Boats this month…

Only the Universe is endless but there are still many to come here.

But that statement puts the lie to the idea there are endless numbers?

NotSpaghetti

It did.

BBC news today:
The number of migrants crossing the Channel each year peaked in 2022, when more than 45,000 made the journey.

^As of Tuesday, a total of 8,565 people had made the journey so far in 2026 – 37% lower than at the same point last year.^

It’s because most of them are already here!

Maremia

Why didn't this happen, when the Tories were in power?

I wonder did you mean the reduction?
If so, I wonder too!

It did.

BBC news today:
The number of migrants crossing the Channel each year peaked in 2022, when more than 45,000 made the journey.

As of Tuesday, a total of 8,565 people had made the journey so far in 2026 – 37% lower than at the same point last year.

Why didn't this happen, when the Tories were in power?

Primrose53 thanks for the link. Great news, long may it continue

Primrose53

www.cps.gov.uk/south-east/news/migrants-charged-following-small-boat-crossings-during-bank-holiday-heatwave

Wow! A bit of progress at last 👏👏👏

About time too…..

www.cps.gov.uk/south-east/news/migrants-charged-following-small-boat-crossings-during-bank-holiday-heatwave

Wow! A bit of progress at last 👏👏👏

Twaddle - remember what Oscar Wilde said about sarcasm

Whatever!

Just said on the news 1100 people arrived on boats over the Bank holiday weekend.

Casdon

What you call pedantic, I call accurate sundowngirl. It’s quite feasible for people to express their concerns about the small boat migrants without exaggerating or sensationalising.

Accuracy and truth is just so last year! C'mon! Get with it! This year's zeitgeist is all about exaggeration and sensationalism.

Have you read the full article by any chance Primrose53?

rosie1959

Obviously the BBC news are also including Friday as they are reporting nearly 1000 arrivals over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Thank you Rosie1959 sometimes it’s like being back at school on here! 🤣🤣

980 is a whole lot closer to 1000 than 0 and, as sundowngirl rightly says it is far too many.

And this from Sky News:
Almost 600 people crossed the Channel over the Bank Holiday weekend
Almost 600 people crossed the English Channel illegally over the Bank Holiday weekend, new figures show.
Data from the Home Office reveals one small boat carrying 77 people was found making the dangerous journey yesterday.
It follows 231 people being recorded as crossing on Sunday, while a further 287 travelled the same route via small boat the day before.
Yesterday was the fourth consecutive day where crossings were recorded, after a period where none were.
394 people crossed the Channel in six small boats on Friday.
The slight uptick in numbers will be a headache for the government, who have sought to show they are bringing overall numbers of people coming to the UK down.
Last Thursday, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed net migration has fallen to its lowest level since 2021.
Meanwhile, overall numbers of small boat crossings are significantly down on where they were this time last year.

Obviously the BBC news are also including Friday as they are reporting nearly 1000 arrivals over the Bank Holiday weekend.

What you call pedantic, I call accurate sundowngirl. It’s quite feasible for people to express their concerns about the small boat migrants without exaggerating or sensationalising.

Being so pedantic also doesn't achieve anything.

Even if the numbers didn't 'smash' the 1,000 over the weekend, there are far too many boats and we have every right to be concerned.

To repeat, Friday was not a bank holiday. It is not complicated. If you had said in the last seven days, as there were no boats last week until Friday, and had included bank holiday Monday to make 8 days, that would have been almost accurate, 595 + 394 is 989. So, whichever way you cut it, the total number for the extended period did not ‘smash the 1000’ estimation.

The thread was specifically about small boats, so trying to inflate the numbers by adding a new variable is very questionable.

These posts are not achieving anything, let’s just aim to post accurate information in the first place, rendering response unnecessary. Better still, let’s wait until the end of the month and see if there has been an improvement on last year. For reference, there were 3738 arrivals by small boat in May 2025.

Casdon

Primrose53

I believe we are up to 980 asylum seekers arriving over the weekend. Looks like they will smash the 1,000 estimation.

23 May 2026 287
24 May 2026 231
25 May 2026 77

These figures are a direct lift from the Small boats daily update on the Government website (weekend total 595)

Still waiting for the end of the month figures, which are far more relevant as a comparator.

My figures were from the same source but you did not include the 394 who arrived in 6 boats on the Friday of the Bank holiday weekend. Therefore the total is still 980 as I reported.

Remember also there will have been those who got into our country in lorries and hiding in car boots etc so the total could easily exceed 1,000.

Primrose53

I believe we are up to 980 asylum seekers arriving over the weekend. Looks like they will smash the 1,000 estimation.

23 May 2026 287
24 May 2026 231
25 May 2026 77

These figures are a direct lift from the Small boats daily update on the Government website (weekend total 595)

Still waiting for the end of the month figures, which are far more relevant as a comparator.

Basgetti

Chestnut

I'm shocked that people seem to think we are obliged to keep taking in more and more people from all over the world. When will it end?

Again, we have 70 million people here already and do not need any more. We have plenty of young people in the NEET group. Living on benefits should not be a choice, the choice should be education, employment or training, and if they are physically fit and don't know what else to do then a year of military service. Those young people need to be doing something. Encourage them to earn a living by doing the jobs that need doing. But don't give them the choice of doing nothing.

We’re not obliged but isn’t it just the human thing to do? The UK has been a draw for immigrants for centuries. Many of us wouldn’t be here without them.

Immigration isn’t the issue, numbers are going down. It’s decades of failure to invest in social housing and infrastructure by governments of all shades.

It is a massive issue!

It is basic housekeeping and working to a budget!
If you cook a special meal for, say, your family of 4 and another 10 people turn up uninvited you haven’t got enough to go round. Same with people entering our country. It’s called overcrowding.

Basgetti - when do you think enough is enough, or do you believe that the whole of Africa can continue to migrate to Europe?

Should we continue to build more and more houses until there are no green spaces left?

Of course immigration is an issue

Chestnut

I'm shocked that people seem to think we are obliged to keep taking in more and more people from all over the world. When will it end?

Again, we have 70 million people here already and do not need any more. We have plenty of young people in the NEET group. Living on benefits should not be a choice, the choice should be education, employment or training, and if they are physically fit and don't know what else to do then a year of military service. Those young people need to be doing something. Encourage them to earn a living by doing the jobs that need doing. But don't give them the choice of doing nothing.

We’re not obliged but isn’t it just the human thing to do? The UK has been a draw for immigrants for centuries. Many of us wouldn’t be here without them.

Immigration isn’t the issue, numbers are going down. It’s decades of failure to invest in social housing and infrastructure by governments of all shades.

And just to add to the misery, this came up on my newsfeed yesterday.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3e2wzpe7xjo
This is the BBC not the Daily Mail (as other have said)
___________________________________
Heading:
Seven Afghan men charged over child sexual exploitation

Seven men have been charged with a total of 40 offences as part of an investigation into group-based child exploitation.

Norfolk Police said the men - six aged 20 and one aged 21 - were all Afghan nationals and were arrested on Wednesday following raids on six addresses in Norwich and one in Dumbarton.

The charges relate to two girls, aged in their early to mid-teens at the time of the alleged offences, and are said to have happened between August 2023 and May 2025 in Norwich.

All seven men spoke via interpreters to confirm their names, ages and addresses when they appeared before magistrates in Norwich earlier.

Police said the men's immigration status was "refugee".

Five of the defendants entered the country on small boats, according to the police.

One came to the UK concealed on a lorry and another arrived via a port