Pickwick

I am not disagreeing that there's a problem. I am disagreeing with people blaming a government that's not even a week old. You will have noted - I am sure - that these job listings are dated before the election.

When we were part of the EU we could - and did - send them back to France under the Dublin Regulation. Brexit stopped that. But this has nothing to do with the topic of this thread which has descended into people blaming Labour for a Tory backlog. That there's an undoubted problem with the system is not something we disagree on. However, I don't blame one party or group of people because of a one-sided and rather narrow ideology.

A good reason to post on this thread is because people have completely misrepresented the reality. In fact, they have completely misrepresented the article in the OP. The OP even states the first quote above - April! Labour were not elected until July! Of course, the OP chooses its words carefully - like 'allow asylum seekers to stay' and then later explains 'actually the people have been here since April and the new government is now going to deal with the problem'. People react because they see what they want to see. That doesn't make it any less wrong.

That is most likely true. You will hopefully note though that many of these countries have right-wing governments who could hardly be described as liberal.

I value your opinion. I give no value to opinions dressed as facts, however, as has been demonstrated repeatedly on this thread. Perhaps it would be more prudent to wait until something happens (let in 100,000 illegal aliens) before criticising something that hasn't actually happened - or at least clarify that it is your opinion based on a government of a different man from a different time and nothing more.

Since WW2 the UK has more right wing governments than the left. I assume the left is who you mean by loony liberals because I don't really know. It seems this is a catch all phrase for people who disagree with you. I am lost by this. I have no idea what Henry Ford has to do with Keir Starmer processing a backlog of asylum claims. But if the problems in your world are due to car ownership then I hope you are taking some responsibility for the problems (assuming you have owned a car) instead of ascribing blame to the loony liberals (whoever they are) that you seem to see everywhere.

It's 2024. Are you seriously suggesting that the problems of nurse's pay began in 2007 and ended in 2011? According to the nursing times, nurses have struggled to get what they see as fair pay since the beginning of the NHS. Odd that you highlight 4 years of Labour government and ignore 43 years of Tory rule in that time.

It is categorically wrong to say that Starmer is going to 'let 100,000 illegal aliens remain in the UK'. There is a backlog created by the previous government. Labour have now begun to process this backlog. Full stop. I say this with sincerity but I cannot fathom how someone can equate dealing with a backlog created by the previous government with 'letting 100,000 illegal aliens remain in the UK'. Unless, of course, if you have an anti-labour agenda. That does not make it any less wrong, however.

You write that as if his article was published this week. He wrote it six years ago, when Donald Trump was president. He said that he had been offended by Trump's comments about London. He called him a neo-nazi sympathiser for retweeting Britain First, a group from the extreme right, of whom Nigel Farage himself said ' On the fringes of our politics are nutters'. He called him a sociopath for trying to score political points after a horrendous terrorist attack in the UK capital. I have some sympathy with his sentiment, though would not have worded it so strongly. At the time he was taking part in an anti-Trump protest march, along with tens of thousands of UK citizens, including some of his constituents, whom he represents in parliament. That he still represents them suggests most were supportive. I was not a fan of these marches, with inflatable Trumps etc., but hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens took to the streets in marches all over the UK and I respect their democratic right to protest. By all means you can disagree with what he said, but you can't have it both ways. You told me previously that the UK acts like a 'poodle' pandering to the USA. Now, you have a problem with a UK politician speaking out against Donald Trump (six years ago) just because he may become president again. Maybe his constituents - the actual people he represents in parliament - think a politician who speaks his mind is better than the usual meaningless spin, I don't know, I am not one of them? Ill-advised perhaps, too emotive maybe - but I do not see it as a lack of intelligence.

I think - and in all seriousness correct me if I am wrong - I have seen your posts elsewhere, which take a pro-Russian stance, or at least anti-West stance in the Ukraine war. I have no interest in bringing that debate here. I will say I disagree with you, and I welcome(d) the debate - unfortunately, like so many threads here, I didn't participate because it had already descended into a tiresome trade of insults by the time i read to the most recent post. The ambulance drivers and nurses are not being paid a decent wage mostly due to the cuts in public services by the last (right-wing) government. This has been sustained and relentless and named 'austerity'. They were not being paid a decent wage long before Putin moved his tanks on Kyiv. I did not say the US election was of no interest, I said it was none of my business. I responded to a post about the US presidential candidates. It is most certainly none of my business to try and tell Americans (or any other nationality) who they should choose to lead their country. I stand by that statement.

It was already stuffed up from the previous (right wing) government. They have started to fix an inherited problem. If some ignore that entirely or react with hyperbole to a one-sided media article written to provoke them, that indicates preconceived opinion (or they are easier to manipulate than they believe) - especially when the same posters normally decry the media and call out one-sided articles written from the other perspective.

That's funny (at least I hope it was a joke). Jean-Paul Sartre or Donald Trump?

I'd quite agree. Right wing ideology is also the issue. Apparently you don't. You just lump everyone who disagrees with you (which would be the majority of those who chose to vote) together under a meaningless 'liberal' label. I have no idea what Joe Biden has got to with this thread - well, I do. You've got to keep lumping everyone you dislike together to make some kind of point. But your point fails me here - I think it is quite incredible that the best a wonderful country like the USA can come up with is Biden and Trump. But, frankly, I am not American and it's none of my business. Again your sentence doesn't tally. You claim 'modern day liberals' - then write 'for decades'. How far are we going back for modern day liberals? I don't even know who you are talking about anyway (honestly). I am not offended. Why on earth would I be offended by anything you have written?

Quite true. Which is something completely different from claiming your own opinion is a fact.

You've posted a lot of opinion (some of which I have replied to) but I see very little factual information. Shouting that something is a fact does not make it a fact, no matter how emotionally invested you are. There may be some truth in what you write but there may also be much embellishment. Additional personal insults weakens your point(s) further.

That's interesting but I find it hard to believe, do you have any real data or reliable sources to back that up? (it's a genuine request and not a challenge). Again do you have data? I lived and worked in Germany at this time and my then girlfriend volunteered at night in the city of Cologne - teaching English and German. A lot of people were evidently struggling, as you'd expect, but many who I met were bright and certainly progressed with German faster than I did. I would be astonished if they could learn German/English so fast whilst being illiterate in their own language. This is not how I remember it, though granted I am aware our memories are not as reliable as we believe them to be. I did watch the news every night though, to further my German skills but this seems far-fetched to me. Another sentence that begins with a pertinent point to be discussed, but which ends with an evident bias. Throwing in 'MSM', which implies anyone who doesn't share your views is either gullible, stupid or both - only weakens your point(s).

That some 94% of the UK population is not Muslim, I think this is an overreaction. That may as well be, which is perhaps why many of us are here (Thailand). Though all expats here left the UK under governments from both sides of the political divide. And whilst some on here are suddenly tarring the Tories of all people with the 'Leftie' labels to further their own agenda, I'd suggest reminding them that 86% of the electorate did not vote for Reform.

Ok, so unable to blame the 'lefties' of Labour (common are we; - sorry, no idea why I have the wombles theme tune in my head when writing that); as I was saying, unable to blame the lefties of Labour you are now claiming the Tories are also left of centre. Now we have people who vote for Labour, the Liberals and the Tories as the problem. Probably the Greens too, as they like nature and stuff. That would be a large majority of the electorate. There answer is clear: anyone who disagrees with you is the problem! Perhaps the problem lies elsewhere? I suppose that might happen in your world. But your political bias and unreasonable criticism is such that I don't believe your world is the real one.

You wrote 'he is allowing them to stay'. That's not accurate. He is beginning to process the vast backlog created by the Tory party. It is not the same thing, even if you want it to be.

No he isn't. That's more made up stuff to support your narrow political bias. He is now going to actually tackle the backlog, as pursuant to law. If you do not like the law you could also study and become a lawyer, if David Lammy can do it I am sure you could too. I am a British taxpayer and I have no idea who these liberals that are feeling better are.

But then you keep on going on about liberals and lefties. Are you now suggesting that the Tory party is left of centre?

I have never met a single person who 'supports asylum for people with fake claims'.

Judging someone's intelligence from a rapid fire question game under the spotlights of a television show - and then ignoring that he successfully studied Law and was admitted to the Bar, subsequently studied at Harvard, worked as a lawyer in California (with the further qualifications required), has been a democratically elected MP for some time, and has become one of the most powerful people in government - is frankly odd. Unless it is to suit an agenda which you seem intent on perpetuating. Also odd that you choose to speculate - and it is nothing but speculation - over his admission to Harvard. You seem to think his upper second class degree is not worthy as it possibly translates into a GPA of 3.7. It is true that last year the mean GPA was 3.82 - but Lammy didn't apply straight from graduation - he did so after being admitted to the Bar. Harvard has explicitly stated that they do not just look at GPA, and a GPA of 4.0 alone is not enough to get admitted. I have no idea why they accepted him, but I would be astonished if being admitted to the Bar of England and Wales was of no consequence to the application. You can focus all you want on his appearance on a television game show and the colour of his skin; but to ignore all the other stuff smacks of more agenda driven bias.

See post above. They are not facts at all. They are your opinions. People are allowed to disagree.

Your two posts don't tally. You blame the Tories (and Labour) but write 'Lefties, selling out their own citizens'. Your personal bias is evident. This is your opinion, not fact. While I will not be holding my breath, I am of the opinion they probably can't do any worse. Your opinion is no more valid than mine (nor mine yours). Above you wrote that the Tories did a terrible job, yet by ditching them the British have committed an act of self-harm. It's difficult to know how to view that, other than through the prism of narrow political bias.