Marauding seagulls, steal your bread and s*** on your head, crap all over your car staining the paintwork. They keep you up all night with their endless screeching. The sooner something is done about it the better.

It's a damming indictment of our country how we treat our former serving soldiers, how some of them are just left to rot on the streets with nobody prepared to help them yet here we are hand wringing about a load of waifs and strays who haven't done anything for this country but we've got people demanding these people be let in and housed. Let's look after our own first, we have more of a duty to them than we do those in Calais.

Sadly Tom, some people would say that and mean it, of course I know you jest as you are a sensible thinking person.

Sadly Tom, some people would say that and mean it, of course I know you jest as you are a sensible thinking person.

As far as the migrants go, I do not blame them for wanting to make a better life for themselves, however I do believe that there is something wrong with the system when we are more concerned about helping others when we have people here who are in genuine need of help. I talk not of the chancers who play the system and expect something for nothing of course. I am not against immigration per say, it just needs to be controlled. The politicians can ultimately be held responsible for what is happening at present.

Go to any homless area, you will find a large proportion have served for thier country. We just dont look after "damaged vets" to be fair to the Army it has got so much better since (afghanistan) and the very real horror that is PTSD (something I did suffer from, so I know how horrendous it can be.

But I dont want to sound like I am only championing homes for heroes, but my whole point on all these topics of immigrants, housing, beneifts, bils down to the simple fact, that in my belief we should get our own house in order, before we start giving scant resources away to people that were "stable" in thier own country but just fancied a bit of what the jones's have.

I do not belive we should house one single immigrant while we have homeless children taken advantage of, ex service man sleeping in doorways, homless vulnerable adults getting beaten up for s***s and giggles, or the unfortunates who through circumstances live in a cardboard box that gets pissed on every time some piss head feels like it.

You will never irradicate the homeless problem completely, some people are just born dick heads and society is better of without them spreading their DNA about the gaff, however not nearly enough by consecutive Governments both Labour and Tory has been done to address the problem.

And yet Mr Jo Bloggs form Ghana can turn up with out a pot to piss in, and get a house car and money.

Surely even the likes of comrades Nick and Legal can see this is fundamentaly wrong and borders on positive discrimination?

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Your assumptions about "the likes of legal" can be wrong and may be based more on your own prejudices about people who think slightly differently to you than reality.Shock horror

You refer to what you say applying to people from "stable" countries who were "stable" in them. That by definition is economic migrants,not refugees.Genuine refugees who apply for asylum within the UK being the only people who automatically qualify to be granted asylum here.

Turning to economic migrants,I've never suggested potential migrants to the Uk should be housed here in preference to homeless people,though I don't think anyone already here legally should be treated differently to anyone else.Kind of the basis of a civilised society and adopted in a "civilised" place with strong immigration controls like Australia

Generally speaking homelessness is a scandal and obscene .Its not caused by migrants,Its caused by things like cuts and abolition of rent controls (thanks Maggie) and cutting back on housing benefit for youngsters.Its also caused by people's personal circumstances at times,ie alcoholism, family break ups.

As St Mungo's Broadway puts it(they provide a bed and support to more than 2,500 people every night):

"homeless and vulnerable people must not be the casualties of cuts to Supporting People (SP) funding, and tough cuts to services could halt homeless people's recovery and lead to more rough sleepers on the streets".

Those who (rightly) care about helping ex-service personnel,particularly those with PTSD ,should look as one example at the effect of cynical cuts to the legal aid budget to such people getting good legal representation (some studies suggest about one in ten of the prison population have been in the services at one time or another).It would be a tragedy if those interested in the welfare of ex-personnel were amongst the same applauding legal aid cuts as a part of "austerity" and believing the nonsense propaganda that its all desirable due to fat cat lawyers.Another example of the scapegoat taking attention away from the real problem.

If some of those on here care about eradicating homelessness,they might focus on policies to deal with the above rather than constantly foaming at the mouth about immigrants.

If we (UK collectively) cared enough we could really cut down on homelessness and do you know what we could also do on top of that? Show some compassion for people from non stable countries who,on top of people living here legally,we could help some out as well. Its what this country has (had) a reputation for going back a long time,true "traditional values"

What iv'e got no time for is anyone (not suggesting the poster I'm responding to) who isn't really that bothered deep down about homelessness (and how it could and should be dealt with) but who would go on about it in as yet another excuse to vent their prejudices about "migrants",and who see immigrants as their sole reason for everything wrong with their lives and all the country's woes.Nothing like having a convenient scapegoat so the real issues aren't seen.

Edited by legaleagle (13 Aug 2015 10.48pm)