Britains Airports Jam packed with...

[Zigenare]

Can you elaborate on why you felt the need to include this in your OP:

Reports of "So long and thanks for the benefits" notes left nailed to the front doors of rental houses may be an exageration.

Also mildly amusing that you criticised someone else's English teacher

My warped sense of humour, not to everyone's taste I'll grant you. However I can't guarantee I'll lose any sleep over your faux offence.

[vetran]

Seems the rest of Europe can't get them out fast enough!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...iss-Assad.html

Europe shuts its doors on Syria: Germany and France among the first to say they will ignore asylum requests following Assad's downfall, with Austria DEPORTING refugees

Bit rude really!

[Zigenare]

Seems the rest of Europe can't get them out fast enough!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...iss-Assad.html

Europe shuts its doors on Syria: Germany and France among the first to say they will ignore asylum requests following Assad's downfall, with Austria DEPORTING refugees

Bit rude really!

Steady, you'll give certain snowflakes on here a thrombosis!

[vetran]

Steady, you'll give certain snowflakes on here a thrombosis!

one way of improving the gene pool!

[Andy2022]

Why else are illegal immigrants, ~8000 of them identifying as Syrian risking their lives crossing the English Channel to get to the UK?

What could possibly be the attraction, knowing that they have travelled through numerous other safe territories, why risk their lives again to cross one of the busiest seaways in the world? What is there in the UK that makes them take that risk if not accommodation, money, healthcare, education and very little chance of being sent back to their own country?

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, if as you are saying that they were fleeing a war torn country then now that the threat has gone there's no reason for the majority of them to stay.

Arriving by a small boat over the channel isn't illegal if someone is claiming asylum and they are successful in claiming it.

Given most of the people crossing successfully claim asylum then by definition they're not illegal immigrants but refugees

People come to Britain for many reasons… for one we speak English, they might have extended family here etc. There are also plenty of other people who claim asylum elsewhere along the way (many more than actually make it to the UK)

Near the start of the thread you said that you feared Syria would become an Islamic State so that's plenty of reason for some not to go back

[Zigenare]

Arriving by a small boat over the channel isn't illegal if someone is claiming asylum and they are successful in claiming it.

Given most of the people crossing successfully claim asylum then by definition they're not illegal immigrants but refugees

People come to Britain for many reasons… for one we speak English, they might have extended family here etc. There are also plenty of other people who claim asylum elsewhere along the way (many more than actually make it to the UK)

Near the start of the thread you said that you feared Syria would become an Islamic State so that's plenty of reason for some not to go back

Oh really?

Illegal Migration Act
The Illegal Migration Act, which came into law in July 2023, prevents people who arrive in the UK by small boat from claiming asylum or protection. The act states that these people will be detained indefinitely and eventually removed to a third country.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/37/contents

[NotAllThere]

Why else are illegal immigrants, ~8000 of them identifying as Syrian risking their lives crossing the English Channel to get to the UK?

Reason why people might risk their lives trying to get into the UK, other than being able to "sponge off benefits" (which are, in any case, higher in several other countries).

1. They have relatives already in the UK
2. Language. English is far more widely spoken than French, German etc.
3. Opportunities for education, especially for their children.
4. They'll be able to find good jobs and improve themselves
5. Britain has a reputation for being a place where people are treated fairly and humanely.
6. They shudder at the thought of being in the EU because it's so awful (apparently)
7. Sunlit uplands and unicorns
8. Being sold this dream by the people smugglers who get another €5K for each refugee if they give them the means, however flimsy, to get across the channel.

And this is why I know you're trolling. You're not stupid; you regularly demonstrate your intelligence. Yet you purport to be convinced the only reason anyone comes to the UK across the channel is so they can sponge of benefits.

And the usual suspects hear your dog whistle, further stirring things up.

It's a bit sad really.

[Snooky]

Why else are illegal immigrants, ~8000 of them identifying as Syrian risking their lives crossing the English Channel to get to the UK?

What could possibly be the attraction, knowing that they have travelled through numerous other safe territories, why risk their lives again to cross one of the busiest seaways in the world? What is there in the UK that makes them take that risk if not accommodation, money, healthcare, education and very little chance of being sent back to their own country?

The overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees don't come to the UK. It's estimated that around half the population of Syria - 16.7m people - have been displaced by war and the 2023 earthquake. 73% of those have sought asylum in just 3 neighbouring countries: Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The UK is only one of 137 countries where Syrians have sought refuge.

Reasons for coming all the way to the UK may include those already mentioned - language or family/friends - but it might also be because other countries are full or, like some, ignore their obligations under the Dublin Regulation. Based on the size of country and population, we're nowhere near pulling our weight, yet plenty of people have been whipped up by right wing media and the likes of Farage into thinking that asylum seekers are crippling our country.

Some refugees will have now settled and created a new life here, working, raising a family and contributing to our economy (and thereby supporting a lot of British-born beneficiaries of our infrastructure and welfare system); they may choose not to return. But many might, especially in light of the hateful reception shown to them by a nation supposedly known for its decency and kindness, whose citizens ironically have a melting pot of immigrant and refugee ancestors. I suspect if we were to trace your family tree or vetran's we won't have to go too far to find an ancestor who came here from another country and benefitted from UK hospitality. I think the same is true of most little Englanders.

[Snooky]

My warped sense of humour, not to everyone's taste I'll grant you. However I can't guarantee I'll lose any sleep over your faux offence.

This is just like someone making a really offensive comment and then, when someone is actually offended by it, attempting to divert the blame by saying "It was only a JOKE - can't you take a joke?"

[WTFH]

This is just like someone making a really offensive comment and then, when someone is actually offended by it, attempting to divert the blame by saying "It was only a JOKE - can't you take a joke?"

He goes into meltdown when Jaguar put out an advert, or the Boots Christmas advert doesn't feature the right sort of people, or the morning of a budget he announces that the world is going to end, then he calls everyone who isn't a sad lonely hate-filled old man a "snowflake" because having any sort of compassion for others is a bad trait in his eyes.