The Ukraine War

[BaaLocks]

25 minutes ago, rammieib said:

My wife and I have seriously discussed the possibility of offering our spare bedroom to a refugee. (Mum and a Child). I actually believe hundreds of thousands of people in this country will do the same. 

Are there others on here who are considering doing the same?

Do you have a spare room in Calais then? If you see the article in the Daily Mail about how we are asking potential migrants to apply, then it should make every single one of us utterly ashamed to have any part in the election of this government. It was said of Priti Patel, she is the sort of woman who would unplug your life support machine to charge her mobile phone. Just beyond words that she carries the line she does (Irish minister confirmed she complained to them that Irish willingness to allow migrants in would risk them entering the UK via backdoor routes) when is the daughter of Ugandan refugees.

But, in answer to your post, good on you for having the compassion to consider this. We're thinking the same.

Best place to start with this is https://www.refugeesathome.org/

Edited March 11, 2022 by BaaLocks

[Coneheadjohn]

18 minutes ago, rammieib said:

My wife and I have seriously discussed the possibility of offering our spare bedroom to a refugee. (Mum and a Child). I actually believe hundreds of thousands of people in this country will do the same. 

Are there others on here who are considering doing the same?

Me and @Mrs Conehave spoken about it and we’d take a teenage lad ideally but we can fit a youngster in.

[Leeds Ram]

On ditching the human rights act, it doesn't necessarily make the UK a space where the government is unconstrained by law like Russia or lead to us doing anything like what is happening in Ukraine. The crux of the issue is what replaces the human rights act? Under Michael Gove there were discussions to get rid of it and introduce a British bill of rights, but that idea foundered from memory. I'm one of those in favour of ditching the HRA but in the process of upturning our current constitutional framework creating a much stronger judicial check on Parliament at home. But this would be really controversial and pretty alien to our current system of government that would likely not happen. 

[Ramarena]

1 hour ago, BaaLocks said:

Do you have a spare room in Calais then? If you see the article in the Daily Mail about how we are asking potential migrants to apply, then it should make every single one of us utterly ashamed to have any part in the election of this government. It was said of Priti Patel, she is the sort of woman who would unplug your life support machine to charge her mobile phone. Just beyond words that she carries the line she does (Irish minister confirmed she complained to them that Irish willingness to allow migrants in would risk them entering the UK via backdoor routes) when is the daughter of Ugandan refugees.

But, in answer to your post, good on you for having the compassion to consider this. We're thinking the same.

Best place to start with this is https://www.refugeesathome.org/

Indeed.

Patel’s parents arrived in the UK after fleeing persecution in Uganda, in the lead up to Amin’s coup.

For her to do what she’s doing to Ukrainian refugees is shows how debased she has become!

[GboroRam]

1 hour ago, rammieib said:

My wife and I have seriously discussed the possibility of offering our spare bedroom to a refugee. (Mum and a Child). I actually believe hundreds of thousands of people in this country will do the same. 

Are there others on here who are considering doing the same?

My colleague has responded to his local MP's twitter request for volunteers to take in any refugees from Ukraine, and after a week or so wait, he replied back that he should just keep looking at the home office website for details of when they will be looking for accommodation.

I'd say, there's zero political will to take refugees right now. There however is political will to take credit for it, so that's why they don't mind asking you on Twitter to volunteer. But right now, the UK isn't a part of the solution.

[Coneheadjohn]

19 minutes ago, Ramarena said:

Indeed.

Patel’s parents arrived in the UK after fleeing persecution in Uganda, in the lead up to Amin’s coup.

For her to do what she’s doing to Ukrainian refugees is shows how debased she has become!

It’s pathetic,is this the best we can do.

[BaaLocks]

18 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

My colleague has responded to his local MP's twitter request for volunteers to take in any refugees from Ukraine, and after a week or so wait, he replied back that he should just keep looking at the home office website for details of when they will be looking for accommodation.

I'd say, there's zero political will to take refugees right now. There however is political will to take credit for it, so that's why they don't mind asking you on Twitter to volunteer. But right now, the UK isn't a part of the solution.

I can understand why you would ask a question why someone wants to take refuge in the UK? Why would you want to come across all of Europe to end up a in place more distant than any other. If you have friends or family here then, of course, understood but so many of those went back after 2015 so why come?

But so what, we owe it to our sense of humanity as a nation (what shred might be left) to make ourselves available. It's just horrific to hear people suggest that this would be just a reason for undesirables to use this as a cheap opportunity to infiltrate our benefits system. We have really become something as a country in the past decade (though, sadly, we offered a similarly limited hand of friendship to Jews fleeing Germany in the 1930s so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised).

[Eddie]

27 minutes ago, Coneheadjohn said:

It’s pathetic,is this the best we can do.

Unfortunately, we both know the answer to that.

 

[Coneheadjohn]

3 hours ago, BaaLocks said:

. It was said of Priti Patel, she is the sort of woman who would unplug your life support machine to charge her mobile phone

[GboroRam]

1 hour ago, BaaLocks said:

I can understand why you would ask a question why someone wants to take refuge in the UK? Why would you want to come across all of Europe to end up a in place more distant than any other. If you have friends or family here then, of course, understood but so many of those went back after 2015 so why come?

But so what, we owe it to our sense of humanity as a nation (what shred might be left) to make ourselves available. It's just horrific to hear people suggest that this would be just a reason for undesirables to use this as a cheap opportunity to infiltrate our benefits system. We have really become something as a country in the past decade (though, sadly, we offered a similarly limited hand of friendship to Jews fleeing Germany in the 1930s so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised).

I'd say if you speak English, you might want to go to an English speaking country rather than look to live in a country where you don't speak the native language. I know there's plenty of people who speak Russian in Ukraine and some friendly neighbouring countries have a significant number of people who also speak Russian - but I believe more and more of the younger generation don't learn Russian like the older generation, and may have grown up with English as their second language.

[Stive Pesley]

52 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

I'd say if you speak English, you might want to go to an English speaking country rather than look to live in a country where you don't speak the native language.

I said a few pages back that the company I work for is closing its offices in Russia. It is also evacuating employees from Ukraine

We can volunteer to provide temporary accommodation for them by registering our interest on the intranet. 

It's also worth noting that the UK is not a named country on the form - we have to complete it manually as "Other"
The named countries on the form are those that border Ukraine, because despite what certain right-wing factions like to tell us - the vast majority of refugees are happy to stay in the first safe country they reach. 

 

[rammieib]

3 hours ago, GboroRam said:

My colleague has responded to his local MP's twitter request for volunteers to take in any refugees from Ukraine, and after a week or so wait, he replied back that he should just keep looking at the home office website for details of when they will be looking for accommodation.

I'd say, there's zero political will to take refugees right now. There however is political will to take credit for it, so that's why they don't mind asking you on Twitter to volunteer. But right now, the UK isn't a part of the solution.

This exactly.

We raised over £100m in a few days for Ukraine with the Government matched charity. Lots of other charities have raised millions, probably hundreds.

The majority of British people are compassionate and understanding and want to help.

I’m hoping the news over the weekend makes the process of us offering our services slightly easier.

We have a 2 year and a 7 year. A mum with a child in that 5-7 would be great and BBC we want to help. Security, safety, love, compassion and it would work. Everyone who wants to help will have different scenarios. A spare house may be suitable for a family/older generation and so on.

Its heartless if we don’t help when we can!

[GboroRam]

15 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

Sadly, it looks like the recent political populism to water down the Human Rights Act will result in many more horrific situations for ordinary people.

Its always ordinary people who suffer, in any war or conflict, its always the ordinary folk who get tortured, killed, made homeless, become refugees, the rich carry on being rich, ordinary folks carry on getting shafted.

We've not moved on much as a civilisation have we really?

I always wondered what sort of people opposed the Human Rights Act. Its fairly obvious now. My grandad knew, he fought against them from 1939 to 1946. 

He thought he'd won. He never dreamt for one minute that we'd just give it away again.

 

 

[Tamworthram]

4 hours ago, BaaLocks said:

I can understand why you would ask a question why someone wants to take refuge in the UK? Why would you want to come across all of Europe to end up a in place more distant than any other. If you have friends or family here then, of course, understood but so many of those went back after 2015 so why come?

But so what, we owe it to our sense of humanity as a nation (what shred might be left) to make ourselves available. It's just horrific to hear people suggest that this would be just a reason for undesirables to use this as a cheap opportunity to infiltrate our benefits system. We have really become something as a country in the past decade (though, sadly, we offered a similarly limited hand of friendship to Jews fleeing Germany in the 1930s so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised).

I was discussing why people from Ukraine may be interested in coming to the UK with my wife earlier and I wonder if, apart from family connections, could it be language? I’m prepared to hazard a guess that there are far more Ukrainians that can speak English than those that can speak French, German or most other European languages.

[Highgate]

I think anywhere will do for most Ukrainian refugees at the moment.  Apart from Russia obviously.  Ideally, I assume,  they would wish to be reunited with family members if at all possible. 

Interesting that the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland has been causing concerns for some.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukraine-russia-ireland-patel-refugees-b2032329.html

Edited March 11, 2022 by Highgate

[BaaLocks]

1 hour ago, Tamworthram said:

I was discussing why people from Ukraine may be interested in coming to the UK with my wife earlier and I wonder if, apart from family connections, could it be language? I’m prepared to hazard a guess that there are far more Ukrainians that can speak English than those that can speak French, German or most other European languages.

Well it's certainly not our desire to encourage immigration to support growth and diversity. Yes, you're probably right, English remains the business language of the world and - as @GboroRam said earlier - likely the language of choice for those wanting to learn one. In years gone by it would have been Russian, maybe German.

[BaaLocks]

52 minutes ago, Highgate said:

I think anywhere will do for most Ukrainian refugees at the moment.  Apart from Russia obviously.  Ideally, I assume,  they would wish to be reunited with family members if at all possible. 

Interesting that the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland has been causing concerns for some.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukraine-russia-ireland-patel-refugees-b2032329.html

Russia has taken 100,000. Probably same reason as they would come here, language. Family will also be a huge draw for them, as I've said many times so many in Russia have family in Ukraine and visa versa. Also, if you live in the east of Ukraine you probably just want to get out of the country and anywhere there isn't war will do.

One anecdotal story a friend of mine picked up on Telegram (the app of choice for most Russians) was that a family fled in the first few days of the invasion. They were told by Russian soldiers "don't worry, you will be back home in three months". A bit like Zhironovskys New Year message, where he told everyone that Feb 23rd was going to be the date, there's probably a lot more known about the whys and whens than we are getting to hear about.

[Highgate]

58 minutes ago, BaaLocks said:

Russia has taken 100,000. Probably same reason as they would come here, language. Family will also be a huge draw for them, as I've said many times so many in Russia have family in Ukraine and visa versa. Also, if you live in the east of Ukraine you probably just want to get out of the country and anywhere there isn't war will do.

One anecdotal story a friend of mine picked up on Telegram (the app of choice for most Russians) was that a family fled in the first few days of the invasion. They were told by Russian soldiers "don't worry, you will be back home in three months". A bit like Zhironovskys New Year message, where he told everyone that Feb 23rd was going to be the date, there's probably a lot more known about the whys and whens than we are getting to hear about.

 There are obviously some Ukrainians, especially in eastern Ukraine that identify with Russia and will be quite happy to go there. For the rest, and that's the majority of Ukraine (as merely speaking Russian is not synonymous with being pro Putin)....seeking refugee status in the country that's invading your homeland, would surely be their last option. 

[Mick Brolly]

2 hours ago, Highgate said:

One anecdotal story a friend of mine picked up on Telegram (the app of choice for most Russians) was that a family fled in the first few days of the invasion. They were told by Russian soldiers "don't worry, you will be back home in three months

Back home to no water no electric and a big pile of rubble that's something to look forward to for them.

[Van der MoodHoover]

Why has Russia introduced a narrative now about chemical weapons?

If there's deployment of Syrian /Arab fighters on behalf of Russia, should nato intervene....tit for tat

Why is our government such a disgrace about the refugee system. Was it true that "extra home office resources deployed in calais"  turned out to be a couple of junior staff at a table handing out kit kats and crisps?