Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Stevo 666

Veteran
At least as much as the Tories. Partner in coalition at best.

Glad you agree with me.
 
OP
OP
briantrumpet
Thanks for the education on current uses of thalidomide.

FWIW, I think it's useful to remind younger people about its history, as the generation of people disfigured by their mothers taking it during pregnancy has all-but died out, and with it the experience of people of my/our age of seeing them and learning about how it happened (and how that changed medical testing practices).
 
  • Like
Reactions: C R

Beebo

Guru
Seriously? That's your solution - that they should all stay in France? By that logic they should all stay in Iran and Pakistan where 90% of Afghan refugees reside. They don't magically appear in France,[/I]
It’s just such a dim argument.
By this logic, once they land in Kent they should just stay in Kent. Why should other councils take any asylum seekers?
 

C R

Guru
FWIW, I think it's useful to remind younger people about its history, as the generation of people disfigured by their mothers taking it during pregnancy has all-but died out, and with it the experience of people of my/our age of seeing them and learning about how it happened (and how that changed medical testing practices).

This also applies to the polio vaccine and other vaccines. I remember growing up in the 70s that you would often see people in leg braces because of polio side effects. Younger people have not seen that, so it is easier to be taken by anti vax bölocks.
 
OP
OP
briantrumpet
Cue the story of the hospital ward full of people with iron lungs. The bed nearest the door had a mysterious, worrying mortality rate. Eventually they discovered that the cleaner each morning would unplug that one to plug in her vacuum cleaner.

Is that in any way related to the story of the three blokes going down to the pub?
 

icowden

Shaman
Yep. Reducing the 'pull' factors is an important part of bringing the numbers down.

So you now want to execute Afghans etc that are already here? People aren't coming over here for our marvellous benefits and wonderful NHS.
Asylum seekers generally go where there are people that they know- friends and family, and where they can speak the language a bit. Most people know English or French. English speaking asylum seekers will head for the UK, especially if they have friends or distant family already there.
 

icowden

Shaman
We should be giving asylum to people whose lives are in danger - are you saying their lives are in danger in France? Clearly not, so coming to the UK is a choice.

You can't be this stupid surely? Their lives were in danger in their home country. Telling the French they have to keep all the asylum seekers isn't a viable policy - mostly because the French will tell you to take a flying fark at a rolling doughnut.
 

All uphill

Senior Member
Yep. Reducing the 'pull' factors is an important part of bringing the numbers down.

One of the big pull factors for the refugees I know is the English language.

If you have to leave your country in a hurry, it's understandable if you choose to go to a place where you have at least a rudimentary understanding of the language.

I take reducing the pull factors as code for "treat them mean". I would argue for seeing refugees as a resource.
 

midlandsgrimpeur

Active Member
Fairly stringent? On what basis? The current level of immigration, both legal and illegal, would suggest otherwise.

£41,700 salary requirements for sponsored workers, reduced accepted skills shortage list, end to exemptions for employing care workers, reduced graduate Visa length. Net migration peaked in 2023 at 906,000 as we softened rules post Brexit which drove non-EU immigration up significantly. This halved again in 2024 to around 400,000 as rules became tightened. I would suggest that would suggest otherwise if your claim is that rules have not become more stringent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C R

midlandsgrimpeur

Active Member
One of the big pull factors for the refugees I know is the English language.

If you have to leave your country in a hurry, it's understandable if you choose to go to a place where you have at least a rudimentary understanding of the language.

I take reducing the pull factors as code for "treat them mean". I would argue for seeing refugees as a resource.

It is also commonly due to historic and cultural ties to the UK. The fact is that the UK invaded and colonised about quarter of the planet, the historical legacy of which is that Asylum Seekers speak English, know of the UK and usually have family here as a result of said colonialism. It is a rather obvious blind spot of many who are anti-immigration but allegedly proudly patriotic, that the behaviour of us as Brits over the last 250 years has a direct link to our patterns of immigration.
 
Top Bottom