Current Affairs

[barney]

Strange that the media can always find migrants on a French beach about to set sail but the French police don't seem able to.

I saw an interview with a French police officer who said that he couldn’t stop them because they have not committed a crime by getting into a boat.
90% appear to be fit healthy young men.
Put them straight to work.
We need workers.
They need jobs.

[oldbluefox]

Strange that the media can always find migrants on a French beach about to set sail but the French police don't seem able to.

In the footage I saw the police were standing by whilst the migrants were launching their boat, police car with blue lights flashing just in case there were any technical hitches I presume or maybe to give the gendarmes a lift off the beach once they had set sail. So what exactly was their role?

[Stephen]

Strange that the media can always find migrants on a French beach about to set sail but the French police don't seem able to.

I also saw a French plod/customs pick up with light flashing on the beach this morning on the news just parked and watching a load of migrants pile into a boat and making off and doing nothing to stop them.

I was surprised they didn’t have a white flag attached to the vehicle. Wasters

[Kendhni]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

[towny44]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

The vast majority is footage of migrants being offloaded from border force boats, maybe some of these should be diverted to Belfast, would that suit you?

[barney]

I don’t usually comment on Ken’s idiotic contributions but I’ll make an exception in this case

[Mervyn and Trish]

Strange that the media can always find migrants on a French beach about to set sail but the French police don't seem able to.

I saw an interview with a French police officer who said that he couldn’t stop them because they have not committed a crime by getting into a boat.
90% appear to be fit healthy young men.
Put them straight to work.
We need workers.
They need jobs.

I do think the answer to all this is a properly managed system, including putting them to work. But it also needs to include prompt removal of failed asylum seekers to weed out those who are not genuine, and get rid.

As for the idiot French cops answer, surely they are already illegal immigrants the moment they enter France? Is that not a crime? And perhaps more importantly they are valuable witnesses to the much bigger crime of people smuggling. If they can't be arrested for the first they should be put in protective custody while they help with inquiries.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

The vast majority is footage of migrants being offloaded from border force boats, maybe some of these should be diverted to Belfast, would that suit you?

Some? I think all.

[Manoverboard]

Even in La Française any boat setting sail from a registered port with passengers should have a certificate of sea worthiness for the boat and the number of passengers being carried. Plod could check the certification for starters ... just saying.

Why hasn't Ken Boris thought of that idea I ask myself

[Stephen]

The government on both sides need to get to the route of the problem which in my opinion are the human traffickers who are just profiteering on other peoples misery. Get rid of restrict them by any means through government agencies/forces will go a long way to help solve the problem.

The problem is trying to get the French officials off their ar*es.

[oldbluefox]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

No need to when Border Force and RNLI are picking them up in the Channel and ferrying them the rest of the way.

[Kendhni]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

The vast majority is footage of migrants being offloaded from border force boats, maybe some of these should be diverted to Belfast, would that suit you?

What an idiotic statement ... really not worth any other comment.

[Kendhni]

The problem is trying to get the French officials off their ar*es.

Why do you think it is Frances problem? We had an agreement with them to help control immigration and we chose to separate from that agreement without putting anything else in place ... we chose to protect our own borders. The problem is 100% at our own feet, however we could enter into agreements with other countries to assist us. In fact Patel has offered a tiny sum of £54million if the French want to help in solving a British problem ... so the recognition that it isn't France's problem comes from our own government.

[Kendhni]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

No need to when Border Force and RNLI are picking them up in the Channel and ferrying them the rest of the way.

As has always been the case, our border forces only intercept a minority of illegally arriving migrants

[Onelife]

Strange that the media can always find migrants about to beach in the UK but the British police and immigration services don't seem able to.

No need to when Border Force and RNLI are picking them up in the Channel and ferrying them the rest of the way.

As has always been the case, our border forces only intercept a minority of illegally arriving migrants

There is truth in saying our border forces only intercept a minority of ‘illegally arriving migrants’ but as far as asylum seekers are concerned e.g. those arriving in our waters vie dinghies, then most I would suggest are being picked up by border forces/RNLI

The journey is perilous enough without them looking for a sandy cove 10 miles further up the coast line.

[barney]

After watching the Newsnight program last night, it’s quite obvious why so many are trying to get to the U.K.
Their treatment is France is appalling.
It should not be allowed in any civilised country.
They constantly have their belongings confiscated and are denied absolute basics like food and water.
My only real complaint is that the media consider them migrants while still in the Eu and refugees once they enter the channel.
So, the Eu have a migrant problem and the U.K. have a refugee problem.
Ireland only had 1,516 asylum claims in 2020 so they would have the capacity for any who were just passing through the U.K.

[Kendhni]

No need to when Border Force and RNLI are picking them up in the Channel and ferrying them the rest of the way.

As has always been the case, our border forces only intercept a minority of illegally arriving migrants

There is truth in saying our border forces only intercept a minority of ‘illegally arriving migrants’ but as far as asylum seekers are concerned e.g. those arriving in our waters vie dinghies, then most I would suggest are being picked up by border forces/RNLI

I am going back to Cameron and Brown days when they admitted that they had pretty much lost control/count over the number of people arriving in this country. That only seems to be getting worse. Legal immigration never was a major problem, it has always been the ones coming in thru the backdoor. We have to stop all this finger pointing and crying like babies, and do what we claim we (as a country) voted for and control our own borders. We will never succeed in fully protecting 7500 miles of coastline, we just have to manage the problem and put agreements and mechanisms back in place to get assistance from other countries (and a paltry £54million isn't going to do it).

I suspect that the immigration issue has been made more difficult by the current government, but most developed countries seem to be bracing themselves for things to get worse as more and more people look to improve their 'lot'.

The journey is perilous enough without them looking for a sandy cove 10 miles further up the coast line.

I agree and disagree. If you put yourself in their shoes, what would it take for you to put the lives of your family and children at risk in the hope of a better life? They obviously feel the risk is worth it so a few miles here or there is hardly likely to be the deciding factor.

[oldbluefox]

They obviously feel the risk is worth it so a few miles here or there is hardly likely to be the deciding factor.

"OK lads, We've done the hard bit so we'll have a look further along, see if there's a nice sandy beach for us to land on and if there's an ice cream to be had so much the better. They say Brighton's nice!"
I would imagine after the ordeal they have experienced, they will be grateful to get off the dinghy wherever they land and get something warm inside them and some warm, dry clothing to put on. I doubt any of them would be welcoming another few miles.

[Mervyn and Trish]

They've already escaped from whatever they were fleeing initially. Now they're putting themselves at huge risk to escape from France. Says it all really.

[barney]

They've already escaped from whatever they were fleeing initially. Now they're putting themselves at huge risk to escape from France. Says it all really.

It really does Merv.
Quite a few try to portray the European Union as some sort of beneficial Utopia but the treatment of migrants on the Polish and Lithuanian borders, being physically returned at gun point and the amount of desperate people who are literally willing to risk their lives to escape racist France makes one happy to be fortunate enough to reside in England.
The absolute hypocrisy of some takes my breath away.
It’s a shame that the other three U.K. nations haven’t stepped up to take their share instead of leaving everything to England and specifically the south east.
Only one council in Scotland our of 32 have volunteered to participate.
Hardly any in Wales or NI either.
Kent has obviously taken the brunt with unaccompanied minors and are at breaking point.

[Mervyn and Trish]

They've already escaped from whatever they were fleeing initially. Now they're putting themselves at huge risk to escape from France. Says it all really.

It really does Merv.
Quite a few try to portray the European Union as some sort of beneficial Utopia but the treatment of migrants on the Polish and Lithuanian borders, being physically returned at gun point and the amount of desperate people who are literally willing to risk their lives to escape racist France makes one happy to be fortunate enough to reside in England.
The absolute hypocrisy of some takes my breath away.
It’s a shame that the other three U.K. nations haven’t stepped up to take their share instead of leaving everything to England and specifically the south east.
Only one council in Scotland our of 32 have volunteered to participate.
Hardly any in Wales or NI either.
Kent has obviously taken the brunt with unaccompanied minors and are at breaking point.

Maybe our NI representative on here needs to campaign to sort that out rather than venting at those who are in the front line.

[towny44]

Maybe our NI representative on here needs to campaign to sort that out rather than venting at those who are in the front line.

His problem is that he vents far too much hot air.

[Onelife]

Maybe our NI representative on here needs to campaign to sort that out rather than venting at those who are in the front line.

His problem is that he vents far too much hot air.

I’m sure Ken will rise above that one John…. nothing like a bit of hot air to keep the forum buoyant..me thinks

[Kendhni]

Indeed I will Keith, I will ignore those that can only speak through their lower extremities.

[Bensham33]

There are apparently 1.1m job vacancies in the UK. Maybe some of these people could be useful to us......just saying.