Two Questions

Thanks Babs03 Nice to hear from someone else who has actually met and worked with A.S.

eazybee

^I’m getting so tired of immigrants being blamed for our country’s state of affairs!^

Immigrants are not being blamed for our country's state of affairs. The number of immigrants arriving, legal and illegal, is one of the huge problems facing this country, and some of Europe, at this time.

Yes I know.
Even when I acknowledge that the previous governments, (including that of Tony Blair who opened the floodgates to immigration from the EU) are responsible for not managing the situation well, or not processing immigrants and asylum seekers promptly, the fact is that existing problems of housing, health, education and poverty, although not caused by migrants, asylum seekers et al, are exacerbated here and elsewhere by the arrival of yet more people.

Accusing people you don’t know, and whose personal circumstances you don’t know, of being uncaring when they express concern about this seems to be the latest thing to do for a certain demographic.

Let’s focus instead on tracking what the LP are doing/ will do to improve the situation.

Babs03

biglouis

It us oldies who are clogging up the system and, as discussed in the thread about prescriptions, are using the most medicines

It is "us oldies" who have paid into the system for decades. Whereas people who arrived yesterday were already in debt to the Britich taxpayer for the money, time and effort that it cost to fish them out of the sea, process and house them. Rather than "allowing" them to work we should require them to earn their keep from day one. There are crops to be picked, beaches and rivers to clean up and rubbish to be recycled. Let them prove their good intentions before granting them right to remain.

Legally AS are not granted a work visa until they have been processed, as someone who worked with them I know that the majority are desperate to work, also we give out study visas more easily than work visas so many pretend they are coming to study when they really want to work. It can take years to process an AS during which time many get work on the black market, paid a pittance to work long hours. Otherwise all they get are food vouchers or £30 a week.
The whole process is not fit for purpose, previous governments realised this but did nothing about it, hopefully this government will do more.
The vast majority who are successfully processed do go on to work hard, many doing more than one job, and contribute to this country in the way you mentioned.
My DH came over to the UK in the early 1970s, he worked jobs that many others wouldn’t countenance, studied in his spare time to become a teacher and finally made the grade. He worked as a teacher for over 30 years, retiring 8 years ago, did a brief stint as a councillor and worked as a football coach for many years with disadvantaged kids. I think he repaid his debt. And he isn’t alone, we know many others who did the same.
To suggest they are all money grabbing wasters who should be grateful for being fished out of the sea is as incorrect as it is obscene.
Some escaping wars or cruel regimes are actually educated and hard working people who had to leave everything behind.

Perfectly said! Thank you Babs 💕

Offered a room to a veteran? No!
One lives with me.
Honestly, they're not that bad!

Dinahmo

People complain about asylum seekers being a cause of delays in the health system. But they are usually young and in general don't need much health care. It us oldies who are clogging up the system and, as discussed in the thread about prescriptions, are using the most medicines.

For which we have paid in for, for many years. Many of us still have to pay too. So is it ok if we use our NHS.

Allira

^Offered a room to a veteran? No!^
One lives with me.
Honestly, they're not that bad!

😂😂😂

I’m sorry but I’ve seen on many different social media sites m, including this one, and sadly heard in person migrants being blamed for shedloads of stuff across the years! They’ve even been blamed for “lowering house prices” as well as “stealing jobs because they accept lower pay” “clogging up our schools/dentist/hospitals” All on this site.

Namsnanny

^Have you lost a family member to a knife attack, or nursed a child who suffered one Cossy?^

Think my question is daft or ineffectual?

So was yours.

My real question to you is why do you think people don't consider this topic as deeply as I presume you do?

I don't blame those who come here legally or otherwise.

I blame our gov., either party (name your poison).
For being enamored with one world government, and forcing the populous to go along with it.

And yes I have close links with families born elsewhere.

I also volunteered for a charity which helped new families and their children get settled here.

I still think too many people is just too many people.

I don’t think your question is either daft or ineffectual. I do think it has little relevance to mine, though I feel heartbroken for anyone who’s lost a child or had to nurse a child through a serious assault.

Baggs

Consider me flattered, Nams 😂

One of your sentences particularly resonated with me: "My real question to you is why do you think people don't consider this topic as deeply as I presume you do?"
The apparent assumptions in the OP are unfairly negative towards other thinking people who do care about genuine asylum seekers.

However, my questions are not aimed at those who’ve shown compassion on here, and there are many here, but there are also some on here who do lack empathy and have made it very plain and have made statements such as “you like them, you give a room in your house”

Book: Against Empathy by Paul Bloom.

Review
We think of empathy - the ability to feel the suffering of others for ourselves - as the ultimate source of all good behaviour. But while it inspires care and protection in personal relationships, it has the opposite effect in the wider world. As the latest research in psychology and neuroscience shows, we feel empathy most for those we find attractive and who seem similar to us and not at all for those who are different, distant or anonymous. Empathy therefore biases us in favour of individuals we know while numbing us to the plight of thousands. Guiding us expertly through the experiments, case studies and arguments on all sides, Paul Bloom ultimately shows that some of our worst decisions - in charity, child-raising, criminal justice, climate change and war - are motivated by this wolf in sheep's clothing.

You might find this book interesting and informative, Cossy. I did.

In short, Bloom is saying - rightly in my view - that empathy is over-rated as a useful emotion.

Which is not to say it’s not useful at times. But it might not be the most useful response to a massive rate^ of influx^ of migrants.

Britain isn’t the only European country to be discovering this right now.

rate of influx should be italicised above