[Abernathy]

Ouch.

[Youngian]

This vague "safe routes" afterthought is obviously good, so long as there is a workable solution.

Still don't understand why you can't just go to the embassy to file a claim, the mayor Paris won't be too thrilled but I can live with that.
The loophole that prevents unsafe unauthorised boat crossings from being illegal will then end.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It would almost certainly increase the numbers, which wouldn't exactly get the government off the hook. It's not just the pictures of people in boats that matter, it's the numbers. The Tories have been banging away at those going up this year.

[Youngian]

The Tories will abstain on this bill if the government if they face a mass rebellion. And that's more authority lost with the public and party. Possibly fatal.
I'm beginning to believe Starmer and his team are worse than Corbyn when it comes to an absence of political cunning. Jez may have walked into giant Tex Avery mousetraps but this government constructs Acme anvils on a spring themselves. With predictable results after they set them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

"Safe routes" could just be a bit of vague flannel, or it could be a proper attempt at something that can, overall, maintain support from backbenchers, a sort of "grand bargain", as it was called when Obama attempted something on immigration. It's easier to justify support for something if you can cite something positive in among the bad stuff. Crudely speaking, it's a "talking point". "I didn't vote for Tommy Robinson policies, do you think he supports safe routes?"

I see lots of people talking about migrants "throwing their phones away", and how they "could be anybody" (which they assume means they're the worst people ever). There may be more openness to some people who come via safe routes, of whose identity we can be more confident.

What sort of result would the government and the sort of people it's trying to appeal to want? Unlike Farage (and it has to be said, some Red Wall Labour MPs), I don't think it's zero. I think it's a smaller number overall, and a much smaller number in boats. Can policy achieve that? I don't know. Admittedly, we're talking about a pre-radicalization of the Right phase, but nobody much bothered with asylum seekers from about 2003-2020. Or at least nothing like as much as now.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Tories will abstain on this bill if the government if they face a mass rebellion. And that's more authority lost with the public and party. Possibly fatal.
I'm beginning to believe Starmer and his team are are worse than Corbyn when it comes to an absence of political cunning. Jez may have walked into giant Tex Avery mousetraps but this government constructs Acme anvils on a spring themselves. With predictable results after they set them.

They're probably done after the May elections anyway, what with the Budget (and I can't blame them for that). From their point of view, they might as well get this through, and wait for the "legacy", which they hope will be falling numbers of "boats".

[Tubby Isaacs]

By the way, who said this?

If you don’t have any borders, you don’t have a nation. Trump did a better job. I don’t like Trump, but we should have a secure border. It ain’t that hard to do. Biden didn't do it.

Joe Manchin? Some self-styled "liberal mugged by reality" at the New York Times?

No, Bernie Sanders. So this isn't some sort of uniquely British response by fake left politicians. There are people on the Left everywhere who have felt political heat on migration, and are thinking in the same terms as Starmer. But of course the US Democrats don't have to bother too much about people voting for the Greens and Lib Dems.

[The Weeping Angel]

Tbh I'm just fed up of everything atm Starmer, McSweeney, the Tories, lib Dems, greens, SNP, pensioners, farmers, the left, the right just everything.

[Tubby Isaacs]

That's about where I am.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Warren's still going with a bouncy enthusiasm to match Bronski Beat playing Hit That Perfect Beat. But this does sound good, and I'm not sure where it leaves reports that they were slashing this funding.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Which is precisely what the Forces of Darkness want...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Which is precisely what the Forces of Darkness want...

Yeah, I don't think they're all the same or anything. I want McSweeney and Starmer to do a better job. Mahmood said some silly stuff in support of her own position yesterday. Just say you're making changes, will be more restrictive, and see if those work. Get on to something else as quick as you can.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The workers rights bill has been pinged back by the Lords for the 3rd time. Wasn't this in the manifesto? What happened to the Salisbury Convention?

To quote Don Logan, "Not this time, Gal. Not this fucking time"

[Dalem Lake]

Tbh I'm just fed up of everything atm Starmer, McSweeney, the Tories, lib Dems, greens, SNP, pensioners, farmers, the left, the right just everything.

Same here. It's like a death spiral of the same old shit every day. Fucking depressing.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not entirely, there's lots of good stuff happening. But just as you can't out Reform Reform, you can't outGreen the Greens. Whatever's done, somebody pops up to say it's a "missed opportunity" or "just a sticking plaster solution", and gets lots of coverage. Starmer brought a fair bit of that on himself with his alienation of the Left, but it's far from being all his fault.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And more from Big Warren. Doubtless "the real issue" is affordability, or something, but sounds positive.

[Youngian]

It would almost certainly increase the numbers, which wouldn't exactly get the government off the hook. It's not just the pictures of people in boats that matter, it's the numbers. The Tories have been banging away at those going up this year.

You have a quota and prioritize the most deserving cases as well as reducing immigration quotas to accommodate asylum seekers who can plug skills shortages.
Its France's business if more peope are turning up camping in parks in Paris. They're relaxed about growing numbers turning up at their beaches risking drowning.