Gary Lineker's tweet

ExperiencedNotOld

westendgirl

ExperiencedNot Old. I am rather confused by your post . What do you mean by "the ordinary person ,who life will be blighted by the influx of people "?
In what way would their life be blighted ?Sorry I am rather confused.

People living alongside hotels full of people, unable to be employed. Having their daughters scared to walk the street in fear of harassment by men that don’t yet understand the ‘rules’ in this country. Not being able to access health care at all due to volume. Have to pay more tax to deal with the totality of the problem. Have Albanian drug gangs blighting their neighbourhood, seeking drugs to children (and yes, this is proven very locally to me). It’s all far from sunshine and roses - can that not be seen and understood?

Yes, it can be understood ... if it were really like that.

I assume you know that the incident in Knowsley didn't actually happen as it was spun on social media. The "people" even have to lie to produce evidence.

westendgirl

Who is stopping the immigrants from being employed ?That is the government ,surely.
It is quite easy to see from your post just how well the policy of splitting the nation, via the far right press is working.

Indeed! Sad, isn't it?

Keeleklogger

He should stick to what he is good at, flogging crisps

Not much good at that either…..

ExperiencedNotOld

Do you not consider how easy it is for the ‘high profile people’ to tweet or make opinion from the comfort of their gated mansion? It’s not their opinion that should matter, it should be that of the ordinary person, who life will be blighted by the influx of people, unable to afford an accountant to avoid any increase in tax necessary to deal with the problem.

Do you not think that "high profile people" making their opinions known will have a much wider audience than the "ordinary people"?

At leas GL has got us talking about immigration.

Jaxjacky

I don’t think he’s a thoroughly decent bloke MayBee he accepted over £1 million to report on the World Cup for the Quatari regime. No tweeting on their human rights record was there?

Yes, there was. And he condemned it whilst on air during the competition more than once.

Apart from anything else the UK has an aging population.

At the 2011 census 16.4% of the population was aged over 65. At the 2021 census the proportion increased to 18.6%.

In the next 25 years it is expected that the number of people over 85 will increase to 2.6 million.

This means that we, the aging, are going to need more health care, hospital beds and care home spaces and the people who work in those areas.

ExperiencedNotOld

Do you not consider how easy it is for the ‘high profile people’ to tweet or make opinion from the comfort of their gated mansion? It’s not their opinion that should matter, it should be that of the ordinary person, who life will be blighted by the influx of people, unable to afford an accountant to avoid any increase in tax necessary to deal with the problem.

I don't live in a gated community, I live in a Scottish tenement in an area where many asylum seekers from Syria and elsewhere have been settled. Like Gary I was born into a working-class family (his ran a fruit-and-veg stall on Leicester Market, mine worked in a shipyard) and escaped, him through football and me through going to university.

I share many of Gary's opinions, not necessarily all of them, and I don't believe they are any more extreme or "un-British", whatever that means, than mine. I don't have much of a voice to express them though, and I'm glad that somebody very well-known is able to say what needs saying to a wider audience.

I don't see why a well-known footballer or actor should be less entitled to a view than a welder or checkout worker.

Can you link those tweets please Siope as I don’t recall seeing them?
Thank you.

MayBee70 Can I just clarify that the Weimar Republic, the political system that prevailed from 1919 to the start of Hitler's rule by decree from 1930, should not be confused with the Nazi regime. Adolf Hitler invented the name Weimar Republic as a derogatory term; he and his acolytes hated and despised it for its liberal pluralism and for ratifying the Versailles treaty.

Yes Dinahmo more people are and will be needed to work in the care sector, as in hospitality and agriculture. Where will they come from ?
With training these are jobs which the immigrants, who want and expect to work could do.All it needs is for the government to provide safe routes and to process people more quickly .At the same time they should encourage the right wing press to put a more positive spin on the process instead of trying to split the nation again.

Well said Mr Lineker - spot on. If we don’t have freedom of speech, what do we have left?

Can’t be bothered to plough through his Twitter account but for his (and others) forthright condemnation of Qatar amp.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/20/bbc-ignores-world-cup-opening-ceremony-in-favour-of-qatar-criticism

I recall articles at the time discussing Lineker having a Twitter spat with Al-Thawadi (spelling?) from the Qatar Football Association (or state World Cup body), and also a bit of a Twitter debate with Rob Rinder about whether it was better to be in Qatar condemning their Human Rights abuses, or whether it was better to make the point by staying away.

My mother went to study German in Munich in 1932, for 1 year. She had to return early as she witnessed what started to happen early 1933. The language and rhetoric was VERY similar.

Whoops, sorry, that was for Jaxjacky

Siope

Jaxjacky

I don’t think he’s a thoroughly decent bloke MayBee he accepted over £1 million to report on the World Cup for the Quatari regime. No tweeting on their human rights record was there?

Yes, there was. And he condemned it whilst on air during the competition more than once.

Yes indeed, I remember it very clearly.

I suspect that many of the refugees who come to the UK already have some qualifications for a variety of jobs but whilst stuck in the camps don't have the chance to mention them until their applications are processed which can take years.

westendgirl Sadly, It seems to me that the race/immigration subject is going to be just as divisive as Brexit. I think that is what the govt wants - to deflect from all the other problems facing the country at the moment.

There’s a dilemma. Who do I trust more. Braverman or Lineker. Braverman who was fast tracked into the Attorney General position so she could help Johnson avoid as many rules as possible? Who won’t admit that her current plans are probably breaking the law

Why is it that so many people accept the pronouncements from the various immigrants who are or were on this govt's front bench? I'm not being racist here but I do think it's strange that people accept the pronouncements of Braverman and Patel. I'm aware that both women were born in the UK and that it was their parents who emigrated to the UK. To me it smacks a little of "I'm alright Jack"

MayBee70

There’s a dilemma. Who do I trust more. Braverman or Lineker. Braverman who was fast tracked into the Attorney General position so she could help Johnson avoid as many rules as possible? Who won’t admit that her current plans are probably breaking the law

Not just for that reason. To be the puppet of the ERG too.

They are from very privileged families.

In fact, the words used above "pronouncements from gated communities" very much applies there - to them.

I am afraid, and this is a sad and tragic fact, that immigrants who have made their place in society are often the very worst. The National Front in FRance, at the time of Le Pen Senior, was full of secondos and thirdos from Italy and Spain. Same in other parts of Europe, with other immigrant groups.

Perhaps time to re-read Arthur Miller's View from the Bridge.

Just as an aside (and as we are name dropping!) Gary's granny used to work on the market sometimes. She and my mum were quite friendly - and that might surprise those of you who remember my posts about my mum!

“I don't see why a well-known footballer or actor should be less entitled to a view than a welder or checkout worker.“

I did not imply that they should be less entitled - what I highlighted is that an ordinary persons view is never sought.
And it is they that can’t buy themselves out of any effects.
As soon
As I interject any point that is at odds with the general clamour above, I’m again accused of racism, right wing-ism of someone tells me I’m very wrong. Can you not see there is more than the one opinion, one seemingly gained from the Guardian, as politically meddlesome as the Telegraph?

ExperiencedNotOld an ordinary persons view is never sought?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/07/a-revenge-plan-refugees-and-dover-residents-react-to-migration-bill

Why do you think views that are opposed to yours all come from one perspective ExperiencedNotOld? Condemning the way in which the government is handling this situation is coming from all quarters, including from within the Tory party itself.