Katie Hopkins is happy this morning

[Gumbo Robot]

However, even if you think that these boats should just be sunk with all hands, it doesn't change the fact that Katie Hopkins is a nasty, narrow-minded, self-important, ignorant woman.

I haven't read her article - is she really suggesting the boats should be sunk & the people left to drown?

Even Nick Griffin said they should be scooped out of the water after they'd been torpedoed.

Does make you wonder whether there would be this huge influx if we hadn't f***d around in Libya although I was reading the Hitchens column in the Mail earlier & he was saying that Gadaffi had gone to Italy to try and blackmail the Italians to the tune of £4Billion to stem the tide of Africans heading there from Libya -

‘Europe runs the risk of turning black from illegal immigration, it could turn into Africa. We need support from the European Union to stop this army trying to get across from Libya, which is their entry point.

That was 2010. My guess is it's much worse now that Libya has become totally lawless.

[minestrone]

I try to ignore anything she says.

[MaryPoppins]

No matter how vile your opinions, there'll always be some who'll agree with you. Another way for the talentless to make money - until the public get sick of her.

She's so easy to dislike that I rarely manage to listen to whatever tripe she's saying.

[MicrosoftBob]

Make up your mind MF - do you think she's great because she provokes a response, or because she says what needs to be said, and you agree wholeheartedly with her point of view?

Those coming from Libya and other countries in meltdown, I have sympathy for. It's part of humanitarian duty to help such people. Letting people drown off European shores isn't compatible with European ideals and morals. As ever, it's weighing helping the genuinely needy against encouraging economic migrants.

What gets me is that some of these people are reportedly from Ghana and other countries which are pretty much stable.

However, even if you think that these boats should just be sunk with all hands, it doesn't change the fact that Katie Hopkins is a nasty, narrow-minded, self-important, ignorant woman.

It's a mess, on one hand there are genuine refugees flying the situation in Libya, but how do you tell those from ISIS supporters posing as refuges wanting a one way ticket to Europe to either stage terrorist attacks or act as sleeper cells ?

[MarillionFan]

Make up your mind MF - do you think she's great because she provokes a response, or because she says what needs to be said, and you agree wholeheartedly with her point of view?

.

Both those points. I do check out the news regularly to see which hand-wringing liberal she's managed to upset during the week & I would say that 4 out of 5 times I agree wholeheartedly with her. For example, todays story I agree with 4/5 points on it. I would agree we do have to tow them back to the starting point, stick 'em back on land and blow their bloody ships up. My only disagreement would be for those who are actually escaping true persecution can expect some help. Economic migrants though, feck off home and build your own country.

[xoggoth]

We cannot keep assuming the burden of taking in these people and the statistics for people from sub Saharan Africa, especially poorer places like Somalia and Eritrea, shows that is exactly what they will be. So many have completely unrealistic expectations of life here and when they are not realised any gratitude can soon turn to resentment, too often it is our supposed racism that is blamed rather than their own failings, leading to a future of even more riots, terrorism and crime.

Maybe we need to send patrols off the Libyan coast, turn these boats back before they get into danger and crack down on the smugglers.

[MarillionFan]

But you say that as if it's a Bad Thing.

I wonder what she has to have to say about tax dodging ex-pats.

[NotAllThere]

Both those points. I do check out the news regularly to see which hand-wringing liberal she's managed to upset during the week...

Which is why I said that Russell Brand speaking out against her is a bad thing. But anyone can upset liberal hand-wringers by saying staggeringly stupid and offensive things - it's far better to upset them with wit, intelligence and logic.

It's a mess, on one hand there are genuine refugees flying the situation in Libya, but how do you tell those from ISIS supporters posing as refuges wanting a one way ticket to Europe to either stage terrorist attacks or act as sleeper cells ?

First of all, the terrorists attacks in Europe haven't been carried out by immigrants just off the boat. They have been largely perpetrated by people who've grown up here. There's no evidence of any being immigrants who've travelled here specifically to carry out attacks. What happens is that they become dissatisfied here, radicalised, go abroad for training, then come back and start looking for opportunities.

ISIS has enough money and means that if they wanted to plant moles and sleeper cells, they certainly wouldn't take the extremely risky route of a boat across the Med. Far better to go by land to Turkey and into Europe from there.

[mudskipper]

I don't know how we solve the problem.

Imagine a film or book of one man's story, sympathetically told - you'd be rooting for him, hoping he makes it and makes a success of it. But when we talk about 218,000 one man stories we seem to lose sight of the fact that these are people, different from us only in the circumstance of their birth, desperate enough to risk everything for a better future.


There was a feature a while ago telling the story of a guy being smuggled in a fuel tank

24 hours in a fuel tank - BBC News

Europe cannot accommodate the entire population of Africa & Asia.

But this too.

[MarillionFan]

Mediterranean migrants: Hundreds feared dead after boat capsizes - BBC News


Some staggering numbers. 13500 rescued last week alone, 900 died (1000+ depending on sources), 218k last year crossed, 91% setting off from....wait for it....... Libya.

Nice one Dave.