Immigrants drowned crossing the channel

[Alfrom]

Well, that;s about right about being the traditional enemy,  Andy. On the other hand,for much of the past 1000 years, English history has been based on the consequences of a successful invasion of England by the Normans, who became a fundamental part of the nation that became France.

What's also right is that in the years when my work meant frequent trips to France and other European nations  I never came across any animosity towards England from anyone, certainly not in the way the English view almost every other nation, even those within GB.

[Misfit]

I hate the french, well french men, their typical good looks, their sexy accent, their language.  My wife spent 45 mins just reporting our break down. Not because of any difficulty just because of his accent.

The family that came out while we were sitting in the broken down TR7, that invited us in, provide us with food, wine and hospitality until the breakdown vehicle arrive; they hated us too.

 

 

[Z320]

+1

[Harbottle]

Err yeah but what have the Romans ever done for us? oops I mean Le Romans

[Ian Vincent]

16 hours ago, Charlie D said:

Until you drive a TR down French country roads.

Then you love the place.

Charlie

 

 

 

 

 

Last month my cousin and I participated in the Pyrenees Rally starting from Toulouse.  The rally was brilliant but our drive across France from Caen to Toulouse, sticking as far as possible to country roads was the icing on the cake.  The weather was sunny and we stopped at a wonderful Chambre d'Hote on the way down and a really nice hotel on the way back - with great food.  As my cousin remarked as we were cruising down one deserted road somewhere between Poitiers and Limoges, "You would go a long way in the UK to find a road like this".

Macron is a politician, (and a more astute one than Boris)

Rgds Ian

[RobH]

5 minutes ago, Ian Vincent said:

You would go a long way in the UK to find a road like this

.....Which really is the nub of the whole argument.  Britain is a lot smaller in area and has much less free space in comparison.  

[brian -r]

This tread is drifting way off Rogers original post in several very interesting and important directions would anyone object if later on I split them into two separate threads to make each topic more readable.

Pease post you thoughts  here before I do anything.

Brian

[Ian Vincent]

Brian,

I'm not sure my post constitutes thread drift.  The main thrust of Roger's original post was that he wasn't a fan of the French.  My post is on that subject but from the position that Politics is Politics but in general France is a lovely country with much to recommend it.

Rgds Ian

[brian -r]

Ian.

Topics are moving into the status of engineers ,the attitude of various countries to each other, methods of solving the current migrant crisis etc, both here and on Alec's Inn.

I thought that perhaps the basis of Roger's original post might become lost amongst other topics, so new threads to cover these would help keep

the ideas flowing but if you all are happy to leave things as they are then great .

Brian

 

.

[hercules]

5 hours ago, Ian Vincent said:

Last month my cousin and I participated in the Pyrenees Rally starting from Toulouse.  The rally was brilliant but our drive across France from Caen to Toulouse, sticking as far as possible to country roads was the icing on the cake.  The weather was sunny and we stopped at a wonderful Chambre d'Hote on the way down and a really nice hotel on the way back - with great food.  As my cousin remarked as we were cruising down one deserted road somewhere between Poitiers and Limoges, "You would go a long way in the UK to find a road like this".

Macron is a politician, (and a more astute one than Boris)

Rgds Ian

The excellent roads in the Alps & the Pyrenees & in other parts of France have nothing to do with Macron as President but with the organisation of the yearly famous bicycle race "THE TOUR DE FRANCE". The toll roads in France on the other hand belong to a private company APRR and have always been very well maintained (Of course because you are paying for).  

[Bleednipple]

4 hours ago, brian -r said:

Topics are moving into the status of engineers ,the attitude of various countries to each other, methods of solving the current migrant crisis etc, both here and on Alec's Inn.

And those Romans Brian. 

(Sorry, couldn't resist).

[PodOne]

8 hours ago, RobH said:

.....Which really is the nub of the whole argument.  Britain is a lot smaller in area and has much less free space in comparison.  

Exactly Rob we are fully booked.

The local news was replete with what help was been given out to the new arrivals from housing to schools from local councils. I wonder what help they are giving to the homeless service personnel and the like, the victims of domestic abuse, mental heath patients and families homeless and living in bed sits with three kids awaiting a council house to come up with a microwave as a cooker?

The old saying Charity begins at home.

As said elsewhere if they land on the beach put them back in the boat ant take them back to France.

Andy

Edited November 30, 2021 by PodOne

[SuzanneH]

13 hours ago, RobH said:

.....Which really is the nub of the whole argument.  Britain is a lot smaller in area and has much less free space in comparison.  

+1

[Misfit]

Moved

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Misfit

[Bleednipple]

16 hours ago, PodOne said:

The old saying Charity begins at home.

Why?

[PodOne]

2 hours ago, Bleednipple said:

Why?

Because it does, family first other UK citizens second with the same roots it what previous generations have strove and died for and then the rest of the world last. Might be simplistic to some but that's my rational if I and others are sorted then why not share and give to the rest? If as a country we have nothing then there is nothing to share with the rest, as it is I think we contribute enough as for some strange reason we seem to have to apologise financially for our past history when values were much different. Also we have real poverty already in the UK which should urgently be resolved first.

  

[acaie]

20 hours ago, PodOne said:

The old saying Charity begins at home.

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness - J K Gabraith.

[PodOne]

1 minute ago, acaie said:

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness - J K Gabraith.

It"s nothing to do with been selfish when we have enough issues to deal with already without adding to them. It would be more selfish to deny help to those people already here and in difficulty and ultimately at their expense as the cupboard is empty.

For all those that feel taking a tough stance is wrong then how about them taking these people in at their own expense for 10 years in paying what it would cost the state in all matters from housing, food, education and health benefits and then come back and tell me it was a good idea.

Charity is not for nothing just to satisfy peoples consciouses which I suspect would be very different when confronted with the true costs involved.

[ntc]

4 minutes ago, PodOne said:

It"s nothing to do with been selfish when we have enough issues to deal with already without adding to them. It would be more selfish to deny help to those people already here and in difficulty and ultimately at their expense as the cupboard is empty.

For all those that feel taking a tough stance is wrong then how about them taking these people in at their own expense for 10 years in paying what it would cost the state in all matters from housing, food, education and health benefits and then come back and tell me it was a good idea.

Charity is not for nothing just to satisfy peoples consciouses which I suspect would be very different when confronted with the true costs involved.

+1 and we have seen enough of the so called big charities with dirt under their own finger nails

[Peter V W]

Why don’t you check out child poverty in the UK.

Why don’t you post under your real name?

Peter V W

8 hours ago, Bleednipple said:

Why?

Why?

[Grahamgl]

The following is from today’s Guardian:

At least 688 people died while homeless in England and Wales in 2020, according the latest official statistics, a slight fall attributed to the introduction of emergency accommodation for thousands of homeless people during lockdown.
 

All the heart searching over the tragic deaths in the Chanel but little is said about all our homeless people. How is it that we shall have to find homes for all those immigrants that have entered the UK this year and in previous years yet we cannot home the UK’s homeless?

 

[Bleednipple]

1 hour ago, Peter V W said:

Why don’t you check out child poverty in the UK.

Why don’t you post under your real name?

Peter V W

I have a reasonable understanding of child poverty in the UK. I chair a funding organisation that supports in particular families with young children in areas with severe multiple deprivation and have been privileged to meet many of the people that they aim to help. So I feel I've done a reasonable amount of "checking out" of child poverty, as you put it, although whatever insight I have gained is obviously not comparable to their lived experience.

While the majority of those families are UK-born, a substantial proportion of them are recent immigrants, including refugees who have in many cases come from far worse circumstances in their countries of origin than they are going to have to cope with in the UK and often including physical and/or psychological trauma. I have seen for myself something of that 'supply side' of forced migration as I worked for 15 years with a humanitarian emergencies NGO in which I deployed to 20+ countries like Iraq, South Sudan and so on.

Why don't I post under my real name?  Because the forum is public-facing and like many people on here I choose to keep my identity more private, which I'm perfectly entitled to do.

Now a question for you: why do you seem to have a problem with me?

Nigel

[John Morrison]

OK Chaps OK.

This thread understandably cause strong opinion.

That is no problem, debate and discussion is fine and healthy.

What causes us mods to become concerned is when the discussion becomes personal, there can be no place for that in our pages.

PLEASE, if it goes down the road of, as an example, 'You got  a problem with me?' then you will likely receive a less than complimentary reply.

Fair Warning to all, take anything like this is off the public pages and go to PM's or it will be hidden and locked.

John.

[Bleednipple]

I apologise John/all. In future I'll just try to ignore irrelevant questions like "why don't you post in your own name?".

Nigel

[Tony_C]

Nothing for you to apologise about Nigel…… Suggest a few of the usual keyboard warriors might want to first think about it and have a good look in the mirror 

 

Tony