I'm not talking about slavery there Stirling. 'We' are the nation, which you claim hold jurisdiction over all of us and thus the very idea of the nation is inherent in all of us as citizens.

'We' continue to sell arms, equipment and machinery to the Ethiopian government who are waging a war with Eritrea that's causing thousands to flee the country.

'We' continue to support regimes such as the Saudis, who continue to behead people at a faster rate than IS. We continue to do trade deals with countries like Kuwait and Qatar, despite atrocious human rights records. 'We' continue to think that bombing civilian areas in Syria and Iraq is a legitimate means of achieving peace and stability in the region. 'We' continue to flood the continent with arms that have been proven to fall in to the hands of IS, pirates in Somalia and several other war zones.

And yet it is also us who refuse to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions, allowing thousands to drown in the Mediterranean, thousands more to attempt life-risking journeys across the channel without providing assistance, instead taking in less asylum seekers than Germany, France, Italy or even Sweden.

Now what I'm sure you'll read in to this post, Stirling, is that I blame all the world's ills on our foreign policy. I don't. Global issues are incredibly complex and involve multiple causes, but to claim that we play no part in these is equally absurd, when the bombs and weapons in many parts of these areas bear British manufacturing information.

What I believe is that the brave, empathetic response would be to help other people in desperate need, and I think it is morally incumbent on us to do so considering the role we've played in these cases. Instead we continue to attempt to find further and further logistical reasons as to why we should turn a blind eye, despite the fact that there is more than enough brown belt land to build on which will house not only the asylum seekers in Calais, but our own homeless and thousands more. It is collective responsibility for us to not turn a blind eye, to help those in need and to show a bit of British courage and togetherness, that's why 'we' have to take responsibility.

If punk ever happened I'd be preaching the law, instead of listenin to Lydon lecture BBC4

Yeah but that works both ways, France, Norway, Sweeden etc have a smaller population (and the last two much greater restrictions in terms of infrastructure on location for housing).

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

True.....But I suppose essentially I feel every country should have say over who walks across their border.

Edited by Stirlingsays (27 Jul 2015 2.43pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Quote johnfirewall at 27 Jul 2015 2.33pm
swiveling.

In polite response to this.....No thanks.

You're not expecting to elicit any agreement on the vile nationalistic notion that we should look after 'our own' are you?

We all know our poor are only the victims when the rich are the perpetrators.

A false argument, because the UK, wouldn't look after its own more, even if every migrant magically vanished over night.

People tend to romanticize the past, but in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, when immigration was much lower, we were no more looking after our own than we are now. Its just a convenience where immigrants get the blame. After all, Governments don't want to admit that all those tax cuts in the 80s, paid for by NHS cuts in mental health via the care in the community act resulted in a massive spike in homelessnes

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

You do get some kind souls who do that, for 500 quid a week.

Edited by johnfirewall (27 Jul 2015 2.48pm)

They should, after all you don't want convicted rapists, murderers etc. Of course we should maybe have actually invested properly in assuring that, rather than simply ignored a massive problem for 20 years because it would cost.

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