Can we discuss the migrant crisis in a sensible and humane way?

You really live in another world up there. Maybe you should try living in London or the south east for a few months to see how the other half live.

You mean where my DH's family live in Kent?

You and I are in different worlds, that's for sure.

volver

We have to experience of refugees in Scotland. We're totally out of touch and naïve.

www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk/

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/24/bute-scotland-syrian-refugees-asylum

So Bute offered refuge to 24 families from Syria and it's all worked out fine. They were screened and placed there, not just random single young men turning up on boats. You really live in another world up there. Maybe you should try living in London or the south east for a few months to see how the other half live.

Lucca

*misguided bleeding heart liberals*
Cannot believe I’m reading these words in 2022.

You are reading it, some of us believe in upholding the law of the land

to no experience

We have to experience of refugees in Scotland. We're totally out of touch and naïve.

www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk/

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/24/bute-scotland-syrian-refugees-asylum

volver

GrannyGravy13

volver you have been on the N & P threads long enough to have read the extremely good and informative posts by MaizieD regarding taxation and government spending.

Seriously though, why do we bother paying taxes?

Paying taxes is seen as one of the things that mark us out a good citizens of the UK. If the asylum seekers want to pay taxes and be good citizens, why shouldn't they?

We pay taxes so that there isn't too much money circulating in the economy and causing inflation.

We could also use taxation to promote more equality,

You should read up on Modern Monetary Theory

One thing that is absolutely certain is that government spends before it taxes...

www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/bartlett_public_purpose/files/the_self-financing_state_an_institutional_analysis_of_government_expenditure_revenue_collection_and_debt_issuance_operations_in_the_united_kingdom.pdf

I don't usually respond to threads re illegal migrants, but I have to say I am absolutely astonished at the some of the totally out of touch and naive comments being made.
Here in Kent, we have been dealing with this massive problem for at least ten years, at great expense to KCC. It is only quite recently that the rest of the UK seem to have become aware of the situation!
Not all of the mainly young men, are picked up by Border Force. Many are arriving on beaches, and are not apprehended, so no accurate figure is known.
As for them speaking English, and that's the reason they arrive here, I'd like to know why NHS correspondence recently received by me, was also translated into at least 20 different African and Middle East languages!

I do get irritated. This is true. I have no patience for people who ignore the truth when it's written in a thread they are posting on.

Lucca

misguided bleeding heart liberals
Cannot believe I’m reading these words in 2022.

Katie59

We don’t have to loose our souls, we need more workers in the UK, they have reached their utopia, house migrants in hostels Give them work permits, those that complete 5 yrs have the chance to apply for citizenship.

Giving them work permits and allowing them to work and contribute to a growth in GDP sounds like a great idea!

Aveline

Ah. People have not understood the No1 rule of threads on GN - always agree with volver or she'll continue to browbeat others who have genuine concerns and are not all dreadful people. ?

Unjustified. She tries to point out facts and gets irritated when they are ignored and posters continue to use incorrect terms like “illegals”

Maudi

15:59growstuff

It wasn't irrelevant the NHS and doctors surgeries are under strain with all the extra economic migrants coming over in dinghies its pretty obvious.

No, it is not obvious at all. If you are capable of basic maths, you could work out that the number of "economic migrants" (whoever they might be) makes a tiny difference to the pressure on GP surgeries.

The reason GP surgeries are creaking at the seams is that they are underfunded and have been for some time. Meanwhile, GPs have been given more to do and their patient list is getting older and has more complex problems - and the government thinks the solution is to privatise GP surgeries, so a handful of shareholders are making a profit.

Actually I don't know why I bother ...

We don’t have to loose our souls, we need more workers in the UK, they have reached their utopia, house migrants in hostels Give them work permits, those that complete 5 yrs have the chance to apply for citizenship.

GrannyGravy13

Taxes do not fund spending

You're right, GG13. The government 'could' invest in the necessary infrastructure tomorrow.

In fact, any tory government since 2010 could have invested in housing, schools,hospitals, training etc. etc. but they landed us with completely unnecessary cuts to public spending because torys don't believe in state spending and because they said the economy was on the rocks and we needed to be like prudent housewives and cut back.

What is a surprise is, that, despite swingeing cuts to public spending, frozen wages etc. the tories managed to borrow record amounts of money over that period (far more than Labour ever did) and no-one seems to know what they spent it on... (it's a bit like that £37 billion on test and trace )

”I wonder if the fact that English is so readily available in terms of film and TV, that people have a little English and so wish to come here instead of perhaps, for example, Sweden. ”

Candelle, Sweden has been one of the most generous countries when it comes to refugees and has taken more than the UK.

I believe countries will have to co-operate and we will have to take our share. Mind you, I'm not sure we like to co-operate; we are not always good team players. We prefer to lord it over others. Only my opinion of course.

This thread started off so well to discuss a very important issue.
It is a shame.

I can assure you all that the vast majority of the British Public want migration controlled.

I would imagine that everybody in Britain wants immigration to be controlled. It's just that some of us aren't willing to lose our souls in how we do it.

What was asked for was a sensible and humane discussion. The answer to the original post then seems to be " No , we can't".
What a shame.

There may well be some misguided bleeding heart liberals that would throw the doors open to migrants but I can assure you all that the vast majority of the British Public want migration controlled.

No lass, I don't think I will.

Think about it.

Oh do stop it.

It's beneath you.

Ah. People have not understood the No1 rule of threads on GN - always agree with volver or she'll continue to browbeat others who have genuine concerns and are not all dreadful people. ?

Maudi

15:59growstuff

It wasn't irrelevant the NHS and doctors surgeries are under strain with all the extra economic migrants coming over in dinghies its pretty obvious.

Do you honestly, truly believe that the reason I can't get an appointment at my surgery is due to a dinghy full of asylum seekers arriving in Kent? Something is obvious, and it isn't this.

volver

There's another "sad". Another one for my spreadsheet.

well you might as well start a spreadsheet, I have started a bingo card of ill informed and oft repeated comments about migration. It keeps us out of bother