What would "Dads Army" do and deal with the Migrants by the tunnel

Giving alms - one of the five pillars Islam. What greater way is there to express this than taking in people who have been displaced by war.

Is there any evidence to suggest that they would be killed in Saudi Arabia? They would of course have to observe the draconian laws there and that not might suit some Muslims with more liberal attitudes, I don't for one moment assume they all have the same mind set. However, it might be a more agreeable society for those such as the young man who was taken in by the Calais family given his attitude towards the daughter of the house which would indicate that he and others with that strict conservative Muslim outlook, might not adapt happily to a freer western society.

So people fleeing from IS should go to Saudi Arabia to get killed? That'll solve the refugee problem.

Very wise comments Terribull.

theconversation.com/fences-in-calais-protect-ministers-not-refugees-46366

This tells you where they go. Not many want to come to the UK, so I do not know what all the fuss is about.
We have lost far more money by stopping lorries because of the fear of refugees swamping our country than it would have cost to let all of them through.

Pogs has made a pertinent point that often occurs to me as well, I think the whole world needs to be involved in relocating refugees. I fully accept that many are just that, refugees fleeing for their lives, the recent pictures of those massing on the border of Macedonia showing very distressed children were particularly upsetting. The lines are blurred by the fact that among those leaving their homelands, some will be economic migrants and I just don't think that Europe can be expected to absorb all of those as well, and whilst the people at Calais might not number that many at any one time, they will indeed keep coming and what might appear to be a trickle at the moment could indeed become a massive surge as time goes by. I hasten to add that I am not making the assumption that all those at Calais are economic migrants, but some will be, and if they destroy their papers then it's pretty hard to make a judgement about individual situations.

Britain has often been accused by our European counterparts of wishing to cherry pick the terms and conditions of our member ship to the EU, but I think the migration crisis illustrates the disconnect among member states on how to deal with the seismic shift of populations in Africa and the Middle East. Undoubtedly Germany is taking more than their fair share 800,000 I believe this year and whilst it is a large country and no doubt that number can be distributed around, it's the year on year factor that is the imponderable, will that number, or possibly more arrive every year, is it sustainable to keep accommodating them and if they are economic migrants, what about the countries they leave behind with presumably aging populations with fewer and fewer young people to support them.

Germany is of course the richest country in the EU. Smaller Eastern Europe countries having varying attitudes I believe Slovenia has insisted they will only take a couple of hundred, Christians only as they don't have any mosques in their country and don't feel that Muslims would therefore be catered for. Of course, as yet, they don't have the successful economies of those in Western Europe, some of their reluctance to take more seems to be rooted in their desire to remain mono cultures,white and Christian.

As a country we have been criticised by our European partners for taking very few refugees and possibly they have a point, but we have added 3 million to our population in the past few years and anyone who lives in an urban area will know that we are struggling with housing and school places at the moment. They Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Calais have pointed out that many of the migrants perceive Britain as an El Dorado and that we should change that perception. There are many countries around the world that are still under populated, New Zealand, Australia, Canada. I was in Argentina a couple of years ago a huge country with only 40 million, suffering for a terminally mismanaged economy I know, it should be as rich as Canada it has a lot of natural resource and could be deemed to be under populated. I'm in agreement with POGS why do we not ask more of countries such as Saudi Arabia who could certainly give refuge to some of their fellow Muslims and China who are a constant presence in Africa these days

Why not go East?

Thank you Petra,

I think Annie means the Atlantic.

The pacific?

jingle, quite possibly they choose Europe because this is as far as they can get, they can't take those boats across the pacific, they can't hop on a plane

There are many issues involved in this conflict. Displaced people or those who displace themselves and where they aim for is only one of them. I have to disagree with vamps I'm afraid. There simply isn't the infrastructure to just absorb the people that choose to head for the UK. I'm sure we can argue this to kingdom come though and won't agree.

I wonder if there will be more concentration of world efforts to over-power IS now they have proved themselves determined to destroy every bit of 'other faith' history. (Temple in Palmyra) These things can have more power to move governments into action than the loss of human life.

Of course they could.
And the whole situation in the whole region is so complicated.

of course the US takes migrants But you can't make people go to America when they are bent on settling in Europe. They are not mindless animals to be shipped across in crates!

The EU needs to get itself together to ensure a fair distribution of migrants. There is room for them. Many of them will be an asset.

The US could transport refugees from Europe

But they'd never get safely across the Atlantic in those leaky trafficker boats that sink in the Med. The US would have to transport them over the pond - I can't see them doing that. The boats would be considered to be invading the ports the refugees were leaving, and shelled. A grand excuse for ISIS to say that the US were aggressors.

In my opinion what really should be happening is that the US should be doing more to help fight IS.
So should this country and others.

Are you far more concerned about refugees being in the UK?

Jane10. Bit of a problem with that suggestion. None of those countries has a 'uman rights charter. Most of the people trying to get here are very aware of what slaves we are to the charter.

They would only have themselves left to kill..

VG suggestion from POGS. Lets encourage migrants/refugees /everyone to go to China, Russia, Kazakhstan etc!! As previously stated, meanwhile ISIS marches on...

Good last posts.

I think young men are the most likely to try to get away from a horrible situation where they probably feel powerless because they are the people with the freedom and the energy to do so.

It is always interesting and salutary when people talk about what they would do in some dire situation or, indeed, what the people in the dire situation should do. I once edited a book which constantly referred to collaborators in Nazi-occupied Europe when speaking about people who simply kept their heads down and carried on doing the jobs they had done and, as far as possible, the lives they had lived pre-war. The author had no family – older or younger. I had a husband and a baby, plus an extended family all of whom I loved and, while I would like to think I would be brave and strong-minded enough to find a way to fight tyranny, I am not at all confident that I would be, given my hostages to fortune and, no doubt, my own cowardice. I didn't see these people as collaborators – they weren't choosing deliberately to help the occupying power – but were protecting themselves, their husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children and simply trying to get through a horrendous time.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to live in a country torn apart by civil war or frequently bombed by a neighbouring – or even not-so-neighbouring – state. I cannot imagine what it must be like not to have enough to eat and there not being anywhere to obtain enough to eat even if I had the money to buy it. I cannot imagine having to watch every word I say or write for fear of the knock on the door. I cannot imagine being imprisoned, raped or beaten for being the wrong ethnicity. I cannot imagine many of the things that are a day-to-day reality for many refugees. I cannot imagine what I would do, what I would encourage my family to do and how the hell I would go about it.