I might vote Tory but that doesn't make me a bad person

Quite a few of the people rescued from boats have just said in interviews I've seen that they want to move to Europe for a better life. No fears mentioned about escaping from dangerous situations at home:they just fancy moving here. I suppose that makes them economic migrants as opposed to refugees? There are countries that operate strict immigration codes eg green card system for USA and Australia has strict rules for who can and can't just move there. I think these economic migrants are seriously affecting our perceptions of refugees in real need of help.

Perhaps they're afraid to speak out about what really motivated them jane.
You'd have to be pretty desperate to risk your life like that, wouldn't you?

Perhaps young men might be willing to run the risk of dying a horrible death on the high seas but I doubt that women, many of whom have children with them, would take such a risk unless they felt they had no choice.

Muslim and, I think, Christian people leaving Myanmar are definitely being persecuted by the Buddhist majority.

Or stupid? Duped by unscrupulous people traffickers? Or both? Not meaning to be hard but I have been very upset by the poor Serbians and those escaping dangerous countries. Seem to have seen some people off these boats quite cheerfully saying they're here because they want to be not have to be. Very hard for governments to sort out but they will have to

I was referring to Mediterranean boat people. Re Myanmar , I always find it so hard to believe Buddhists being so mean.

poor Serbians
Do you mean Syrians, Jane10?

I cannot believe what is happening with the Myanmar refugees. Nowhere seems willing to take them.

Yes sorry -predictive text on my phone.

Oh, OK, just wasn't sure about the term 'poor Serbians'

jane10 I think to call people who are trying to get away from violence and poverty "stupid" is not very nice. How fortunate we are to live in a country where we are not surrounded by danger and living in fear of the warring factions and their bombs.

Throughout history the west has, for its own ends, interfered in and exploited other parts of the world. The invasion of Iraq and Libya was yet another example of our interference and has been accepted by most commentators to be the root cause of the current turmoil. Since the west have contributed significantly to the problem, they need to start contributing significantly to the solution.

And now I read today that IS fighters are being smuggled into Europe on these boats mixed in with other migrants. What a headache for governments: trying to work out who are the poor souls who need help, who just fancy moving to Europe and who is positively dangerous! I don't suppose people know when paying upfront exactly how bad the boats are or how difficult the crossing might be. I'm all for helping those in need but think that there must be other, better solutions to this dangerous trade. Its a business for some.

I'm following your argument, jane10 and agreeing with it. The problem isn't a simple one.

I agree too Jane10.

I was in Calais yesterday and was horrified by the numbers of people swarming around the tunnel approaches, some of the women were carrying babies I pray that they were not smuggling them into lorries. Young men were loitering in the centre of the road causing traffic to stop, I worried they were going to get knocked down but DH thought it was to get the lorries to slow down.

www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2015/05/21/is-this-the-most-inane-law-of-all-time-cameron-promises-to-m

Will not need to worry about illegal immigrants, because Cameron has said he will make a law to make illegal immigrants illegal!

www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean?nolanguage=en+-+t-9087

nymag.com/news/features/money-brain-2012-7/

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ll6y1
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31761576