Originally Posted by
JamesWales
You are right that the figure of people arriving in small boats is 37,000 so far this year. I'm not sure of the relevance of comparing it to Celtic Park last night, but I guess it does help people picture the number.
People can think that's a big number or not but there are a few things to consider, off the top of my head;
1 / all of those people need housing, feeding, protecting, legal and administrative support. People are entitled to think that there are other more pressing needs within the country.
2 / we have literally no idea who many of them are. Theres now almost daily stories of people with criminal pasts simply changing their names, dates of birth etc and claiming that all documents were lost - and no doubt in some cases they were lost accidentally.
3 / people are entitled to think from a compassion perspective, that the people arriving are not the most deserving. They typically arent women or children, they do have the financial and physical means to travel across Europe, they are coming from a safe country, they have been wealthy enough to pay for the crossing etc. So people are entitled to think that these aren't the most deserving cases. Until about a year ago, the number one country of people arriving was Albania for example!
4 / asylum claims are of course different to immigration generally, but that context matters. Net migration in recent years have gone from around 50,000 per year in the 80s and 90s to around 300,000 in the naughties and peaked at 900,000 after COVID. 1.3m arrived in 2023. The windrush generation totalled 500,000 odd in 25 years! The numbers are extraordinary and it's an important part of the backstory.
5 / irrespective of whether it's 37,000 or 370,000, they all need to be housed. it's in the context of us being a country with homeless problems, with huge waiting lists for housing, with a serious housing affordability problem. And again, that context matters, as these numbers matter more when most people feel there isn't enough housing, public services etc anyway. Likewise, aside from the cost we have millions using food banks, so many will understandably be agitated when others receive food for free etc.
I agree with you on the ridiculousness of the SS comment. Hopefully there will be less daft nazi references on here in future!
Also agree how this is a very complex issue and not easy to solve.
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