Asylum seekers in small boats.

[randomer]

What is so dreadful about France that somebody would put unaccompanied children in a dingy and send them to England? I just can't begin to imagine what is going on. Is it a brutal regime in other European countries?

I should add that this isn't some racist rant. I understand that England and English is a draw for many, they may have relatives here and so on.

@woodhill

I think we do a lot already and agree that we also give a lot in foreign aid

Just call it reparations.

I think if people including children are drowning in our waters we can do more.

The Uk’s main arms deals go to United States of America, India, France, Germany, Italy, Oman, South Africa, Turkey, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia respectively.

That's interesting, thanks for posting. I wonder how the list would change if it was UK arms dealers biggest customers based on population size of economy.

US is always going to top lists as they're massive. But say the Congo, may actually buy just as many arms of based on their population size or ecenomic size.

Personally I think the UK should decide what they want to be. The bad guys selling wepons and going to war. Or the good guys helping the refugees. Its seems kinda hypocritical to bomb and country and then provide humanitarian relief.

Personally I think the UK should decide what they want to be. The bad guys selling wepons and going to war. Or the good guys helping the refugees. Its seems kinda hypocritical to bomb and country and then provide humanitarian relief.

not if you can skim the funds both ways. Seems a brilliant business strategy.

Revolting

Just call it reparations

I know you’re being facetious but you know foreign aid is horrible and never gets to the right people as it usually ends up in the hands of the very people destroying the country.

Foreign aid can be worse than useless.

you know foreign aid is horrible
of course, it's a means to keep the country in servitude whilst polishing our halo's
win-win for us
lose-lose for them
another 'brilliant business strategy'

Most LDCs buy their arms from China because they are far cheaper than the western version, and do the job equally as effectively.

The Rwandan genocide, for example, was carried out with Chinese machetes, AK-47s and $3 grenades. (Romeo Dallaire - "Shake Hands With the Devil".)

Time these people sorted their own shit out. Sick of westerners blaming themselves on their behalf.

And no, I don't think they should be allowed in.

How can you possibly take no responsibility for the gulf war.

I personally take no responsibility for either Gulf War.

The first was superficially at least a response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; the second an obvious pretext for Halliburton et al. to get their hands on Iraqi oil that looked like a really bad idea then, and has since proven more dire than the worst expectations. The UK had an ostensibly anti-war Labour Government that still went ahead even in the face of huge domestic opposition.

What can you do? I try not to drive a car and avoid flying, but beyond that it's difficult.

Furthermore, it really isn't the fault of people in the UK that regimes in MENA in general tend to be inherently unstable with strongmen that last 20- 30 years on average, to be overthrown and replaced with somebody similar to what they already had - with the resulting civil chaos. Although the UK does periodically support/oppose said strongmen.

I personally take no responsibility

Time these people sorted their own shit out.

So they are responsible for their leaders but you are not responsible for yours? How convenient.

with strongmen that last 20- 30 years on average, to be overthrown and replaced with somebody similar
Sadam wasn’t overthrown and replaced by his people, nor was he replaced by someone similar. We removed him and killed him and occupied the country.

A lot of people in the UK didn't want the war with Saddam,it destabilised the region but Tony Blair was determined to go in

The mass immigration doesn't affect wealthy people like him

The refugees are ordinary people.

So they are responsible for their leaders but you are not responsible for yours? How convenient

Presumably she stayed and fought against her government‘s decision. Young men, especially, should stay and try to make things better. We should take in the vulnerable women, families with young children and elderly. They are much more vulnerable. I’m tired of seeing boats of healthy young men, honestly.

Few would complain about taking in Yazidi girls or the elderly. Especially from the camps.

Sadam wasn’t overthrown and replaced by his people, nor was he replaced by someone similar. We removed him and killed him and occupied the country

Saddam was a US stooge in the first place. He obviously had problems with the Shite majority and the Kurd minority (Saddam himself is a Sunni minority) so it would always have been an unstable regime. Remember that he was executed by his own countrymen. Iraq is sadly very divided among sectarian lines and Western powers do augment things, but it is important to keep in mind those tensions are already there and are not caused by Western interference.

It would not be happy families if no Westerners has ever turned up.

This is another thing I find tiresome—Westerners always overestimate their ability to influence and impact the world both in the positive and negative sense. It’s a lot bigger than a puny little island, sorry.

I’m not sure you really have any understanding of the region if you believe western interference is irrelevant.

@Itisbetter

I’m not sure you really have any understanding of the region if you believe western interference is irrelevant.

Indeed. Nor understanding of the scale of the refugee crisis across the globe. Nor any concept that we as individuals are living the good life by virtue of where we were born. Nor the notion that lives really do matter and the way we treat the most vulnerable says more about us than them. The misconception about the U.K. being generous or it is better to simply pop to a refugee camp to pick out a few sweet little girls and grannies. There are tiny numbers arriving from the slum that is Sangatte. Most are arriving legally even if their journey is treacherous.

I’m not sure you really have any understanding of the region if you believe western interference is irrelevant

Lmao no understanding of the very region I’m living in. Okay. Nice display of British arrogance here.

This is such a problem, with no nuanced understanding of regional problems and always overestimating their own influence.

Nor any concept that we as individuals are living the good life by virtue of where we were born

You may see the results of your country’s foolishness very soon. And I think you and your descendants need to stay put and fix it.

The misconception about the U.K. being generous or it is better to simply pop to a refugee camp to pick out a few sweet little girls and grannies

Vile. Those girls have been through more than you can ever imagine. How dare you condense it down into ‘sweet little girls’? They are far more deserving of resettlement than those young men pushing ahead of everyone else with the money to pay traffickers.

It does seem unfair to me that a woman or someone not able to make the journey, has to stay put in a horrible camp in Turkey or wherever, essentially living in limbo. But a fit young man who can travel across Europe gets resettlement and a new life.

But then, if we're just an insignificant little island why do we have to do anything, why can't we just concentrate on our own little island and leave the rest of the world to it.

But then, if we're just an insignificant little island why do we have to do anything, why can't we just concentrate on our own little island and leave the rest of the world to it

It is true that Britain’s ability to make an influence (positive or negative) is limited and has been for quite some time, but I think there’s nothing wrong with taking an agreed upon amount of verified refugees from the camps with background checks as a humanitarian gesture.

It will do nothing to solve the bigger problem, but is massively beneficial to the individual which is why I’m supportive of a rigid programme of intakes iyswim

We seem to agree above that foreign aid does not go well. We spend billions every year and due to CV19 are reducing it slightly ]www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53508933 May be we need to spend less of it abroad and more of it saving lives in the Channel.

@MangoFeverDream

Nor any concept that we as individuals are living the good life by virtue of where we were born

You may see the results of your country’s foolishness very soon. And I think you and your descendants need to stay put and fix it.

The misconception about the U.K. being generous or it is better to simply pop to a refugee camp to pick out a few sweet little girls and grannies

Vile. Those girls have been through more than you can ever imagine. How dare you condense it down into ‘sweet little girls’? They are far more deserving of resettlement than those young men pushing ahead of everyone else with the money to pay traffickers.

I think we will indeed see the catastrophe that our governments corruption will reap. Whether I stay put or not entirely depends on whether I believe we can have a better life elsewhere. Indeed I am strongly aligned to the refugees in that if I needed to seek a better life in a different country, I would. The current government is not acting in my name.

The ‘sweet little girls’ was intended as a representation of the naive views of the many who believe the people coming across from France are all fit healthy young men, mainly criminals (of course) who just want to fleece the U.K. benefits system. Many suggest getting ‘proper refugees’ from camps. That is an incredibly naive and ill informed view. Refugee camps are full of all humanity just as Sangatte is.
The people coming across are asylum seekers entering legally.

How on earth could anyone be expected to prove they were ‘genuine refugees’ (whatever that means)? How would you separate the ‘genuine refugees’ from those wicked people who simply fancied a holiday in a refugee camp?

The idea that a woman died with her starving baby beside her in one of the riches countries on earth is beyond abhorrent.

The idea that those rejecting asylum seekers celebrate Christmas and Easter and suggest we are a Christian nation beggars belief. Farage puppets, to a person.

This video by save the children really shows that refugees are just like us, that only by luck that we don’t live in a war torn country. The video shows a British school girls, happily loving live and the slow impact of a war leading them to have to flee.

Our Insignificant Little Island pushed its nose into other places and helped itself.

Gleaned from connections with Border Force staff.....

Other countries have ID cards. Yes, there's the issue of potential forgery but it would be a good starting point. The UK is held to ransom over the issue by the liberal human rights objectors to everyone needing to have an ID.

Other countries, whatever anecdotal/headline evidence suggests, are NOT as tolerant as the UK.

Other countries pay lip service to the law (domestic and international) if it suits them regarding immigrants. The UK doesn't and has more watch-dogs to ensure that it doesn't.

English being a second language in so many countries.