To think the RNLI are 100% in the right

[SanFranBear]

I've just seen this story on the BBC news homepage where the RNLI are being accused of acting as a taxi service for migrants trying to enter the UK on small boats from Europe.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dejyg4l37o

The organisation and volunteers quite rightly have responded to say they make no apologies for saving lives at sea and that their work has no political motivation.

Damn straight - one of the volunteers further down the article explains the profound impact he feels of encountering people struggling in our waters.

It makes me wonder what critics of the service expect them to do - just sail away, leaving the people to die? Pick them up and cross the channel to dump them back 'where they came from'?

What is wrong with them? Where is their compassion? Regardless of your thoughts on immigration, this is so cold and inhuman....

I think labelling everyone who doesn’t want to volunteer to help economic migrants as purely self interested covers 99.9% of the population 🤣🤣

Mumsnet is truly mad, no more or less.

If the hotel in my town has been wrecked in 4 months it is the people living there who have done it. Or they are literally living in a 4-star hotel. I didn’t say it was a hovel that’s what mumsnet chorused at me 🙄

They have arrived from a safe country in the EU. FFS why unwilling to understand that if person leaves “unsafe” Syria a person likely travels thru 8-10 “safe” countries where SHOULD claim asylum before hopping in a small boat in France.

If person is fleeing unsafe France, then yes UK could reasonably be first safe country.

Can you explain what you mean with actually could have more if voters give mandate?

Give mandate for what?

Are you saying that countries like France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Holland and numerous other EU countries are so bad that asylum seekers/migrants need to make the crossing? Give over.

You clearly haven't a clue how "stars" are awarded. They are not based on the shell of a building - they are about service, facilities, food and beverage options, location, comfort, safety measures etc., etc. You do not seriously think that all the nice furniture is left in there, and there is room service, do you? You can turn a 4 star hotel into a 0 star hotel just by removing the furniture and staff - which is exactly what is done before asylum seekers are moved in.

Plenty of asylum seekers do stay in those countries.

The RNLI are doing exactly what they are supposed to do.

I don't really understand how there aren't beach patrols stopping these boats (from a safety perspective) when they are visibly overloaded setting off. The people on board often can't swim and these boats are regularly clearly not seaworthy, they are basically allowing catastrophic accidents to happen.

Bloody hell MN, cancel your holidays to France, it's dangerous there 🙄

Compassion, which is what the poster you're responding to mentioned, costs nothing, not even your time.

If being compassionate means you're mad, I'd rather be mad than purely self interested.

No, I was told that I had to volunteer with asylum seekers.

There is nothing wrong with the building. Or at least there wasn’t.

Why are you so adamant that all the accommodation people are living in is a hovel? Where is your evidence for this? I’m sure some is bad, but to assert that somewhere you’ve never been is now a hovel is really very arrogant.

I have to be honest this situation makes me hesitant to donate in future, which is a real shame. The system currently in place seems deeply flawed and in need of a serious rethink. I believe there should be a more structured and firm approach to handling these illegal crossings. While I absolutely do not want to see anyone come to harm, especially at sea, I think those attempting to cross in this way should either be safely escorted back to French waters for their authorities to respond, or be brought to a secure processing centre where they are properly identified and then returned via appropriate means. Applications for asylum should not be accepted from those arriving via this route, if they were automatically declined and had fingerprints/photos taken to identify them they would be less likely to take the risk.

I fully support using our lifeboats for genuine emergencies where lives are at immediate risk, regardless of who is involved but I also feel we need dedicated resources to manage these specific migration challenges, so our rescue services can stay focused on critical, time-sensitive incidents.

It’s also worth acknowledging that many of these individuals are leaving a country widely regarded as safe and stable, I’m taking my own family there on holiday next week. It's hard to reconcile that they are fleeing a safe country to risk their lives to come here.

No you weren't.

I have literally told you about the state of the hotels I've visited, and how they were run down long before they were used to house asylum seekers.

There may be nothing wrong with the building externally but I strongly suspect inside it's quite different. Although how do you know, unless you've been inside?

If you read any post by the RNLI, you will read the same awful statements about being a taxi service.
Dover lifeboat crew are threatened with violence, shouted out and avoid wearing anything lifeboat related to avoid trouble.
You can think it’s a PR exercise if you want but you are very, very wrong.

Yes. I set up a direct debit to RNLI when Farage last had a go at them.

I dispute this claim … that no one puts their child in a dinghy unless that water is safer….

1. France is safer than the water, Germany, Italy, Spain etc etc
2. There are plenty of shit parents who don’t prioritize their children’s lives as evidenced by those who do put their kids in dinghies. They are either shit parents, selfish, deluded, so ignorant as to be unaware of the dangers. There are dozens of other choices to make- getting in a small boat to the UK is choice choice choice. They could seek asylum in France. Or other countries. There is always a choice, and it’s not dangerous in France …

That statement about “no one puts their child” is ridiculously naive. There are parents who sell their kids into slavery, prostitution, really shit parents who u might think “have no choice” or have few choices, yet value children very little and put them at risk.

You mustn’t be thinking that others think your same thoughts, share you values … because they don’t. A lot of the world … very different attitudes towards children, girls, SEN, disabled, women ….

People do put their children at risk when they have multiple choices - none of which is risky as boat journey.

Ditto

This place is like the "This Is Fine" meme come to life. A containment board for people who fundamentally can't and don't want to confront reality.

The reality is that the UK is going bankrupt. Debt has surpassed 100% of GDP. We import 50% of our food. We have one of the largest trade deficits in the world. We have the most expensive energy in the world. We'll soon be spending more on debt interest payments than the NHS and armed forces.

Before someone says "But US debt" - totally different. They have the world's reserve currency, energy independence, a far more diverse economy, and the world's largest companies.

That's before you get to our grave social problems, such as the breakdown of law and order and the social contract; the growth of sectarian politics; alternative religious legal systems and courts springing up and the police ceding control to 'community leaders'.

We're in an absolute hole, but these people prefer sanctimony to a functioning economy and society.

No country on earth would look at present day UK and seek to emulate it, on basically anything.

What exactly have the refugees done to wreck the hotel?

Have you ever been to one that's been turned over to them? I have a family members who works in health care and has; she said the state of it was appalling. They have no appreciation at all.

I’m seeing more and more of these vile posts on social media; leave them to die, bomb them (relating to Gaza) etc. Just because their skin is a different colour.

The empathy levels are bordering on those of a psychopath and it’s very upsetting to read.

Yes, two.

The one unaffected was a hostel run and maintained by the owners. The worst one was a hotel where the management sacked the staff and havent maintained it despite full capacity and a hefty sum from the government.

What are the migrants doing that is turning the "hotels" into hovels?

Caused damage, left rubbish everywhere etc
However, even IF you've been fortunate enough to find one that they haven't done this to - that's public money being spent on them which should not be getting and that the UK cannot afford.