1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Rwanda plan convinced 4 immigrants to volunteer to leave, at a cost of over £700,000,000 of tax payer’s money.

 

 

No, the Rwanda plan was delayed by human rights activists and lawyers, and then scrapped by Labour. It wasn't a perfect plan but it was already deterring illegal migrants even before being implemented. 

What is a better deterrent - the threat of being sent to Rwanda, or the 'threat' of being put up in a UK hotel? 

Have boat crossing increased since the Rwanda plan was scrapped? 

5 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

There is, most probably, more to the story... 😉 

I agree. The two men are probably arrogant tw@ts who have made a nuisance of themselves since arriving in Phuket, and have probably slapped women before.

I assume that's what you mean...

10 hours ago, thjames007 said:

Thailand getting a bad rep? (read headline again). I think most of us intelligent people are thinking what an idiot for smuggeling this <deleted>!   You can't blame Thailand for someone being stupid and greedy!  

 

If guilty don't you think he should sit in jail?  Or just blame thailand for making it legal and not asking him at the departure lounge if he stuffed his suitcase with weed.   

 

So do you think this improves Thailand's reputation? A country that previously had some of the toughest drug laws is now a magnet for pot heads, and is becoming THE place to smuggle weed from. 

If you think that's good for a country's global image you must be smoking something. 

6 hours ago, Dave0206 said:

 

He perhaps thought I will be the hero and quickly 10+ of my country "men" will join in for once it didn't happen

It's a pity it didn't happen. Drunken entitled pr 1 cks like that bloke deserve to be taught a lesson, Thai style. 

Good on the young Thai kid for trying. 

41 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

The Viet girls will steal from you, watch your valuables. 

The only time I went with a Viet was in SG about 10 years ago. After she left I realised she'd taken my bottle of Bvlgari aftershave from the bathroom. Lesson learnt. Good night though! 

Scotland is hardly impacted by mass immigration because the vast majority of migrants head for London and the south east of England. This is why the Scots are generally more pro-immigration.

Scotland has a tiny population for it's size, so they are more likely to encourage migration. England is (relatively) crowded. 

Add this to the fact Yousaf is Muslim and most illegal migrants are young Muslim males, then it's no surprise he's going to speak negatively about any push back against migration. 

On 5/18/2025 at 8:57 AM, fredwiggy said:

It does make a difference if the animal is trained since birth to respect and be calm, around people and other animals. The only times, 2 , I was bit was a two very small dogs also. If cats were bigger, they would do a lot of damage like their cousins the leopards, lions and tigers.

"It does make a difference if the animal is trained since birth to respect and be calm, around people and other animals."

Would you leave your kids/grandkids alone in a house for a week with one of these Pit Bulls that has been trained from birth to respect and be kind? 

"If cats were bigger, they would do a lot of damage like their cousins the leopards, lions and tigers."

That's precisely the point, and is the reason why lions and tigers are not pets. Animals capable of easily killing humans (e.g. Lions, Pit Bulls etc.) should not be pets. 

5 hours ago, shackleton said:

I think we can say the reputation of Pattaya and Phuket as a safe foreign Tourist place to come is slowly ebbing away 😱

Probably more for the many expats living there who are now hearing or reading maybe even seeing about the  problems. Drugs fighting in bars and so on 

Going on there seems to be getting more regular 😳

When Thailand legalised weed shops it became a magnet to the world's undesirables. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with smoking a joint. It's about the impression it gives the outside world. 

There will be more drugs and fighting stories, because more druggies and trouble makers are now choosing Thailand. 

The sooner they reverse the cannabis laws and get rid of all the weed shops the better. Thailand will continue to attract the 'anything goes' crowd until this happens. 

Weed shops selling other illegal drugs? Who'd have expected that to happen! 🤦‍♂️

5 hours ago, peter48 said:

and the self harm of Brexit which has hit the UK economy very hard

Funny how Germany, France, Italy etc. are in a worse economic position than the UK. Did they also Brexit? 

5 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Farage has also criticized Uber drivers in London for not speaking English and lacking knowledge of the city, contrasting them with traditional black cab drivers who undergo rigorous training. 

 

Additionally, he has argued that NHS workers who cannot speak English properly should not be employed, emphasizing the importance of a common language for effective communication in healthcare settings. 

Both valid concerns.

With the Uber drivers it's irritating and time consuming when they go the wrong way, and you can't have a proper conversation with them about it. 

With NHS workers it's much more serious. There are enough mistakes made in our NHS putting patient health / lives at risk. A language barrier increases the risk of mistakes even further. That's just common sense. 

13 hours ago, RayC said:

 

I don't think that the vast majority of the electorate are overly bothered by our membership of the ECHR in its' own right. However, imo illegal migration is an issue but not THE issue, and I certainly don't think that it holds the key to power. 

 

Imo when it comes to general elections, the public are more concerned with the economy - more specifically what the parties' policies mean for their pockets, health provision i.e. the NHS, and crime i.e. whether they feel safe: Immigration - both legal and illegal - is an issue and it may be growing in importance but I don't think that it is of primary concern for most of the electorate.

Article 8 of the The ECHR has been repeatedly used by lawyers to stop foreign criminals from being deported. The ECHR stopped the 1st flight to Rwanda from leaving the runway. The public are  becoming more aware of the way the ECHR is used to stop deportations. But you're right, a big chunk of the population don't know much about it. 

Your points about public concerns:

the economy - cost of keeping asylum seekers in the UK is now huge (£8 million per day just on hotels)

the NHS - more immigration = more use of overstretched NHS services

crime i.e. whether they feel safe - nobody knows the background of the thousands of asylum seekers free to roam UK streets from their hotels. In my local city there are regular reports of kids being scared by groups of asylum seekers gathering near schools. 

They're all interlinked. 

36 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

So do you think that replacing Badenoch with Jenrick is all it will take to restore the Tory vote to 2019 levels?

I think a commitment to leaving the ECHR (UK already has it's own Human Rights Act), and a robust plan to deter the small boat Channel crossings would put the Tories back on top. It's as simple as that IMO. 

Every member of the public I saw being interviewed after these elections talked about stopping the boats. 

The Tories couldn't stop the boats, and that's why they were crushed at the last GE. Labour are even worse, with illegal migrants breaking all Channel crossing records!

It's so obvious this is THE issue holding the key to power in the UK. And that's why Reform will continue their rise unless the Tories change course on illegal migration. 

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The privatization of housing provision was a Tory flagship policy.

 

And yet one more Tory privatization policy that has failed.

 

Anyway, back to housing being one of the issues newly elected Reform Councilors will need to deal with.

It was intended to help address the shortage of housing for UK citizens and reduce homelessness. Not to house thousands of young male chancers turning up on small boats. 

And Labour are in government now. They decide if Tory initiatives stay or go. 

These election results will give Reform a louder voice regarding all these incentives for thousands of young men to cross the channel every year. 

On 5/3/2025 at 2:08 PM, Chomper Higgot said:

One of the things they’ll need to deliver on is housing.

They can't do much worse than Labour. Landlords are being incentivised to evict private tenants (under section 21) to make way for illegal immigrants. 

No wonder the boats keep on coming. 

Landlords offered five-year full rent deals to house asylum seekers

https://landlordknowledge.co.uk/landlords-offered-five-year-full-rent-deals-to-house-asylum-seekers/