Tricky one this.

On the one hand nobody wants to see people that desperate to leave there own country that they get on some dodgy tub, that all likelihood will sink in the merest of sea breezes.

On the other hand to suggest this countries (and many others in Europe) should pick up the slack is also nonsense, in Britain for Example public services are at breaking point, the state pension is all but gone, the NHS is on its knees, the MOD, Police, Fire, Ambulance have all seen massive cuts especially the MOD with over 20,000 redundancies. We are simply not in a position to take on more responsibilities. Look at it this way, if someone asks you to lend them £20 and you have it to give, and they really need it, you (I would hope ) lend it to them, however if you didn’t have it you would say, sorry mate I just don’t have it. As hard as it is to turn someone down in need if you don’t have it, you just don’t have it. For me charity begins at home, and while young homeless girls are being pimped out by Asian and Polish gangs, ex soliders lie in the street cold and hungry lives shattered through PTSD, then until our own house is in order it would be suicidal to open the flood gates.

The dangerous thing is, immigration is still pretty much unchecked, a check at Lunar House in Croydon on a Monday morning will confirm that one. And while it is perceived to be so, stark raving loonies like Farage will gather momentum until boom UKIP become the second biggest party to the Tories, or worse get elected, then we are all in the s***.

I just don't see how allowing free passage into Britain is going to help. Instead of being skint, hungry and homeless, in (name a country) they will be the same over here, but will arrive hand out for welfare etc etc .

I don't know the answer, but mass immigration to the UK and Europe is not it.

"It's not the bullet that's got my name on it that concerns me; it's all them other ones flyin' around marked 'To Whom It May Concern.'"

I don't think anyone is actually saying that we should just take everyone in, or a share of them, but that maybe we shouldn't avoid helping to fund search as rescue operations in the area, and just letting people drown.

Some of them will of course be genuine asylum cases, in which case we do have a legal and international obligation to take those people in, and provide asylum.

In terms of 'breaking point', maybe rather than keep cutting spending on public services, we could try revolutionary ideas like raising taxation, rather than cutting taxation every election.

As for the PTSD soliders on the street, the problem lies with pointless arguments between the NHS and Military Medical over who's responsibility it is to cope for ex-service men (basically both sides are trying to avoid responsibility due to costs).

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

The notion of an infrastructure must be just a dim and fading memory

Lend me a Tenor

31 May to 3 June 2017

John McIntosh Arts Centre
London Oratory School
SW6 1RX

with Superfly in the chorus
[Link]

Meanwhile 000s of people are dying.

Many on this thread seem to advocate just leaving them to it. Tough s*** kind of thing.

Sad.

The solution is multi faceted, but the immediate need is tools to save lives.

But hey ho, whats a few less black faces, I mean THEY don't give a s*** about us right?

My username has nothing to do with my religious beliefs

I think some on here haven't got the foggiest what it's like for those fleeing persecution and hardship. For many of these folk it's well worth the risks involved because of the very real threats back home.

What some need to understand is that these boatloads of people aren't doing it because they're desperate to get welfare help in Blighty, rather they're just desperate to get away from the brutal realities of daily life in some of the toughest places on the planet.

And I see signs of half remembered days, I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways

I'm sure many of them would love to given the chance.

Here in SA I work with many Africans from other nations and the consistent stories many of them tell about life in their homelands makes you realise just how desperate many of these folk are. The guys I know here aren't interested in getting to Europe, they just want a safe shelter somewhere where they won't be beaten, their homesteads won't be torched, their women won't be raped and their daughters won't be trafficked for the amusement of men. Doesn't seem like much to ask to me.

And I see signs of half remembered days, I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways