Election Year or Fear!

[MadAmster]

According to David Willetts, President of the resolution Foundation and a Member of the House of Lords, pre Brexit, there were no illegal boat immigrants.

“There were no small boat crossings bringing in migrants until Brexit. They began in 2018. In the words of a study by Professor Thom Brooks of the trends “There are no records of any individuals travelling by small boat to claim asylum in 2017 or before.” Before Brexit illegal migrants could be and some were returned to other member states of the EU. That was how the migrant camp at Calais was closed. But the returns policy was abandoned as part of the hard Brexit deal.
Brexit also meant we lost access to data in other EU member states about criminal records of migrants coming to the UK. We have also lost access to the EU fingerprint data-based of migrants so tracking their history is more difficult.
Brexit was based on a promise to bring back control. Instead it has weakened our control of our own borders by ending the collaboration with our neighbours. The populists brought us Brexit with promises of taking back control, but it has had the opposite effect. So Farage helped create the conditions in which small boats come here, and now blames the out-of-touch political class for the consequences of a populist cause he promoted.”

It all seems to follow things we know about what happened. Due to the appalling decisions to drop the returns policy, stopping collaboration with our EU neighbours on migrants, dropping access to the fingerprint database, all part of the awful Brexit deal, the UK now has the "boat people problem".

Ergo, started with the lies of the Brexiteers and compounded by Johnson making stupid decisions with regard to the deal he "negotiated". Oven ready deal my arse.

I wonder how they'll respond to this in the Blue Tories and Reform?

[Geoff Parkstone]

Dont think I want to visit Clacton then, no Chinese ergo no decent Chinese food

[Geoff Parkstone]

but Andy, you know the only media bias is that repeatedly displayed by the right wing media.... so any sample provided by the anti-farageists must be beyond question.

[SithHappens]

Farage definitely media darling, the amount of airtime the BBC gives his party over the greens or even lib dems is very disproportionate compared with the tiny number of seats they hold.

[SithHappens]

Dont think I want to visit Clacton then, no Chinese ergo no decent Chinese food

Does anywhere do decent Chinese food anymore? Takeaways at least seem very poor these days.

[SithHappens]

I know my anecdotes ‘trigger’ some on here, but (until earlier in the month when I closed the business) I had a fairly substantial customer base in Es*** generally and Clacton well represented amongst those. Every single one that has expressed a view is an NF fan and of those, any who’ve discussed his whereabouts couldn’t care less about lack of attendance. They just love the TV coverage he gets! I’m not suggesting my sample is any more representative than yours but is ‘direct’ ie not filtered through a media bias

is your business the Reform fan club of Es***?:🤪

[Andy_Faber]

is your business the Reform fan club of Es***?:🤪

No, in broad terms it was 'entertainment'. Lots of down time and occasionally lots of booze (by others) over the 16 years it existed brought out lots of opinions, not just from Es*** Man, its been a UK-wide thing. Unlike here, I don't share my political/worldview opinions or observations, just listen, and its been an interesting ride soaking up the deeply held views of people who are/were 'not like me' but have as much right to an opinion (and vote) as any. I closed the enterprise because I valued the time released by doing it more than the income it generated, not sure if I'll miss the folk I met along the way, in most cases probably not!

[swaledale]

All in the nuance, do people have a "right" to an opinion which involves expressing hatred, violence, xenophobia, racism, ***ism, bigoted and generally anti social? I'd think any right minded person might think that such deeply held views are not acceptable in any civilised society, but obviously in todays climate it seems one must "respect" the hate mongers whatever their political leanings.

[Geoff Parkstone]

One man's meat is another's poison

[ramAnag]

One man's meat is another's poison

Which is fine as far as footballers, bands, films or even politicians are concerned, but doesn’t extend to morality, imo.