Asylum seekers

It's well worth diving into this twitter thread by Sam Friedman. Sam was an advisor in the DfE during the tory/Libs coalition (alongside one D. Cummings). He is now, I think, a freelance journalist and commentator. He is mostly interested in education, but...

Here's the start of his thread:

Researching a long piece on aslyum seekers and I had not realised quite how borked our processing system it is. It's jaw dropping - it's literally run via manual data entry on excel spreadsheets that keep crashing.
Like so many policy problems in Britain it comes down to massive underinvestment in systems and capacity.
Turnover of aslyum caseworkers in 2021/22 was 40%! What a mess.
I think I've been somewhat cushioned from the sheer extent of British state failure by mostly focusing on education to date. Our school system has it's problems but basically works. I'm reading these immigration inspection reports open-mouthed at how bad it is.
And the more I look into the NHS the more horrified I am by that too. A lot of stuff is really badly broken.
This graph should be in every story about Manston and the cost of hotels for asylum seekers etc.... jfc.


•Graph posted above

Lots of people saying all this is deliberate. I don't think it is - it's massive incompetence and under-resourcing. The current crisis re: accommodation etc... is hardly doing the Tories any favours politically.

twitter.com/Samfr/status/1589945276995096576

I'd really recommend scrolling down and reading the comments, and other links posted by commenters.

So how does this work then?

The Albanians pay a fortune to smugglers when they could easily, and without the worry of being 'illegal', carry out their nefarious criminal activities in any EU country. But they'd rather pay the money, risk the crossing, and have to keep their heads down even when just walking about not causing trouble. They are unable also to access any public services.

They arrive here, are picked up by the border forces but then what - they escape?

Sorry Maudi it may be obvious to you but if you want anyone to agree with you you'll have to explain.

21:52Petera
Why do you think they are paying the smuggling gangs then? They are economic migrants gaming the system and if you can't see that Google/YouTube is your friend lots of videos and information on there.

Maudi

21:52Petera
Why do you think they are paying the smuggling gangs then? They are economic migrants gaming the system and if you can't see that Google/YouTube is your friend lots of videos and information on there.

You made the accusation Maudi, I'd like you to be my friend.

Haha my Mum warned me about people like you 😊

So Maudi =- I am really trying to understand.
So, there are these criminal Gangs (all of them from that lower populated country - Albania, who manage to get by various, difficult means to the EU. They then pay other criminal gangs (are these also Albanian? do they each pay each other?) to get a dangerous place on a small dinghy which may, or may not get them alive to the UK, - the country in the EU which takes the smallest number ( percent of population) of refugees, and has one of the worst benefit and pension system - so that they can continue their illegal (exactly what) activities here.

Have I got that all exact???

What's not to understand its blatantly obvious what's happening. Google Albanian gangs and people smuggling to the UK etc and all will be revealed to you.

Maudi

What's not to understand its blatantly obvious what's happening. Google Albanian gangs and people smuggling to the UK etc and all will be revealed to you.

By a man in in a tinfoil hat with no girlfriend posting from his mother's spare bedroom.

Come on Maudi, just humour us and post the logic.

Oh Maudi you are so trusting!!!! Sadly, Google and u-tube is not usually very accurate about many things. Particularly propoganda.

Do not be so niaive - It was people being so trusting - and believing what they were being that led to them voting to Leave the EU - and - for many of them, thereby commencing their own downward spiral with regards to jobs, housing, standard of living et.c

Petera
Albania is the 7th globally for cannabis cultivation and distribution.
Exporting their crop involves some risk.
Why not come to a country where they can take over ( from the Vietnamese) who had already set up the empty houses/ offices. Add to that, cuckooing.

They have done the maths and it works.
Added to that they know that because of our severely depleted police force the chance of getting caught are not high.

So if this drug was not illegal, and perhaps even taxed then it would rather prevent all this illegal activity.

Franbern

So if this drug was not illegal, and perhaps even taxed then it would rather prevent all this illegal activity.

Sorry but I am 100% against the legalisation of cannabis or any drugs.

I agree with GrannyGravy. Cannabis should never be made legal in the UK. It has been shown to be very harmful, particularly with regard to mental health. It does have some medicinal qualities but if it was to be used as a treatment, it needs to be closely monitored by a doctor. It should never be legalised for recreational use.

The cannabis being sold today is a completely different animal to what was used in the 60s/70s. The strain now ( and has been for some years) is highly addictive.

Katie59

Maudi

Why don't they apply for Visas if we require what they have to offer re qualifications and they have a firm offer of a job they can apply legally and get all the paperwork and work and help their families. Simples.

Some nations have a working visa system for needed skills, the UK does not, we do have limited recruitment programmes, for nurses and farm workers, maybe other skills. Covid interrupted that recruitment leading to much of the shortage today.

we do have a skills shortage visa system it's on the gov.uk website

I think cannabis should be legalised in order to make it safe. It isn;t safe in its current form illegally, it's all skunk and it is ruining bright young people's lives if they engage with that kind of behaviour - which lots of young people do because they are young and carefree

JaneJudge, I’d be inclined to agree with you but, smoking cannabis in itself is damaging to lungs and heart function, before we factor in the damage to mental health.
I acknowledge the added factor of gangsters running the supply network.
It’s on the complex list for me

My step daughter is payroll manger on a farm in Kent. No problems at all getting overseas workers with visas.

I understand everything is a complex issue

I know Jane J, too many things on the ‘too hard’ list

The Skilled Worker scheme we do have currently allows highly skilled workers, scientists, doctors, engineers and managers to come to the UK on a temporary visa.
Usually a worker would be sponsored by an employer, eg:- BMW bringing in a manager from Germany, it’s not an easy way for individuals to come to UK.
Probably a lot more skilled workers are leaving than are coming into the UK

MerylStreep

My step daughter is payroll manger on a farm in Kent. No problems at all getting overseas workers with visas.

The vegetable farms in this area seem to have enough agency workers in the fields, dairy farmers are finding it hard to find milkers this year, skilled mechanics and welders difficult too.

Anything that can only be obtained by illegal means, is more liklely to be something houng people want to use. Legalise and control cannabis, take away the romance and mystique and usage will probably drop.

It always amazes me that tobacco - high addictive, highly dangerous, is not illegal, but cannabis is.

Does anyone have actual figures which show that occasional use of cannabis leads onto serious mental health problems. Alcohol is used by many people as a means of relaxation - quite legally - in fact so encouraged. Should think this, like tobacco, is far more dangerous. However the attempt in the 1930's to ban this ws so totally unsuccessfl and just led to criminal gangs providing it, bootlegging of dangerous home made stuff etc. etc. Surely, we should learn from that and legalise cannabis.

Cannabis can be taken in other ways than smoking it.

Oh Maudi you are so trusting!!!! Sadly, Google and u-tube is not usually very accurate about many things. Particularly propoganda.

I find the above statement strange. I don't post very often - more of a lurker but I have often read GN's advising the use of Google and often citing this search engine as a reliable source of information.

surfsup

Oh Maudi you are so trusting!!!! Sadly, Google and u-tube is not usually very accurate about many things. Particularly propoganda.

I find the above statement strange. I don't post very often - more of a lurker but I have often read GN's advising the use of Google and often citing this search engine as a reliable source of information.

Google (or other search engines) are a great source of information, but it is up to the user to apply some critical thinking to the information that is available. Which means looking at who is posting the information, their reasons for posting it, their qualifications for imparting information, crosschecking data etc. etc.

Navigating the amount of information available is problematic, but there is so much out there that it is much easier to become better informed than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

Oh Maudi you are so trusting!!!! Sadly, Google and u-tube is not usually very accurate about many things. Particularly propoganda.

I find the above statement strange. I don't post very often - more of a lurker but I have often read GN's advising the use of Google and often citing this search engine as a reliable source of information.

I think you’ll find it’s informative and trustworthy when some are attempting to prove a point and dismissed as rubbish and propaganda when they’re trying to dismiss someone else’s point!