The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
On this I think you are right. The conventional view is inflation is transient. It doesn’t seem to be. Energy costs are going to feed into it and there is little chance of energy costs falling anytime soon.
If the conventional view, formed before this invasion, and based on shaky assumptions in the first place imho, hasn't been radically re-assessed, then I'd be very surprised indeed.
A lot seems to depend on the duration of the conflict. I watch a bit of CNBC and Bloomberg and, as always, the talking heads views are divided.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
No she isn't. She has completely failed to stop immigration. We haven't even got to the point of being able to distinguish between the immigrants we want and the immigrants we don't.
Listen to Sir Edward Leigh. A stack of people don't want *any* immigrants. At all.
That’s true, but they are a tiny minority.
They way you go on about this, and normally you’re pretty level headed, is as if we’re an island of Tommy Robinson’s which we clearly are not.
I am really disappointed in @RochdalePioneers recent rants which do not relate to the discussions in the HOC and the contributions by conservative mps
I was directly quoting from a contribution by a Conservative MP. Then posted verbatim his entire contribution and a link.
How is posting Sir Edward Leigh's entire diatribe me "ranting" in a way which does not relate to contributions by Conservative MPs like Sir Edward Leigh?
Its very very simple. Every country in Europe has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees. All of them. Except one. Personally I am disgusted by this. Others are not. Me posting verbatim comments by Tory MPs demonstrating why we stand alone in closing our door to refugees is not me performing "recent rants".
You are demonising conservatives by highlighting one disgusting mp who does nor represent HMG
You may as well attack labour who have pro Putin mps on their benches
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
No she isn't. She has completely failed to stop immigration. We haven't even got to the point of being able to distinguish between the immigrants we want and the immigrants we don't.
Listen to Sir Edward Leigh. A stack of people don't want *any* immigrants. At all.
That’s true, but they are a tiny minority.
They way you go on about this, and normally you’re pretty level headed, is as if we’re an island of Tommy Robinson’s which we clearly are not.
I am really disappointed in @RochdalePioneers recent rants which do not relate to the discussions in the HOC and the contributions by conservative mps
I was directly quoting from a contribution by a Conservative MP. Then posted verbatim his entire contribution and a link.
How is posting Sir Edward Leigh's entire diatribe me "ranting" in a way which does not relate to contributions by Conservative MPs like Sir Edward Leigh?
Its very very simple. Every country in Europe has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees. All of them. Except one. Personally I am disgusted by this. Others are not. Me posting verbatim comments by Tory MPs demonstrating why we stand alone in closing our door to refugees is not me performing "recent rants".
You are demonising conservatives by highlighting one disgusting mp who does nor represent HMG
You may as well attack labour who have pro Putin mps on their benches
You are better than this
Nope this is currently symptomatic of the CONSERVATIVE government. Patel and her mob are utterly failing to do their job properly and have shown themselves to be completely devoid of any humanity or moral compass. They are shaming the Government, the Party and the whole country and are being egged on by fuckwits like Leigh. There is absolutely no defence.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
What more do you need to know other than UK Government Bad Because Brexit?
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Longer. And Tory MPs and some Tory voters have been shrieking the same way about the same thing for a long long time. Remember the Farage TURNING POINT poster?
It is a minor thing in the wider historical events taking place before our eyes, but the Ukraine war looks like finally finishing off Labour's far left entryists.
"....if you think Russian imperialism is the West’s fault, or that Putin maybe has a point, or the Ukrainians are fascists, or Biden and Zelenskyy are the bad guys, then don’t think you can be a member of the Labour Party as well. Useful idiots need not apply." I agree.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
No she isn't. She has completely failed to stop immigration. We haven't even got to the point of being able to distinguish between the immigrants we want and the immigrants we don't.
Listen to Sir Edward Leigh. A stack of people don't want *any* immigrants. At all.
That’s true, but they are a tiny minority.
They way you go on about this, and normally you’re pretty level headed, is as if we’re an island of Tommy Robinson’s which we clearly are not.
I am really disappointed in @RochdalePioneers recent rants which do not relate to the discussions in the HOC and the contributions by conservative mps
I was directly quoting from a contribution by a Conservative MP. Then posted verbatim his entire contribution and a link.
How is posting Sir Edward Leigh's entire diatribe me "ranting" in a way which does not relate to contributions by Conservative MPs like Sir Edward Leigh?
Its very very simple. Every country in Europe has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees. All of them. Except one. Personally I am disgusted by this. Others are not. Me posting verbatim comments by Tory MPs demonstrating why we stand alone in closing our door to refugees is not me performing "recent rants".
You are demonising conservatives by highlighting one disgusting mp who does nor represent HMG
You may as well attack labour who have pro Putin mps on their benches
You are better than this
How many refugees have we admitted, Big_G ?
The numbers are to be released this evening apparently
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
It’s terrible to reduce what they’re doing and the horrible reason why they’re doing it to admiring their hotness. But, y’know, phwoarrrr. I’m pretty liberal and, though I dislike the term, Woke, I guess. But my word they’re attractive young women.
One could argue that every Western politician that's contributed to their country becoming reliant of Russian energy sources ought to resign from office, or from their national assembly/parliament if they're not in office but still an elected representative. An unacceptable error of judgement.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
Patel has just said in the HOC that people smugglers in Calais are involved in attempting to use this crisis for their own interests
Of course statements of Patel, Johnson and other ministers in House of Commons MUST be taken as gospel, because of course no minister can willfully, strategically, repeated lie to Parliament.
Or can they? As Al Smith used to say, let's look at the record?
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
No she isn't. She has completely failed to stop immigration. We haven't even got to the point of being able to distinguish between the immigrants we want and the immigrants we don't.
Listen to Sir Edward Leigh. A stack of people don't want *any* immigrants. At all.
That’s true, but they are a tiny minority.
They way you go on about this, and normally you’re pretty level headed, is as if we’re an island of Tommy Robinson’s which we clearly are not.
I am really disappointed in @RochdalePioneers recent rants which do not relate to the discussions in the HOC and the contributions by conservative mps
I was directly quoting from a contribution by a Conservative MP. Then posted verbatim his entire contribution and a link.
How is posting Sir Edward Leigh's entire diatribe me "ranting" in a way which does not relate to contributions by Conservative MPs like Sir Edward Leigh?
Its very very simple. Every country in Europe has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees. All of them. Except one. Personally I am disgusted by this. Others are not. Me posting verbatim comments by Tory MPs demonstrating why we stand alone in closing our door to refugees is not me performing "recent rants".
You are demonising conservatives by highlighting one disgusting mp who does nor represent HMG
You may as well attack labour who have pro Putin mps on their benches
You are better than this
I am demonising racist Conservative MPs and their voters, yes., For being racist. The Hansard transcript says [interruption] when MPs of all parties - his own included - objected to his racism.
And why does he get away with it? Why has nothing been done? Because Patel has uniquely in Europe closed the door to refugees. THAT is the thing I am objecting too, clearly and repeatedly and yes louder the longer our shameful actions go on.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
Perhaps. But only if it is hinged to adopt a position unique in Europe where we are refusing entry to refugees fleeing for their lives.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'. Anyone who knows him from his many years on the site knows he is one of the least anti-immigrant people on here and he is clearly using the 'forrin' term to mock Leigh. Nor has he been using it 'for ages' in anything other than a mocking term when xenophobic morons make fools of themselves.
So how is it you think he is 'unhinged'. If anyone is unhinged it is the target of his justified mockery.
She comes across as a heartless individual. I think it was Alexei Style that joked that she is the sort of person who would turn off your life support machine to recharge her phone.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
Come on. This is policy. This isn't the Home Office going off on one, working towards the Patel. We even had an Immigration Minister cheerfully tweet that women and children fleeing for their lives could apply to pick fruit.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
What good reasons? Bearing in mind you can reasonably exclude males 18-60 on the grounds they are illegally out of Ukr, which excludes 99% of criminals and virtuallly all dangerous ones.
The thing about this, as with so much happening in Poland, is how organic it is. Yes the Polish govt is doing a huge amount, especially in terms of co-ordinating arrivals. But so much of what is sustaining arrivals are small, spontaneous acts of charity from millions of Poles.https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1500800229901279235
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
Ah, there you go again, pretending that the situation of people in Ukraine trying to get into Poland is identical to people in France trying to get into the UK.
Every country in Europe, not just Poland.
If you think the forrin should be kept away that's fine - Patel is doing this for you. Some of us have humanity still.
No she isn't. She has completely failed to stop immigration. We haven't even got to the point of being able to distinguish between the immigrants we want and the immigrants we don't.
Listen to Sir Edward Leigh. A stack of people don't want *any* immigrants. At all.
That’s true, but they are a tiny minority.
They way you go on about this, and normally you’re pretty level headed, is as if we’re an island of Tommy Robinson’s which we clearly are not.
I am really disappointed in @RochdalePioneers recent rants which do not relate to the discussions in the HOC and the contributions by conservative mps
I was directly quoting from a contribution by a Conservative MP. Then posted verbatim his entire contribution and a link.
How is posting Sir Edward Leigh's entire diatribe me "ranting" in a way which does not relate to contributions by Conservative MPs like Sir Edward Leigh?
Its very very simple. Every country in Europe has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees. All of them. Except one. Personally I am disgusted by this. Others are not. Me posting verbatim comments by Tory MPs demonstrating why we stand alone in closing our door to refugees is not me performing "recent rants".
You are demonising conservatives by highlighting one disgusting mp who does nor represent HMG
You may as well attack labour who have pro Putin mps on their benches
You are better than this
How many refugees have we admitted, Big_G ?
We all remember the farage poster during 2016, terrorists welcomed in open armed, on mass, so to be fair to the Conservatives and Big G Labour are also calling for security checks the EU have discarded. I don’t know what the Libdem and SNP position is on security checks, wether they are out on limb and huge minority in House of Commons on this, but there is no support in UK parliament to drop all checks like EU has done.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
Perhaps. But only if it is hinged to adopt a position unique in Europe where we are refusing entry to refugees fleeing for their lives.
At this critical juncture, accusing Ukrainian refugees of immigration fraud on speculation, is giving Putin aid & comfort, helping to validate his lies that HE is NOT the problem here.
Same goes for blaming the West and Ukrainians for situation due to NATO expansion and desire for (dare I say?) true independence.
Plus it IS possible methinks, to take position that we should rally around Western leaders - warts and worse - at this time WITHOUT attacking those who are NOT willing nor able to go as to assume said leaders are paragons of liberty let alone leadership.
Indeed IMHO efforts in this direction are less than persuasive, indeed counter-persuasive, to most of the target audience.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
Given how crap the MoD is at getting value for money on defence projects - I'm quite happy that we aren't rushing to spend money today.
Let's work out exactly what modern day warfare looks like and work from there (no need for tanks but tractors seem useful).
The 100-billion-euro package for the Bundeswehr is intended to make the German armed forces the most powerful in Europe, says Minister Christian Lindner
It's not enough for that, even if they sort out their bureaucrats.
It is about 2.5% of GDP, which covers approx 4-5 years of shortfall - whilst the shortfall has been happening since the millenium at least.
All it will cover is pothole filling and sticky plasters, plus a little more. The big stuff will come from the 2% commitment, which is about an extra 40% on the previous Defence Budget,
It includes 20bn Euro to make sure they have enough ammunition stocks.
They still have minor problems to deal with such as any item over £25m requiring a Parliamentary vote.
Interesting, thanks.
...the German-French development of a new air-defense system, a new generation of battle tanks and the Eurodrone;
a new artillery and munitions system in cooperation with Britain;...
...top of the priority list is a successor to the ancient Tornado fighters. In his speech on Sunday, Scholz indicated that the current strategy calls for a hybrid solution, essentially taking elements of the modernized Eurofighter and from the new American super-fighter F-35 from Lockheed Martin. This project alone is estimated to cost around 15 billion euros....
What the heck is the last item - why don't they just buy the F35 ? Cobbling together a new aircraft will take years, might not produce anything useful, and is likely to cost as much if not more. A decent order ought to see them get a good slice of the production in Germany.
Look up the history of multi-national aircraft projects, in Europe.
- Germany announces they will have the biggest buy. - Germany get the biggest work share. - Germany cuts the buy and announces that if they lose work share, they will collapse the project.
That won't work with an F-35 buy
Ultimately, the Germans have four options:
(1) Buy the F35 (2) Buy the Saab Grippen (3) Fuck around attempting to make the Eurofughter Typhoon into something it isn't and waste billions (4) Do nothing
My view - fwiw - is that option (2) is probably the best, quickest and most cost efficient route forward. And while it wouldn't create true fifth gen fighter, the reality is that a decent fourth gen one - that doesn't suffer from a long list of defects and low uptime - would serve Germany very well.
Cracking German website for UK city demographics. we learn that Sir Ed's constituents are 95% UK born.
Yep. As I said the idea that Gainsborough is awash with migrants is laughable.
And it was the same door-knocking Ingleby Barwick. Not remotely a community with masses of immigrants. With frankly pretty plush houses owned by people with decent jobs. Yet large numbers of them seemed convinced the country was being overrun by foreigners, stealing both jobs and benefits and taking all the houses and filling schools and hospitals.
It just isn't true. And the communities which *do* have large immigrant populations get on with it and think its fine. I grew up in Rochdale. Like so many former mill towns in the north we had Indians and Pakistanis and Kashmiris in numbers. And a strong Irish community, Polish (my music teacher and my English teacher as two examples). Aside from occasional flareups by idiots we all got along fine.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
If they say that is what the money will help with as well as NHS backlog, is MP Rochdale daft enough to vote against?
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
What good reasons? Bearing in mind you can reasonably exclude males 18-60 on the grounds they are illegally out of Ukr, which excludes 99% of criminals and virtuallly all dangerous ones.
The language factor is a massive pull, and even without that I doubt the German and French governments would have any compunction about waving people west on the free trains they've laid on.
In an ideal world, there would be something set up in Poland (and maybe Hungary and Slovakia but I suspect the vast majority of refugees are leaving through the Polish border) whereby people who have links to other countries get all the paperwork sorted, and those who don't get assigned to whichever country they will take refuge in. But, of course, this is not an ideal world.
Patel is clearly working overtime - at her boss's urging no doubt - to rebut the promise of his rhetoric with the actual practice of his anti-immigration policy. In order to reassure the Tory right that HMG has NOT changed it's stripes, regardless of what they tell the Ukrainians or anybody else.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
It's really not complicated. Treat Ukrainian passport holders in the same way as EU passport holders for the duration of the war. Just like Ireland have done. They will be EU passport holders in short order anyway.
It's a frankly ridiculous and completely avoidable state of affairs, regardless whether it's Home Office pettiness or political calculation behind it.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
I agree with Leon. The German re-armament program represents a more significant challenge to the French world view than it does the British. To the French, a sense of equals is required, whereas the British merely want to prevent hegemony on the European continent, and we are a long way from that. You can call that simplistic, but sometimes, things are simple.
What do you mean with "the British merely want to prevent hegemony on the European continent"?
I'm British so I'm keen to see if I relate to it.
I don't think individual Britons really have this as an intended outcome. It's too abstract. But British foreign policy going back at least to Napoleon has been to try to prevent any one continental power in Europe becoming too powerful - typically by alliances with or support for the continent's second most powerful power. In the early twentieth century the entente cordiale was arguably more driven by the fact that Britain and France represented similar political cultures, in contrast to that of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Though we did end up with Russia on our side too.
It's quite startling that @kinabalu is apparently unaware of this extremely well-known history
As I've said before, he's a bright guy with a notably narrow mind, settled contentedly in his views
Unfair. Not so much the "bright" bit but that I have a narrow mind. It's the opposite. Ok, so I'm no history buff, I'm about numbers and probabilities and the meaning of life, but what I'm doing here is questioning the extent to which these old chestnuts (about what drives different nations) really inform what is happening today. Because there's *so* much tosh talked about what various nations are all about, isn't there? I mean, have you heard that Russian bloke, Vladimir Putin? Jeez what a load of tripe.
Could PB Brexitories speculating about the angst the French might feel about Germany rearming and donning the EU trousers be described as projection? It's almost like they wish they were back in the EU so they could rant about it.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
"Nicola Sturgeon has clashed with Harry Potter author JK Rowling over her Government’s plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender...
"But critics fear the plans could lead to a loss of women-only spaces – such as refuges, hospital wards, toilets and changing rooms – which could then impact on women’s safety."
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
If they say that is what the money will help with as well as NHS backlog, is MP Rochdale daft enough to vote against?
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
In what way is it neutralised? Looking on normals forums like Pistonheads there is deep alarm about the price of road fuel, heating fuel, gas and electric. Plus supermarket prices starting to get noticed.
This isn't about party political wrangling between red and blue, this is a lot of people already struggling facing down huge increases in bills they can't afford to pay. Understanding why it is happening doesn't produce the cash to make it happen.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
Patel is clearly working overtime - at her boss's urging no doubt - to rebut the promise of his rhetoric with the actual practice of his anti-immigration policy. In order to reassure the Tory right that HMG has NOT changed it's stripes, regardless of what they tell the Ukrainians or anybody else.
As politicians they seem to be making the mistake of promising stuff on the hoof, and then going to find out from the officials whether and when it can be done, afterwards.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
What good reasons? Bearing in mind you can reasonably exclude males 18-60 on the grounds they are illegally out of Ukr, which excludes 99% of criminals and virtuallly all dangerous ones.
The language factor is a massive pull, and even without that I doubt the German and French governments would have any compunction about waving people west on the free trains they've laid on.
In an ideal world, there would be something set up in Poland (and maybe Hungary and Slovakia but I suspect the vast majority of refugees are leaving through the Polish border) whereby people who have links to other countries get all the paperwork sorted, and those who don't get assigned to whichever country they will take refuge in. But, of course, this is not an ideal world.
So when we have Ukrainians here now who want to accommodate their countrymen, and in many cases their own relatives, why aren't we letting them? We don't even need to allocate refugees at this point - that will be needed later.
This is quite simply that across Europe you just need to show your passport to have rights to live / work / travel - somewhere to live safely and decently until the war is over and you can return to the men you left behind.
"On Saturday, Russia’s state airline, Aeroflot, said that it would suspend all international flights because of “additional circumstances that prevent the performance of flights.” Domestic flights are sure to follow.
Russia spans 11 time zones. If this persists, the grip of the Russian central government over the Russian landmass could begin to loosen. In the Russian Far East there are a lot of cities closer to Beijing than Moscow. Just saying … "
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
No it really isn't. It is deserved mockery. All the more so because it is not even attacking them personally - as the Bliar and Camoron examples were - but is attacking their offensive and ludicrous ideas. Such ideas deserve no protection from scorn.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
Perhaps. But only if it is hinged to adopt a position unique in Europe where we are refusing entry to refugees fleeing for their lives.
"We." I don't want to get ad hominem on your ass, but if you are posting from Auchtermuchty on Dee, non-indigene pop 1 per hectare max, it seems reasonable to ask whether you have skin in the game, or have put skin in the game by starting the A o D wants more asylum seekers campaign? Because the boringly non-racist point is that people of all origins put as much pressure as each other on schools/housing/healthcare, and the largest source of sudden and unsustainable influxes, is immigration. This doesn't impact me in Devon in the slightest, which is why I am hesitant in being shoutily militant about the country taking more of anyone.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
If they say that is what the money will help with as well as NHS backlog, is MP Rochdale daft enough to vote against?
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
In what way is it neutralised? Looking on normals forums like Pistonheads there is deep alarm about the price of road fuel, heating fuel, gas and electric. Plus supermarket prices starting to get noticed.
This isn't about party political wrangling between red and blue, this is a lot of people already struggling facing down huge increases in bills they can't afford to pay. Understanding why it is happening doesn't produce the cash to make it happen.
One thing I noticed on Saturday was that the local (decent) chinese no longer has it's prices on the wall.
The second thing I've just noticed is that it was only doing 40-50% of it's typical business at 8pm on a Saturday night.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
If they say that is what the money will help with as well as NHS backlog, is MP Rochdale daft enough to vote against?
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
In what way is it neutralised? Looking on normals forums like Pistonheads there is deep alarm about the price of road fuel, heating fuel, gas and electric. Plus supermarket prices starting to get noticed.
This isn't about party political wrangling between red and blue, this is a lot of people already struggling facing down huge increases in bills they can't afford to pay. Understanding why it is happening doesn't produce the cash to make it happen.
Because cost of living crisis next two years is Putin’s fault, he’s put his hand up to own it, no fault of any UK politicians, it’s unavoidable.
You shouldn’t even be asking that, I gave you example that proves it. A few weeks ago MPs of all sides were calling for tax increases dropped - you COULDN’T even vote for that now, MP ROCHDALE there’s a war to be funded, economic sanctions to be paid for.
It's really not complicated. Treat Ukrainian passport holders in the same way as EU passport holders for the duration of the war. Just like Ireland have done. They will be EU passport holders in short order anyway.
It's a frankly ridiculous and completely avoidable state of affairs, regardless whether it's Home Office pettiness or political calculation behind it.
A good first step, but EU citizens only have the right to stay in the UK for six months, so there would need to be a followup scheme for Ukranians to obtain some paperwork once here to allow them to stay longer. But the key is it would be done from here, not at the border.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
Nope because every other country in Europe is saying exactly that. And so should we. Sod the rules for now and open the doors. It will not be the end of Britain and frankly we are likely to have much bigger things to worry about than a few tens or hundreds of thousands of temporary visitors in need of help.
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
It isn't, tbf. Didn't we have a couple of similarly penetrating analysts appearing here fairly recently ?
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
Perhaps. But only if it is hinged to adopt a position unique in Europe where we are refusing entry to refugees fleeing for their lives.
"We." I don't want to get ad hominem on your ass, but if you are posting from Auchtermuchty on Dee, non-indigene pop 1 per hectare max, it seems reasonable to ask whether you have skin in the game, or have put skin in the game by starting the A o D wants more asylum seekers campaign? Because the boringly non-racist point is that people of all origins put as much pressure as each other on schools/housing/healthcare, and the largest source of sudden and unsustainable influxes, is immigration. This doesn't impact me in Devon in the slightest, which is why I am hesitant in being shoutily militant about the country taking more of anyone.
"We" being the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And I have already commented that the NE has a decent number of Russian and Polish and other eastern European groups up here.
These are refugees. We are watching women and children being slaughtered by the Russians shelling their escape routes from towns and cities being reduced to rubble. They are not economic migrants. They are our wives and daughters.
Genuine question - has there been any polling done on whether people support the UK letting refugees come here as they can everywhere else?
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
No it really isn't. It is deserved mockery. All the more so because it is not even attacking them personally - as the Bliar and Camoron examples were - but is attacking their offensive and ludicrous ideas. Such ideas deserve no protection from scorn.
Once you've used the same non-word 50 times - and let's face it, because it's a non-word he's using it to attack their intelligence and humanity, not their ideas - it's unhinged.
And he doesn't just use it to attack the Leighs of this world - of whom there are very few in the country - he uses it to attack anyone who dares think that having some sort of controls on immigration is a good idea.
NEW: Quintessentially, the billionaires' concierge business founded by Tory chairman Ben Elliot, now tries to distance itself from its Moscow operation.
A spokesman tells me: "Quintessentially does not operate this business as it is a franchise"
The 100-billion-euro package for the Bundeswehr is intended to make the German armed forces the most powerful in Europe, says Minister Christian Lindner
It's not enough for that, even if they sort out their bureaucrats.
It is about 2.5% of GDP, which covers approx 4-5 years of shortfall - whilst the shortfall has been happening since the millenium at least.
All it will cover is pothole filling and sticky plasters, plus a little more. The big stuff will come from the 2% commitment, which is about an extra 40% on the previous Defence Budget,
It includes 20bn Euro to make sure they have enough ammunition stocks.
They still have minor problems to deal with such as any item over £25m requiring a Parliamentary vote.
Interesting, thanks.
...the German-French development of a new air-defense system, a new generation of battle tanks and the Eurodrone;
a new artillery and munitions system in cooperation with Britain;...
...top of the priority list is a successor to the ancient Tornado fighters. In his speech on Sunday, Scholz indicated that the current strategy calls for a hybrid solution, essentially taking elements of the modernized Eurofighter and from the new American super-fighter F-35 from Lockheed Martin. This project alone is estimated to cost around 15 billion euros....
What the heck is the last item - why don't they just buy the F35 ? Cobbling together a new aircraft will take years, might not produce anything useful, and is likely to cost as much if not more. A decent order ought to see them get a good slice of the production in Germany.
Look up the history of multi-national aircraft projects, in Europe.
- Germany announces they will have the biggest buy. - Germany get the biggest work share. - Germany cuts the buy and announces that if they lose work share, they will collapse the project.
That won't work with an F-35 buy
Ultimately, the Germans have four options:
(1) Buy the F35 (2) Buy the Saab Grippen (3) Fuck around attempting to make the Eurofughter Typhoon into something it isn't and waste billions (4) Do nothing
My view - fwiw - is that option (2) is probably the best, quickest and most cost efficient route forward. And while it wouldn't create true fifth gen fighter, the reality is that a decent fourth gen one - that doesn't suffer from a long list of defects and low uptime - would serve Germany very well.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
The issue we have with most immigrants is that they intentionally destroy any paperwork they have.
Here it should be incredibly simple, show a Ukrainian Passport and all the confirmation needed is contained within it.
Patel and others really are showing exactly what they are made of - racist, xenophobic idiots...
The Home Office is stuck in a mould where lots of people want to cheat to get into the UK. They don't have the intellectual flexibility to change to a different mode of thinking. It's not exactly xenophobic and definitely not racist.
While that's true, Ms Patel could suspend the requirement for Ukrainians to have a visa to enter the UK with immediate effect.
She has chosen not to.
(FWIW, she will - I'm sure - change tack on this because it is politically unpopular. However we should have been on the front foot with this.)
At which point the media and Eurozealots will start whinging about the edge cases...
My point is that there is something that she is empowered to do, that she has chosen not to do.
Indeed. But my point is that she has no incentive to do it.
The point is that the Tory party wouldn't look like the bunch of racist xenophobic bureaucratic utterly incompetent hypocrites.
As can be amply demonstrated by this poster at Calais
Andy Lines @andylines The shocking poster that greets Ukraine refugees arriving here in Calais. Appears to be absolutely no official British help on the ground for these traumatised people. The wonderful volunteers of @Care4Calais are doing their best to help.
.
I don't know if it's a symptom of the cms they are using or just plain laziness/incompetence, but the UK Gov are fond of ridiculously long URLs in print. Fine and descriptive for online links, but they should really use a shortener for stuff like this. Good luck typing that in, on a phone, particularly if English is not your first language!
I mean, if the CMS really can't provide alternative links, they could use bit.ly or have a QR code or something...
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
No it really isn't. It is deserved mockery. All the more so because it is not even attacking them personally - as the Bliar and Camoron examples were - but is attacking their offensive and ludicrous ideas. Such ideas deserve no protection from scorn.
Once you've used the same non-word 50 times - and let's face it, because it's a non-word he's using it to attack their intelligence and humanity, not their ideas - it's unhinged.
And he doesn't just use it to attack the Leighs of this world - of whom there are very few in the country - he uses it to attack anyone who dares think that having some sort of controls on immigration is a good idea.
Nope he doesn't. That is simply a lie. Now if you were referring to me - who does think we should have an open door policy - then you might be justified in making that claim. But Rochdale has never expressed such views. Indeed to me he is something of a right wing reactionary.
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
I'm always slightly sceptical of stories like this, because we only ever hear one side.
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
But we do know that we have been refusing entry to refugees and are still insisting on this ludicrous visa system which seem to be a perfect way to stop anyone coming in to the UK. Whether this one instance is accurate or not is frankly irrelevant because it is clearly illustrative of the whole failure of our Government to actually pull our weight and give shelter to those who need it.
The problem is, unless you're going to say "anyone who turns up at Calais saying they've come from Ukraine gets let in" (and tempting though it is, there are good reasons not to say that), then you have to have some rules. And then the Home Office, being the Home Office, goes ludicrously OTT and Patel isn't capable of reining them in.
What good reasons? Bearing in mind you can reasonably exclude males 18-60 on the grounds they are illegally out of Ukr, which excludes 99% of criminals and virtuallly all dangerous ones.
The language factor is a massive pull, and even without that I doubt the German and French governments would have any compunction about waving people west on the free trains they've laid on.
In an ideal world, there would be something set up in Poland (and maybe Hungary and Slovakia but I suspect the vast majority of refugees are leaving through the Polish border) whereby people who have links to other countries get all the paperwork sorted, and those who don't get assigned to whichever country they will take refuge in. But, of course, this is not an ideal world.
Don't be bloody silly. "The language factor" might attract people looking for a permanent home, who speak English. these people are temporary refugees from a non anglophone country (look how few of their ministers and ambassadors starting with the President attempt English in speeches).
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
If they say that is what the money will help with as well as NHS backlog, is MP Rochdale daft enough to vote against?
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
In what way is it neutralised? Looking on normals forums like Pistonheads there is deep alarm about the price of road fuel, heating fuel, gas and electric. Plus supermarket prices starting to get noticed.
This isn't about party political wrangling between red and blue, this is a lot of people already struggling facing down huge increases in bills they can't afford to pay. Understanding why it is happening doesn't produce the cash to make it happen.
Because cost of living crisis next two years is Putin’s fault, he’s put his hand up to own it, no fault of any UK politicians, it’s unavoidable.
You shouldn’t even be asking that, I gave you example that proves it. A few weeks ago MPs of all sides were calling for tax increases dropped - you COULDN’T even vote for that now, MP ROCHDALE there’s a war to be funded, economic sanctions to be paid for.
Sure, but that's the party political side. I'm talking about the real world side. People were facing into the difficulty of keeping up with rising energy bills with food and stuff to follow suit. Lots of calls - increasingly from Tory MPs - to cancel the thumping tax rise planned for next month to make it even worse.
So now we have the war, and the price inflation is really letting rip. We may get less political pressure but the real world pressure will be so much worse. It may be Putin's fault but a year or two down the line people won't care.
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
I am. It doesn’t come a surprise to you when I say Davis and Reeve are blundering. They are blundering on with this from selfish political interest, they no longer have either the electorate or cold hard economic reality on their side. The need to fund the war neutralises cost of living crisis as political issue.
The 100-billion-euro package for the Bundeswehr is intended to make the German armed forces the most powerful in Europe, says Minister Christian Lindner
It's not enough for that, even if they sort out their bureaucrats.
It is about 2.5% of GDP, which covers approx 4-5 years of shortfall - whilst the shortfall has been happening since the millenium at least.
All it will cover is pothole filling and sticky plasters, plus a little more. The big stuff will come from the 2% commitment, which is about an extra 40% on the previous Defence Budget,
It includes 20bn Euro to make sure they have enough ammunition stocks.
They still have minor problems to deal with such as any item over £25m requiring a Parliamentary vote.
Interesting, thanks.
...the German-French development of a new air-defense system, a new generation of battle tanks and the Eurodrone;
a new artillery and munitions system in cooperation with Britain;...
...top of the priority list is a successor to the ancient Tornado fighters. In his speech on Sunday, Scholz indicated that the current strategy calls for a hybrid solution, essentially taking elements of the modernized Eurofighter and from the new American super-fighter F-35 from Lockheed Martin. This project alone is estimated to cost around 15 billion euros....
What the heck is the last item - why don't they just buy the F35 ? Cobbling together a new aircraft will take years, might not produce anything useful, and is likely to cost as much if not more. A decent order ought to see them get a good slice of the production in Germany.
Look up the history of multi-national aircraft projects, in Europe.
- Germany announces they will have the biggest buy. - Germany get the biggest work share. - Germany cuts the buy and announces that if they lose work share, they will collapse the project.
That won't work with an F-35 buy
Ultimately, the Germans have four options:
(1) Buy the F35 (2) Buy the Saab Grippen (3) Fuck around attempting to make the Eurofughter Typhoon into something it isn't and waste billions (4) Do nothing
My view - fwiw - is that option (2) is probably the best, quickest and most cost efficient route forward. And while it wouldn't create true fifth gen fighter, the reality is that a decent fourth gen one - that doesn't suffer from a long list of defects and low uptime - would serve Germany very well.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
The issue we have with most immigrants is that they intentionally destroy any paperwork they have.
Here it should be incredibly simple, show a Ukrainian Passport and all the confirmation needed is contained within it.
Patel and others really are showing exactly what they are made of - racist, xenophobic idiots...
The Home Office is stuck in a mould where lots of people want to cheat to get into the UK. They don't have the intellectual flexibility to change to a different mode of thinking. It's not exactly xenophobic and definitely not racist.
While that's true, Ms Patel could suspend the requirement for Ukrainians to have a visa to enter the UK with immediate effect.
She has chosen not to.
(FWIW, she will - I'm sure - change tack on this because it is politically unpopular. However we should have been on the front foot with this.)
At which point the media and Eurozealots will start whinging about the edge cases...
My point is that there is something that she is empowered to do, that she has chosen not to do.
Indeed. But my point is that she has no incentive to do it.
The point is that the Tory party wouldn't look like the bunch of racist xenophobic bureaucratic utterly incompetent hypocrites.
As can be amply demonstrated by this poster at Calais
Andy Lines @andylines The shocking poster that greets Ukraine refugees arriving here in Calais. Appears to be absolutely no official British help on the ground for these traumatised people. The wonderful volunteers of @Care4Calais are doing their best to help.
.
I don't know if it's a symptom of the cms they are using or just plain laziness/incompetence, but the UK Gov are fond of ridiculously long URLs in print. Fine and descriptive for online links, but they should really use a shortener for stuff like this. Good luck typing that in, on a phone, particularly if English is not your first language!
I mean, if the CMS really can't provide alternative links, they could use bit.ly or have a QR code or something...
This indicates that some of the problem is down to useless and complacent civil servants.
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
so you still don't get it, huh
No one does except you apparently. Don't you think that might tell you something?
The re-armament of Germany is a boon for the French defence industry.
It seems unlikely that Germany’s commitment amounts to a longer term aspiration for true military dominance; France’s strategic aspiration to act as the effective military and foreign policy inside the EU remain intact I think.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s willingness to join the European Defence Union shows the direction of travel. They were the only refuseniks before.
"On Saturday, Russia’s state airline, Aeroflot, said that it would suspend all international flights because of “additional circumstances that prevent the performance of flights.” Domestic flights are sure to follow.
Russia spans 11 time zones. If this persists, the grip of the Russian central government over the Russian landmass could begin to loosen. In the Russian Far East there are a lot of cities closer to Beijing than Moscow. Just saying … "
The initial suspension probably has an awful lot more to do with ensuring Aeroflot's planes aren't reclaimed when they land outside Russia rather than an issue with spares. Aeroflot leases the planes, it does seem to own them.
Spares and the lack of them will come a problem later.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
No it really isn't. It is deserved mockery. All the more so because it is not even attacking them personally - as the Bliar and Camoron examples were - but is attacking their offensive and ludicrous ideas. Such ideas deserve no protection from scorn.
Once you've used the same non-word 50 times - and let's face it, because it's a non-word he's using it to attack their intelligence and humanity, not their ideas - it's unhinged.
And he doesn't just use it to attack the Leighs of this world - of whom there are very few in the country - he uses it to attack anyone who dares think that having some sort of controls on immigration is a good idea.
You're being silly now - I have said endlessly that I understand why people want controls on migration and that wanting so is not racism. The problem with our points-based migration system is that when we actually needed inward migration it was shut down to stop it dead. And now we have refugees and its the same response.
I am satirising the minority epitomised by Sir Edward Leigh. They see the menace caused by forrin invaders coming here to take their jobs and claim benefits and fill the hospitals and schools and all the houses. Its crap, its pathetic and calling our racism is something I will happily keep doing. That he named "Eastern Europeans" just proved my point. Racism. He doesn't want them here.
I, like many others, have been dismayed at some of the reports about how the UK is managing Ukrainian refugees. If Priti Patel really has screwed this up in the way it has been reported then she needs to be removed ASAP. Emergencies like this soon sort the wheat from the chaff.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting the positive way UK is seen in Ukraine itself, where the early efforts to support, supply and train seem to be appreciated. Looks like that investment was well worth it, to say the least.
It isn't if. Its a fact. We are not letting refugees in without an approved visa which they have to complete somewhere else. This is a unique way to handle refugees where HM Border Force turn away people fleeing the war and stop them coming to stay with friends / relatives.
The issue we have with most immigrants is that they intentionally destroy any paperwork they have.
Here it should be incredibly simple, show a Ukrainian Passport and all the confirmation needed is contained within it.
Patel and others really are showing exactly what they are made of - racist, xenophobic idiots...
The Home Office is stuck in a mould where lots of people want to cheat to get into the UK. They don't have the intellectual flexibility to change to a different mode of thinking. It's not exactly xenophobic and definitely not racist.
While that's true, Ms Patel could suspend the requirement for Ukrainians to have a visa to enter the UK with immediate effect.
She has chosen not to.
(FWIW, she will - I'm sure - change tack on this because it is politically unpopular. However we should have been on the front foot with this.)
At which point the media and Eurozealots will start whinging about the edge cases...
My point is that there is something that she is empowered to do, that she has chosen not to do.
Indeed. But my point is that she has no incentive to do it.
The point is that the Tory party wouldn't look like the bunch of racist xenophobic bureaucratic utterly incompetent hypocrites.
As can be amply demonstrated by this poster at Calais
Andy Lines @andylines The shocking poster that greets Ukraine refugees arriving here in Calais. Appears to be absolutely no official British help on the ground for these traumatised people. The wonderful volunteers of @Care4Calais are doing their best to help.
.
I don't know if it's a symptom of the cms they are using or just plain laziness/incompetence, but the UK Gov are fond of ridiculously long URLs in print. Fine and descriptive for online links, but they should really use a shortener for stuff like this. Good luck typing that in, on a phone, particularly if English is not your first language!
I mean, if the CMS really can't provide alternative links, they could use bit.ly or have a QR code or something...
To me that's a hastly typed Word document to stop continual interruptions that you can't actually help or deal with.
When we still have cretins like Sir Edward Leigh in the commons saying that his constituents are sick of the forrin
I stopped reading there. Grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
I'm interested to know what is "embarrassing" about criticising Edward Leigh's crass intervention in the Commons. I provide a link for anyone who so wishes to recap his spectacularly selfish position. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60586403.amp
Referring to immigrants as "forrin" is embarrassing.
Without wishing to put words in his mouth, I think he is mocking Edward Leigh. Which seems reasonable.
He's been using the word for at least a week.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Possibly. I only really started noticing it last weekend.
To be fair to him, that aside, he’s usually got some interesting stuff to say and does contribute a fair bit.
Indeed, which is why it's a shame he's so unhinged on this topic.
I am not sure quite how you think Rochdale is 'unhinged'.
Using silly non-words like that to look down on people is unhinged. It's the same as people who used "Bliar", "Camoron", etc.
No it really isn't. It is deserved mockery. All the more so because it is not even attacking them personally - as the Bliar and Camoron examples were - but is attacking their offensive and ludicrous ideas. Such ideas deserve no protection from scorn.
Once you've used the same non-word 50 times - and let's face it, because it's a non-word he's using it to attack their intelligence and humanity, not their ideas - it's unhinged.
And he doesn't just use it to attack the Leighs of this world - of whom there are very few in the country - he uses it to attack anyone who dares think that having some sort of controls on immigration is a good idea.
Nope he doesn't. That is simply a lie. Now if you were referring to me - who does think we should have an open door policy - then you might be justified in making that claim. But Rochdale has never expressed such views. Indeed to me he is something of a right wing reactionary.
Boris Johnson (39%, up 3%) has regained his lead over Keir Starmer (35%, down 1%) in terms of who Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK at this moment—the first lead we have recorded for Johnson in nine weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson receives a net approval rating of -7%—his highest net rating since 8 November after increasing 11 points from last week and 24 points from two weeks ago. This week’s poll finds 44% disapproving of his overall job performance (down 6%), against 37% approving (up 5%).
The Ukrainian family was so happy to have visas and an exchanged ferry ticket and be on way to UK this afternoon. But they're now being held by immigration officials at Calais and they don't know why. They are distraught. I don't know what to say to them. @ukhomeoffice?
They're being "detained" by border force for "further inquiries". They've been given an IS.81 form and told they're "liable to be detained under Paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971". Passports and travel documents have been taken. This is just inhumane.
That's the system working as intended. Don't let anyone tell you this is evidence of the Home Office not being fit for purpose. This is exactly the purpose the Home Office has been told to fulfil.
This is the daily experience of all sorts of people at the UK Border for decades, and it's only being noticed now because there's temporary sympathy for Ukrainian refugees.
Regarding peacekeeping in Ukraine Macron has achieved nothing so far. The rising commodities prices hitting French consumers will take its tall on his re-election odds
What peace is there to keep in Ukraine, exactly?
Preventing war was a lost cause, but going to Moscow to have a go at that was a sensible thing to try.
so what exactly Macron has achieved there?
UPDATE 3-SocGen warns it could be stripped of Russian business
* French bank has $20 billion of Russia exposure. This is a clear political liability for him
And yet Macron's polling has gone up since the start of the Ukraine crisis. In mid-February, he was on 24-25% in the polls, and now he's 29-30%.
So, when you say "political liability", do you mean "great thing for his polling"?
The polling is absurd. I expect the polling figures to change dramatically in early April. What exactly has Macron won for France? Ukrainian refuges ? sky-high gas prices? the possibility of a nuclear conflict/incident in Europe?
Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's not true.
Also - don't you perhaps think that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukrainian refugees, rather than Emmanuel Macron?
Macron is weak, that's why Putin attacked. If the French prefer to see Macron as a hero and great administrator, well, let's see...
So, Putin attacked Ukraine because Macron is weak?
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
so you still don't get it, huh
No one does except you apparently. Don't you think that might tell you something?
Why the hell doesn't Patel order mobile pop-up offices to be sent out to handle visa applications directly where they are needed. OR simply grant temporary visas at point of entry for Ukrainian passport holders?
Boris signalling a review of UK energy supply and in particular the granting of licences for UK own oil and gas development
Cambo ?
In policy terms, the tories seem much keener to claw back Reform's 4% than they do Labour's 40%.
Economic reality
The hit that household finances are going to take from inflation, taxation and energy costs over the next year is being very underestimated as a political issue, in my view.
I totally disagree with you Misty. It was set to be awkward for the Conservatives, but all the pain on UK households it can all be bundled in as Putin’s fault now, and unavoidable and can’t be mitigated in the circumstances.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
If only we were going to bolster the defence budget.
Given how crap the MoD is at getting value for money on defence projects - I'm quite happy that we aren't rushing to spend money today.
Let's work out exactly what modern day warfare looks like and work from there (no need for tanks but tractors seem useful).
By the time you've done that, you're no longer talking about modern day warfare.
Comments
Maybe they didn't look like their passport photos? Maybe their passports had been reported stolen or appeared fake?
We simply don't know if these are good people caught in a bureaucratic nightmare, or if they are bad actors playing on our sympathy.
Ha, he’s been using it for ages.
Heavy, heavy favourite at this point...
ORBAN SIGNS ORDER AUTHORIZING NATO TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO HUNGARY
https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1500792092863381504
"....if you think Russian imperialism is the West’s fault, or that Putin maybe has a point, or the Ukrainians are fascists, or Biden and Zelenskyy are the bad guys, then don’t think you can be a member of the Labour Party as well. Useful idiots need not apply." I agree.
https://www.progressivebritain.org/the-anti-nato-left-a-shameful-legacy/
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/boris-johnson-is-leaving-my-family-to-die-ukrainians-refugee-visa-rules
Cracking German website for UK city demographics. we learn that Sir Ed's constituents are 95% UK born.
Or can they? As Al Smith used to say, let's look at the record?
And why does he get away with it? Why has nothing been done? Because Patel has uniquely in Europe closed the door to refugees. THAT is the thing I am objecting too, clearly and repeatedly and yes louder the longer our shameful actions go on.
Not a single fool will rise in any part of the commons and ask for the tax increases to be scrapped or delayed now, money needs to be found to bolster defence budget and fight Putin economically.
So how is it you think he is 'unhinged'. If anyone is unhinged it is the target of his justified mockery.
The thing about this, as with so much happening in Poland, is how organic it is. Yes the Polish govt is doing a huge amount, especially in terms of co-ordinating arrivals. But so much of what is sustaining arrivals are small, spontaneous acts of charity from millions of Poles. https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1500800229901279235
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1500873556334465024
Same goes for blaming the West and Ukrainians for situation due to NATO expansion and desire for (dare I say?) true independence.
Plus it IS possible methinks, to take position that we should rally around Western leaders - warts and worse - at this time WITHOUT attacking those who are NOT willing nor able to go as to assume said leaders are paragons of liberty let alone leadership.
Indeed IMHO efforts in this direction are less than persuasive, indeed counter-persuasive, to most of the target audience.
Let's work out exactly what modern day warfare looks like and work from there (no need for tanks but tractors seem useful).
Ukrainians fleeing Putin's war for Britain are being told to go to the visa office in Paris - but there are no appointments until March 15 - Yvette Cooper tells Parliament.
https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1500873740447621126
(1) Buy the F35
(2) Buy the Saab Grippen
(3) Fuck around attempting to make the Eurofughter Typhoon into something it isn't and waste billions
(4) Do nothing
My view - fwiw - is that option (2) is probably the best, quickest and most cost efficient route forward. And while it wouldn't create true fifth gen fighter, the reality is that a decent fourth gen one - that doesn't suffer from a long list of defects and low uptime - would serve Germany very well.
It just isn't true. And the communities which *do* have large immigrant populations get on with it and think its fine. I grew up in Rochdale. Like so many former mill towns in the north we had Indians and Pakistanis and Kashmiris in numbers. And a strong Irish community, Polish (my music teacher and my English teacher as two examples). Aside from occasional flareups by idiots we all got along fine.
Cost of living crisis completely neutralised now in political terms by Putin’s war on the West.
In an ideal world, there would be something set up in Poland (and maybe Hungary and Slovakia but I suspect the vast majority of refugees are leaving through the Polish border) whereby people who have links to other countries get all the paperwork sorted, and those who don't get assigned to whichever country they will take refuge in. But, of course, this is not an ideal world.
It's a frankly ridiculous and completely avoidable state of affairs, regardless whether it's Home Office pettiness or political calculation behind it.
J K Rowling vs Nicola Sturgeon
Well, she kicked Salmond into touch. But not sure how the Sturge will fare against "Expecto Patronum". Perhaps it'll turn her into an armoured fish.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-fundamentally-disagrees-harry-26406096?utm_source=daily_record_newsletter&utm_campaign=politics_newsletter2&utm_medium=email
"Nicola Sturgeon has clashed with Harry Potter author JK Rowling over her Government’s plans to make it easier for people to legally change their gender...
"But critics fear the plans could lead to a loss of women-only spaces – such as refuges, hospital wards, toilets and changing rooms – which could then impact on women’s safety."
This isn't about party political wrangling between red and blue, this is a lot of people already struggling facing down huge increases in bills they can't afford to pay. Understanding why it is happening doesn't produce the cash to make it happen.
It's all Macron's fault, huh?
God, there was me thinking it was Putin's fault for sending troops in, and killing civilians, when it was actually all Macron's fault all along.
Well, you live and learn.
Thanks @d_d for being such an asset to this site. How do you do it? This penetrating analysis is beyond compare.
This is quite simply that across Europe you just need to show your passport to have rights to live / work / travel - somewhere to live safely and decently until the war is over and you can return to the men you left behind.
But not here. They get told to go away.
Russia spans 11 time zones. If this persists, the grip of the Russian central government over the Russian landmass could begin to loosen. In the Russian Far East there are a lot of cities closer to Beijing than Moscow. Just saying … "
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/opinion/putin-ukraine-china.html
The second thing I've just noticed is that it was only doing 40-50% of it's typical business at 8pm on a Saturday night.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/06/ukraine-crisis-puts-sunak-under-new-pressure-to-axe-national-insurance-rise
Rob Lee
@RALee85
A Russian fuel convoy was ambushed in Chernihiv Oblast.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1500870383075008529
You shouldn’t even be asking that, I gave you example that proves it. A few weeks ago MPs of all sides were calling for tax increases dropped - you COULDN’T even vote for that now, MP ROCHDALE there’s a war to be funded, economic sanctions to be paid for.
Didn't we have a couple of similarly penetrating analysts appearing here fairly recently ?
These are refugees. We are watching women and children being slaughtered by the Russians shelling their escape routes from towns and cities being reduced to rubble. They are not economic migrants. They are our wives and daughters.
Genuine question - has there been any polling done on whether people support the UK letting refugees come here as they can everywhere else?
I don’t know why people are attacking @RochdalePioneers, he’s just the messenger.
And he doesn't just use it to attack the Leighs of this world - of whom there are very few in the country - he uses it to attack anyone who dares think that having some sort of controls on immigration is a good idea.
A spokesman tells me: "Quintessentially does not operate this business as it is a franchise"
https://twitter.com/gabriel_pogrund/status/1499089735976951810
Quintessentially was also asked if it still generates income from franchise + whether it will suspend its license
Spox: "Quintessentially is actively reviewing its legal position"
It comes after @georgegrylls uncovered state links and I revealed sudden removal of Russia webpage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Tempest
I mean, if the CMS really can't provide alternative links, they could use bit.ly or have a QR code or something...
So now we have the war, and the price inflation is really letting rip. We may get less political pressure but the real world pressure will be so much worse. It may be Putin's fault but a year or two down the line people won't care.
No-one else.
It seems unlikely that Germany’s commitment amounts to a longer term aspiration for true military dominance; France’s strategic aspiration to act as the effective military and foreign policy inside the EU remain intact I think.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s willingness to join the European Defence Union shows the direction of travel. They were the only refuseniks before.
Spares and the lack of them will come a problem later.
Westminster Voting Intention (7 Mar):
Labour 40% (+2)
Conservative 37% (+2)
Liberal Democrat 10% (-2)
Green 5% (–)
Scottish National Party 4% (-1)
Reform UK 2% (-2)
Other 1% (–)
Changes +/- 28 Feb
I am satirising the minority epitomised by Sir Edward Leigh. They see the menace caused by forrin invaders coming here to take their jobs and claim benefits and fill the hospitals and schools and all the houses. Its crap, its pathetic and calling our racism is something I will happily keep doing. That he named "Eastern Europeans" just proved my point. Racism. He doesn't want them here.
Expected ?
Boris Johnson (39%, up 3%) has regained his lead over Keir Starmer (35%, down 1%) in terms of who Britons think would be the better Prime Minister for the UK at this moment—the first lead we have recorded for Johnson in nine weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson receives a net approval rating of -7%—his highest net rating since 8 November after increasing 11 points from last week and 24 points from two weeks ago. This week’s poll finds 44% disapproving of his overall job performance (down 6%), against 37% approving (up 5%).
This is the daily experience of all sorts of people at the UK Border for decades, and it's only being noticed now because there's temporary sympathy for Ukrainian refugees.