@fallen-archie wrote:
Oh Dear, we now reduce this to a choice between a litter of puppies or a swarm of refugees.
In Germany thousands of refugees have arrived, crammed into sports halls and other public buildings awaiting permanent accommodation and a new life. They have a substantially larger land mass in which to house the refugees than we do and a better infrastructure. Our hospitals, schools and surgeries are under huge pressure and whilst it would be possible to have an open door policy I wonder what the final impact on this small Island would be. Britain has taken in newcomers for centuries it hasn't always been easy, some have integrated well while others hang on to old identities. What I am clear on in my own mind is that senseless personal comment to those you disagree with and attempts to shame animal lovers is simply crass and inflamatory.
This challenge will only be addressed by a coming together of nations prepared to assist the root cause and offer a real future for them in their own lands.
And finally let us also try and share this planet with the other species who we are currently pushing toward extinction. There is no shortage of human beings we are growing at an unsustainable rate but hey who cares?
I agree wholeheartedly with everything Archie has said, particularly the comment about establishing a future for these people in their own countries. On the whole the people fleeing the war in Syria are not poor in an economic sense, they have had the wherewithal to to handover five grand apiece to people smugglers to get them out of the country. I don't regard myself as poor but I'd struggle to lay my hands on that much cash in an emergency, if I had a young family I'd be completely up the creek.
All the so called refugees that I've seen interviewed keep reinforcing the view that they are not benefit scroungers but well educated and highly trained doctors, dentists, engineers, IT consultants etc. That may be just what we in the West want to hear but even if true, these are just the sort of people who will be needed to rebuild their countries in the future if and when things ever return to some level of normality. Instead, as usual, the poor and uneducated masses are the ones left behind to contend with the brain drain from their country, the same ones who will be more submisive to the likes of Assad, ISIS and the like. These are the people in most need of help, not the wealthy fleeing the sinking ships throughout the Middle East.
If a similar thing happened here in the UK and you had the means to escape wouldn't you try to flee to a country that had a similar culture and held similar views and beliefs to your own? This is what these thousands of refugees should be doing, moving half way around the world and trying to assimilate into several different countries each with their own unique cultural identity has no benefit for either side.
As to whether we can handle a further increase in population, almost every country in the EU is in a better position to help than we are. Net migration to the UK was 330,000 in the last 12 months, we have a shortfall in housebuilding of around 250,000 a year, we already have 185,000 people who are officially classed as homeless and close to 3,000 of them will be spending this coming Christmas on the streets. Do the math as they say.
