Too sad to talk about really

Sorry soutra, I had read that different

Thanks Jingle for the petition - signed

Differently, I though you were angry with me because you were not with me.
As my GS says "silly Pompa"

Glad you realise my was not directed at you Pompa.Very sorry this was unclear !

@ Soutra. Looking after GC, chaos here ATM, not thinking straight.

This is such a hellish situation all round. Of course its appalling all these boatloads of desperate people but I was reading about some of the Italian coastal towns. I can't imagine how our city would cope with the constant arrivals of these poor souls in such huge numbers. Think of the pressure on the infrastructure.
I'm trying to be strictly practical here. I reckon the poor Italians must be suffering and pretty fed up.
Rather than fire fighting and damage limitation that's going on we should be trying to think of how to prevent desperate people taking to sea in the first place. Absolutely no easy answers. This is the outcome of years of political ups and downs. International pressure on the oil rich North African countries might be a start. I suppose those countries are quite happy to export people not wanting to live there in the first place. Also some people seem to think or be told of how wonderful life is in Europe. You only have to look at films of the squatter camps in Calais to give that the lie. Sigh. Its a hard old world.

It is not only Italian coastal towns that are bearing the brunt of this influx of immigrants. Tiny Malta also has far more than we can cope with. It is a terrible situation all round and, tragically, the bodies of those who drowned are being brought here today.

Jane10 Well said.

Yes, Jane10 makes a good point.

I wonder what diplomatic efforts are being made with the oil rich African states? The whole country seems to be descending into chaos and war, with attacks on immigrants in South Africa increasing.

We visit Crete often in the spring time and in recent years, the small village we stay in have experienced migrants attempting to cross the Libyan sea being washed up on their shores. Of course, they do all they can to help the survivors but where will it end

A piece in the times today comments that there were many more boat people from Vietnam. I do think the Italians need more support from the EU.

Yes, I agree Stansgran. This is an international disaster and the UK was wrong to withdraw its support for the Italians.

signed. I truly dont know what the answer is, but I do know that we, as Europeans, geographically and politically, cannot leave Italy, Malta and Greece to pick up the horrendous financial and emotional cost of this. I read a very good description a few weeks ago of Ghaddafi and Sadam Hussein; they were described as ice that held everything together, now they have melted the countries have melted into a mess of tribal hatred and political vacuum. We melted the ice. I assume this is why the West is doing its best to ignore that other great block of ice in Syria, Bashar Al-Hassad.

I hope Tony Blair's putting some money towards this.

I know I'm shutting the door after the horse has bolted, and hindsight is a wonderful thing etc. how could we know this would happen? But then, we don't profess to be politicians.

jing don't shout at me - I do respect all children which is why I have money taken from my pension every month by Save The Children. I give as much as I can afford.

Little cockroach was meant as a term of endearment to try to mitigate others who describe these people in derogatory terms. It may be a bit cack- handed but I meant well.

With regard to what our country can do - well we have a choice we can turn our backs - or we can give an example to others and use some of the 2% overseas budget and emergency fund to try to sort the problem out. Giving them refugee passports would be a start and take them out of the traffickers hands. Deal with the traffickers in Europe who are waiting to pounce once the poor souls have landed and are trying to make a life where they can work in peace. No of course we can't sort the whole of Africa out no-one is suggesting we do but what I am suggesting is to show compassion, and love (or in your case DNA!) to a fellow human being.

Are the traffickers committing offences for which they can be prosecuted? I suspect no as they operate from Libya

iam they also are operating within Europe and have been doing so for years. So in effect the refugees are being handed from one set of traffickers to another and they try to get out of Southern Europe into Northern Europe

Well there's a starting point. A joint police campaign to catch all the traffickers and seriously deter others from taking up this despicable activity.

The Italians are talking about the need for the European countries to meet this week. We need the legality/criminality of this situation on the agenda and tackled internationally.

And BBC has news of yet another leaky boat laden with refugees, sinking in the Med and waiting for rescue.

The traffickers need to be stopped but the problem of these desperate people will remain.
The whole of the way foreign aid is administered is another thing that needs to be looked at.

The situation of these people must be just desperate to risk so much, as is the plight of the Syrian refugees in the camps (nearly 4 million so far and more than 11 million displaced).

I'm sorry whitewave.

Lilygran, the BBC news just reported the boat you mentioned sunk off the island of Rhodes.

I'm off to email my MP. I realise we're mid election, but the government needs to be actively involved in whatever European action is taken.

Who has the UK got at the Luxembourg talks today. Who is our foreign minister? Have we not got one because of the election?

Phillip Hammond was there - interviewed on lunchtime news about it, Jingle