Haven’t heard about a visa office in Calais but we did have BF Officers base there.
Albanians claiming to be Kosovans. Further back Nigerians claiming to be Liberians. Without documentation we have to prove who they are and where they are from. In most cases nearly impossible.
Not necessarily the Govvernments fault, think HR Act to start, then you have the lawyers and do-gooders, who feel anyone should be here. If no checks, no way of weeding out potential terrorists, paedos etc

Edited by Spiderman (08 Mar 2022 8.02pm)

Russia's peace requirements don't look so bad imho.

Obviously subject to all sorts of things not least whether they actually mean and would implement them.

Ukraine to be independent and neutral e.g. no Nato membership.

The Crimea, the new pro-Russian republics to belong to Russia.

Russia's face has to be saved somehow, the reality is that it is a major world power.

This is roughly where we were before the disastrous decision to invade.

Ukraine IS independent and neutral. It isn't a member of Nato.

Crimea and the disputed eastern regions were already occupied and effectively controlled by Russia.

So why did he invade? There's much more behind this than simply the stated aims. I think he wants Nato to climb down, which would be a disaster for all of Eastern Europe, and not actually feasible by the terms of their membership.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Could ukraine not have a protected status away from the areas putin wants. No nato on a guarantee of peace, but nato will intervene in future. At least weapons won't be positioned next door to Russia and that appears to be putins gripe with nato.
Simple reasoning but need to start somewhere I guess.

Yes, I think this, and rowing back on sanctions is about as good as it's going to get for Putin. The bombing of civilians and threat of nuclear war cannot be deemed to have rewarded him with some kind of prize, else it will be a pattern repeated. I would love to know what kind of discussions are happening around Putin, and where they might lead.

edit: I should rephrase that really. It shouldn't be allowed to look like a 'reward' by any reasonable measure. If there is some token aspect or location that Putin can be gifted to herald as success at home (since he controls almost all Russian media) then that might work well. That and the lifting of most sanctions once something is agreed. But there need to be firm lines beyond that and no ambiguity as he where the red lines are.

Edited by BlueJay (08 Mar 2022 10.28pm)

The idea of winning some kind of morality tale with Putin as being more important than risking the deaths of tens of millions of people and sending humanity back to the dark ages is mind blowing.

The whole point of nuclear weapons is to avoid direct military conflict between the nations with them. It can't be any clearer.

I say support the Ukrainians in their struggle but we need to maintain a sense of proportion of risk on the stakes involved. There are multiple actors pushing the west into madness.

The rules are clear, an attack on Nato is war and that's the point at which nuclear war is risked....not before.

The best we can do is find the best peaceful solution possible, that will avoid the most death.

As for the bombing of civilians this has happened in every single case of cities being taken. Nato has been doing it themselves for decades of war in multiple theatres.....The Saudis do it every day in Yemen.

This has always been terrible and videos don't make it more so.

Edited by Stirlingsays (08 Mar 2022 10.47pm)

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