General Chat

[blandy]

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

You haven't defended "them" saying "they broke no rules". You quite clearly have said that crossing the channel is illegal. No-one I'm aware of has said they defend crossing the channel in small boats.

Plenty of people have defended asylum seekers right to be asylum seekers, quite rightly, pretty much everyone minus 1

Fair. I don't perceive the minus 1 to actually be against genuine asylum seekers at all, that's not what he's said. I think not everyone has looked into the whole issue to the same degree. When they find out they have no other choice, they're a lot more sympathetic.

There are plenty of people in the country worried about crims and ne'erdowells more than they are sympathetic to asylum seekers perhaps, but then if they just see facepage or the Daily Heil, or what their mate told them down the pub...

[Demitri_C]

anyone bank with hsbc? They are literally the shittest bank when you have a problem

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

anyone bank with hsbc? They are literally the shittest bank when you have a problem

I use Chase for most things now. Super slick app, 1% cashback on what you spend and good rates of interest on savings. 

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

I use Chase for most things now. Super slick app, 1% cashback on what you spend and good rates of interest on savings. 

God help us when all the branches shut and its all over the phone. Online banking is good but when it doesnt work and they try to resolve it absolutely **** usless

[Genie]

I’ve not needed to go into a branch for over 10 years. I’ve had a couple of cheques sent out via post and even they can be paid in via the app now.

I assume a number of banks will stay on the high street so they can see you face-to-face to sell things like loans and mortgages (my last 2 mortgages were done online). 

[Demitri_C]

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

I’ve not needed to go into a branch for over 10 years. I’ve had a couple of cheques sent out via post and even they can be paid in via the app now.

I assume a number of banks will stay on the high street so they can see you face-to-face to sell things like loans and mortgages (my last 2 mortgages were done online). 

What happens if you get big money for a wedding for example? If no banks how do you pay them into your account?

[Genie]

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

What happens if you get big money for a wedding for example? If no banks how do you pay them into your account?

Post office will take it I think.

Also, in this once in a lifetime event I’d not be too fussed about heading outside of my local town to pay it in (for example, no branch in Tamworth but there was one in Birmingham).

[Demitri_C]

11 minutes ago, Genie said:

Post office will take it I think.

Also, in this once in a lifetime event I’d not be too fussed about heading outside of my local town to pay it in (for example, no branch in Tamworth but there was one in Birmingham).

Oh do they? Didnt know that

[Wainy316]

Or if the post office won't take it, I will 

[Genie]

4 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Oh do they? Didnt know that

Yeah, you can pay in and withdraw cash from your bank at the post office.

My usual Chinese take-away is cash only (yeah I know) and the Spar a few doors down has a PO inside. I usually pop in to draw out the cash then use it to pay for the take-away.

[lapal_fan]

@foreveryoung - I can try.

Firstly, this whole issue (asylum seekers "invading" or "coming" on boats into the country) is a tactic used by the current government to distract normal people (like you and I) from bigger problems, such as a cost of living crisis, the awful management of energy supply and things like the strike actions by train/education and other unions.  In the grand scheme of things, asylum seekers coming into the country on boats is so exquisitely tiny, the fact that this issue seems to be the biggest thing we can talk about is frankly embarrassing for us as a nation.

Secondly, you have to be aware that there is no "defending" the issue.  It is ALREADY illegal for people to come to this country on a boat, so therefore anyone who has done so has committed a crime.  This is a fact. 

The thing people are debating/arguing against, is what happens when they get onto the shore?  

But before this, it's worth asking WHY people are literally risking their lives (and often dying) to get on a small inflatable boat and travel across the channel to get here, when you could quite reasonably ask "why don't they stop in France (or any other country they've crossed to get here)?"  I think I remember reading there are something like 3/4 reasons why people choose to do it.  I can only remember 2 though

1.  Language - they may speak English, but not French/German/Turkish/Italian/Spanish etc

2. Existing family - they may have family or cousins who already live here and having them as support once they get here is invaluable

Another question may be "why are they even coming here?" pretty fair.

1. The people are fleeing from their homes because of war.  I don't know about you, but if England Vs Scotland became a thing again I'd be getting my family out of here pretty sharpish.  We see all the time in warzones that even hospitals are fair game for missiles now, and even houses if "the bad guys" think there may be soldiers housed in them.

2. Economic Prosperity.  This was a thing when we were in the EU too.  Polish migrants came here because they could earn 3x their home salary, doing easy jobs like laboring (not easy tbh!) and fruit picking etc etc.  We have economic migrants from the UK go to Dubai to work.  We send thousands of engineers over there to help with their massive development projects.  So it's not even a 1 way thing.  People come and go for work all the time.

3.  Opportunity.  We're lucky in this country.  We have a great health system, a great education system, we have laws which protect workers in their jobs and we look after sick people or people unable to work through our benefits system.  Some countries don't have this opportunity.  

I'm aware I've mentioned benefits, but its very important for me to emphasize that personally, I don't think people come to the country to get given a 5 bed house in Little Aston.  I hate this narrative.  If it's true in 1 of 10,000 cases, its only 1 in 10,000 - get over it, I'm sure there's a reason for it. 

So, the boat thing.  There are people around who would happily sink the boats coming over, letting people die.  Some people have such a problem with it, they'd rather see dead kids rather than "let them in".  The issue today, is that our government are implementing laws which reduce our compassion further than it already is.

There's a great cartoon, which visualises what's happening, but replace Rupert Murdoch with our own Government;

Now for MY personal opinion;

- We let in far less asylum seekers than our neighboring countries, to an alarm degree.  Germany and France take in WAY more than we do, so why do we still have a problem with it?  What is the "right" figure? 

- The people we do settle in this country DO NOT come here for an easy ride.  The vast majority of people who come here, come here to make a life for themselves

- These new laws are being put in place because we currently have a Government on the way out.  They are desperate to stay in power and they are doing things they wouldn't normally do, to appeal to the public who believe asylum seekers are coming to take away from them personally.  Whether it be "I don't want to live next door to one", to "I've got a shit job cleaning toilets on £8 an hour, that foreigner has come and is working in finance on £14 an hour - WHY?!". 

I've probably gone completely off track here, because I've typed this over the course of 2 hours.  But hopefully it puts some context for you.  

I anticipate I've probably wasted the effort and I'll get some irksome 1 sentence response, but it is what it is. 

[tonyh29]

TLDR 

 

[BOF]

41 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

God help us when all the branches shut and its all over the phone. Online banking is good but when it doesnt work and they try to resolve it absolutely **** usless

It's why I don't have Revolut and seemingly the entire rest of this country does. It's OK if you wanna give yer mate a few quid, but actually banking through it? Getting your wages put into it? No thanks.

[Designer1]

22 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

@foreveryoung - I can try.

Firstly, this whole issue (asylum seekers "invading" or "coming" on boats into the country) is a tactic used by the current government to distract normal people (like you and I) from bigger problems, such as a cost of living crisis, the awful management of energy supply and things like the strike actions by train/education and other unions.  In the grand scheme of things, asylum seekers coming into the country on boats is so exquisitely tiny, the fact that this issue seems to be the biggest thing we can talk about is frankly embarrassing for us as a nation.

Secondly, you have to be aware that there is no "defending" the issue.  It is ALREADY illegal for people to come to this country on a boat, so therefore anyone who has done so has committed a crime.  This is a fact. 

The thing people are debating/arguing against, is what happens when they get onto the shore?  

But before this, it's worth asking WHY people are literally risking their lives (and often dying) to get on a small inflatable boat and travel across the channel to get here, when you could quite reasonably ask "why don't they stop in France (or any other country they've crossed to get here)?"  I think I remember reading there are something like 3/4 reasons why people choose to do it.  I can only remember 2 though

1.  Language - they may speak English, but not French/German/Turkish/Italian/Spanish etc

2. Existing family - they may have family or cousins who already live here and having them as support once they get here is invaluable

Another question may be "why are they even coming here?" pretty fair.

1. The people are fleeing from their homes because of war.  I don't know about you, but if England Vs Scotland became a thing again I'd be getting my family out of here pretty sharpish.  We see all the time in warzones that even hospitals are fair game for missiles now, and even houses if "the bad guys" think there may be soldiers housed in them.

2. Economic Prosperity.  This was a thing when we were in the EU too.  Polish migrants came here because they could earn 3x their home salary, doing easy jobs like laboring (not easy tbh!) and fruit picking etc etc.  We have economic migrants from the UK go to Dubai to work.  We send thousands of engineers over there to help with their massive development projects.  So it's not even a 1 way thing.  People come and go for work all the time.

3.  Opportunity.  We're lucky in this country.  We have a great health system, a great education system, we have laws which protect workers in their jobs and we look after sick people or people unable to work through our benefits system.  Some countries don't have this opportunity.  

I'm aware I've mentioned benefits, but its very important for me to emphasize that personally, I don't think people come to the country to get given a 5 bed house in Little Aston.  I hate this narrative.  If it's true in 1 of 10,000 cases, its only 1 in 10,000 - get over it, I'm sure there's a reason for it. 

So, the boat thing.  There are people around who would happily sink the boats coming over, letting people die.  Some people have such a problem with it, they'd rather see dead kids rather than "let them in".  The issue today, is that our government are implementing laws which reduce our compassion further than it already is.

There's a great cartoon, which visualises what's happening, but replace Rupert Murdoch with our own Government;

Now for MY personal opinion;

- We let in far less asylum seekers than our neighboring countries, to an alarm degree.  Germany and France take in WAY more than we do, so why do we still have a problem with it?  What is the "right" figure? 

- The people we do settle in this country DO NOT come here for an easy ride.  The vast majority of people who come here, come here to make a life for themselves

- These new laws are being put in place because we currently have a Government on the way out.  They are desperate to stay in power and they are doing things they wouldn't normally do, to appeal to the public who believe asylum seekers are coming to take away from them personally.  Whether it be "I don't want to live next door to one", to "I've got a shit job cleaning toilets on £8 an hour, that foreigner has come and is working in finance on £14 an hour - WHY?!". 

I've probably gone completely off track here, because I've typed this over the course of 2 hours.  But hopefully it puts some context for you.  

I anticipate I've probably wasted the effort and I'll get some irksome 1 sentence response, but it is what it is. 

Superb post LF 

[BOF]

24 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

TLDR 

You're probably an accurate representation of the current electorate

[Seat68]

35 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

@foreveryoung - I can try.

Firstly, this whole issue (asylum seekers "invading" or "coming" on boats into the country) is a tactic used by the current government to distract normal people (like you and I) from bigger problems, such as a cost of living crisis, the awful management of energy supply and things like the strike actions by train/education and other unions.  In the grand scheme of things, asylum seekers coming into the country on boats is so exquisitely tiny, the fact that this issue seems to be the biggest thing we can talk about is frankly embarrassing for us as a nation.

Secondly, you have to be aware that there is no "defending" the issue.  It is ALREADY illegal for people to come to this country on a boat, so therefore anyone who has done so has committed a crime.  This is a fact. 

The thing people are debating/arguing against, is what happens when they get onto the shore?  

But before this, it's worth asking WHY people are literally risking their lives (and often dying) to get on a small inflatable boat and travel across the channel to get here, when you could quite reasonably ask "why don't they stop in France (or any other country they've crossed to get here)?"  I think I remember reading there are something like 3/4 reasons why people choose to do it.  I can only remember 2 though

1.  Language - they may speak English, but not French/German/Turkish/Italian/Spanish etc

2. Existing family - they may have family or cousins who already live here and having them as support once they get here is invaluable

Another question may be "why are they even coming here?" pretty fair.

1. The people are fleeing from their homes because of war.  I don't know about you, but if England Vs Scotland became a thing again I'd be getting my family out of here pretty sharpish.  We see all the time in warzones that even hospitals are fair game for missiles now, and even houses if "the bad guys" think there may be soldiers housed in them.

2. Economic Prosperity.  This was a thing when we were in the EU too.  Polish migrants came here because they could earn 3x their home salary, doing easy jobs like laboring (not easy tbh!) and fruit picking etc etc.  We have economic migrants from the UK go to Dubai to work.  We send thousands of engineers over there to help with their massive development projects.  So it's not even a 1 way thing.  People come and go for work all the time.

3.  Opportunity.  We're lucky in this country.  We have a great health system, a great education system, we have laws which protect workers in their jobs and we look after sick people or people unable to work through our benefits system.  Some countries don't have this opportunity.  

I'm aware I've mentioned benefits, but its very important for me to emphasize that personally, I don't think people come to the country to get given a 5 bed house in Little Aston.  I hate this narrative.  If it's true in 1 of 10,000 cases, its only 1 in 10,000 - get over it, I'm sure there's a reason for it. 

So, the boat thing.  There are people around who would happily sink the boats coming over, letting people die.  Some people have such a problem with it, they'd rather see dead kids rather than "let them in".  The issue today, is that our government are implementing laws which reduce our compassion further than it already is.

There's a great cartoon, which visualises what's happening, but replace Rupert Murdoch with our own Government;

Now for MY personal opinion;

- We let in far less asylum seekers than our neighboring countries, to an alarm degree.  Germany and France take in WAY more than we do, so why do we still have a problem with it?  What is the "right" figure? 

- The people we do settle in this country DO NOT come here for an easy ride.  The vast majority of people who come here, come here to make a life for themselves

- These new laws are being put in place because we currently have a Government on the way out.  They are desperate to stay in power and they are doing things they wouldn't normally do, to appeal to the public who believe asylum seekers are coming to take away from them personally.  Whether it be "I don't want to live next door to one", to "I've got a shit job cleaning toilets on £8 an hour, that foreigner has come and is working in finance on £14 an hour - WHY?!". 

I've probably gone completely off track here, because I've typed this over the course of 2 hours.  But hopefully it puts some context for you.  

I anticipate I've probably wasted the effort and I'll get some irksome 1 sentence response, but it is what it is. 

Long but did read. Fantastic post @lapal_fan I think it really crystalises thought and opinion. 

[maqroll]

Surprised to learn today that league football matches in England weren't televised live until 1983! 

 

[Seat68]

10 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Surprised to learn today that league football matches in England weren't televised live until 1983! 

 

Are you sure? I am fairly certain that matches were broadcast live in the 60s, I cant back that up at the moment but I am reasonably sure it was before 83.

 

Broadly correct, regular live matches began in 83. Wow, that late.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Seat68

[Demitri_C]

On 10/03/2023 at 10:46, BOF said:

It's why I don't have Revolut and seemingly the entire rest of this country does. It's OK if you wanna give yer mate a few quid, but actually banking through it? Getting your wages put into it? No thanks.

I actually have a revolut but i only use it for when i go abroad. But that is the concern for me if you have a problem who ghe hell deal with it.

I wouldnt use it for banking not a chance

[Genie]

12 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I actually have a revolut but i only use it for when i go abroad. But that is the concern for me if you have a problem who ghe hell deal with it.

I wouldnt use it for banking not a chance

What sort of problems do you worry about having?