We had the Polaroid camera and we used to create photo albums to show off our travel photos etc. Then came electronic picture folders, Facebook, instagram, Snapchat etc., and storing thousands of digital photos. And then…….

….. we’re back printing our photos with businesses such as http://www.popsa.com thriving like hell! We’re back sitting down, trying to impress our guests with our holiday photos in printed format as it is no longer quite enough, bombarding them with the digital photos via texts, Facebook etc.

That, in a nutshell, is just how messed up the human psyche is…

I was watching news of the Nepal flooding disaster yesterday and it is hard to believe that the world runs the way it is today. We look on, as more than half the world suffer in poverty and pain.

We sit in our homes in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany etc., and we mind our own business and we say life goes on. Ok.

We believe we deserve what we have; afterall we worked hard for it. And we deserve our comforts and we must glide around the world on our holidays and spend our hard earned cash to be pampered by those whom we hand a livelihood by holidaying in their countries.
I am not getting on a high horse here, as I am no better. I am not preaching.

Emptying out poor countries around the world via uncontrolled migration isn’t the solution either. We can already see the suffering and intolerance that leads to. Illegal migrants struggle to integrate for several reasons. Many, as we are presently witnessing in the UK, then turn to crime. Some perhaps do not even feel the crimes they are committing are crimes. When you have individuals with barely any grasp of the English language and no prior experience of British laws, hopping on a rubber boat across the channel and barging in, it doesn’t bode well for anyone. Least of all, those individuals.

If we want to, we can fix majority of the problems faced by our world. But we won’t

If we create a single, worldwide form of payment, such that an hour’s work by an individual in Uganda or Vietnam, is exactly the same the same for an hour’s work done by an individual in the UK or France, and the purchasing power or value of that single global currency is the same, and we create a global structure where we bring in support: if corn grows best in Kenya and apples grow best in China, then we mechanise agriculture in Kenya (not loan them money, which never gets where intended and they wallow in debt!); we send experts there, send machinery, max out their production. We give them an industry that thrives, keep their people prosperous and happy. DO YOU THINK THEY WILL BE RISKING THEIR LIVES TO CROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL IN RUBBER BOATS?
If we identify all industry that can be suited to each country and we get them experts, equipment, training and drive up the production. Countries would have less interest in wars and military coups and religious strife etc. Everyone will be busy, working, earning, feeling valued.

Now, would that end all criminality? No. Would it end all problems? No. But it will sure as hell, pave the way to a much better world

But would we do it? of course not. We are each engrossed with our own little lives and getting married, travelling, visiting our families, working, minding our own business.

We could very easily create a better world for everyone. But we won’t.

What if I did a research at a University and the outcome definitively confirm that women have a more advanced brain than men, and that women are superior to men, in every possible way! FINE! So, let’s put women in positions where they can use such superiority to help us all: end wars, end poverty, end hatred and intolerance, make the world a great place for all of us! Why not?

What is to gain from researches that end up doing absolutely nothing for us? Let’s try to prove that white people are smarter than everyone else or that black people are better at basketball only or that brown or Asian people make the best meals? Forgetting all those black, brown, Asian, and white geniuses over the years. But for argument’s sake, if anyone would like to establish that one race is superior to the other, fine. Then get those superior beings to solve the world’s problems right? Or is it just for bragging rights?

Strip away hereditary wealth, cronyism, DEI or EDI, benefits system (welfare), all advantages and disadvantages, THEN, feel free to theorise…

We are in a world where Cancer is still taking lives rampantly, we have wars, thousands still die of hunger annually, we can’t even deal with heat! drought! earthquakes! it is a long, long list! Yet, we worry about superiority of races! Universities pay researches to put out dumb theories about races! We worry about the colour of people we see in TV commercials or the colour of the best basketball player or footballer! What a bloody joke!

Who cares! A dying cancer patient wouldn’t care what colour the individual who finds the cure to cancer is! Neither will someone trapped in a crumpled building from an earthquake care what race the person who can end earthquakes is!

We must end this idiocy! If you think you are superior, congratulations! Now, go and use your superior brain to solve some of the world’s problems!!!!

Ok.

Which extraordinarily brilliant guy out there doesn’t have the “but”.

The now dead ex-Cambridge University professor chap. They say he plagiarised, they say he was a fantasist who lied about how many marathons he completed and about pretty much everything else in his life. Ok.

And his critics are…? prefect? have never told a lie?

The world is in such a bloody mess!

Everywhere you look, there’s a major man-made issue: drugs, illegal migration, hate, division, wars, and the list goes on……. All caused by non-lying, non-fantasist, wonder-humans…

Genuinely nice guy Kolo. And he was awesome at Arsenal…

1. He was a troubled soul..: erm… NO he wasn’t! he was doing just fine before the pile on!
2. I have no interest in taking sides or judging Jason Arday. Last time I checked, the University of Cambridge is in the private sector. Jason Arday was not elected by the voting public. He doesn’t owe us any truths. He can lie in his private life as often as he wants and about anything he wants
3. How dare he lie to us? Yet, we’ve had Prime Ministers who have lied to us. We’ve had all the Covid lies from all sorts of publicly funded officials; some are still in publicly funded jobs right now. We’ve had Brexit and how leaving the EU will hand us power and we won’t have illegal migration, we will have £millions spare to fund the NHS etc.Hugely significant lies that impact lives, have been told over the years. Yet, a university professor fibbing, is such a big, big no no!???
4. Jason Arday is being judged by people who are only hearing the word ‘plagiarism’ for the very first time. Many of them still do not really understand what it means. Ed Sheeran and the biggest musicians out there, are regularly accused and taken to court by smaller musicians who claim they copied their songs. It happens all the time. Oftentimes, it’s just inadvertent. Musicians listen to all sorts of music and sometimes may not be careful enough not to copy bits. Academia is the same; researchers get their facts in from all over. Yes, they need to take care to credit their sources. But errors are probably made all the time. Did Jason Arday cut & paste everything in his thesis and work? Unlikely. He gave lectures, speeches etc. Academia should have stood up for him and he could have just edited out whatever people say he plagiarised and if after removing those, his work boils down to nothing, then, fine, you can sack him. It should not have been any more than that
5. We say we’re a ‘rules based society’. Well, let’s apply those rules! If one of Jason Arday’s past student sued him because they claim he destroyed their lives as he shouldn’t have lectured them due to him being under-qualified, and he gets to court and lies about being mute as a kid or being on seven-up and those claims are proven to be false, then he can face legal consequences. Jeffery Archer was jailed for perjury I believe. If Archer had not told his lies in court, if he had said what he said in his back garden, he could tell as many lies as he pleased and he would be ok. If Arday was a fantasist who lied about all sorts, he has not lied in court and he can carry on telling his lies! If they found that his PhD was all cut & paste of someone else’s work, then they can say he isn’t qualified to be a professor and his employer can fire him. None of that seemed to be the case, so, he was crucified for being a DEI or is it EDI hire, who apparently shouldn’t have got a job that he did so well for so many years. Ok.
6. Society should be honest enough to accept that what happened to him was wholly unacceptable, so that we can try to prevent it happening again. The whole world is one big lie after the other. We lie to each other and to ourselves daily! The temperature shot through the roof this summer, with homes burning and trains derailing; yet, each of us who can afford to board a flight and head off on holiday will do so, telling ourselves that we have donated enough to carbon footprint initiatives or that we deserve our holiday. Even though we each know, that the massive impact caused by our flights, is a major contributing factor. Do we want the aviation industry to collapse? Of course not; it employs thousands of people. We get our goods, etc, via that sector. There is also not enough research done (almost like Brexit) to fully understand what we really do need to do. But we (well, those with at least half a brain) all know, that we are hypocrites. And those are not even the worst lies that we tell each other daily or that we tell to others. We all attend job interviews all the time and you see people lie about their current salary, what they did in past jobs, how relevant their experience is, etc. We’ve just seen the President of FIFA try to tell the world that selling off 20% to investors is a great thing for football. We all tell ourselves one warring country is bad and the other is good. We see children killed in wars daily and we turn the page of our newspapers. We lie about our health, we lie about our feelings towards others: daily! If people disliked Jason Arday because he was some cheeky black guy who thought he was something special, JUST ACCEPT that was the case. He is now dead. No need to carry on lying to yourselves. None of us is the custodian on Cambridge University! Cambridge having 1 x professor whom we say isn’t qualified to be there, is not going to bring Cambridge down on its knees is it? I am sure they have had professors who were murderers, rapists, drink-drivers etc., most people probably have never heard of the sociology department at Cambridge!!! Jeez!!!!
7. If slave trade was brought back today, will people say no? I doubt it. We will explain why it’s necessary and we’ll say it provides the opportunity to educate a few more people who wouldn’t have had access to education. As we whip them and brand them with hot iron, we will say it’s just necessary to keep them focused on their learning. People talk about ‘defunding the police’, well, if we removed policemen & women from today’s society, how do you think we will fare? I think people will be shocked by just how lawless, reckless and wilfully/willingly cruel human beings can be.
   
8. we must find a way, somehow, to get society to pull back from the brink, when we begin to crucify others as we did with Jason Arday. No reason, no excuse, no logic suffices. And it is not the press or journalists. It is ALL of us! People should have spoken up, to explain that what Jason Arday is accused of, is not noteworthy! If proven, fine, he should face the music for is and perhaps lose his job. It is not something that should cost him his life!!!! And it isn’t about him being trouble or too feeble to have taken his own life, we should not be testing people’s limits. Especially for something so bloody trivial! Even if he copied other people’s work, lied about everything in his life, so what? as listed above, we tell greater, more impacting lies to each other daily! Even folk who think they never lie, the entire world is one big lie and we are all in it, living that lie. As such, we do not have the moral high ground to stand on, in judging Jason Arday or anyone else. That is the truth, for those intelligent enough to understand and accept it.

It is a completely unnecessary waste of human life! Poor chap

A guy or girl trains hard and competes over several days in a decathlon or heptathlon, to win a single gold medal. A football team of 11+ players play several matches to secure a solitary gold medal. A sprinter participates in 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay or a swimmer who has 10 events to win medals, but we put out silly headlines such as “most decorated”…..

Meaningless twaddle!

But it is a very important insight, to the human psyche. We come up with whatever and push it out there and off we go……….

The problem is not one that has a solution.

It goes right down to the most basic of human flaws..

The minute you laud an individual by colour: “youngest black professor” or “youngest white professor” or by sex: “youngest woman CEO” etc. You are already part of the problem. People have various decent reasons for creating association of black lawyers or police or doctors, awards for women in engineering etc. I get it. But the simple truth, it all adds to the ongoing division in society.

There can never be a sane reason to expect anything Jason Arday may have done or not done, how many lies he is said to have told about what he’s done, to end up with him having no way out but to take his own life.
I do not have chapter and verse of his life, but I understand he completed a PhD at Liverpool John Moore University and went on to lecture at two universities as a professor, before he was hired at Cambridge very recently and at the age of 37, he became Cambridge’s youngest black professor. That, was perhaps the nail in his coffin. Over the 3 or so years, he was repeatedly crucified and challenged to defend his qualifications and efforts were made to discredit him and his work. He was accused of plagiarism and over recent weeks, he was accused of lying about his childhood speech issues and a TV show he claimed to have been on, how long it took him to run 600miles and how much was raised for charity. None of those transgressions – if true – are punishable by death.

But the real issue here, is that when you find academics releasing work relating to meritocracy and the age-long arguments that some groups of people are smarter than others; it is clear to them and others, that it is impossible to create a situation where such assertions can be accurately tested. Even if you manage to lock a sample size of white babies and black babies and brown babies, any other colour babies, from the day they were born, into a room or man-made mini world and they all attend the same schools and experience exactly the same life, how do you stop a bunch of biased teachers telling one group of babies that they’re better? It is impossible to control every aspect of such an experiment. And for what purpose?? If the argument is that one group of brains is superior to others, fine. Congratulations. Now, go and do something useful with those supposedly superior brains!

Instead, you find groups of people, forever trying to make those idiotic points!
When you have an inheritance system like we do in the UK, where some folk will never be poor. And even the not so wealthy, still benefit from the sale of their dead grandparents property etc., and you look at the monetary support provided to athletes here (including lottery money), versus an athlete from a developing country, who has to keep a full time day job and train at night. Then we talk about meritocracy! Laughable isn’t it?

If Jason Arday never ran a single marathon but claim he did, if he was never on the TV show seven-up but claimed he was, if he plagiarised aspects of his work – by not crediting some of his sources – he was still a brilliant lecturer and most of his students over the years said so! If he was not of the calibre to be a professor at Cambridge, then the university should confirm that and fire him. He can of course head back to other universities that didn’t have any issues with his calibre. Durham, where he previously worked, is a very decent university. His lies – if so – about his marathons and TV show appearance etc., and whether or not he couldn’t read till he was 18 etc., has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he did complete a university degree, his PhD was reassessed by the university he attended and confirmed to be fine; he did not seek a job that states he must never have told any lies! Even priests lie. We’ve just had a Chancellor of the Exchequer who was accused of embellishing her CV (it’s not a crime punishable by death is it?).

Should Jason have applied for or accepted the job that makes him Cambridge University’s youngest black professor? In hindsight, he would know that he shouldn’t have. He could have lived his life quietly to a ripe old age as a Professor at the University of Durham and nobody would have ever heard of the name Jason Arday and nobody would have cared whether or not he was on seven-up or nine-up or ran 1000 marathons in 2 days or claimed he made pigs fly!

Yes, it’s a wicked world and all the rest. Is it ever going to change?

Would the people attempting to change the world do any better, if roles were reversed? Most likely not!

Could more voices, known people who are respected, not have spoken up 2 weeks ago, to explain that Jason Arday hasn’t killed anyone and even if he plagiarised, then sack him and let him get on with his life! Why do we need to know that he claimed he was mute till 18 or that he raised millions for charity? Society craved these supposedly lurid tales and now, we are blaming the press! If some sections of society wasn’t pining for such stories, would the press put it out there?
People with a voice could have spoken out, but didn’t. They are all now offering condolences!

It is a total waste of a human life! Now, his children have to grow up without a father. We really shouldn’t be descending to such depths. It is so sad. So tragic.

It is such a big, big problem. One that I can’t see any answers to. Human beings have decided we will continue to hate each other. That we will continue to use race, sex and any other means possible, to divide each other and hate on each other. It doesn’t appear possible, to try to get the world to just live and let live. We have willingly created a monetary system that leaves half the world in abject poverty, so they can come begging, so they can continue to attempt forced migration and so we can toss them about. It is sadistic, but it seems that this is how the world will remain. I can’t see it ever changing. We want to be at each other’s throats: white, black, others. Nobody appears interested in just living a peaceful life.

Very sad indeed.

We now have victims of violent crime worrying about the likely early release of those convicted for those violent crimes!!

The very obvious solution is to stop sending non-violent criminals to prison! Use the saving to hire loads of probation officers to handle community punishment (street cleaning, fruit-picking, that sort of stuff) and sentence people who have committed non-violent crime – fraudsters, scammers, pickpockets etc. – to years of free community service and get the regime in place, to make sure they do it. Yes, some may argue that what is the deterrence? Well, prison time. Many of they will opt to comply to avoid going back to prison.

Use that to clear out the prisons so there is always ample space for violent criminals to go to prison and serve their full sentences. No early release.

It really should have been the law anyway. Jailing non-violent criminals, is a complete waste of time and taxpayers money. Get them to do free community work instead, and they would have most likely lost their reputation and employment anyway. Jailing them is utter madness. Especially when we are now releasing violent criminals early, to make space in prisons, only for them to come out and commit worse, violent crimes.

If you ever attended football matches in the 80s, and you are unlucky enough to find yourself in a corner with 5 supporters of the opposition and they round on you and circle you, and you begin to fear for the worst, but just before the blows come raining down on you, as you expect, one of the five step forward and tells the others that it’s enough and they shouldn’t hit you. The other four get loud and angry and say they must beat you up, but that fifth guy stands firm and tells his mates NO. Eventually, they relent. Yell a few more insults at you and then walk away, leaving you shivering in the corner and thanking your luck that that fifth guy stood firm! WELL, THAT FIFTH GUY USED TO BE BRITAIN!
We weren’t perfect, we are associated with the same murky stuff from the past e.g. selling human beings. BUT, when someone had to stand up and be that fifth guy, it was always Britain.
Today, we have erred a bit, and we are allowing people to divide us and brew intolerance, such that we are now turning on each other: the Brexit divide, the treatment of migrants divide etc. But I am sure we will soon find our way back to being Britain and being that fifth guy who will say NO. No to violent protests. Yes to protesting and stating concern for the status of uncontrolled migration. But No to violence and turning on each other. We weren’t perfect always that fifth guy who steps up for decency…

I know next to nothing about the ‘Tate brothers’. There have been a few articles in the British press in recent weeks as they hold British and American citizenship.

Cannot comment on whether they are guilty or innocent of the charges against them, but for the horde of young men that are said to influence and that supposedly see them as role models, surely, spending so much time banged up (first in a Romanian jail and now in Florida, awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings) has to be a warning?!
Owning awesome cars and being macho and explaining how to be a man etc., while spending so much time banged up, is clearly not something to look up to? Not sure how many of those young men would be keen to spend so much time behind bars???

Yes, it seems to have taken forever. And yes, it would appear the people smugglers have won. But this is simply because it has taken Europe this long, to understand what on earth’s going on, and no single country can resolve this matter in isolation, hence the delayed British response. But, mark my words, the brains that abound in Britain, are at work..

This morning, the largest ever number of illegal migrants on a single vessel, rowed across the channel. 230 rammed onto a single rubber vessel, endangering the lives of so many (230!), on a perilous journey. There will most likely be the usual outcry from the usual sources that offer nothing tangible in terms of a solution. But it is very clear that even the most liberal minds in the country, now see that these crossings have to stop. I am a firm believer in the same fact that nobody owns earth and that we are all here temporarily and as such, we should not create boundaries. HOWEVER, when there are laws and there is a boundary, it is called a border! Flagrant disregard is just so disrespectful! The idea that people can just get in a rubber boat and row across the channel, is just so disrespectful. It is ok to have sympathy for people displaced by war or seeking refuge etc., and many are probably left with no choice, BUT, to disrespect the UK and what it stands for, by just rowing on, in droves, is just so unacceptable. I do not believe any country should have to put up with such behaviour. There has to be adherence to due process. Entering country respectfully, shows respect to its people and laws…

Technology is the solution. Removing the motivation is a must.

Violence towards the illegal migrants or towards others, during protests etc., and the spread of hatred, is not a solution. It achieves nothing. Simple precedence confirms that. If we start hating on each other, we all suffer more.

The government will sort this sooner than many think. It has become an unacceptable situation

How many would turn down an advantage, a privilege, if on offer?

Is there any such thing as a ‘no privilege’ era?

It’s a numbers game. If you have an issue with ‘white privilege’, then build up ‘black privilege’, ‘brown privilege’ and any other type of privilege!

It’s the same with poverty! You don’t address poverty by making everyone poor! It may seem a solution, to drag everyone else into poverty, so that we’re all poor, but is that ever a sensible solution? You end poverty by dragging everyone up and out of poverty! By improving the standard of living for everyone….

Moaning that someone has white privilege is a nonsense!

….. there you go…

A guy who gets it!

He’ll get shouted at. It will be a thankless trip. But it is the only way to give people real answers. To fill the void that past governments have created with their detachment for the general population. A void populists with no solutions have gainfully exploited, to create hate. Burnham can wrest some of that void back, fill it with some truth, and the journey begins, to return the UK from the brink of pointless violence…..

Well done Burnham…

Gianni Infantino’s attempt to ram through selling off of part of football to private investors is the action of a leader who has become too comfortable and has assumed invincibility. It is probably nothing to do with corruption or personal greed. He’s just been there too long and getting called “Mr President” does get to one’s head at some point…

If you had an executive team of 10 or whatever is reasonable, at FIFA and keep those in office for a maximum of 10 years each. Then limit the term a President can serve, to a maximum of two terms (4 years each), and the individual may seek election again, only after a 10 your period. Everything will improve at FIFA!

In organisations where so much is at stake, having the same individual running it for as long as Infantino’s been FIFA President (and he’s seeking a fifth term next year!) can only lead to crisis! That, is the problem. Limit the FIFA presidency to a maximum of two terms and you’ll get a transparent, accountable, fit for purpose organisation…

….. Canada so nearly ended up with Pierre Poilievre, who like his creed of negative politicians who can only be negative! Pierre would have spent the past months had he become Canada’s Prime Minister, complaining about the supposed influx of migrants who are the reason there are no jobs for Canadians, and how to make Canada great again, without needing to create jobs and get Canadians buying Canadian products etc.

It is so easy to draw crowds to rallies by preaching negativity, blaming migrants and promising a better future through isolation. Who needs the rest of the world, let’s just be negative and hunker down, chase all migrants out and we’ll have enough for ourselves! Forgetting the fact that times have moved on. There is more to gain by collaborating with the rest of the world. There is no need to make Canada great again, Canada never stopped being great!
Carney is showing what real solutions are: create jobs, drive the economy forward, create wealth, get people out of poverty and there will be more than enough for Canadians and however many migrants they take in. THAT IS THE REAL WAY FORWARD. Thinking you get more by creating less but trying to share what you have with fewer people, while creating nothing in addition, is a very daft way to approach life. It is a fool’s preserve. It isn’t sustainable.

Well done Carney! Keep it going son!!

Every day there is a new report in the press, on a Syrian or other murderer or fraudster found living in the UK, in a council flat, claiming benefits as a refugee or asylum seeker.

It is so, so depressing because the logic behind granting helpless people refuge and granting asylum to those fleeing persecution, was such a decent concept. Decades ago, you get a handful of academics escaping from countries where they were facing oppression. You get a handful of students who overstay their visa. Today, it is thousands of strapping young men who think it’s an adventure to jump on rubber boats and row across into Europe to select any destination they want, by paying people smugglers and just barging in. Such action now fuels intolerance and violence, as people are getting fed up with it!

In the UK, we will not allow such behaviour to turn us into barbarians! We are not going to lose our civility. But we need the government to disincentivise this behaviour. It may seem harsh initially, but it is indeed now hugely necessary, to bring in a system that makes it impossible for any employer to employ anyone who isn’t authorised to work in the UK. And when illegal migrants get the permission to work, if their asylum/refugee application is successful, they should be on a tax code that recoups the money/other help they received from the government prior to their employment. Something has to be done.

A group of people who are themselves living on benefits, gathering to intimidate illegal migrants, is not the type of image the UK should be projecting to the rest of the world. How likely is it, that the anti-migrant protestors hauling bricks at the police are people on £200,000 a year salary, paying £90,000 a year in income tax and funding our welfare system? Nope, it is more likely a bunch of jobless (hence the free time they have to go around protesting) or low-earning folk. But in fairness, they are taking action – albeit, violence is criminal – because they have lost faith in the government. One would hope that the new UK government can restore faith by decently tackling the issue.

It will be most unfortunate, if we end provision of asylum or refuge to those who truly need it, because the system has been destroyed by people exploiting it.

The government must act and act decisively! Good luck Mr Burnham! Pls save the day sir!

As long as it’s a migrant that commits a murder….

This past week has been the hot story of a Cambridge University lecturer accused of plagiarism. A very common occurrence in academia, as they use quotes from others (but need to credit the source) etc. But, wait! this one is a much bigger story. Why? because it is some guy who was Cambridge’s youngest ever non-Caucasian professor. Why does that make it a bigger story? He’s just another university lecturer caught using (if proven) materials from others, without crediting the source. Period..

We no longer spare a second of thought for the victim of a crime, as we race to identify the perpetrator, hoping it is a migrant, to turn the story into a big scoop!

But the press is not to blame. The journalists are not to blame. It is us, the public, society, who have indicated our insatiable thirst for those kinds of stories. It is society that is no longer satisfied with the report of a murder, unless it is committed by a migrant; or plagiarism, unless it is committed by a minority poster-boy…

We have wound ourselves up into such a tight knot of hatred for some specific folk, that news of heinous crimes committed by supposed natives, is no longer newsworthy. Strange times….

Setting aside how he got there, he is there and we should all support him, for the good of the country. It is that simple.

The last government rushed in with some bizarre acts, slapping VAT on independent schools out of spite. Nearly 2 years on, no tangible benefit of that to state schools. More teachers they said…., where are they?
And where is that chancellor now?

Yesterday, I watched an interview where the new PM, Andy Burnham, said he was concerned about companies interviewing young job seekers via MS Teams and Zoom; he said those young folk lose the opportunity to get they enthusiasm across as they would have during face to face interviews. Has he polled young folk to ask them? or is this yet another: “we know what’s best for you” moment? There are thousands of young people with anxiety issues who are terrified by the format of face to face interviews and struggle to express themselves on the day. There are others who can now prepare better, have some notes beside them as they go through a MS Teams or Zoom interview and express themselves better, without the intimidating face to face interviews. Shall we just ignore all that then?
There needs to be some caution, when putting personal sentiments out there. We should let those to be impacted, tell us how they feel. If majority of young people say they are concerned about interviews on Zoom, fine. But why not ask them first?????

Next is this obsession with over 70s driving. Where is the stats that support this? Are more over 70s causing accidents on our roads than drink-driving over 20s? or tik tok streaming teens?
If anyone’s worried about the eyesight of over 70 drivers, go and invest in driverless cars and get them to use those!!!

I wish Burnham well and hope he solves a number of key problems for the country. But the rush to dive in on these non-issues, while the big issues of poverty, intolerance etc., should be his priorities, is perhaps not a good start. But he has the next couple of years I suppose. So, let’s see how he does. Good luck Andy and all the best..

It just boggles the mind why government look away from real issues to fixate on non-issues!!!!
There are already mandatory tests for old folk. Leave it as it is and move on!!!! After you have fixed the economy, created jobs, reduced dependency on benefits, reduced knife crime on our streets, fixed the climate, …… yes, after all that, you can start worrying about slapping VAT on independent schools and lowering the age to test driver’s eyesight to 70!

For heaven’s sake! PRIORITIES government!

By the time the government has wasted money and time on this (most likely championed by the opticians who will now get paid to do these tests?), driverless cars will be the majority on our roads!!! Go figure………

A financial system that left so many countries in needless poverty! While the watch movies and see teenagers driving cars and living the kind of life that they deem to be out of reach for them.

Rebalance society, change the global monetary system, industrialise poor countries and illegal migration will be a thing of the past!

I understand the reaction and frustration of people, when someone accused of a heinous crime appear to hide behind mental health. We prefer to say they are evil! Society would prefer to just label them as criminals and wrong-uns!

But it shouldn’t take genius to know that it isn’t ‘evil’ that leads a teenager to pick up a knife and stab a bunch of toddlers! There is something not right in that head!

And it isn’t just about heinous crimes. For someone to get on the computer and start raining abuse on people they have never met, will likely never meet, just to hurt them. That isn’t the action of someone who’s right in the head, is it?

And it is not limited to the general public.

When you look at all the issues we are facing as a society: the readiness and willingness to resort to violence; rioting at protests etc. It is very clear to see that there are thousands of mentally ill individuals in our society. It is largely ignored, because we want to say a racist is a racist and criminals are just criminals. But the reality is that most of those behaviours are simply not rational. To take one look at someone and hate them, just because of what you see, is definitely a mental health issue. To attend protests and seek to haul bricks at the police, when you know fully well that such actions will not lead to any solution to what you are protesting about, is definitely a mental Heath issue. Teenagers (and others) carrying knives and willingly pulling it out and stabbing people (rampant in London), is definitely a mental health issue.

The government must invest HEAVILY in ways to improve mental health. Our prisons are said to be past bursting point! (what are the chances of rehabilitation under such circumstances?). Clearly, we must find another way. Prevention must be better than cure methinks!

Today’s world (and it has been the same since someone created MONEY!) is solely about MONEY!

If someone makes pea stew and we think are dangerous, show them how they can make tomato soup and make 10 times the profit they are making from making pea stew. The speed at which they will switch to making tomato soup will be staggering!!
Just appealing to them to stop making pea stew or trying to explain that it’s dangerous ain’t gonna cut it!

Similarly, trying to appeal to young kids carrying knives on London streets, is a complete waste of time. You need to find them something else more profitable to do and they’ll be off the streets in a flash!

The world needs alternatives. Better options…….

It isn’t that difficult to promise better!

What I always find bizarre in a democracy, is that we elect people to represent us in government, they could tell us if their ideas are being ignored by the party leader (i.e. the Prime Minister) or they could endeavour to get the PM to listen to their ideas?
Instead, the party leader gets replaced and the same group of MPs change departments but we expect a different outcome….?

If the only real source of revenue is the tax paid by workers, and we’re not creating new industries, now workstreams and we haven’t suddenly doubled the workforce (to double the amount of tax coming in), and challenges facing the government (defence, pandemics, energy reliance etc) are not going away. What is the exact solution changing governments is expected to bring?

Balance the books better? Borrow more?

Are those solutions that the previous government couldn’t implement? Nope!

Good intentions only go so far. As Kier Starmer found out.

We need practical answer. And while at it, the government needs to communicate better! We no longer have money coming in from our overseas sugar plantations or from our colonies. So, we became a financial nerve-centre and the City of London was raking it in? But not anymore? If a governments is largely funded by the taxpayer’s taxes, then you know someone needs to think outside the box!
Instead, what we get, is successive governments just moving the food around on a plate! Hey! We have removed VAT on energy bills here, wonderful! But to fill that gap, we are introducing VAT over there!

If anything is to change, there has to be bold solutions that create new types of jobs, new sectors, get more people working and less on benefits etc. Without this, you can change government a hundred times a year and switch MPs around and do all that…

1 + 1 is always only gonna be 2!!!

It is easy to have a free-flowing, ten goal game when nothing is at stake! If you win a third place match, you can say third is better than fourth (even though nobody can tell you who was third at Italia 90, but we all know who won the World Cup in 1966). And if you lose the third place match, you say it was a dead rubber anyway. A meaningless match.

So, of course, it would be an entertaining match! It’s as pointless as watching a friendly!

So, well done to England for winning it. But let’s not take the mickey! The final today, will be a lot less entertaining and likely to be very cagey. That’s because it is a match to decide who goes home with the World Cup! A meaningful match….

The Labour Party and current UK government do not wish to resort to gimmicks or empty rhetorics. They want to do something. They want to try to deal with the illegal crossing of the English Channel, they want to solve the problem. Unfortunately, they have not sat down to understand the simple fact that the problem is COMMUNICATION.

This morning, there is an article in the press, about a brilliant operation by the police, where they busted a gang responsible for smuggling thousands across the channel. But if you go to the comments section of the report, there were hundreds of comments on there, stating that it isn’t enough and that the government is useless.
When we had the Rwanda gimmick and the equally useless ‘Stop the Boats’ rhetoric from the previous government who were in power for 14 years, years when the buildup of uncontrolled migration shot through the rough, nobody rioted, there was no protest. Why? because Boris Johnson and his government knew all they had to do, was use the right slogans, say the things people wanted to hear: “there is an invasion, we will crush the invaders”, and that’s all. They knew they didn’t really have to do anything else.

The labour government do not want to say horrible things about migrants just to appease. They do not wish to throw gimmicks – that won’t work – out there. Very noble of them. But it isn’t going to work is it? The current government can round up and deport every single person who crossed the channel into the country, and it won’t be enough. They can deport every single migrant and round up every non-Caucasian in the country and deport them and it still won’t be enough. THIS IS WHAT THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND. None of this was ever about facts or reality. If it was, there wouldn’t be any anti-migration riots and protests in the first place. The facts do nothing!
It is a COMMUNICATIONS challenge. The government needs to re-engage with the people. They need to stop talking down to people. Politicians at the grassroots need to re-engage with people up and down the country, to explain to them that things are being done.

People crossing the channel into the country cannot be normalised. Britain is more than willing to take its fair share of asylum seekers, refugees and even economic migrants. We have been – taking many in – for decades. The British people never rioted (in the present manner) over those many years. The communication – yes, sometimes it is deliberately distorted, in order to rile up the masses for political gain – is what has broken down! It began with David Cameron assuming he can win the Brexit vote without needing to communicate the facts, clearly, to the country. It starts with politicians assuming they no longer need to engage with the masses. There are reasons it has been so difficult for any government to tackle the channel crossings. Those reasons have not been explained to the masses, because politicians think they won’t get it?
Well, set up town hall events, knock on doors, engage with people, EXPLAIN IT TO THEM!
And alongside all that, explain the steps you are taking to address it AND how those steps will be successful. There must be effective monitoring of employers and whoever hands jobs to people in the country, with harsh penalties in place for any infringement. And then a tax code that recoups costs from people the country help (proportionately of course) or whatever measures the government implement to stop people seeing the UK as an easy target.
Alongside all that, IT IS VERY CLEAR that we have fallen way back, in creating new jobs, new industry, dragging people out of poverty! It is not a matter of people getting lazy and sitting on collecting benefits! If you create opportunities for people to work and make even more money than the benefits they receive, they will opt for the former. People want to be prosperous. They want their holidays in the sun. Create new industry, new jobs, get the country back on its feet and nobody would be interested in rioting! They will be too busy googling their next holiday to Benidorm!

Yes, the has always been and there will always be, a small group of people who will never the satisfied. People who will always have a reason to want to lash out. If it isn’t about immigration, it will be about Brexit or something else. But this group of people were previously on the fringes. They used to be a few hundreds, moaning in their living rooms and spewing hate just to their children and causing tiny pockets of problem.
But the lack of communication, lack of engagement over the last 30 years, has led to where we are today, where the UK, a country filled with very clever, sensible, often carefree people who like eating curry on Fridays, Italian food, French, African, you name it.. and had no issues with raising £billions to aid struggling countries etc., suddenly became a place where anything done by a migrant can now result in riots on our streets and people getting targeted etc. The government has to change how they communicate, how they engage with the people. But most importantly, the government needs to really focus on new ideas to get everyone out of poverty! It will solve majority of those other issues!

The overwhelming majority of British people are very decent and tolerant. I have worked in several countries over the years, I am always happy to be back home in the UK. But then successive governments have decided – for whatever reason – that there is no need to engage with grassroots Brits and keep them engaged and explain things to them, then their backs are up and they want to show their objection and they want to take the government on, and immigration becomes the easy target, the easy reason to take to the streets etc. If the government can change how they engage with the people and get back to accepting that governments do need to explain themselves to the people, you will see a marked change in the UK, with the majority going back to just getting on with their lives and not marching off to London to protest or react each time anyone that looks different commit a crime!

I honestly do not know why they pay the managers so much money??? Thomas Tuchel’s tactics were terrible. Awful. Dreadful!!
Football is definitely not engineering or medicine or law! And it certainly ain’t rocket science either! When you manage to score a goal via the only real chance we had all game, what you do, is bring more strikers or midfield players on, to choke the game in the middle and not at the back! Instead, he sets them defending!!! Against Argentina! Fernandez who scored their equaliser scores similar goals for fun at Chelsea! It’s like handing him a penalty! And he gave England and the manager ample warning by striking 3 shots from that same position, one coming real close. At that point, you don’t add defenders, as it takes your line too deep! You put on strikers or midfielders! And after Argentina scored, he went to 5 defenders!!!! Complete madness!

England was better off throwing everything at it, to try to get a second goal, to go 2 nil up, even if it leads to us conceding an equaliser. Those were the odds and we could have got lucky. Instead, we handed it to them on a plate, but trying to defend! With no outlet, no way of getting out of our back line!

It was a tactical mess!!!

After we scored, Tuchel should have asked the players to defend for 5 minutes, which they did, even though Argentina immediately missed a couple of chances. after those 5 minutes, he should have brought on Rashford, Saka and Toney, and really taken the game to Argentina! Instead, he took our scorer off and brought on 2 defenders, which gave Argentina the hope they needed to come at us, knowing they don’t need to keep any players at their back, as England wasn’t going to trouble them with our defenders!!!

Shocking tactics (or lack of!) from Tuchel! Awful!

20 minutes in, it is the best England performance in a game of this magnitude I’ve seen in the last 30 years! Finally, we now have a few real world class players!

I expect England to win this match!

Former Spanish PM is reported in the newspapers this morning to have said the French national football team is not playing French men. Ok. So, instead from jumping in and calling him a racist, why not dissect what he’s saying?
What is the definition of a Frenchman? Who is a Frenchman? Presumably that is a male who happened to be born in France or to parents who happened to be born in France?
Or whichever way the French constitution or French people decide to determine who is French? Right?

Now, in the United States of America, their constitution only allows someone born in the US to be President. That’s their decision. If football want to state that only individuals born in a country can represent that country, fine. But that is not the FIFA ruling. If it was, countries at the World Cup would have to comply

But then, what is sports? What is competition? If the Olympics could ban some countries from competing and allow some athletes to compete under a neutral flag, without a country, then, what’s all the fuss about?

What should be explained to this former Spanish PM, is that if the French wish to field players who are born & raised in France but are not Caucasian, France is allowed to do so, as France see their people as French, if they are born in France or are French. We just had Arthur Fery, a guy born in France to French parents, but raised in the UK, represent the UK at Wimbledon tennis. He has a British passport and relates to the UK as he grew up here, and we are happy for him to represent Britain. That’s our choice.

Now, if one day, the rules are changed – for whatever idiotic reason – to only allow people born in a country, to represent that country, fine. France will still field a bunch of Frenchmen at the World Cup who are not Caucasian, nonetheless, they are as French as any Caucasian Frenchman. That is that. It doesn’t matter how an ex-PM from Spain see it. And there is no point calling him a racist. Just explain it to him. It is that simple.

No foetus decide which womb to come out of. Babies get born wherever the mother happens to be. And if someone grows up in a country and feels to repay that country by representing them in sports, fine. If the rules allow, that’s that. It is that simple.

But more importantly, what really is the argument here? The French can play whoever they choose to play. If they break the rules, address that. If they haven’t (and the simple fact is: they haven’t) people can say whatever they want to say, just words that can be ignored.

What reason would the French National football team have, to not field the best footballers who are born in France, raised in France? Should France not play Mbappe because he is not Caucasian? Is the World Cup a Caucasian World Cup? Is the world filled with just Caucasians?
Even if the World Cup is only for players whose ancestry can be traced to 500 b.c., you will still have a mix of different folk representing each country, if they have the necessary skills.

But piling on and calling the guy a racist (and others who make similar foolish speeches) is pointless. It changes nothing. It is better to just enlighten him. He won’t change his opinion, but at least, he may realise the stupidity of what he’s saying.

The French national football team is made up of French players. It is that simple.

A former Tory politician Ann Widdicombe was murdered last week and the police had to quickly state the colour of the suspect they arrested. If they didn’t, someone could say it is a migrant and there will be rioting! That is how awful the situation is. How can the police effectively do their job, if they have to tell us what their suspects look like – which could undermine their ability to quietly investigate – just because they fear people will riot if the suspect is not white!
It is complete and total madness!!
Are we now saying that only white people are allowed to commit crimes?
As long as the criminal is white, no rioting on the streets!

We should treat crime as crime and it shouldn’t matter who’s committing the crime, if it’s appalling, it is appalling. Period!

How are the police going to be able to do their work effectively and keep us all safe, if they have to spend all their time avoiding rioting?!

When someone commits a crime, the law should take its course. And that is that. The criminal could be white, black, brown or any other colour, crime is crime and a criminal is a criminal. Protest every crime if you wish to (peacefully!). Hitting the streets and turning to violence every time a crime is committed by someone who isn’t white, is just silly ain’t it?
Putting the police in a position where they have to run around revealing the colour of their suspect, to appease would-be rioters, while their investigation could be undermined, is truly awful!

Which is it?
They say daft Paraguayan ex-goalie said that in 1998 Paraguay played real French players but now in 2026 they are facing an African French team. So, given that the same guy thinks African football is rubbish, should he not be glad that the French team is filled with French players he deems African? Surely, that should mean that his country (Paraguay) should have it easy against the 2026 French team…

You just couldn’t make it up could you? They say daft stupidity of some of these folk!!

No African country has ever won the World Cup. Ok. But how many continents have won the World Cup?

Total population of Africa is about 1.5billion people. That is the entire continent of Africa. India alone, has a population of 1.48billion people and China has 1.41billion. No Asian country has ever won the World Cup.

This month, at Wimbledon tennis, we have been celebrating a wonderful British player, Arthur Fery who made it all the way to the Semi-finals. The guy was born in France, to French parents. I don’t hear these Paraguayans complaining??
The French players who Paraguay are calling Africans, are Mbappe and co., born and bred in France…. just imagine if Mbappe had opted to play for Cameroon (for whatever crazy reason), the entire world will criticise him and say he lacks ambition and that he is an ingrate, deserting France, the country of his birth and upbringing yak, yak, yak. Crazy world ain’t it??

It is so pathetically hilarious!

I don’t care who plays for which country. If they meet the requirement set for each international team, carry on lads!

Some still want to withhold praise, but he is now above all that. The fellow is simply brilliant!!!

This morning’s result is easily England’s greatest World Cup win in decades!

Where are the racist posts that some England players suffer? None? Ok. Well, this is exactly why those comments are best ignored. The same people how type those abhorrent comments are the ones praising England now! So, to end such behaviour, you just have to stop getting riled by it. Just ignore it and the idiots posting them will see they ain’t impacting anyone and that hurts them..

England now have to face Norway in the quarterfinals. No set of defenders know the beast (Erling Haaland) better than English defenders; they play against him in the premier league. That, is what will make the difference. The Norwegian defence are not used to defending against Bellingham or Kane. As long as we don’t get complacent, England should be matching on to the last 4!

Play Norway like you played Mexico! Come on England!!!!

Yes, the reaction cannot be rioting, violence and throwing bricks at the police. It also cannot be MPs saying their blood boil when they see black & brown people on TV commercials (while ok with 99% toilet cleaners and menial job holders being black & brown). BUT, when you watch a recent BBC programme that showed an Iraqi people smuggler who was jailed in France, saunter around serving customers in a convenience store in the UK, without a work permit and claims not to work, and you see these programmes airing with multiple cases, it is easy to see why people are fed up!

I do not believe Brits will be rioting if there are 10, 100 or even 1000 of these instances of people exploiting our system and taking the piss! But when it has now become such a large-scale enterprise of boat-loads of people wading into the country, working without the right to, doing all sorts, it becomes a topic that can be used to whip up a frenzy and get crowds onto the streets to protest and some resort to violence!

There is nothing new about people coming into the UK illegally. It happens. It has been happening for decades. Nobody rioted nor protested about those isolated cases. It is the present industrial scale of it, that has now become a matter that’s getting people to use it as a tool to rip us apart and cause violence. Sadly, poverty is a core factor. If we can create more jobs and get people working and thriving, our infrastructure should be able to cope. And ultimately, the government (and governments across Europe) will find a way to end illegal entries into the country. It should never be a matter leading to violent protests; we are Great Britain!!! not some undeveloped country!

…. it is indeed baffling!

If Cabo Verde had lost 6 – 0 yesterday, it would still have been an excellent performance by them. To score 2 goals and push the defending champions and Lionel Messi, to extra time and narrowly losing it? can’t find the right words nor enough superlatives for Cabo Verde!!!

But we are in a world where negativity is in vogue! Hate is money! There are bots created by people sat in basements, just to stir hate and negativity, for their own amusement and to get clicks and make money.

England’s in the last 16. If we lose now or later or even at the last 32, it means we weren’t good enough on the day, and the other team found a way to beat us. PERIOD!

What a story! Although I am not a supporter of Egypt, you gotta take your hat off to them for getting this far, given their past record of never winning a single World Cup game before 2026…

This guy is playing in his 6th World Cup! Before now, he has singlehandedly won the Euros for his country. Over 20 years now, in a sport where most careers do not exceed 10 years and certainly very few are ever at the very top, for more than a handful of years, this guy has remained at the very top for over two decades! But it seems nothing can ever please everyone. Last week and even at the last Euros, there were people spouting off on the telly, that he should be benched. They were piling pressure on his manager to drop him. And very done to Roberto Martinez for ignoring all the noise and sticking with Ronaldo!

Today, he became the first person in history, to score in 6 World Cups!

I’m sure Cristiano doesn’t really care what his detractors say; and there are so many of them, because for whatever reason, they do not want him to carry on succeeding, because it annoys them that a 40year old can be running for 90minutes and still perform at such high levels.

We can be better. But we choose not to be. …

Well done Cristiano! The very best to you man!

Yes, it is not a job anyone is entitled to and perhaps the next PMs should try to be less dugged and more willing to allow their detractors a voice instead of whipping and suspending MPs who disagree. But it is tragic that we go to the poll and elect a party led by an individual in, then we get other folk after the fact, who say they can do a better job of it, but we’re not at the helm when we held the general election.

The fact that an incumbent Prime Minister should always see the job as a caretaker role for the country, should mean that others aspiring to be Prime Minister should also not feel so entitled to it! This idea that a PM makes a few mistakes and must be replaced without going back to a public vote, must not become the norm or else, nobody will last longer than a few months in the job going forward! And that is not good for stability, the economy nor the country!

Starmer has indeed made quite a few mistakes, from the VAT on private schools, to the acceptance of a bunch of freebies, to the poor local government election showing etc. But this is no way to go about things. He has been badly let down by those he trusted. Yes, some may say that is also on him. But the fact is, he is a decent guy and meant well.

We’ll see if his successor can indeed do better…..

Few hours ago, MP Jess Phillips said she won her seat despite Starmer. Ok Jess. But you would just be another MP in opposition without Starmer. I am not suggesting Starmer is perfect, but I think he is definitely being treated unfairly right now. Now, it is possible that he didn’t listen to advice and that these MPs now lining up to see him gone, had spent months trying to help him; I wouldn’t know those details. But in light of what is publicly known, this is no way to do things. The pressure he’s being put under, to resign, is not right.

If Burnham’s been paying attention, he should know that what he must do, is sit down with the struggling communities (those folk who are wallowing in poverty), create jobs, new sectors, implement an immigration system that can recoup some cost from any migrant coming in via illegal means and implement measures that will make it less appealing to risk lives crossing the Channel. That’s all he needs to do. Slapping VAT on private schools and crucifying the middle class is no way level-up society; it simply drags everyone down!

Anyway, good luck to Burnham.

And goodluck to Starmer. I think he did try to do well.

Phenomenal!

One would run out of superlatives for Thierry Henry..

I can’t imagine retiring and then carrying on around the same industry! I’d be completely fed up!

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry……

Politicians can learn a bit from this result.

Trying to meet the electorate in the middle is still possible. We are in 2026 and cannot take the country back to 1960 as some want, but politicians need to engage in discussions and explain to the people living in poverty, how they intend to help them back to their feet! Explain how you will control immigration by ensuring people come in via due process and not by rowing in through the English Channel. Explain how they will improve our services and infrastructure e.g. housing, such that people have enough and they don’t have to get angry when some of it is handed out to migrants coming into the country.
Ignoring these matters and ploughing ahead, is what gets the public riled and breeds intolerance. Andy Burnham went around Makerfield and talked to the electorate and guess what, he won a staggering 55% of the vote, even as people have been voting against his party up and down the country. The British electorate is a tough but fair crowd, if politicians stop labelling people right-wing or left-wing and just hear everyone out, even those saying crazy stuff, listen to them and try to explain the reason why some things are just so complicated, things will improve! And for goodness sakes, create new jobs, get people out of poverty!!!! Being stuck in abject poverty is what breeds resentment..

As for the small matter of Burnham seeking to oust the PM, that’s most unfortunate as solutions should be brought to the table, instead of swapping out PMs. We’ve already see the ones rushing in to whack VAT on private schools and do not need a fresh set of north v south crap. Taking the whole country forward is better than trying to level up and stagnate

When you look at some of the power-hungry politicians in the UK today; the ones who think 1+1=2. It might do, in a maths class, but in government, when you have all the power there is, comes grave responsibility! And 1+1 is not always that easy 2.

It is of course a total waste of time, appealing to politicians to set their personal thirst for power aside and work with other politicians for the greater good: to get people out of poverty so that they stop rioting just because we have a few thousand people illegally entering the country (not that it should be condoned, but it is not riot-worthy! It is a matter that you can pen a letter to your MP for, not toss rocks at the police!), create new industry, new sectors etc.

The reality is that once power-hungry folk get all the power they’re after, they find that with it, comes grave responsibility and there’s nowhere to hide.

…. we have problems that we appear unable to solve. Once you hear someone make the statement: “to think he did that to his own, his kind”….

What? Humankind?

What other kind can there be?

If we can ever let go of divisions, we may be able to resolve some of the world’s greatest problems…

There is absolutely no question that the laws of a land should be followed by everyone. There are requirements for migration. People cannot all just get up (regardless of what they are fleeing or what’s causing they to flee) and get on boats and wade into a country. Where do you draw the line? At the first 10,000? 40,000? 100,000? Because it ain’t gonna stop. But because we are a civilised society, we try to address it in a humane manner. Unfortunately, that’s being exploited and those who profit from sowing division and hatred, are licking their fingers and fanning the flames.

Technology is the solution. The government recently wanted to end uncontrolled access to pornographic websites, they did it. If there government wants to address the misuse of social media, just make it mandatory for all users to register their details and must display their employment & employer’s details to be able to use the ‘comments or posting’ section of any social media that is seen by others.
Anyone coming into the UK via the English Channel or any other non-legal route should have to wear a discreet tag that monitor their movement and activities at all times until their application has been concluded. Everyone in the country is already tagged! (We have to carry a passport to travel abroad, we have to carry a drivers license to drive a car or we have to have a card to use our money (bank card), get the train etc.). So, it’s not too much of an imposition to ask anyone wishing to come to the UK via the Channel or other unofficial routes, to get tagged

Someone must surely be able to design a force-field or something of that type, to secure the English Channel and other borders? Technology must provide the answer. We cannot continue this physical rounding up of people on the streets to deport them. It puts a stain on our civilisation. We have to be civilised.

Integration is very possible. And it can work. It works. But not if the influx is uncontrollable and the numbers begin to overwhelm the ability to cater for the people coming in.

Every country should be able to decide who they want to take in. Until we get to a time where the whole world thinks alike and cultures are all the same and we all speak the same language and all abide by the same rules etc., until we get to such a time, borders will remain and the need to ask that people follow the rules of entry and accept that everyone can’t just up and head to another country and ask to be helped, will remain.

Absolutely no words for it!

In any grouping of people, there will always be one or two criminals. It is a given. Some will be bright, some kind, some nasty, some dull….

It is what it is..

No one knows why a Sudanese migrant decided to attack an innocent man with a knife, stabbing him multiple times in a horrific and senseless attack. What then followed, with mobs going about looking for anyone that isn’t white and assuming they are migrants and attacking them, in some instances setting fire to their cars and homes, is beyond words!

And it is very clear now, that it can happen anywhere in the UK. Essentially, anytime a crime is committed by someone who isn’t white, there is going to be rioting and violence? Is that where we have got to, in 2026??

No amount of politicians condemning it or police out on the streets, will address the fear and intimidation felt by people who are now too scared to step outside their homes. Is this what we wish to become???

This is exactly what those who hate our democracy, our way of life, want to achieve. It is exactly how they would want us to behave. They want to see us at each other’s throat. We are letting them win.

A migrant stabs someone, and he’s been arrested and is in court. The law is running its course.

It is unimaginable that in 2026, minorities in the UK are scared to leave their homes. Nobody should have to worry about stepping outside of their homes!

If people in other parts of the UK think this can only happen in Belfast, well, think again! It can happen anywhere else. People now think they can gang up to intimidate others. How anyone can think it is ok to go knocking on doors to find anyone they think is a migrant because the person isn’t white, is beyond me….

Our leaders and politicians must figure out a way to end this kinds of behaviour.

What’s so sad about this, is that we are so much better than this in the UK. Even the anti-immigration groups in the UK, none of them, in the cold light of day, would say they want to see people’s homes burnt down. We are largely decent people in the UK. And we must find a way to remain decent! Yes, the uncontrolled flow of people into the country, via illegal routes, is grating with any sensible person, and it must be addressed and stopped, but not by intimidation or burning of homes! It crossed every line! You read about stuff like that happening in South Africa or Zimbabwe or some other places, but goodness me! NOT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and …

We must do better!

We cannot turn to such senseless violence!

When politicians say: “yes, the people are angry and I can understand their anger”. OK, BUT WHAT IS YOUR JOB AS A POLITICIAN? Is is not to help those people by fairest calming them down and helping them not to be angry but to try to resolve their issues and find solutions???

Fanning the flame and seeking to channel people’s anger to secure their votes is not decent!

Politicians from all backgrounds, all parties, should be able to disagree with each other on the HOW, but ultimately, they must work together to solve problems. Representing people is not about repeating what they tell you and say you are their champion! It is about educating them and empathising with them, but calming down tensions and ensuring we don’t have rioting and violence on the street in the name of protesting!

We CANNOT possibly become a nation (in the UK) where people are afraid to come out of their homes because someone’s protesting something or the other. We are too advanced to end up like undeveloped countries. The government must step up and sort this madness out!

ALL our politicians MUST stop the dangerous rhetoric now! WORK TOGETHER! solve the problems leading to these weekly outbreak of violent protest! We must be better!!!

I listened to parts of PMQ today and even though I don’t like politics, it is clear to see that Starmer means well. Has he been effective? perhaps not so far. Has he made mistakes? well, who doesn’t. Can he change tack and be the change to drive the UK forward? his opponents say No. But from listening to him at today’s PMQ, I think he can. I think he can be one of the greatest PMs we have had. But will he be given time to turn this tenure around? I hope so. It will be such a shame, if he loses the opportunity to show the country what he can do for it.

beleaguered!!!

I just don’t get it! To see improvements in any police force, you need them to attract the best, decent people. Now, how can you achieve that, when we pelt them with bricks and throw chairs at them, because we say we are protesting???!!

We are lucky to have the privilege to protest. BUT for goodness sakes! Something MUST be done urgently about violence during protests!

The current situation involves a case that was just concluded in court: a guy of Indian heritage murdered a Caucasian guy. The former claimed that the latter was drunk and racially insulted him so he took out a knife and stabbed him. When the police arrived at the scene, presumably called in to address a racial incident, there was no knife in sight, so they took the word of the sober individual (the guy who knifed the other) and handcuffed the one who appeared drunk. Later, it turns out that the sober guy was lying; it is possible that the drunk guy may have said something to offend him, but even if he did, this madness of people reaching for knives and stabbing others, is impossible to comprehend! He has taken a life! And for what? He claims the guy racially abused him! So, the response is to kill him? How can that be acceptable???!!!

But now, the police are under siege! One would hope that UK politicians and senior figures step up to lay out the facts! What else could the police have done??? Had there been a knife on the scene or other reasons to suspect the guy had been knifed, the police would never ignore that. I haven’t read the nitty gritty details, but it is obvious that the police believed what they were told by the killer and he was sober. It is possible that in these instances, the police should perhaps examine the scene and quickly determine if anyone was hurt. But I can see why things may have developed as it did. It is a tragic loss of life and a terrible crime committed by the killer, regardless of whatever he claimed led him to pull his knife (the guy he killed wasn’t carrying a gun or knife or any weapon! So, why did the killer pull a knife out??). It is unthinkable, unimaginable grief and pain for the parent of the young man who was stabbed to death and they are now having to see the name of their son dragged about by politicians, protester (who they didn’t ask to protest on their behalf) and all sorts! I can’t find adequate words to describe what those parents and rest of his family must be going through.

Now, if there is to be public outrage and protests, it needs to be for every knifing death in the UK. That will be a sensible response, to try to stamp it out completely! That would be laudable! What we shouldn’t do, is turn it into a racial matter! A life has been needlessly lost! It shouldn’t matter whether it’s a caucasian or Asian or any other.

We need the police force to attract good people. For that to happen, they cannot become the punchbag for every incident. I understand that anger at the government gets directed at what people see to be a visible arm of government, but for goodness sake, hurting a bunch of police men & women during protests is not making any point! These people may be in uniform, but they have children at home too!!!

How very accurate..

There is never anything wrong with difference of opinion. People should be able to choose to be conservative or to the right or to the left, or whatever else have you. But to keep winding up the population with harsh and intolerant rhetoric is what’s terrible about the world we are in right now.

And the awful fact is that: if you removed every illegal migrant and you remove everyone that some groups say do not belong and should not be here, the very next day, people will find other groups to hate on. It will be LBGTQ and after that, it will be women or whoever else. There is never an end to it. These folk will never be satisfied. If you bring back the 50s or 60s that they say they crave, they will condemn it and find stuff to hate on!

Mass migration and illegal or uncontrolled migration is not good. It makes it impossible to get people coming in, to understand our ways and get to integrate properly. BUT, for goodness sake, it is not the source of every problem we currently have! We should be able to easily cope with a few tens of thousands of people. What we need is to create new industries, create new jobs, revamp our health system, get people out of poverty etc. These are repeatedly sidelined as it is easier to secure votes through whipping up the population about some exaggerated detriment of mass migration. The people doing it know exactly what they are doing. It would be great, if they can stop doing it and help the government create jobs and get people out of poverty across the country, particularly in deprived areas

But, yes, this is presently not a world anyone with half a brain, would want to bring children into! People being insulted on our streets because of their religion or what they look like etc. Endless protests that make many uncomfortable to get about. The world is in a sorry state!

We have to hope we get politicians (one day) who do not take sides but instead try to bring various sides together and calm the present situation down!

This isn’t about good or bad.

There are no constant villains.

It is not Christianity versus Islam nor black versus white nor left versus right or anything else people would like to label it as.

There is never an acceptable excuse for what we are seeing today and making excuses for

We should all be on the same side, working together for a better world…