You and your family could be asylum seekers by this time next year.

[Nevermay]

Just want to point this out, as many posters seem to be of the opinion that asylum seekers are a different species, with different aspirations, different hopes and fears, different medical biology, and different housing and nutritional requirements than the rest of humanity

It could be you and your family next year.

There could be any number of natural disasters in the UK. Meteor strike? Tsunami? Volcanic eruption? All of these are likely in the UK at some point. There could be manmade disasters, war, famine, there could be something more personal that happens to you, you could be a witness being searched for by a hostile government.

You might be a highly qualified professional, ( many asylum seekers in the UK are) you could have worked hard all your life to pay off your mortgage ( many asylum seekers in the UK have) you could have kept yourself fit and healthy all your life and you may also have an assortment of serious or trivial medical needs. You might have french or spanish GCSE to help you, or you might not.

None of these things will mark you out as special, or different, if you are in a crowd of asylum seekers seeking refuge in another country. You will just have to sit and wait and hope with everybody else, maybe for years, your children with you.

I really wish people understood this, refugees and asylum seekers are no different to our own population, some are uneducated, some are criminal, most are decent people, many are highly qualified and come from affluent and successful back grounds.

When ever you think and speak about them, please just keep in mind, this could be you next year.

Let’s put to bed this ‘first safe country’ nonsense too. The EU has a rule that asylum seekers have to claim asylum in the first EU country they reach. Asylum seekers often first reach Romania, have their fingerprints taken there but don’t want to stay there as it’s a poor country. They cannot claim asylum in any other EU country though - if they do the EU will ship them back to Romania - so try desperately to get to the UK as we are no longer an EU country so they can claim asylum here but not in France.

There is NO rule that means asylum seekers trying to come to the UK have to claim asylum in the first safe country they come to. None whatsoever.

Er the US does. I know it for a fact. Who do you think owns and operates the system that tracks every object in orbit or near space or between us and the moon? Who owns and runs the telescopes that tracks every object from the moon outwards? Who do you think owns and operates the space sensor sites dotted about the English countryside that communicate with the satellite constellations? Who do you think owns the self guided ICBMS that can be locked onto incoming warheads or meteors? Hint: It’s not the MoD. It’s DoD and we through treaties with the US fall under their protection.

the “international cooperative” is the international agreements that say how and when the U.S. shares this info with the U.K., the commitments it has to protecting us and the money we send them to help pay for it all. The money we send is a tiny fraction if the real cost btw.

How do they end up in Romania first?

You have been listening to too much Trump rhetoric!

The US may make big claims, but they are actually not such a big player as all that in planetary defence. Look at China's contribution, and India's! India is the real big player coming up here, and famously picking up on challenges that the US drops for being "too complicated, too expensive" etc. Indian engineers have the real edge in problem solving cheaply

It reminds me of seeing privately educated and state educated children doing fieldwork together....
😂😂

Strikes could be immensely damaging, it hasn't happened in a populated area yet, but that's just a matter of time - strikes happen. No country has ever shot one down, even if it was going to hit them, and even if they did shoot it, I can't see how that would lesson the damage, as there would still be just as much matter travelling just as fast after being hit with a missile, so a bit pointless. It is not like shooting at a missile, to destroy it in the air, where the danger is the explosive material on board, and not the speed or mass of the flying object.

City destroying meteors have been shot and broken up before entering the atmosphere. The objective is to break them up into smaller meteorites that cause less damage. You really think it’s just been luck that a big meteor has never landed in a populated area? That its coincidence that seems Russia’s Siberian forests always gets them? 🙃

Done the same with old crippled satellites- shot them up so they break apart and only small bits of debris enter the atmosphere. That is if we can’t limp & bump them into a crash in the pacific trajectory.

I’ve never listened to Trump a day in my life.
Im sure China have their own systems as the US wouldn’t lift a finger to help the East but that doesn’t mean that the U.K. doesn’t need the US because China isn’t going to help the U.K. either.

Chinese astronomers are very active in cooperating with planetary defence - very active indeed. Why wouldn't they be? As I said, you are listing to people with an agenda.

You are jumping tracks so fast.
Yes planetary defence is UN driven including China regarding extinction level asteroids but then you said you were talking about the level below that which are the city destroying meteors and for that no, there isn’t any one international planetary defence cooperative for these smaller meteors. There is a distinct West, East, Russia divide.

Im not “listening to people with an agenda”. I actually worked for 18yrs in the space systems industry. I was a software program manager for satellite constellations that tracked space objects….among other things.

The pp clearly has experience, there’s no point in bringing in ‘agendas and Trump’

it isn't that there is no cooperation, it is just that it is understood that the monitoring we have is likely to be ineffective, there are too many such objects

Yes. I do think the government is using the small boats situation as a dog whistle to racists to cover up for their incompetence, not least the huge backlog in processing asylum cases and to cover up for their previous dog whistling to racists resulting in Brexit and the resultant lack of workers . But people entering the country illegally on boats are in large part young males ( so where are their wives, daughters, mothers? Is it fine for them to live in a dangerous country but not the men?) The second largest group is from Albania. There aren't any wars in Albania. Its just poor. If these people want to work, open up more legitimate routes to work. Many disappear as soon as they arrive and working criminal enterprises to pay off their debts to people traffickers.

Oh do give over - how many times do you want to repeat the word ‘dog whistle’ which in itself is insulting, or perhaps you are not aware of that.

The back log is due to nearly a million people arriving from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong. You surely know this but choose to forget the vast numbers that are being processed.

The boat situation is covered widely because it’s extremely dangerous!!

It’s a long process removing people from here, not helped by crooked immigration lawyers hell bent on destroying the system.

Labour will be fail even more dismally trust me, as half the party believe in total open borders. We are screwed if they win the election.

I would be very angry if my husband went off and saved himself leaving me and the kids behind

@Remembermynamealways why is the word dog whistle insulting ?

@Nevermay you are correct in the attitudes we should have towards refugees, but why do you say this could be us next year? Why next year? Not next week or next month? Or six years down the line? Do you know something we don't ?

No you wouldn't. You're planning/plotting to leave the UK if Labour win the next election because, IIRC, you couldn't bear to see the damage done to the UK by the civil war that would follow.🤣🤣🤣

You're planning/plotting to leave the UK if Labour win the next election because, IIRC, you couldn't bear to see the damage done to the UK by the civil war that would follow.

I suppose it depends on who wins the civil war.

? You know not if what you speak. The USA does indeed very effectively track all space objects in NEO, LEO and PEO as well as all space objects coming into earth orbit. I’m sure Russia and China have similar independent capabilities as well. The U.K. and EU piggyback off the USA capabilities.

If we did not or could not do this then the ISS would not be in existence nor would every satellite in orbit.

Do you think the ISS and all the satellites just happen to dodge every bit of space junk and incoming meteorite up there by sheer luck? Or are you envisioning space pilots using “the force” to steer round it like in Star Wars? The reality is much more AI driven.

I can't read this thread as they always upset me. It boggles my mind how much disdain and lack of compassion people can have for other humans. But I just wanted to say I 100% agree with your OP. These are not some kind of weird subspecies that have done anything to deserve this, and I think we should all acknoweldge it could easily be us.

@Nevermay
This was the system I was a software development PM on for a few years out of a long career in the space systems industry.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/2197760/ground-based-electro-optical-deep-space-surveillance/

In fact my user name is based on this satellite which was the first one I’d seen built from the ground up. Prior to that the ones I’d worked on were already launched.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_(satellite)

I also work with Afghans, amongst other groups. Yes, attitudes can be different, sometimes very challenging. But not all the guys are the same. And misogyny isn’t limited to any one nationality. Human nature at its most basic and important level is the same everywhere, and all humans matter.

And watching some of the women grow in confidence and opportunity once they experience western ideas and freedoms can be amazing

I don't think this is true to any significant degree, but if it was we might feel justifiably pissed off at such ingratitude.

As a nation, we have always welcomed genuine asylum seekers and there is a good reason why people seek a better life here. But we don't like to feel that people are coming here to take the piss and "despise" us.

If - as you say - "Brits seem to be despised" by people who have presumably chosen to come here and benefit from our hospitality, you are probably best advised to keep it to yourself.

If - as you say - "Brits seem to be despised" by people who have presumably chosen to come here and benefit from our hospitality, you are probably best advised to keep it to yourself.

Why should he/she keep it to him/herself?

I apologise if it's not clear in my post. As a nation we are welcoming to genuine refugees who presumably want to come here (it would be a strange thing to want to live among people you "despise"). If we were to believe that - despite our welcome - those people despise us, we might feel a little less welcoming.

The main reason I think Museya should keep it to herself is because I don't believe her. The majority of people from other countries who I've come across (and that is a lot of people both through work and personally) are grateful that they were able to come here and appreciate the benefits of living in our society.

Museya's type of nonsense fuels negative perception of people coming to this country from abroad and gives those who want an excuse to hate them to do so.

Serenchocolate thank you for explaining.