AndreasHG

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I can't say you are wrong. But aren't they running away from their homeland looking for freedom and a better life. And where can you hope to have a freer and better life? In a country where you are total aliens, or in a country where at least they can master some rudiments of the local language? It's not rocket science. It's a matter of commonsense.

Capitalism is the economic system; Socialism has been, everywhere it has been implemented, an economic disaster. Hitler and Mussolini, Franco and Pinochet, were all 'right-wing' but they weren't conservative at all. I like to think of progressive as those whose emphasis is on how the wealth pie shall be distributed. Of conservatives as those who emphasize wealth growth. Socialist policies, with their emphasis on redistribution, when strictly implemented, always end up redistributing misery. Conservative policies pushed to the extreme have caused societies to collapse and fall into anarchy. The truth is that a functional and healthy society needs a balance of both. Sound policies aimed at generating wealth, and far-sighted policies aimed at redistributing the wealth equitably, so that everyone has the opportunity to succeed, or recover if disaster strikes. Sometimes the balance is achieved by gently swinging between the two. A few years of emphasis on growth, followed by a few years with emphasis on distribution, and then back again in a cycle. But if the pendulum is pushed too hard in one direction, expect it to swing back just as hard.

An example: 'Singapore has universal healthcare, which means that all residents have access to quality medical care. The government is responsible for the health system and uses a combination of methods to ensure affordability and quality. Singapore's healthcare system is considered one of the most successful in the world. The country has a low infant mortality rate and a high life expectancy.' Compare S'pore to the failed public health-care systems in Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea or the fully privatized health-care system in the People's Republic of Xi Jinping, and you should have no issue in understanding who is more emphatic among the five governments.

My comment was to the following statement "If they are truly escaping persecution etc then they should in theory be 'happy' with their first port of call that will accept them". And my comment is that Afghans, Iran, Vietnam and Turkey coming to the UK are clearly not happy with the first port call that accepts them. They head to the UK likely because they learned English at school. And possibly because they have acquaintances living there. But, whatever the reason, they are not happy with the first port and language is not the only driver. Otherwise they would head toward the Republic of Ireland, where English is spoken, and where the economy is much healthier compared to the UK. With regards to the number of immigrants arriving by small boat you are correct: in 2024 they are 14% up v/s 2023, but 24% down compared to 2022.

There is a lot of confusion. Being right-wing is not the same as being conservative. Being capitalist doesn't automatically means being right-wing or conservative (see Bill Gates). Being conservative does not mean ignoring social issues. Actually, real conservatives care a lot about social issues and are at the forefront in the quest on how best they might be addressed. On the other end, sociopaths, displaying anti-social behaviors, selfishness and uncontrolled greed abound on both sides of the political spectrum. Keys are honesty, empathy and listening. Without intellectual honesty, empathy and listening, any political initiative is ineffective at best, or bound for disaster at worst.

The only politician claiming his leadership led to a Golden Age, I could recollect in modern times before yesterday speech, was Nicolae Ceaușescu. Trump is only the second one. The two men had many things in common. Both have (had with regards of Nicolae Ceaușescu) a sweet tooth for gold objects and specifically for solid gold taps, solid gold elevator push buttons, and gold-plated toilet seats. Both believed they were loved by their people and rightly so, given their staggering achievements. Both had loving families and ambitious children ready to take over when the time came. I can only wish better luck to Donald Trump, since Nicolae Ceaușescu was not the object of much gratitude from the Romanian people, despite the latter been fortunate enough to experience an amazing golden age under his rule. Nicolae Ceaușescu was killed in an anti-bolshevik revolution on Christmas day, in 1989. Below the poster of the movie 'Tales from the Golden Age' (original title 'Amintiri din epoca de aur'). The title of the film refers to the alleged "Golden Age" (by Bolshevik propaganda) of the last 15 years of Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime. A remake of the film, this time set in Donald Trump's America, is in the works at Fox Entertainment studios.

There are two possible outcomes: a. Trump keeps his electoral promises. 1. End the war in Ukraine before Inauguration Day. Then, from day one, expect: 2. IRA repealed and roll back Biden's electric vehicle incentives 3. Mass deportations (up to 20 milion illegal aliens living in the US) to limit the number of workers competing for a job in the USA 4. 10 to 20% tarifs on all imported goods in a boost to the job market in the USA 5. Cut federal funding to schools that teach "critical race theory" and "transgender" matters 6. Purges of the 'enemies within' (up to some million left-leaning Americans, woke, LGTBQIA+ and DEI activists, deep-state employees, etc., fired, sent to prison or concentration camps, waiting for a final solution) 7. End taxes on tips 8. No taxes on Social Security income 9. "Replace" Obamacare with something bigger and better 10. Expand the child tax credit 11. Finance the above by printing even more money. b. Trump does again what he did when he won his first presidential mandate. 1. Nothing of the above 2. A lot, lot, lot of talks about himself: how rich he is, how beautiful he is, how great he is, how loved he is, how smart he is, how feared he is by those in power, etc., etc., etc.

Never had a single issue with the sole exception of AirAsia. Once you have your booking reference number (a 6 digits alphanumeric code) you can usually add it to your airline application and get updates from there. AirAsia was messy because they did not allow me to upgrade my seat with them but required me to buy the upgrade from the agent, which in turn did not offer the upgrade as an option. AirAsia is anyway always a mess.

Most would-be immigrants heading to the British shores speak English. And most of them already have relatives or acquaintances in the UK. Judging from the number of detections published by the UK government, after a peak in 2022, their number has decreased steadily in 2023.

Please, do not use tuk-tuk. They are a major source of acoustic and exhaust smoke pollution in Bangkok. Drivers are very often scammers. especially in touristic areas. Refrein from using tuk-tuk and tell any friend visiting you in BKK to do the same: taxis are cheap and, with a bit of insistence and by carefully avoiding stationary taxis waiting in tourist's spots, they use the meter and are cheap too. 🙂 No issue with songthaew also called baht-bus (right in the picture).

Many countries in Europe maintain a monarch as head of state: Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and the Vatican State. What makes the United Kingdom unique is the wealth of its royal family, which dwarfs the wealth of the royal families of other major countries. But the British royals are not the richest royals in Europe, not even by a long shot. Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, as the sole beneficiary of the LGT group, is the richest ruler on the continent.

Farang? LOL What do you think would happen in Russia? It's one of the most corrupt places on planet Earth, and everything has a price tag on it, especially when dealing with any authority.

NEVER I read so many idiocies written in a single 6-1/4 lines short comment. The true 'pearl of wisdom' in the commentary is 'When in Rome do as the Romans do'. As if the poor girl were a Scandinavian teenager on a holiday trip, instead of a local girl, all of whom are tormented by an inhumane regime, which forbids western music, dancing, western dress code, and any form of free expression. All in the name of a so-called god which has no qualms about approving the stoning, hanging, death by firing squad, death by falling from heights of human beings, for crimes such as homosexuality, fornication, adultery, sodomy, sexual misconduct, prostitution, political dissidence, apostasy, blasphemy, recidivist consumption of alcohol, etc. Iran is believed to execute the most people per capita, disproportionally affecting the Sunni minority.

According to Wikipedia both Thatcher and Churchill were not ‘conservatives’ but both were ‘ideologically adherent to economic liberalism’. To me they were pragmatic, results oriented leaders who were not impeded in their quest for results by prejudice, sectarianism or fanaticism. And this is what in essence conservatism is. I live fanaticism to Marxists and Islamists.

Tories keep on playing Nigel Farage's playbook, the one he is a master at winning, and they just proved incapable of mastering. While the UK public is increasingly becoming sick and tired of vehement stances, and is striving for the coming back of some British 'commonsense' and 'decency' in politics, the ones made famous by the humble 'grocery shopkeeper' Margaret Thatcher.

With Americans being at each other's throat, struggling with an epidemic of 'enemies from within' of epic proportions, and the United States in full swing self-destruction mode, the job of Storm-1516 must be very easy these days. Just add some fuel to the fire, and let naive Americans finish the job.

I am not Iranian. But one day streets will be named after Jamshid Sharmahd in Theran and other Iranian cities.

I understand your position, the logic conclusion of an otherwise deranged mind. Stop sending money and weapons to Ukraine it's the only chance the Kremlin has to win this war, given how antiquate its weaponry is, and defective the weapons it receives from the DPKR are. On one thing however you are wrong. This is not Russia's war against Ukraine or the West. Russians simply refuse to take part in it (this was not the case of the fight against Nazi-Fascism). This is Putin's war against Ukraine. The proof is that those who are fighting are, handsomely rewarded and paid, prisoners sentenced to life without parole, rapists, murderous criminals, Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs, Chuvash, Avars, Dargins, Kazakhs and, now that Putin is running out of them, North Koreans. This is spelling out loud and clear how unjust and criminal this war is, even in the minds of the majority of the Russian people, at least of those who don't still live in caves.

This comment sounds familiar. I am trying to guess where I heard it before...

Right, but not only that. China's authoritarian regime threatens the sovereignty of the EU within its own borders (think of the illegal overseas Chinese police stations found in Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Ireland, etc., but also in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Japan, etc.). China's hegemonic ambitions in Asia and the South China Sea pose a threat to free trade and navigation. Communist China (and Putin's Russia) consider any democracy a threat to the stability of their authoritarian regimes. They actively engage in destabilizing democracies by deploying tools of unconventional warfare.

Not by the Iranian people. They are in no mood to forget anything done by the regime. But your comment will surely be forgotten, and you with it.

It's time for the EU to wake up to the new reality, and the dangers arising both from the East (Russia, China), and the West (Trump and the electorate supporting him). But together the EU countries can and will fend off any aggression to its territorial integrity and independence.

RIP Jamshid Sharmahd. You won't be forgotten.