My daily rant !

[Stephen]

You should get the French to do your bathroom - they wouldn't argue with you !!

I'd be forever picking up remains of frogs legs and snails.

[Mervyn and Trish]

And the Mayor of Calais shrugs her shoulders and says it's Britains fault ?
If we let them all in, the problem would go away.

The Mayor needs certifying. If we let them all in, twice as many would arrive within days. Look what happened when Germany declared open house. It's like saying if we gave shoplifters free goods there'd be no more shoplifting!

[oldbluefox]

As I see it the situation at Calais and Dunkirk is of their (migrants and French authorities) own making. The French have allowed these camps to be set up and the migrants are supposedly seeking refuge from war and strife and have chosen to sit it out in the camps. However, when you consider where some have come from it seems to me that many are economic migrants not escaping war at all and they should be returned. The migrants should be moved away from the ports, the camps destroyed and better provision found for them. Genuine refugees should be registered as such and arrangements made for them to find sanctuary wherever accommodation in whatever country may be found, until such time as peace and stability returns to their homeland and then they can return to help in rebuilding. This is highly unlikely for so long as Assad is in power.
Unfortunately Mrs Merkel skewed the situation by opening her doors to all-comers so much of the capacity in Germany was taken up by those who had no right to be there. Provision for genuine refugees was thereby diluted.
It would be a huge mistake to open the doors to those in Calais as many more would turn up. As it is, once one of those waiting in Calais managed to make it into Britain they would then have the right to bring wives, children, grandparents, and the rest of the family over so we are not talking about 3000 migrants, more like three or four times that number as a conservative estimate. In a country already struggling with health, education and welfare provision, with a dated public infrastructure, lack of housing etc are we really in a position where we can accommodate such numbers?
Basically the whole humanitarian situation is a right c*** up.

[oldbluefox]

Barney, much as I appreciate your problems there's no point sending them up here as many of our roads have collapsed, rail links are suffering from landslips and half of our bridges are down.

Looking at the size of France compared to Britain I feel sure they could accommodate a few more migrants and not even notice they were there.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Barney, much as I appreciate your problems there's no point sending them up here as many of our roads have collapsed, rail links are suffering from landslips and half of our bridges are down.

Looking at the size of France compared to Britain I feel sure they could accommodate a few more migrants and not even notice they were there.

Too true Foxy. The population density of France is less than half that of the UK

[Silver_Shiney]

Australia has an extremely strict entry requirement and it is very difficult to get a residency visa. However, the continent is bigger than Europe and it has vast swathes of unpopulated land.... as, indeed, does America...

[oldbluefox]

Australia could teach us a lot................................

[Mervyn and Trish]

In fairness large chunks of Australia are uninhabitable. But I agree we could learn from them, if we leave the EU and have control of our own destiny. Otherwise we can't adopt their policy.

[qbman1]

But said migrants don't want to stay in France - I wonder why they want to come here ??!

[Silver_Shiney]

It surely can't be anything to do with our free-for-all benefits system, can it?

[qbman1]

Breaking News ! Has anyone pointed that out to our esteemed government ?!

[Silver_Shiney]

I think His Farage-ship may have alluded to it....

[Mervyn and Trish]

I understand that Call-Me-Dave's answer to it all is already being diluted by Brussels. No out vote becomes more definite daily.

[qbman1]

I hear Your Dave is calling in the Nigerian Electoral Reform Society to monitor the referendum to avoid the risk of any rigging !!

[Ranchi]

Can I join in?

I read today of an NHS foundation where an HR director had been harassed by the chief of the health foundation and subsequently sacked. She took the foundation to an industrial tribunal and because she was wrongfully dismissed was awarded >£800k compensation. The chief of the board Was suspended on full pay for 7 months & has since terminated employment with the foundation with a pay off of £75k. The legal costs are >£400k. What annoys me is that presumably the people who live (or work) in that health region will suffer because about £1.5m which could have been used for front line services will no longer be available.
I really struggle to understand fining health authorities in many instances.

PS I'm not against the wronged employee being given compensation ( although it is a lot) but more that the public suffers for the way in which someone in authority has behaved.

[barney]

Could be worse Ranchi

A bloke in Spain had not been to work for six years and no one noticed until it came to present him with a long service award

Back to the camps in France, down here, we expect another bad summer which is why Cameron is wanting an early referendum.
He has been told it will get a lot worse and wants it all out of the way before it kicks off again.

It really makes you wonder who they represent, with MPs being told to ignore their local party and constituents and vote the way they are pushed.
So, it's a free vote for MPs as long as they don't want a career in this Government.

Who is going to show their hand and stand up for what they really believe.

Home Secretary ? Possibly.
Boris? More likely.
Gove? Who really cares.

[Silver_Shiney]

Of course you can join in, Ranchi!

I quite agree with you. A local hospital was heavily fined by the NHS the other day for missing a target for operations. What's that all about? They're strapped for cash as it is, paying the fine will make it even harder to meet targets and provide adequate treatment.

[Manoverboard]

Fines are ok with me ... providing they have to be paid by the Head Honcho of the related Trust, for his/her failure to provide the contracted service, rather than by the Trust itself.

[Ranchi]

MOB,
That's what causes me the problem with fines being applied to publically funded organisations either for missing targets or for misdemeanours,( as in this case.) The only winners appear to be the law firms who are not funded by the public & in this case the greatest losers are the people left working for the organisation & the public who have to use the organisation.