George Eaton @georgeeaton 16m16 minutes ago Non-voting and worse than expected Unite numbers for Corbyn are making Labour contest closer, source says.
Due to not having the opportunity to read through the threads properly, I've been defaulting to not commenting, but I figured that if I scan through the last bit really quickly and see something interesting, I can just come out with something anyway and not worry if it's already been said.
On school terms - actually, my nephew (age 16), eldest daughter's boyfriend (age 21) and I discussed this just the other day and came up with a solution that's obviously perfect and suitable in all respects (translation: probably not even half-baked and subject to critical issues we didn't consider):
The current regime is left over from the time when children were needed to help on the farm over summer; thus the long summer holidays. It also concentrates holiday periods so as to be simultaneous nationwide, spiking demand for holiday places. There are a total of about 13 weeks holiday per year at the moment (6 weeks summer, 2 weeks Christmas, 2 weeks Easter, and 3 x 1 week half term). These should be spread out more evenly, thus we'd have mini-terms lasting 4 weeks each with one week holiday at the end of each. Summer and Christmas would have one week extra at that time. There would be one week "floating", where parents could, subject to negotiation with teachers, take at any time (obviously not at exam time and so on).
For added smoothing, the mini-terms can be made to not be synchronous across all authorities.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
As they will be selected from the Syrian Borders rather than the amassed ranks appearing in Hungary and else where, they are more than likely genuine refugees escaping the civil war.
I find most of the discussion of the refugee crisis on this blog difficult to parse ("It's the refugees fault. It's Germany's fault. It's the EU's fault..." and so on ad nauseum). My take on it is slightly different[1] and doesn't involve blaming others for their misfortune, so I can't really join in. However your observation is something I can enquire into. Why would people at the Syrian border be more likely to be refugees than those arriving at Hungary? Are you referring to people posing as Syrians in Hungary?
It's based on the reasonable assumption that the people arriving at Hungary will include a proportion of people who are economic migrants. These fall into two categories:
(i) Non-Syrian economic migrants posing as refugees to gain asylum (ii) Syrian economic migrants
For category (ii) it comes down to the principle that a "true" refugee will stop in the first place of safety. I'm not sure this is realistic, in that once you are moving, it makes sense to find a congenial place to stop rather than just in the first place, but it is the basis on which international law is structured.
I think categories (i) and (ii) are very real - the question is what proportion of the total are they, and I'm not sure there is any way to know.
On the other hand, people who are in refugee camps on the Syrian border are *more likely* to be refugees. However, of course, traffickers may now direct their cargo there instead... (which, at least, should reduce the death toll so would be a net positive even if it complicates the job of figuring out who we should give refuge to)
George Eaton @georgeeaton 16m16 minutes ago Non-voting and worse than expected Unite numbers for Corbyn are making Labour contest closer, source says.
Don't bottle it now, Labour, I was promised a revolution from a weirdy beardy, not a victory for the blanderson twins.
'Following his column on the current deluge of migrants now inundating Europe, Srdja Trifkovic received the following note from a contact who has worked many years as an asylum processing officer with the Dutch Ministry of Immigration:
Dr. Trifkovic points out that none of the countries affected by the current deluge (save perhaps Hungary) exercise what has been a key element of state sovereignty for centuries: control over national borders. Their frontiers have been swamped by people who are for the most part culturally hostile to Europe. European countries are de facto giving up their basic authority to the lawlessness of the invading crowds. Their weakness only stimulates unknown new multitudes to try the same. The invaders present not only a real current threat but a substantial long-term risk, deeply destabilizing or even destructive for the targeted countries.'
Stop being silly. Of course they're not terrorists.
terrorist
Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist
Those migrants who, in highly-organised fashion, are attempting to overwhelm our borders to gain unlawful entry in pursuit of economic gain, creating mayhem in their wake, meet that definition.
The Tories need to make sure they're not in the position of being seen as the sole stooges of Brussels.
But the press and labour and Uncle Tom Cobbly are getting after Cameron for not being stooges of Brussels.
Labour will change when Corbyn is leader, and the broadsheet press does not represent the views of the public, who actually vote in elections. Being part of the "establishment" is a killer in politics globally right now. The Conservatives are already seen as part of the business establishment, but being seen as part of the EU political establishment too will be disastrous. It will be the equivalent of Red Tories for the rest of the UK.
Corbyn 66.5% Burnham 14.2% Kendall 10.4% Cooper 8.9%
That is a selective poll of Sky News viewers, not Labour members or supporters or even the general public so tells us little and there us no way Kendall is ahead of Cooper
I find most of the discussion of the refugee crisis on this blog difficult to parse ("It's the refugees fault. It's Germany's fault. It's the EU's fault..." and so on ad nauseum). My take on it is slightly different[1] and doesn't involve blaming others for their misfortune, so I can't really join in. However your observation is something I can enquire into. Why would people at the Syrian border be more likely to be refugees than those arriving at Hungary? Are you referring to people posing as Syrians in Hungary?
[1] There are many bad things in the world and we cannot solve most of them. We have a duty of care to do what we can for our own, but helping others is optional, not a duty. It speaks well of us if we can help others, but we do not incur blame if we cannot.
UNHCR: "The 1951 Refugee Convention spells out that a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
UNHCR: "Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. "
If you are on the Syrian border, chances are that you are a refugee who is looking for a place of safety. If you are in Hungary and demanding to be allowed to travel on to Germany, you are not doing so out of fear for your life but in order to improve your prospects. Perfectly understandable, but, given the relative wealth of Western Europe there are going to be an awful lot of people who are going to be attracted to "improve their prospects".
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
My wife bumped (literally) into Colin Firth as he came out of her local Lebanese restaurant.
I find most of the discussion of the refugee crisis on this blog difficult to parse ("It's the refugees fault. It's Germany's fault. It's the EU's fault..." and so on ad nauseum). My take on it is slightly different[1] and doesn't involve blaming others for their misfortune, so I can't really join in. However your observation is something I can enquire into. Why would people at the Syrian border be more likely to be refugees than those arriving at Hungary? Are you referring to people posing as Syrians in Hungary?
[1] There are many bad things in the world and we cannot solve most of them. We have a duty of care to do what we can for our own, but helping others is optional, not a duty. It speaks well of us if we can help others, but we do not incur blame if we cannot.
UNHCR: "The 1951 Refugee Convention spells out that a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."
UNHCR: "Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. "
If you are on the Syrian border, chances are that you are a refugee who is looking for a place of safety. If you are in Hungary and demanding to be allowed to travel on to Germany, you are not doing so out of fear for your life but in order to improve your prospects. Perfectly understandable, but, given the relative wealth of Western Europe there are going to be an awful lot of people who are going to be attracted to "improve their prospects".
On the Syrian refugee crisis, I like the idea of taking people in directly from the borders of Syria. Far more likely to minimise non-genuine refugees, and, importantly, avoid acting as an extra incentive to try to cross the seas.
In a wider sense, given the situation, I do believe we have to act to help out and provide refuge. I know all the arguments over space and incentives and that providing refuge won't solve the crisis, but: - If we pick people up straight from the borders of Syria, the incentives issue is reduced - That it is not sufficient to solve the problem doesn't detract from that it is still necessary. In the long run, we need to find a true solution, but the short run is here, it is very real, and it is a humanitarian crisis. - As with our greatest hours in the past, the fact that something is either difficult or problematic is not a reason to stand around. It is the opportunity to show our greatness.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
A few select PBers have had the honour of sitting next to me ....
'Following his column on the current deluge of migrants now inundating Europe, Srdja Trifkovic received the following note from a contact who has worked many years as an asylum processing officer with the Dutch Ministry of Immigration:
Dr. Trifkovic points out that none of the countries affected by the current deluge (save perhaps Hungary) exercise what has been a key element of state sovereignty for centuries: control over national borders. Their frontiers have been swamped by people who are for the most part culturally hostile to Europe. European countries are de facto giving up their basic authority to the lawlessness of the invading crowds. Their weakness only stimulates unknown new multitudes to try the same. The invaders present not only a real current threat but a substantial long-term risk, deeply destabilizing or even destructive for the targeted countries.'
Stop being silly. Of course they're not terrorists.
terrorist
Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist
Those migrants who, in highly-organised fashion, are attempting to overwhelm our borders to gain unlawful entry in pursuit of economic gain, creating mayhem in their wake, meet that definition.
No, they don't. Walking across a border does not constitute "violence, mayhem, and destruction". It constitutes "walking".
As they will be selected from the Syrian Borders rather than the amassed ranks appearing in Hungary and else where, they are more than likely genuine refugees escaping the civil war.
I find most of the discussion of the refugee crisis on this blog difficult to parse ("It's the refugees fault. It's Germany's fault. It's the EU's fault..." and so on ad nauseum). My take on it is slightly different[1] and doesn't involve blaming others for their misfortune, so I can't really join in. However your observation is something I can enquire into. Why would people at the Syrian border be more likely to be refugees than those arriving at Hungary? Are you referring to people posing as Syrians in Hungary?
Good evening Mr viewcode, I suspect I have no more expert knowledge on the subject than you, however common sense would indicate that if you wish to help a specific group, in this case displaced Syrian refugees, then targeting an area closest to the affected area seems a sensible approach.
As for those presently arriving at Hungarian railway station and so forth, the issue is not whether those claiming to be Syrian refugees are what they say they are, but that such a large group would almost certainly consist of many other refugees of various nationality and transient migrants. Sorting one group from another given the logistic would IMHO be virtually impossible.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
George Eaton @georgeeaton 16m16 minutes ago Non-voting and worse than expected Unite numbers for Corbyn are making Labour contest closer, source says.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
A few select PBers have had the honour of sitting next to me ....
And plenty of people have sat next to JohnO on a train. He just didn't realise it...... Titters
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
A few select PBers have had the honour of sitting next to me ....
And plenty of people have sat next to JohnO on a train. He just didn't realise it...... Titters
I've sometimes wondered if JohnO is one of the lost astronauts in the Specsavers ad at Luton Airport ...
Even trying to put aside how much I disagree with her, I just think she's a disaster presentationally. She comes across as so robotic and out of her depth.
On the subject of famous people that PBers have met. Alex Higgins visited my local a handful of times. He was unsurpisingly quite inebriated each time I saw him in there.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
Not really. Stilgoe is a clever man with some talent who bought a little joy to millions of people, led a good life, and caused little harm. Dimbleby is sorta-ok if you ignore the nepotism and the midlife crisis tattoo. I think Stilgoe beats Dimbleby....
(I seem to have invented Light Entertainment Top Trumps...)
Eh? Even trying to put aside how much I disagree with her, I just think she's a disaster presentationally. She comes across as so robotic and out of her depth.
As they will be selected from the Syrian Borders rather than the amassed ranks appearing in Hungary and else where, they are more than likely genuine refugees escaping the civil war.
I find most of the discussion of the refugee crisis on this blog difficult to parse ("It's the refugees fault. It's Germany's fault. It's the EU's fault..." and so on ad nauseum). My take on it is slightly different[1] and doesn't involve blaming others for their misfortune, so I can't really join in. However your observation is something I can enquire into. Why would people at the Syrian border be more likely to be refugees than those arriving at Hungary? Are you referring to people posing as Syrians in Hungary?
Good evening Mr viewcode, I suspect I have no more expert knowledge on the subject than you, however common sense would indicate that if you wish to help a specific group, in this case displaced Syrian refugees, then targeting an area closest to the affected area seems a sensible approach.
As for those presently arriving at Hungarian railway station and so forth, the issue is not whether those claiming to be Syrian refugees are what they say they are, but that such a large group would almost certainly consist of many other refugees of various nationality and transient migrants. Sorting one group from another given the logistic would IMHO be virtually impossible.
On the subject of famous people that PBers have met. Alex Higgins visited my local a handful of times. He was unsurpisingly quite inebriated each time I saw him in there.
I was given a bottle of whisky by Ted Heath I'd won in a raffle.
I ended up sat next to John Hurt in a very grotty pub during a BT Christmas treasure hunt pub crawl.
He looked appallingly withered and smashed. And held court talking cobblers to others in a similar state of chronic ill health. He acted exactly as he does on screen and sounds the same too.
On the subject of famous people that PBers have met. Alex Higgins visited my local a handful of times. He was unsurpisingly quite inebriated each time I saw him in there.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
Genuinely excited for my party to be led by someone with radical alternative to the past 36 years
It seems he is a dead cert at present but that must destroy the other candidates future prospects of ever leading labour and a long period of labour in the wilderness which is not good for politics
Eh? Even trying to put aside how much I disagree with her, I just think she's a disaster presentationally. She comes across as so robotic and out of her depth.
You voted yet?
Yes, but you won't like my answer.
I bottled it and voted Burnham first, Cooper 2nd, Corbyn 3rd.
The family of the little boy that drowned were Kurdish. Why on Earth did his parents risk his life getting to Europe when most of Kurdistan is a safe sanctuary from ISIS etc?
It all seems like such a tragic waste of an innocent life.
The photos are really getting to me. They are very distressing.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
The solution to the Greek problem is for them all to move to Germany as migrants where they will be supported.
Simpler to move the German border East as far as the Bosphorus and north east to the edge of Ukraine.
Ahah! lebensraum mark 2. Merkel, der Fuhrerin, as Morris Dancer insists she be called, will be pleased.
Blockhead worked out why a smart fone may be useful without a contract yet? Or have you been too busy polishing your Nazi memorabilia?
I'm quite saddened by #Saddened, he's had a bee in his bonnet for days. I think he needs to take a trip to Hungary.
Don't be embarrassed you can admit, that not for the first time, you made yourself look like a complete dick. You didn't think about what you posted you just thought it was a good dig at those foreigners. You pathetic individual.
Eh? Even trying to put aside how much I disagree with her, I just think she's a disaster presentationally. She comes across as so robotic and out of her depth.
You voted yet?
Yes, but you won't like my answer.
I bottled it and voted Burnham first, Cooper 2nd, Corbyn 3rd.
OMG
I am concerned Corbyn is not going to win this. Glad i cashed in a fair bit of Jezza profit
Lots of people who were Corbyn changed their minds at last minute IMO. I said earlier thought Jezzas chance of winning was about 50% I am edging to 45% despite his performance tonight.
On the Syrian refugee crisis, I like the idea of taking people in directly from the borders of Syria. Far more likely to minimise non-genuine refugees, and, importantly, avoid acting as an extra incentive to try to cross the seas.
In a wider sense, given the situation, I do believe we have to act to help out and provide refuge. I know all the arguments over space and incentives and that providing refuge won't solve the crisis, but: - If we pick people up straight from the borders of Syria, the incentives issue is reduced - That it is not sufficient to solve the problem doesn't detract from that it is still necessary. In the long run, we need to find a true solution, but the short run is here, it is very real, and it is a humanitarian crisis. - As with our greatest hours in the past, the fact that something is either difficult or problematic is not a reason to stand around. It is the opportunity to show our greatness.
I said something very similar last night - it would allow resources to be targeted at those who need it the most, which includes people too injured or infirm to make the kind of journey that the young and agile (with a few thousand spare dollars for the people smugglers) are attempting.
From a cynically political point of view, one benefit of doing something "dramatic", like an airlift, is that it looks like you are "doing something" - and the drama of the pictures is, to be honest, disproportionate to the actual number of people involved. (On the other hand, Britain has been doing a lot of deeply undramatic and underreported, underappreciated work helping refugees in situ, and it's understandable if Cameron is furious for Merkel at being accused of not pulling his weight, despite her surely being aware of the correctness of his basic analysis that pumping up the numbers isn't going to fix a broken system. So if a bit of headline-hogging with the RAF takes place, I wouldn't blame him.)
Once again, an excellent blogpost from Jackart. Well worth reading - only post occasionally but explains the moderate conservative position very well for a stockbroker.
Europe is spending billions, helping people in the camps. That people want to come is understandable. But the idea we're doing nothing to help them, or have an obligation to let them in, is more about the virtue-signalling of the person saying it, that the real moral position. Worse than the vacuous moral posturing, is the complete lack of agency you give to the people in this situation. Millions are waiting patiently in the camps, or in Beirut or Amman to return to their homes should peace return to Syria. Yet some decide to put their children in the hands of people smugglers and unseaworthy vessels and unventilated trucks. These people bear the responsibility for the dead children far more than the "Cameron" whom countless memes exhort to "do more".
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
'Following his column on the current deluge of migrants now inundating Europe, Srdja Trifkovic received the following note from a contact who has worked many years as an asylum processing officer with the Dutch Ministry of Immigration:
Dr. Trifkovic points out that none of the countries affected by the current deluge (save perhaps Hungary) exercise what has been a key element of state sovereignty for centuries: control over national borders. Their frontiers have been swamped by people who are for the most part culturally hostile to Europe. European countries are de facto giving up their basic authority to the lawlessness of the invading crowds. Their weakness only stimulates unknown new multitudes to try the same. The invaders present not only a real current threat but a substantial long-term risk, deeply destabilizing or even destructive for the targeted countries.'
Stop being silly. Of course they're not terrorists.
terrorist
Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed. http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist
Those migrants who, in highly-organised fashion, are attempting to overwhelm our borders to gain unlawful entry in pursuit of economic gain, creating mayhem in their wake, meet that definition.
No, they don't. Walking across a border does not constitute "violence, mayhem, and destruction". It constitutes "walking".
as 'mailing a letter bomb' is merely 'using the postal service.'
Facetiousness aside, there is plenty of evidence that organised gangs of economic migrants, and their couriers, are using the wave after wave strategy to overwhelm our borders, in pursuit of personal greed aka 'a better life'.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
The solution to the Greek problem is for them all to move to Germany as migrants where they will be supported.
Simpler to move the German border East as far as the Bosphorus and north east to the edge of Ukraine.
Ahah! lebensraum mark 2. Merkel, der Fuhrerin, as Morris Dancer insists she be called, will be pleased.
Blockhead worked out why a smart fone may be useful without a contract yet? Or have you been too busy polishing your Nazi memorabilia?
I'm quite saddened by #Saddened, he's had a bee in his bonnet for days. I think he needs to take a trip to Hungary.
Don't be embarrassed you can admit, that not for the first time, you made yourself look like a complete dick. You didn't think about what you posted you just thought it was a good dig at those foreigners. You pathetic individual.
As an outsider to your dispute, you are the one that is coming off as being unpleasant in this interaction.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
My wife bumped (literally) into Colin Firth as he came out of her local Lebanese restaurant.
She still refers to him as "Jabba"
There was a period where he blimped out a bit, but apparently he got back into shape for "A Single Man"
* Janet Daley (sat behind her in train) has got really thin hair * Kathy Lette (tube) wears way too much makeup in the daytime but is surprisingly attractive * Stephen Yardley (pub) is nice but a bit of a luvvie * Stephen Tompkinson (pub) is nasty when drunk: not a good sign I feel * Janet McTeer (theatre bar) has got really good skin
I hasten to add that I am not a sleb nor want to be one.
Nice humblebrag from Owen Jones on Sky News just then: "I had better odds than Corbyn to be next leader at the start of the contest"
I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect
My husband once was nearly run over by Michael Foot - or rather a car in which Michael Foot was being driven - just outside the House of Commons. It was during the General Election campaign and Foot as Labour leader had just committed a number of gaffes that week, including IIRC falling off a platform. My husband had visions of newspaper headlines "Foot's Car Kills Man" with at the bottom of the page: The dead man's name was Mr XXXXXX. .
I've stood next to Paul Daniels and thelovelydebbie McGee in the pub. She has got outstanding posture. I've sat next to Martha Lane Fox in the train. I've just realised this is the saddest piece of boasting I've ever done....:-(
I've been on Richard Stilgo's yacht a couple of times (minus Richard Stilgo). I befriended the skipper when I was working in Greece twenty-odd years ago.
The solution to the Greek problem is for them all to move to Germany as migrants where they will be supported.
Simpler to move the German border East as far as the Bosphorus and north east to the edge of Ukraine.
Ahah! lebensraum mark 2. Merkel, der Fuhrerin, as Morris Dancer insists she be called, will be pleased.
Blockhead worked out why a smart fone may be useful without a contract yet? Or have you been too busy polishing your Nazi memorabilia?
I'm quite saddened by #Saddened, he's had a bee in his bonnet for days. I think he needs to take a trip to Hungary.
Don't be embarrassed you can admit, that not for the first time, you made yourself look like a complete dick. You didn't think about what you posted you just thought it was a good dig at those foreigners. You pathetic individual.
All I said that with their smartphones and cash to run them, shows that these so called migrants are not refugees. You may love them, Saddened, so take them to your bosom or better still your house, and see how much you'll love then then. Stop acting like a spoilt child.
I ended up sat next to John Hurt in a very grotty pub during a BT Christmas treasure hunt pub crawl.
He looked appallingly withered and smashed. And held court talking cobblers to others in a similar state of chronic ill health. He acted exactly as he does on screen and sounds the same too.
On the subject of famous people that PBers have met. Alex Higgins visited my local a handful of times. He was unsurpisingly quite inebriated each time I saw him in there.
I once shared a piss-stone with Richard Harris...
When we were done, I turned to him and bellowed "You're ... not... having my field!!"
The solution to the Greek problem is for them all to move to Germany as migrants where they will be supported.
Simpler to move the German border East as far as the Bosphorus and north east to the edge of Ukraine.
Ahah! lebensraum mark 2. Merkel, der Fuhrerin, as Morris Dancer insists she be called, will be pleased.
Blockhead worked out why a smart fone may be useful without a contract yet? Or have you been too busy polishing your Nazi memorabilia?
I'm quite saddened by #Saddened, he's had a bee in his bonnet for days. I think he needs to take a trip to Hungary.
Don't be embarrassed you can admit, that not for the first time, you made yourself look like a complete dick. You didn't think about what you posted you just thought it was a good dig at those foreigners. You pathetic individual.
All I said that with their smartphones and cash to run them, shows that these so called migrants are not refugees. You may love them, Saddened, so take them to your bosom or better still your house, and see how much you'll love then then. Stop acting like a spoilt child.
You. Don't. Need. Cash. To. Run. Them. You moron, that is the point. If you thought for one moment rather than letting your, all to obvious, prejudices overrule your faculties, you would understand.
Viewcode - ''I stood behind Simon Callow in a shop waiting for him to buy a newspaper. He's exactly how you would expect'' I sat next to (an older) Gareth Thomas - Roj Blake no less - on an Easyjet flight to Edinburgh. There as yet another delay, on a long overdue flight, waiting for take off and I could not resist intruding and saying it was a pity we could not teleport up. He was brilliant in saying with lots of thespian feeling - 'Take us up NOW!'
I fast forwarded this luvvy tart so didn't pick this up. The statement says more about her than anyone else and Maitlis didn't even blink, obviously confident that the tart wasn't talking about her. Self righteous, pompous, scum bags like Thompson make me sick to my stomach.
Comments
Non-voting and worse than expected Unite numbers for Corbyn are making Labour contest closer, source says.
On school terms - actually, my nephew (age 16), eldest daughter's boyfriend (age 21) and I discussed this just the other day and came up with a solution that's obviously perfect and suitable in all respects (translation: probably not even half-baked and subject to critical issues we didn't consider):
The current regime is left over from the time when children were needed to help on the farm over summer; thus the long summer holidays. It also concentrates holiday periods so as to be simultaneous nationwide, spiking demand for holiday places. There are a total of about 13 weeks holiday per year at the moment (6 weeks summer, 2 weeks Christmas, 2 weeks Easter, and 3 x 1 week half term). These should be spread out more evenly, thus we'd have mini-terms lasting 4 weeks each with one week holiday at the end of each. Summer and Christmas would have one week extra at that time. There would be one week "floating", where parents could, subject to negotiation with teachers, take at any time (obviously not at exam time and so on).
For added smoothing, the mini-terms can be made to not be synchronous across all authorities.
Adam Boulton is so overrated.
I think Mr Stilgo is my saddest.
(i) Non-Syrian economic migrants posing as refugees to gain asylum
(ii) Syrian economic migrants
For category (ii) it comes down to the principle that a "true" refugee will stop in the first place of safety. I'm not sure this is realistic, in that once you are moving, it makes sense to find a congenial place to stop rather than just in the first place, but it is the basis on which international law is structured.
I think categories (i) and (ii) are very real - the question is what proportion of the total are they, and I'm not sure there is any way to know.
On the other hand, people who are in refugee camps on the Syrian border are *more likely* to be refugees. However, of course, traffickers may now direct their cargo there instead... (which, at least, should reduce the death toll so would be a net positive even if it complicates the job of figuring out who we should give refuge to)
Someone who uses violence, mayhem, and destruction — or the threat of those things — to coerce people or countries into taking a certain action is a terrorist. A terrorist may be motivated by religious fervor, politics, or just plain old-fashioned greed.
http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/terrorist
Those migrants who, in highly-organised fashion, are attempting to overwhelm our borders to gain unlawful entry in pursuit of economic gain, creating mayhem in their wake, meet that definition.
UNHCR: "Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom. "
If you are on the Syrian border, chances are that you are a refugee who is looking for a place of safety. If you are in Hungary and demanding to be allowed to travel on to Germany, you are not doing so out of fear for your life but in order to improve your prospects. Perfectly understandable, but, given the relative wealth of Western Europe there are going to be an awful lot of people who are going to be attracted to "improve their prospects".
She still refers to him as "Jabba"
In a wider sense, given the situation, I do believe we have to act to help out and provide refuge. I know all the arguments over space and incentives and that providing refuge won't solve the crisis, but:
- If we pick people up straight from the borders of Syria, the incentives issue is reduced
- That it is not sufficient to solve the problem doesn't detract from that it is still necessary. In the long run, we need to find a true solution, but the short run is here, it is very real, and it is a humanitarian crisis.
- As with our greatest hours in the past, the fact that something is either difficult or problematic is not a reason to stand around. It is the opportunity to show our greatness.
ie Not voting intention.
As for those presently arriving at Hungarian railway station and so forth, the issue is not whether those claiming to be Syrian refugees are what they say they are, but that such a large group would almost certainly consist of many other refugees of various nationality and transient migrants. Sorting one group from another given the logistic would IMHO be virtually impossible.
Genuinely excited for my party to be led by someone with radical alternative to the past 36 years
Alex Higgins visited my local a handful of times.
He was unsurpisingly quite inebriated each time I saw him in there.
Who is he, please?*
(* Am I showing my age?)
(I seem to have invented Light Entertainment Top Trumps...)
I also sat opposite Len Murray on the Tube.
Not exactly earth shattering.
'Genuinely excited for my party to be led by someone with radical alternative to the past 36 years'
Shame that excitement isn't shared by real world voters.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34135679
He looked appallingly withered and smashed. And held court talking cobblers to others in a similar state of chronic ill health. He acted exactly as he does on screen and sounds the same too.
I bottled it and voted Burnham first, Cooper 2nd, Corbyn 3rd.
It all seems like such a tragic waste of an innocent life.
The photos are really getting to me. They are very distressing.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COAAWFzVEAAzkgK.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7juXEvyjT0
Are we really in for an early winter???
Global Warming, where are you?
I am concerned Corbyn is not going to win this. Glad i cashed in a fair bit of Jezza profit
Lots of people who were Corbyn changed their minds at last minute IMO. I said earlier thought Jezzas chance of winning was about 50% I am edging to 45% despite his performance tonight.
From a cynically political point of view, one benefit of doing something "dramatic", like an airlift, is that it looks like you are "doing something" - and the drama of the pictures is, to be honest, disproportionate to the actual number of people involved. (On the other hand, Britain has been doing a lot of deeply undramatic and underreported, underappreciated work helping refugees in situ, and it's understandable if Cameron is furious for Merkel at being accused of not pulling his weight, despite her surely being aware of the correctness of his basic analysis that pumping up the numbers isn't going to fix a broken system. So if a bit of headline-hogging with the RAF takes place, I wouldn't blame him.)
Europe is spending billions, helping people in the camps. That people want to come is understandable. But the idea we're doing nothing to help them, or have an obligation to let them in, is more about the virtue-signalling of the person saying it, that the real moral position. Worse than the vacuous moral posturing, is the complete lack of agency you give to the people in this situation. Millions are waiting patiently in the camps, or in Beirut or Amman to return to their homes should peace return to Syria. Yet some decide to put their children in the hands of people smugglers and unseaworthy vessels and unventilated trucks. These people bear the responsibility for the dead children far more than the "Cameron" whom countless memes exhort to "do more".
http://www.brackenworld.blogspot.co.uk/
Facetiousness aside, there is plenty of evidence that organised gangs of economic migrants, and their couriers, are using the wave after wave strategy to overwhelm our borders, in pursuit of personal greed aka 'a better life'.
New Thread New Thread
* Janet Daley (sat behind her in train) has got really thin hair
* Kathy Lette (tube) wears way too much makeup in the daytime but is surprisingly attractive
* Stephen Yardley (pub) is nice but a bit of a luvvie
* Stephen Tompkinson (pub) is nasty when drunk: not a good sign I feel
* Janet McTeer (theatre bar) has got really good skin
I hasten to add that I am not a sleb nor want to be one.
https://twitter.com/PamAyres/status/631978234456969216
When we were done, I turned to him and bellowed "You're ... not... having my field!!"
I sat next to (an older) Gareth Thomas - Roj Blake no less - on an Easyjet flight to Edinburgh. There as yet another delay, on a long overdue flight, waiting for take off and I could not resist intruding and saying it was a pity we could not teleport up. He was brilliant in saying with lots of thespian feeling - 'Take us up NOW!'