johnnybangkok

By any measure you care to use - economically, socially, culturally, science funding, security sharing, ease of travel in the EU etc, Brexit has been nothing short of a disaster but on this particular subject it's been an even worse disaster and in fact made things much, much worse. By not being a part of the Dublin III Regulation (the core principle of which is that the first EU member country or associated state a person enters is responsible for processing their asylum request), the floodgates opened to the UK. Before 2017 there was no recorded small boat arrivals (ZERO, nada, zip). In 2018 it was 539, by 2019 it was approx. 1,900, in 2020 (Brexit start date) it was 8,417, but by 2021 (after the 1 year transition period) it suddenly jumped to 28,526 and has grown steadily to what we see now, with last year growing to a whopping 41,500 people. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/people-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/ The UK may not have used it's ability to return people back to the EU country of entry back when it could but at least it HAD the ability to do so and it was obviously a deterant as there was literally no such thing as small boat arrivals before Brexit.

Which in turn was almost entirely because of Brexit. “Previously, when the UK was part of the EU, under a mechanism known as Dublin the UK could ask other EU countries to take back people they could prove had passed through safe European countries before reaching the UK.” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/12/brexit-easier-small-boat-crossings-to-reach-uk-refugees-say

It's ALL about oil and money. Try being a little less naive.

Enough of your false equivalences. No one is shedding a tear that Ali Khamenei is dead but trying to make it sound like Trump is doing it all 'for the good of the Iranian people' like you are is gullibility to the max.

'Oh will someone please think of the poor Iranians!' - because of course that's what this is all about. Give me a break.

Wow you got all that from 2 posts? You're wasted on here. I recommend a career as a clairvoyant or a psychiatrist. You'd make a killing.

And people like yourself who can't put together a coherant reply to a post without resorting to name calling certainly 'have issues'. I don't hate America. I hate Trump. I don't hate Isreal. I hate the Zionists. I also hate people who can't debate without resorting to petty name calling and stupid whataboutisms. That'll be you by the way.

I do love this argument that MAGA is now using to excuse this war (is it from Fox, Newsmax, Infowars, OANN or straight from "Truth' Social) as it seems to be popping up quite a lot from the MAGA fan boys. So it's all about helping people now is it? The mighty US looking after the poor, downtrodden people of oppressive states? So should we now expect America to bomb Myanmar or North Korea or Zimbabwe or any number of the other countries that kill and oppress their own people? This idea that it's being done for altruistic reasons is beyond dumb but then again, when you are running out of excuses to explain why the guy that promised ‘I’m Not Going to Start Wars, I’m Going to Stop Wars" is (surprise, surprise) doing exactly the opposite, then I suppose you have to grasp every straw that’s given.

I do love this argument that MAGA is now using to excuse this war but as usual it falls down at the first hurdle. So it's all about helping people now is it? The mighty US looking after the poor, downtrodden people of oppressive states? So should we now expect America to bomb Myanmar or North Korea or Zimbabwe or any number of the other hundreds of counties that kill and oppress their own people? This idea that it's being done for altruistic reasons is beyond dumb but then again, when you are running out of excuses to explain why the guy that promised ‘I’m Not Going to Start Wars, I’m Going to Stop Wars" is (surprise, surprise) doing exactly the opposite, then I suppose you have to grasp every straw that’s given. The whole thing is a huge distraction for a guy losing popularity by the day and who knows he’s going to get hammered in the mid-terms and of course the other distraction he’s looking for, a little thing called The Epstein files.

You really are a strange fellow. Epstein was charged in Federal Court with sex trafficking of minors having already been convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution. It IS exactly about sex with minors and no it isn’t “a distraction for idiots” unless you think those seeking justice for those who have abused minors are idiots. I’d call them hero’s. The fact there might not be criminal charges for those that deserve it has nothing to do with anything other than Trumps DOJ trying desperately to cover it all up and protect the guilty (Trump included). A truly despicable thing to do. And to top off your diatribe, well done for the unnecessary victim blaming. If there’s anyone innocent in all of this, it’s the kids.

“Who said anything about sex with minors” The whole Epstein saga is about sex with minors. Thats the whole subtext of what's going on, so when you say “no different from the expats here…” when the subject being discussed is sex with minors, then the inference is expats having sex with minors. Now I’m sure you probably didn’t mean that but context is everything. So in future perhaps keep that in mind when coming out with bold statements like “ no different from the expats here”.

There’s a lot to unpack here from your admission of receiving felony convictions and your willingness to out yourself on a public forum, but let’s focus on your last paragraph and the statement “What fiction, a couple millionaires get together, party and have sex with younger gals. No different than many expats here……” It might be your preference to have “sex with younger girls” but are you seriously trying to mitigate all this with the “but we all do it, don’t we lads” nudge, nudge, wink wink. You do realise we’re talking kids as young as 13 right? Let me be the first to publicly come out and say it - I’ve never had sex with a 13 to 16 year old year EVER. And you?

Where your xeneophobia and downright racism falls apart is using Scotland as an example. Despite having very low numbers of asylum seekers (6,000 in 2025), 'Shoplifting in Scotland has shot up 15% year-on-year (YoY) to 50,300 crimes in 2025, an increase of 137% from the year ending December 2021, according to ScotGov’s newly released recorded crime data' https://www.slrmag.co.uk/15-scottish-shoplifting-hike-may-reflect-rise-in-crime-reporting/ So can we agree this is just as much a 'white' problem as anything else and more down to the fact that the police aren't going after these people like they did before?

I heard a Wispa that things are getting out of hand. People may Snicker but it’s a Marathon to get these things under control. They’ve tried to Crunchie the numbers but the guy in charge is a bit of a Flake and thinks it would be easier to control the Galaxy. Understanding the Lion share of the problem is no Picnic and he reckons it was like trying to land on Mars so he tried to Fudge the figures. He got caught and now needs a Time Out. He was last seen heading out of town on a Double Decker bus. There’s now a Bounty out on him.

Is there any chance Trump could act like a proper POTUS for once in his life? He doesn't get his way so Anthropic are now suddenly 'some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about,” Anyone that doesn't agree with his lunacy is automatically dubbed 'radical left'. If it's not 'radical left' then it's 'domestic terrorists, or calling the Dems facist (that one always makes me grin). Yet his fans just think this is fine. Well done Anthropic for not bowing to this bully nor the idiot in charge of The Ministry of War (and why did this have to change).

I think the point is Jonny that successive governments endorsed him but your myopic hatred of anything Labour blinds you to this. He was a Prince. Why would anyone think he would turn out to be a sleezy peodophile who would sell his own granny for a few extra quid in his own back pocket. But you just want to keep blaming Labour for absolutely everything. There's no balance with you is the point.

Fair point. Unlike yourself I’ll concede when I get it wrong. It’s not quite so clean cut though So he was backed by Labour?Not just Labour, no. When Mountbatten-Windsor was facing calls to step down from the role in 2011, endorsements still arrived from Conservative ministers. George Osborne, the then chancellor, said: “We have confidence in him doing the job and we think he’s done a good job in recent years. He’s promoted British exports. What we want is everyone promoting British exports at the minute and Prince Andrew has done that.” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/21/what-was-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-trade-envoy-role Still doesn’t negate the fact Starmer doesn’t get to choose what gets released.

And this puts paid to your attempts to make this look like a Trump type cover up. “No 10 will have no say on which Mandelson papers are released”https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp85j06ezyro

The key phrase here Jonny boy is “ongoing criminal investigations” Unfortunately Trump and his lackeys at the DOJ are avoiding investigations like the plague. Surprise, surprise your false equivalency doesn’t work - again. And I’m pretty sure Blair didn’t get to appoint Royalty- you getting your Epstein chums mixed up?

Unusually quiet from the usual supects on AN. Maybe, just maybe they are struggling to defend this one (not holding my breath though).

At last! Something we can agree on.

I'm not being serious. Of course I cannot expect any grace from you.

Just admit you don't care. You don't care about facts. You don't care about the truth. You don't care that the current POTUS is a lying POS who will say absolutely anything he wants to hide the actual truth. And by the way, no one's laughing.

They've never been 'right wing' but they certainly are/were right. You are right wing in case you need an identifiable comparison.

Here's hoping you don't find it Dr. Frenkenstein.