General News Thread

[kenny]

38 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

I'd be interested to see what would be built in to stop these governments agreeing to these deals, getting the returned migrants, getting the money for taking them and then magically 'losing them' as they cross borders and try again (assuming people would try it again anyway). Same people cross, detained, returned, money deposited, released, cross, detained, returned, money deposited etc etc?

 

Or would the deal mean these people are indefinitely detained in their home country?

It says if agreements are reached, which they won't be.

 

Furthermore, the arrivals misplace their identities on the journey over, so they presumably will claim to come from whichever country we won't have an agreement with.

 

Nice to know their plans are useless.

[CosbehFox]

14 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Did Reform miss the protests outside of Scampton (their heartland) when the idea was proposed to place asylum seekers there? 

RAF Wethersfield is a time bomb as well. 

[Lionator]

Then what happens when reform policy isn’t hardcore enough for people? 
 

Will we work more collaboratively with Europe or will the certain parts of the public take matters into their own hands?

[leicsmac]

23 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Although it’s an issue, it’s insane to see how much air time the asylum seeker issue gets compared to how much of an issue it is to wayyyy more consequential stuff around housing, economics and defence. 

It was said yesterday (?) that the populace only appear to be able to have one election-defining matter per election. Even if that matter is, as you say, comparatively inconsequential. 

 

I wonder why that is?

 

3 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Then what happens when reform policy isn’t hardcore enough for people? 
 

Will we work more collaboratively with Europe or will the certain parts of the public take matters into their own hands?

There will be ethnic violence, in all likelihood. Either "lone wolf" attacks, state-endorsed (depending on who is in charge at the time), or both. 

[kenny]

7 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

RAF Wethersfield is a time bomb as well. 

They will go for Scotland IMO, Leuchars already has some asylum seekers.

 

Ascension is a nice idea, but there is little there and nowhere suitable to build anything.

 

I doubt the several hundred US 'contractors' as they are described as will appreciate a load of undocumented people descending on the island either.

[StanSP]

12 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Then what happens when reform policy isn’t hardcore enough for people? 
 

Will we work more collaboratively with Europe or will the certain parts of the public take matters into their own hands?

Think we know what the answer to the second question is! 

 

If its not hardcore enough even for Reformers, there doesn't appear to be any other credible option. Reform is about as far right as you get (in a political party sense)?

 

 

[BKLFox]

37 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Just read this. 

 

They'd also potentially get £2.5k to send them on their way. Have I read that right?! 

 

Not sure it's a fully workable plan and can't see it getting through. 

but this happens already Stan & has been running for years, all failed/returned asylum & illegal migrants get £2k when deported.

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

but this happens already Stan & has been running for years, all failed/returned asylum & illegal migrants get £2k when deported.

Fair enough. I wasn't aware it was that much, if anything. 

[BKLFox]

3 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Fair enough. I wasn't aware it was that much, if anything. 

not something they're going to shout about i guess & as i understand it return after 2yrs you get it all again, rinse & repeat.

[slymunn]

4 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

Anyone got a spare 10 mins:

 

https://www.politicalcompass.org/test 
 

I was almost bang in the centre, slightly more authoritarian than libertarian 

 

[StanSP]

Not a surprise for me really 

[CornwallFox]

1 hour ago, kenny said:

It says if agreements are reached, which they won't be.

 

Furthermore, the arrivals misplace their identities on the journey over, so they presumably will claim to come from whichever country we won't have an agreement with.

 

Nice to know their plans are useless.

Asylum seekers have to prove they require asylum. So if they lose their identity documents that works against them doing that. They have to prove that they come from an unsafe country AND that they themselves are at risk. It's a high bar. 

[CornwallFox]

57 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

but this happens already Stan & has been running for years, all failed/returned asylum & illegal migrants get £2k when deported.

This isn't true. There is a limited voluntary assisted return scheme where some immigrants get money to set up elsewhere, but it is limited. 

A normal deportation involves zero money.

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c1kz18d3wjro

 

The United Kingdom has "almost certainly" had its hottest summer on record, according to provisional statistics from the Met Office.

The mean temperature across the country - which includes overnight lows as well as daytime highs - currently stands at 16.13C (61.03F) with less than a week of the season left to run.

This is well ahead of 2018, the previous warmest summer, which had a mean temperature of 15.76C (60.37F).

Temperatures during the rest of August would need to be four degrees below normal to prevent the record being broken - and this does not seem likely.

This is in line with evidence that summers are getting hotter and drier because of climate change.

 

[BKLFox]

3 hours ago, CornwallFox said:

This isn't true. There is a limited voluntary assisted return scheme where some immigrants get money to set up elsewhere, but it is limited. 

A normal deportation involves zero money.

there will be more receiving payment than not reading directly from the scheme page, unless your banged up or have committed an offence and being removed under a deportation order, you can apply.
 

https://www.gov.uk/return-home-voluntarily/who

 

not here to argue, I’m saying this is not a new scheme that’s being mentioned by reform and I first heard of payments back around 2003

[CornwallFox]

1 minute ago, BKLFox said:

there will be more receiving payment than not reading directly from the scheme page, unless your banged up or have committed an offence and being removed under a deportation order, you can apply.
 

https://www.gov.uk/return-home-voluntarily/who

 

not here to argue, I’m saying this is not a new scheme that’s being mentioned by reform and I first heard of payments back around 2003

You have to have been officially designated as a victim of modern slavery. Few will meet that requirement. 

[Lionator]

Meanwhile over in Trump land, they want to nationalise Lockheed Martin in addition to the stake they’ve already got in Intel.

 

Who’d have thought he’d be the most left wing president ever?

[BKLFox]

4 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

You have to have been officially designated as a victim of modern slavery. Few will meet that requirement. 

The criteria consists of multiple individual points they don’t have to meet all no?

Ie within the ‘who can apply’ the 1 above ‘modern slavery’ is ‘..your claim for asylum has been refused’

 

Fair enough if you’re in the border force / home office and have dealings with the process but it’s not how the website states it nor a mate of mine that was in border / customs and part of the crews that escorted people back at that time, admittedly times can change.

Anyway before I’m accused of anything, get don’t get id imagine reforms scheme will be modelled around the existing 1.

 

[CornwallFox]

Just now, BKLFox said:

The criteria consists of multiple individual points they don’t have to meet all no?

Ie within the ‘who can apply’ the 1 above ‘modern slavery’ is ‘..your claim for asylum has been refused’

 

Fair enough if you’re in the border force / home office and have dealings with the process but it’s not how the website states it nor a mate of mine that was in border / customs and part of the crews that escorted people back at that time, admittedly times can change.

Anyway before I’m accused of anything, get don’t get id imagine reforms scheme will be modelled around the existing 1.

 

No, fair enough, I didn't read that properly. 

Would be interesting to know what sort of numbers we're talking about and what the policy intention was. Presumably there is a reason for it. Wonder if it's cheaper than the alternative of having to hunt down those having to be found and forcibly removed? I always like to try to understand what's going on under the hood, presumably there must be some sort of merit to it if it was introduced as early as you say as it survived contact with Priti Patel and several other pretty right wing figures.

[DennisNedry]

That political compass thing is in need of an update. Some of the questions are silly too imo. Apparently I'm slightly to the left now. Weirdly as I get older I'm getting more left wing (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?)

Edited 26 August 2025 by DennisNedry

[leicsmac]

22 minutes ago, DennisNedry said:

That political compass thing is in need of an update. Some of the questions are silly too imo. Apparently I'm slightly to the left now. Weirdly as I get older I'm getting more left wing (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?)

Yeah, I would have thought treating all human beings regardless of demographic as exactly that - humans - and not some kind of lesser species, as well as viewing the future of human civilisation and the species itself as important enough to be policy on, would not be exclusively left wing properties. 

[FoxesDeb]

28 minutes ago, DennisNedry said:

That political compass thing is in need of an update. Some of the questions are silly too imo. Apparently I'm slightly to the left now. Weirdly as I get older I'm getting more left wing (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?)

I was always under the impression people move further to the right the older they get too, but I know this definitely hasn't been true for me. 

 

I think global events over my lifetime have caused the change in my case though, and I imagine it's the same for plenty of others too.

 

[bovril]

I've become more conservative as I get older but I haven't really become more right wing as the right has proved unwilling to conserve anything good about Britain and are mostly just disoriented and angry at our country's relative decline and incapable of doing anything about it other than moan about irrelevancies. 

[Jon the Hat]

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said: