Chomper Higgot

I seem to recall the channel was always there, and then coincident with Brexit the Government lost control of the border and immigration. I don’t support illegal immigration, that’s just you engaging in ad hominem again.

How?

I’m not moving the goalposts. Fact 1. The Government have an agreement with the Albanian Government to return Albanians who enter the UK illegally. Fact 2. 500 Albanians have already been returned Fact 3. Their return is legal. Fact 4. The Government have said more Albanians will be returned. Fact 5. The Government haven’t returned more Albanians. Albanians can be returned, Albanians have been returned, but right now for some reason best known to the Government Albanians are not being returned.

Well nothing to do with todays problems but a nice try at dragging in a whataboutary from over a decade ago.

No. The Government have negotiated with the Albanian Government for the return of Albanians who illegally enter the UK. Around 500 have already been returned. I don’t know anyone who objects to the returns of Albanians who illegally enter the UK. The Government have stated more Albanians will be deported, but they have failed to deport more Albanians. So Albanians can be deported, have been deported, it’s legal to do so and nobody objects. But the Government is failing to return more Albanians. Not my fault. The Government’s fault.

Nobody but the Government has any control over the choice of policies to be implemented. So let’s not blame those who disagree with the objectively failing Government policies.

Firstly, the assumption that the policies are meant to control the borders is demonstrably false. The policies are intended to somehow discourage people who are already willing to put their life at risk. Secondly the policies, all 43 of them, have failed: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/07/conservatives-channel-crossings-small-boats-tories-rwanda-deportation Thirdly the latest offering, and a few of the others have themselves been illegal. Fourthly, the Government and ministers resorting to dehumanizing language when speaking of migrants, Fifthly, it’s an international problem that will require cooperation with other nations and very specifically with the EU. The easy fixes to complex problems might appeal to some but they have consistently failed and will continue to do so. And finally, the attempt to distract from all the other far more pressing Government failures is plainly obvious.

I’ve quoted the Government’s own statements with a link. Take it up with the Government.

The people traffickers are a direct product of restrictions on migration, in just the same way as boot leg gets were a direct product of prohibition. You need to look a bit closer at who first created the mass refugee crisis of 2015 and then drive the refugees towards Europe’s borders. It wasn’t Merkel, but you are correct it was a significant factor in Brexit.

Todays problems are to do with the Government’s failure to control the borders and immigration and their need for a distraction from all their other failures.

The Government failed to control immigration, then came up with a string of increasingly illegal policies to try to control it.

If I had meant the English Channel I would have said so.

Righty-o And who’s job is it to control UK borders?

We have a security camera network installed to monitor the exterior of our house, out buildings and access points. These are linked via a server/recorder to the internet giving us access to camera views and alarms via an app. All has been running reliably for a couple of years, however last month while in the UK I lost access to the cameras, two weeks later my wife lost access. We called out the company who sold/installed the system, they checked the network and cameras were all OK. They then checked at their head office to be told TRUE, our internet provider, has blocked the IP address for the server. We’ve called TRUE to report this and provided them with all the details they requested, but still after a week we have no access. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you manage to resolve it, if at all?

There is no such thing as an unbiased newspaper, all of them have editorial lines. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Oddly you linked to the media bias report on The Guardian but omitted the media bias report for GB News. Here it is: “QUESTIONABLE SOURCE A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency, and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for profit or influence ” https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/gb-news-uk-bias/

No we are not in agreement. Around 500 Albanians have been returned with ‘statements’ that more will follow (more haven’t followed). And a border is either secure or not secure. The boarders are demonstrably not secure. The massive growth in cross channel migration since 2018 is evidence of a total collapse in control over the borders. Is anyone in this discussion even claiming the borders are secure?

The Guardian has an international readership, and a solid reputation for first class journalism. It’s also an accepted source to linked on this forum. That doing so triggers a small number of reactionary right wing members is a bit of a bonus.

I just did mention it, and by no means for the first time.

Yes it is true, transam, when did I ever claim otherwise?

Albanians are returned to Albania. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-63473022

Buying extra state pension is a very smart move, the return in investment is extremely good, you only need live four or five years to get full return, it’s gravy every year after that.

Normal financial advice doesn’t consider people retiring to a country where they have zero social wage, no free health care, no free prescriptions, no welfare assistance etc. Also, while an assumption I believe in very many cases the tax free lump sum will be spent pretty quickly in Thailand, often on real estate that the expat has tenuous control over. For retirement in Thailand my personal recommendation is maximize pension income and minimize assets that are not under your own direct control. Opinions do of course differ.

But you will already have taken your 25% tax free allowance, so all your pension payments will be fully taxed. If your reason is to save tax paid take a very close look at that. As a general rule, you need the highest income you can obtain from your pensions when retiring to Thailand. Unless you are very careful with how you spend your pension the lump sum will disappear pretty quickly. I’m not saying don’t take the 25% lump sum, rather think about it very carefully. I personally would not take any cash lump sum from a DB scheme, DC is a different matter.

No, you are getting nothing. The pension changes are a tax break for people with pension pots over £1,073,100 and those who can afford to put £60,000 per year into their pensions. The tax free allowance has been frozen again this year at £12,570. So help for the already wealthy and nothing for those on low incomes.

Trump step aside? He will take the GOP down with him rather than step aside.