More immigrants crossing the Channel

I would suspect that most of us are children of migrants way way back .
Thank goodness for the caring attitude of some posters. I despair about the callous posts of others,probably prompted by the right wing press.Please read the writing ""first of all they came for ..." by Martin Niermoller and you may see how dangerous your attitudes are.
I do agree with biba 70 .,geekesse, Maisie Dand craftyone and ask some of the others to stop, sit down and think what would you do ?

Nothing much to do with the present situation but some of you might find this a thought provoking story.

It begins...

Short thread on events of 7 March 1991, when the 90,000 people of Brindisi woke up to find 25,000 Albanians roaming the streets of their town. For perspective, that's roughly equivalent to 25k people suddenly landing in Hastings...

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1292491110821109762.html

MaizieD
I'm fully aware of what you can and can't do in a boat. I first sailed to Dunkirk in a private yacht when I was 17. I've lost count of the amount of times I've crossed the channel since ( in private boats)

MerylStreep

MaizieD
I'm fully aware of what you can and can't do in a boat. I first sailed to Dunkirk in a private yacht when I was 17. I've lost count of the amount of times I've crossed the channel since ( in private boats)

So you know that the MP you referred to was talking a load of rubbish, then?

I wonder why you bothered to quote it...

Varian and weren`t your relatives and friends lucky? they had a choice, they chose to get the qualifications needed and they chose their new country. What if you had been born in a country that did not allow you the choice, what exactly would you have done? Sat under a tree and sifted through sand for an insect to eat or perhaps you might have been one of the brave people with aspirations. I would have been in the latter group, no question. Not to forget that we all get back what we give out during our relatively short lives. it is called karma

The image one or two are painting on here is of dirt-poor migrants, but those attempting to coming here in small boats are anything but.

They have paid thousands to the criminal people smugglers for a start.

Why don’t they use that money to gain qualifications which would then make them an attractive proposition for a future elsewhere?

What I find peculiar is that many posters agree that other countries often manage things better than we do. Why then do they think we will be better off on our own? Let's cut ourselves off from our closest neighbours and trading partners and go it alone. Will there suddenly be a eureka moment: ”Now we have claimed back control and can do things properly”. We certainly won't be able to blame others for our failures.

JenniferEccles You said ‘Why don’t they use that money to gain qualifications which would then make them an attractive proposition for a future elsewhere?’

As I explained before, the whole family scrapes together money to pay the cost. They take out extortionate loans and mortgage homes in the hope that just one person can escape. It’s not personal wealth at all.

Such comments, JenniferEccles- show a degree of ignorance which is hard to read, and understand.

Where do you get an education and qualifications in war torn countries where people have lost everything? Please. Education and qualifications are what people are coming for, in a vast majority of cases.

Why don’t they use that money to gain qualifications which would then make them an attractive proposition for a future elsewhere?

What makes you think that they are unqualified, JE?

There are so many strange assumptions being made about these poor people.

Is it a known fact that they are coming for qualifications and education? I’m really not sure. I’m also not sure that in the current pandemic and economic downturn we can provide for an influx of illegal immigrants.

I’m also not sure that in the current pandemic and economic downturn we can provide for an influx of illegal immigrants.

Are we the only country experiencing a pandemic and economic downturn?

Ive watched Life on Mars recently, for the first time. For anyone who missed it when it first showed (or avoided it as I did), the plot involves a police officer from 2010 who is in a coma and wakes up in 1973. He's shocked by the racism and ignorance. One episode involves racism,NF directed at Ugandan Asians. Racist attitudes shared by many on the CID team.
Reading some of the comments on this thread had me wondering if I'd woken up 40 years ago

they are coming for a future- one that they know they can't have back home- in war torn regions. Education, qualifications are part of that future.

And yes, as Maizie says, many already had such qualifications- and have to eventually accept work that is way below their level of education. Doctors, lawywers, pharmacist, uni professors - working as waiters and cleaners or whatever they can get- eventually.

You are assuming they all come from war-torn countries which then brings us back to the question of why they would travel through various safe European countries just to reach here?

These illegal immigrants come from a variety of countries some of which are not war-torn.

They are safe in France aren’t they but we are well known as a soft touch, and of course word gets back from those who have already got here.

I do hope that the increase of these migrants this summer will focus minds on how to stop the problem.

You are assuming they all come from war-torn countries which then brings us back to the question of why they would travel through various safe European countries just to reach here?

That question has been answered several times on both the threads dealing with this. Suggest you look back.

It is not because they expect to get £300 a week in benefits and a 5 bedroom house...

Given the UK has been paying France for increased security at ports, you'd thing they should do more. But then thats the French for you isn't it! Please themselves at pretty much everything.

All they ever want is for the UK to stump up more cash. Tbh I don't know why Brits even holiday over there. They don't deserve our cash.

There was a suggestion this morning that a Covid mothballed cruise liner could temporarily be used as an offshore retention centre.
Medical aid and Asylum assistance could be offered on board and isolation enforced.
Why not use the liners presently sitting berthed near Portsmouth?

Prison hulks, eh?

Blame the French eh? We obviously not paying enough for all the increased security, police, barriers , checks, patrols, rubbish collection and everything else that goes with trying to manage this situation. The mayor of Calais was very graphic about what his town has had to put up with. The fact that the U.K. have been so lax and now want others to do their dirty work - take control of our borders? We are now expecting the French to control our borders. I definitely wouldn’t boycott France it’s a lovely country and feel ashamed that the Brits are so arrogant about this,

Wow Cupafull that's a very racist remark! I despair at some of the comments on this thread, such callous and uncaring remarks. Talk about 'I'm alright Jack' ?

agreed, it should be used for all the Brits who have chosen to go abroad on hols - and quarantine them there for at least 2 weeks.

(not !!!)

Urmstongran

In the Daily Telegraph this morning -

“A better place to start understanding the problem is our uniquely open economy and society. Unlike most European countries, we have no system of mandatory identity cards. We have universal public services that are free at the point of use and rarely require users to prove they are legally resident here.

We have a significant black economy, in which illegal immigrants can work – often exploited by criminal bosses – without fear of identification and deportation. And we have a remarkably open formal economy, too. Illegal immigrants are often able to find work in legitimate businesses, and are sometimes even issued with National Insurance numbers.

Then there is Britain’s Byzantine immigration system and our easily abused human rights laws. The usual way of claiming asylum is when the claimant is already in Britain. But this encourages many to take dangerous and illegal journeys to get here. And instead of helping those with the greatest need, it means we reward the strongest and wealthiest: two thirds of asylum seekers in Britain are men and most are in their twenties.

This is well understood by the organised criminals who smuggle people across borders and make their profits from a grim trade in human beings.”

All true, and has been a knotty problem for years, and will continue to be so until any government has the will to change things.

Countries don't have to fight. Why are they so war torn? If all the fit young men from eg Eritrea decamp and take all their families' money with them things will never improve. We'll be sending money to 'poor children in Africa', like we seem to have been doing all my life, till Kingdom come.
Stepping back from this never ending plastering over cracks, what can be done to make countries get a grip and stop fighting and brutalising each other and themselves? A massive question.

Glad the Torygraph is saying what others have been saying for years. The idea of ID cards was shouted down as nanny state by Tories, and many of the local authority inspectors who would check out work places have been axed by austerity. We need to get a grip even if it’s unpopular with the tax dodging elite who bankroll this government.