O/T. The Government's handling of Covid

[Andy_Faber]

You do demonstrate how unaware of reality you are.

1. Sort Brexit? Bit difficult that as Brexit cannot be sorted, at least not in the way you and the other dimwits that believed the lies told and voted leave. At the moment its costing the Uk economy a minimum of £400 million every week, forcing inflation up and the utter stupidity of pretending the UK could thrive economically by pissing off its closet trading neighbours is slowly dawning on people. Of course those who engineered Brexit always knew that most of what they promised was unachievable, but they also knew the core vote was too thick to realise that, seems you have proven that point.

Anyway as was always going to be the case, the Government is slowly moving towards accepting reality, seems the NI protocol is here to stay (hence "Lord" Frost chucking in the trowel, an agreement has been reached with the French on fishing, before you know it we will be back in the single market!

2. Sort Immigration? Thought that had been done? I'm not using your overhyped (taken from right wing media) migrant invasion, because a, these are refugees not migrants as such, b, its not despite the hyperbole, an invasion - fact less than 50% are crossing by sea than used to cross by lorry and the UK has taken less refugees than 12 other EU countries and overall immigration is below what it was before all this nonsense started. Hence issues with shortage of labour and no increasing wages is not going to magic more bodies out of the woodwork, because they don't exist, still it will push inflation up so more good news for those leave voters!

It could be stopped quite simply - the UK could simply set up a system for processing refugees in France offering a safe, legal way for them to register and then process them in a humane manner that complies with international law - another fact, over 80% are accepted and actually as history shows go on to make a positive economic and social contribution to the UK.

3.Abandon this green farce? I take that your not convinced that climate change is a real threat? Ah but then I supposed a world renown intellectual such as yourself knows much better than others with perhaps just a bit more between their ears? But in any case surely being a world leader on "green" technology will bring economic benefits for the UK? If you don't believe in climate change, the shift to fuels that pump less pollution into the atmosphere must be a plus?

Granted there is a significant proportion of the population, probably around a third who are incapable of understanding the more complex issues in life until they get to experience the harsh reality themselves ( some still believe the world is flat) but there is also a significant proportion of the population who are capable of rational thought and aren't led by whatever the right wing media are feeding them that day and over time thankfully those people tend to be more likely to vote and have influence over society than the people you align with. Which is fortunate as I kind of guess society would be a lot less nicer to live in if your views held sway.

As for your claim that sleaze runs through British politics, well its true that there are politicians of most persuasions that can be found to have crossed the line in terms of their behaviour, they are after all human. However, when it comes to aligning themselves with the rich and powerful, the Tory's are clear winners every time.

The labour party may well do things I don't like, but on the whole I'm inclined to believe based on past history that they are far more aligned to the interests of the ordinary person, than a party which is bank rolled by tax exiled expats. But hey ho I'm sure your judgement is sound as always!

Its just shame that people who get shafted by the Tories time after time still vote for them, and indeed like yourself actually make excuses for them whilst being shafted!

Now if that is not the very definition of being dumb, I don't know what is!

TTR please pm me your postal address so Amazon can get your dunce’s hat to you in time for Christmas

[ramAnag]

TTR please pm me your postal address so Amazon can get your dunce’s hat to you in time for Christmas

Hmmm...but apart from the fact that you’d perhaps have preferred Swale to use the word ‘gullible’ rather than ‘dumb’...he’s right isn’t he?

Anyone who describes climate change as the ‘green farce’, thinks (not least after last night’s events) that Brexit is sortable and dismisses the refugee crisis as an ‘invasion’ is, at the very least, gullible and at the worst.....well...I won’t say it.

P.S. Suspect we won’t be far behind you, MA. Stay safe.

[Geoff Parkstone]

What did I miss least night rA? Not sure how the Colts ending the Patriots winning streak affects Brexit?

Agree with Swale re green, environmental point. Agree with Tricky re control of "boaters" as the Americans used to call the Vietnamese "economic refugees"... Perhaps ecogees to create a new portmanteau word.

But more to the point I don't think it is appropriate to verbally abuse any other poster on this site simply because you don't agree with their opinion, you dumb sh*t :-)

[Trickytreesreds]

Hmmm...but apart from the fact that you’d perhaps have preferred Swale to use the word ‘gullible’ rather than ‘dumb’...he’s right isn’t he?

Anyone who describes climate change as the ‘green farce’, thinks (not least after last night’s events) that Brexit is sortable and dismisses the refugee crisis as an ‘invasion’ is, at the very least, gullible and at the worst.....well...I won’t say it.

P.S. Suspect we won’t be far behind you, MA. Stay safe.

It is a green farce.
No one said anything about global warming denial. Johnson is now obsessed with pushing the UK to the Nth degree,
The fact that 2 chinese power stations burn more coal, than the whole of the UK shows the futility of all this financial hammering.
The windmill craze left us in the position of firing up our coal power stations ,when the wind didn't blow this year.
We import energy from abroad to supplement our inadequencies.
The UK seems yo think it must be lead the way at any cost in Europe with this, just like NATO spending.
(irony here is RA, you and Swale belittle our global standing on most things lol)
The public pays and pays for all this, whilst the big boys get worse. Brilliant.

As for the boaters, the majority are not refugees, UNHCR says that 7 out of 10 are not refugees at all.
The trafficking business, is mainly run by criminals from the very countries, these people are "fleeing" from.
Money held by third parties, for payments.
Get someone here and the family follows.
Total bollox.
I have always said, I agreed with Cameron. Take genuine refugees from camps with the correct vetting. A boat landing in Dover full of men aged 18-28 claiming persecution, after trudging across Europe is dodgy at best.

But the gullible are everywhere.

[Trickytreesreds]

As for COVID, the French government has said, it will relax restrictions on British citizens travelling to France, should the Germans decide to invade.

[Andy_Faber]

Hmmm...but apart from the fact that you’d perhaps have preferred Swale to use the word ‘gullible’ rather than ‘dumb’...he’s right isn’t he?

Anyone who describes climate change as the ‘green farce’, thinks (not least after last night’s events) that Brexit is sortable and dismisses the refugee crisis as an ‘invasion’ is, at the very least, gullible and at the worst.....well...I won’t say it.

P.S. Suspect we won’t be far behind you, MA. Stay safe.

No he's not right rA, he's mostly/partly right in some cases, mostly/partly wrong in others, that's just IMO and GP summarises my view well so there's little point in expanding on my opinion because of the nature of the responses I now know I'd get

I also agree with GP regarding Swales' apparently chronic inability to make any point without verbal abuse, and his repeated and detailed excuse for same - did he learn from Rayner or did Rayner learn from him? On that basis he deserves continued lampooning, again just IMO

[ramAnag]

To the Three Degrees...

GP...it seems you missed Frost’s resignation.
On the subject of Swale, he, unbelievably, took the time to write about 500 words. His post contained the phrase ‘unaware of reality’ and the word ‘dumb’. Is that really ‘verbal abuse’. Sure I’ve heard you use worse.

Tricky...you must have missed the recent Channel tragedy. The dead included at least seven women and three children. The fact that the trafficking ‘business’ is run by criminals is undoubtedly true...doesn’t alter the level of desperation experienced by those who are being trafficked though does it?

AF...how Swale writes is his business not mine. The vast majority of his post was, imo, articulate and perceptive. Beyond that...see above as written to GP. It might be nice though if, just for once, the two of you could respond to the points Swale raises rather than picking out his use of the word ‘dumb’...they are rather more important than his understandable frustrations with TTR....imo.

[Andy_Faber]

AF...how Swale writes is his business not mine. The vast majority of his post was, imo, articulate and perceptive. Beyond that...see above as written to GP. It might be nice though if, just for once, the two of you could respond to the points Swale raises rather than picking out his use of the word ‘dumb’...they are rather more important than his understandable frustrations with TTR....imo.

What about 'dimwits' and 'core vote was too thick', AND that was just the first paragraph, AND the whole response was more mild in tone than usual. Detailed response to Swales' ramblings isn't worth the insults, his approach, and yours to a lesser extent, is exactly why I never discuss politics in the real world, and to repeat a comment from a week or so ago, I now understand GP's change of response style to more cynical/sarcastic over recent times

Doesn't it ever wear you down having to defend him?

[Trickytreesreds]

Tricky...you must have missed the recent Channel tragedy. The dead included at least seven women and three children. The fact that the trafficking ‘business’ is run by criminals is undoubtedly true...doesn’t alter the level of desperation experienced by those who are being trafficked though does it?


No, I didn't miss it.
A statement from the Paris prosecutor said that there were 17 men among the deceased aged 19-26, seven women aged 22-46, as well as a 16-year-old ****ager and a child aged seven.

Six**** of the victims were Kurds from Iraq, four were Afghan men. Three Ethiopians, a Somalian woman, as well as an Iranian and an Egyptian man made up the others.

Now I'll ask again, who organised that trip and why was it deemed necessary?
You say desperation, I say cherry picking.
Lets look at the most common list-
https://news.sky.com/story/channel-d...-from-12478170

They use personal funds/family funds/ crime funds to cherry pick a destination.
They know damned well, that once here, the chances of eviction (thanks EU) ARE VIRTUALLY ZERO.

So I'll say agin. This country has been a proud refugee safe port for decades.
This isn't about that anymore. Most are after a better life and I suggest you listen to interviews of the migrants themselves in Calias.
They all admit that.

We are being taken for a ride and other countries in Europe(Sweden/Denmark) have woken up to it.
They won't stay in France, as even the French say we are too soft with them.

[Geoff Parkstone]

To the Three Degrees...

GP...it seems you missed Frost’s resignation.
On the subject of Swale, he, unbelievably, took the time to write about 500 words. His post contained the phrase ‘unaware of reality’ and the word ‘dumb’. Is that really ‘verbal abuse’. Sure I’ve heard you use worse.

Tricky...you must have missed the recent Channel tragedy. The dead included at least seven women and three children. The fact that the trafficking ‘business’ is run by criminals is undoubtedly true...doesn’t alter the level of desperation experienced by those who are being trafficked though does it?

AF...how Swale writes is his business not mine. The vast majority of his post was, imo, articulate and perceptive. Beyond that...see above as written to GP. It might be nice though if, just for once, the two of you could respond to the points Swale raises rather than picking out his use of the word ‘dumb’...they are rather more important than his understandable frustrations with TTR....imo.

Yes I had, I'm guessing it was past at 3 o'clock on said cold morning?