Immigration to the UK - do you have concerns?
- Thread starter mojo pixy
- Start date
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
"Stop the boats" is just a slogan.
That's not the only immigration they want stopped.
maomao
普費斯
It is a lot of people to be taking such a risk, but it is the summer peak. The average is around three-quarters of that which is still a large number of people risking their lives.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
I known the arguments for why people want to come to the UK, but I do struggle to understand why people take this amount of risk to get to this fucking shithole. Guess it is just because I'm already here.
Last edited:
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
you’re a good lad, but I don’t think you’re that much of a draw.
zedr
new but not *that* new
As I said upthread, once you’re in Calais there’s not really much option. It’s a terrifying nighttime boat ride or spend weeks eating one meal a day getting beaten to shit by the CRS during the day and chased out of tents at nights. From ppl I’ve spoken to, some will actively want to come to the UK, but many others will have tried Germany, Italy, France and this is the last option.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
Spend a weekend in the camp in Calais after leaving your home in Albania, then have another guess.
(I know you know this. But as much as the UK is a shithole to us, you know…relative).
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
There is also the fact that I'm an immense coward.
Flavour
hang the bankers
The UK is not seen to be a shit hole. Indeed, it's not. It may be comparatively less rich in relation to its former colonies than it was in the past but it still a very attractive place to live for a very large number of people. Living in Italy I am constantly asked why I don't live in the UK anymore, and to many it just doesn't compute. Why would I leave? Britain isn't seem as a place young people "need to" leave from, you'd only leave if you're rich and retired. So the idea that anyone does is baffling to most, unless the destination country is even better off, e.g.the USA or Australia.
So why do we never hear rhetoric about foreign students, care workers, or those coming from Hong Kong or Ukraine? Stopping the boats would barely make a dent in net migration.
Stopping the boats is a slogan the government is quite happy with because they want migration to prop up university funding and prevent the care system collapsing and they can obscure that by whipping up hatred against the smallest and most vulnerable group of migrants.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Possibly. Although it was the previous government’s slogan. Not sure we’ll see much more of it from this one.
andysays
Love and solidarity
As has been said before, there is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of the government's approach to immigration.
On the one hand, Britain is still effectively dependent on immigration to overcome skills shortages in some industries, provide cheap labour in others and to prop up university funding.
But on the other hand, they want to pander to (and even encourage) racist anti-immigrant feeling, so they can point to an external enemy which we are encouraged to fear, and so they can present themselves as tough in dealing with the issue.
One of the most effective ways of doing this is to exaggerate the scale of illegal (and therefore largely) uncontrolled immigration.
andysays
Love and solidarity
They might not be using the same slogan, but they are certainly continuing the focus on illegal immigration
Ministers pledge to return more illegal migrants
zedr
new but not *that* new
I think its really important to stress that asylum seekers are not ‘illegal immigrants’. That’s a right-wing (and plain false) framing and plays completely into their hands. The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is clear on this. Anyone has the right to seek asylum in any country which has signed the Convention and remain there until their claim has been assessed. The Convention also states a that people may have to use ‘irregular’ means to claim asylum in another country. The blame for this should land squarely at the feet of governments, not the people seeking asylum.
e2a - I am yet to see any evidence that people crossing the channel in boats are not asylum seekers. I’m sure there are small few who risk it for other reasons, but the way boat crossings have been made synonymous with ‘illegal’ migration seems to be an attempt to undermine the validity of asylum seekers’ claims to sanctuary.
e2a - I am yet to see any evidence that people crossing the channel in boats are not asylum seekers. I’m sure there are small few who risk it for other reasons, but the way boat crossings have been made synonymous with ‘illegal’ migration seems to be an attempt to undermine the validity of asylum seekers’ claims to sanctuary.
Dystopiary
putting up a hook to hang my hopes upon
Which followed Starmer saying at an event hosted by the S*n:
"I'll make sure we’ve got planes going off - not to Rwanda because that's an expensive gimmick. They will go back to the countries where people come from. That’s what used to happen,"
"At the moment, people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed."
andysays
Love and solidarity
Yeah, you're right.
I realise I've fallen into that trap in some of my posts here, and it just shows how easy it is to subconsciously take that false narrative on board even when the intention is to challenge the dominant narrative.
BusLanes
Pedestrian
There are so many Italians in the UK or perhaps have lived in the UK that it may be hard to believe that the country isn't doing better.
I certainly used to meet loads all over. Lots moved over after uni because they couldn't get work, even in quite specialised trades.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
I mean, I definitely take the general point here, but is it not the case that the last government did end up attacking foreign students and so causing a bit of a crisis across a lot of HE? For instance:
I’m an international student – we’ve been so demonised, no wonder Britain’s losing us | Joyce Yang
Tory ministers and Nigel Farage scapegoated us as part of their anti-immigration agenda. Does anyone see us as human? asks London-based writer Joyce Yang
UK universities face growing struggle to recruit international students
Applications for sponsored visas have plummeted since new restrictions brought in, raising financial fears
Foreign students may be undermining UK higher education, says Cleverly
Home secretary calls for visa review over concern that courses are being used as shortcut to gain work permits
UK's clampdown on international students has exposed how much universities depend on foreign money
Britain's university funding model is in turmoil as many institutions report deficits. The crisis intensified after a drop in international students, prompted by stricter visa rules. Labour suggested addressing the issue but lacked specifics. Proposed solutions include adjusting tuition fees...
And so on.
ElizabethofYork
Old Crone
I work at a University, which is currently in meltdown about the massive reduction in numbers of of foreign students expected in the next academic year. We rely so, so heavily on their revenue. Massive uncertainty about what's going to happen to our jobs.
maomao
普費斯
The Tories attacked immigration through HE because it was a soft target and they had their 'five figures' target. They'd already crippled the Unis by making them dependant on foreign students; now by attacking the unis' source of income they've pretty much sounded the death knell for widely accessible higher education, which is what a lot of them wanted anyway. Can't have the working classes studying art and literature.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
The response by the centre politicians
www.independent.co.uk
Tory visa restrictions on international students won’t be reversed, says Labour
International student visa restrictions were introduced to prevent most international students bringing dependents with them to the UK
www.independent.co.uk
maomao
普費斯
Who would want loads of money, a subsidised education system and a bunch of skilled workers eh? In its way its as big a self-inflicted wound as the Tory approach to Brexit.The response by the centre politicians
Tory visa restrictions on international students won’t be reversed, says Labour
International student visa restrictions were introduced to prevent most international students bringing dependents with them to the UK
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Surprise Surprise Labour Government just put this out today. People legitimate concerns after the racist riots have been answered
Labour government is going to be no soft touch on immigration.
www.gov.uk
No Rwanda. But apart from that lock em up and shove them on flights back to where they came from is the order of the day
What I don't understand is how this is related to security. Is it that I'm meant to sleep more soundly in my bed when I know people are getting booted out of the country?
Labour government is going to be no soft touch on immigration.
Home Secretary announces new measures to boost Britain’s border security
Home Secretary announces new measures to strengthen border security, enforce immigration rules and increase returns
No Rwanda. But apart from that lock em up and shove them on flights back to where they came from is the order of the day
What I don't understand is how this is related to security. Is it that I'm meant to sleep more soundly in my bed when I know people are getting booted out of the country?
Please do this. You’re able to. And it’s necessary and interesting.
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Reading this thread and roughly three views
One is that there is a redline and its been crossed.
The "left" is part of the problem. Language used shows how out of touch they are
There's is a centre ground of those who think that there are "legitimate" concerns. Immigration controls are needed. And those like me who aren't bothered about immigration controls are utopians.
I'm not an expert on immigration or an academic. But when I Google up a bit seems to me this country had loads of rules on immigration. Imo this country has increasingly over time tightened up immigration rules.
When I have asked what is the issue with the present ones I get no answer. I mean the actual facts of the matter. Not rows about whose most in touch with the working class etc.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
There should be rigorous immigration checks on the wealthy
Similar threads
- Poll
