rational and robust discussion. Unfortunately we are all human, and when it comes to protecting our own families rational thought is often chucked out the window.

In discussions with my dd, I like to think I have been measured and looked at both sides but even with my relatively intelligent middle aged head on, the best I could come up with was "it's complicated". I realised almost as the words came out of my mouth that that I have indeed become a politician.

I think the government is pretty reprehensible for it's lack of any workable policy on immigration and refugees, but I do think that locating large groups of young men in empty hotels in already struggling communities goes beyond stupid.

To my mind the whole Brexit debacle was similar in that when vast swathes of the electorate feel unheard (rightly or wrongly) their anger and frustration is often taken out on the wrong people and the ones at the top are pretty unaffected.