General Chat

and gets slated by asylum groups and civil rights for doing this.i for one feel that the asylum issue is spiralling out of control.not that i am against people who are in deep danger coming to a safer country but some foreigners see this as rich pickings free state.not that i can wholey blame them the goverment are the ones to blame by allowing it.all i can say is micheal howard has said what alot of M.p's have been too frightened to say for a long timexxxx(:

i agree roxanne.don't think that i have put this up to stir and argument.it's just that i commend him for being brave enough to do thisxxxx(:

Blair and Co. have ducked this one for seven years, about time someone brought it out into the open. The Government say the number of asylum applications have gone down, but that is because benefits have been clamped down on, so the same or more are coming in, but just not claiming asylum because there's no advantage. So many dodges around as well, bogus language colleges whose "students" disappear, bogus marriages, disappearing "tourists", children arriving unaccompanied, all sorts!

whilst i agree to a certain point,i have to remember that my dad was an immigrant from Ireland and i have family from Italy too.what i think we need to do is to have tighter boarder controls to stop people illegally coming here and freeloading but we also need to crack down on British people freeloading too

david can i ask why?because of his backround.the man knows it is time to stamp this out .i know that alot of people will disagree with me but charity begins at home.what about the homeless on the streets who are fighting a battle for themselves .no homes ,no prospects,illness,disease.they get nothing but someone that claims asylum get everything.wheres the sense in thatxxx(:

i agree karen.lets take for example iraq.people who are destitutejump country borders and end up in britain.other countries take them in.the difference is if they don't believe your life is in danger they send you back.half the time our country doesn'txxx(:

I think the issue with Michael Howard is the fact that he is mentioning this now in the run up to the election, how realistic is what he's saying or is it simply an election ploy?? My family is made up of English and immigrants in practically equal numbers and i think we especially (and i mean members of GR) would recognise that immigration has played a huge part in our lives and our history. As Roxanne has said we need tighter contols on all 'freeloaders' not just immigrants. xxx

i agree julianna.i still think that people who do enter through danger to their lives should put something back into societyxxxx(:

i defo agree lisa!!! but i think EVERYONE should, be they british nationals or not x

It's all too late. We should have listened to Enoch Powell years ago. Jo.

Enoch Powell WAS a racist who tried to hide this fact through legislation. This is not the way forward - I wonder if civil war broke out here - would we not want to seek refuge elsewhere???

I don't agree that we should have listened to Enoch Powell, but except in cases of emergency, e.g. Kenyan Asians kicked out by Adi Amin, numbers needed to be limited to what could be absorbed naturally. The Government was panicked in to 1950's by what turned out to be incorrect predictions of a labour shortage, the economists having failed to anticipate the switch from manual jobs to service industries.

sorry..... but im just not sure what the issue is, the country is not overun, we have social issues but that is not totally down to immigrants - we are a nation of immigrants to begin with for goodness sakes!!! As long as people work and contribute to society what is the problem??? Most immigrants I know would love to be able to work, but are not allowed to. So its government policy (and it doesnt matter who is in power) rather than immigrants themselves that needs to change! Of course there are p**s takers but there are British ones too!!! x

i still dont understand - whats actually out of control????

I don't think we're over-run with immigrants or asylum seekers but then I don't read the papers that scream out these panic-mongering headlines. I don't really understand why people are quite happy to give money to countries that are in need, such as with the recent tsunami disaster or 3rd world famines but are so against people coming to our country. If I was living in a war-torn or poverty stricken country and I thought I could give my family a better quality of life by moving to the UK I guess I would do it so I've no problem with other people doing it. How many of us are descended from immigrants who have come over here at one time or another or is that different?

Immigrants are a drain things such as the NHS, housing, benefits etc. And I think what really irks people is that they seem to have more rights to these things than the folks that live here. Also we need to be able to care properly for the people already living here before we go giving out handouts to those who have just arrived. You can't tell me that the vast majority of so called assylum seekers aren't here because of the benefits they will get in this country. If it was just a case of getting out of the country they were living in for fear of their lives, they would stop in the first safe country they entered. But they don't do they? Everbody who works and pays tax is paying for these people to stay in this country. Wouldn't you rather your tax went to benefit you and your nearest and dearest with regard to better hospital treatment, better policing, more money for OAPs etc. Jeanette x

I think one's perception of the problem (and whether there is one) depends rather where one lives. Mr Howard is MP for Folkestone and Hythe and his constituents certainly perceive that there IS a problem. On the other hand, Mr Blair's constituency is over 300 miles from the principal points of entry and his constituents probably haven't seen a black face since the last of the coal mines closed.

Just because the education and health systems are badly run it doesn't mean we haven't got the cash, it just means it's not going to the right places. We all know the huge wages that are paid to MPs, management heads etc. One thing this country isn't short of is finances - for example, how much were we able to give to the countries affected by the tsunami? Many illegals and asylum seekers work - I've known some. Many British people don't.

Sorry Brian - I missed the question before - I live near Reading so quite a fair percentage here.

Here's a poser - suppose you were married and with children and a civil war started in you neighbourhood. What would you do to safeguard you family? I for one would flee to the nearest safest country that would have me, taking my family with me. Being a patriot, I would seek to return to my country at the earliest opportunity. Here's another poser - suppose you are married and have children from a really poor country, or less well off country. You want the best for your family. You know that there are many affluent countries that will assist you if you can 'play the asylum card' you may have to convince the authorities, but hey its a risk worth taking. You may have to get there through several less forgiving countries, but again its a risk worth taking. Whats the worse thing that could happen? they send you back - maybe