General Chat

Re Gary Lineker, in my opinion it was just his opinion and I hope his colleagues back him by not hosting MOTD etc, tomorrow will be interesting, it seems that you can have an opinion has long as you have permission to have it, this will probably be reported now because it is my opinion lol.

is that a rant? :-D

Might be :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

I don’t agree. There is no comparison between Nazi Germany and this nation’s policy on immigration. He doesn’t appear to think before he comments. If he worked out the number of hectares of arable land per person he’d see that other countries are better able to sustain higher number of migrants, for example Italy, France, Germany and even Ukraine among others.

He may earn so much that being able to afford decent food is not the problem for him as it is for thousands of others.

I think those who have refused to present the programme without him are wrong too. I would not employ them again - and I am no fan of the BBC as I don’t believe we should pay for a television licence - and that may well have been in the minds of the BBC bosses as I heard it mentioned yesterday.

Remember, isn’t this the guy who spat the dummy when he once blamed the school that he’d paid to educate his son when his son did not do as well as GL thought he ought to have done?

One thought that I heard mentioned by someone is whether he’d like a migrant centre to be located next door to him.

Someone else mentioned that they all get paid too much anyway.

One last thought - less talk and more actual footy may well appeal to many.

I agree ZZzzz, it's not like he said it on MOTD.

What he says in his own time, and on his own Twitter account is his affair.

BUT should ANYONE say even on social media anything that is comparing some new law in the UK is comparable to Nazi Germany in the 1930s???

That's getting pretty close to the knuckle with an unspoken reference to the Holocaust, IMHO.

Should he be allowed to get away with it because he is a well-known for some sporting endeavour, when "unknown" citizens have been fired for other racist/sexist/holocaust remarks???

Let's face it ........ he's well-known, certain people believe what well-known people say just because they are well-known. Think Trumpoid!

..... and what about the back lash that has happened to the Minister??

He didn't compare what this Government is doing to the Nazis.

He compared the speech used by the Government to that used in 1930's Germany.
The media added the word 'Nazi'.

I mean, the Government referring to ALL potential refugees as 'Illegal Immigrants', really is awful. Braverman referred to it as an 'invasion', and lied about the potential number of refugees.

Ironic that the Government calls it the 'Illegal Migration Bill', as the chances are, it is illegal. It breaches the Human Rights Act for a start.

Edit - Lineker has taken refugees into his own home, so supposition about how he'd feel if refugees moved in next door to him are, quite frankly tosh.

They’ll be Ukrainian refugees, Maggie? That’s temporary. * see my edit below.

Many have done that (my neighbour included) but would he be happy to house some fit young Albanian males under his roof - those coming in illegally on small boats? Having heard how some now hold sway ‘on the doors’, I don’t think any of us would want some of them living near us - and certainly not near our children and grandchildren. I am not saying that all are up to no good but this is why there has to be more serious vetting before allowing entry.

I mention Albanians in particular because their country is safe and willing to accept repatriation of its citizens.

The proposed Bill will still allow application for asylum in the UK to under-18s and the sick. That is how it should be as far as I’m concerned because to carry on in the way we are doing is too much of a drain on resources such as NHS, schools, water, food security, housing and such. We can not afford this, nor can we afford to foist such a debt onto future taxpayers.

His tweet compared the not-dissimilar language used by our government and that of the German government in the 30s and that, to me, is highly controversial. If he wants to be controversial no one can stop him and no one ought to be able to stop him but it looks as though he will have to put his money where his mouth is and he will have to forfeit that £million+ contract with the BBC. I won’t weep and wail about that and nor do I think would anyone living on the breadline.

As I wrote earlier, more footy and less chat could be better for real footy fans,

Edit: I note that the refugee (Rashid) who stayed for 20 days with GL was not Ukrainian. Apparently, the second refugee, who stayed for a month, was from Turkey.

Although Gary didn't say Nazi in his Tweet that is obviously what he implied or else why not compare it to France, Belgium or come to that any other European country in the 1930s!

It really does annoy me when people say these things but give no viable alternative!

Unfortunately, no legislation is going to be pleasant and will be controversial but something does need to be done. We have too many British born people who need housing, benefits and health care so although that might appear harsh, it is a reality :-(

Yes, we live in a country of free speech thank goodness but with that comes responsibilities. If you receive a salary of £1.3m from an organisation that is supposed to be impartial then, I feel, you need to consider your Tweets accordingly or alternatively resign then you can Tweet whatever you like:-)

I agree, we have enough homelessness and poverty - yet this Government can spend £7million a day keeping asylum seekers in hotels.
Shame that amount wasn't spent on out own homeless.
However, blankly refusing people refuge isn't the way to go about this.

Why did the Government cut the number of border guards?

Why don't they set up asylum offices in countries bordering on places of war or where inhabitants are being targeted?
That way, they can stop the people traffikers, and sort out the genuine refugees from the 'chancers', way before they get here - and stop the slave traders bringing people over, too..
It would be a darned sight cheaper than the current fiasco.

Strange that the BBC should worry about Gary Lineker compromising its supposed impartiality when the BBC Chairman was allegedly appointed after facilitating a loan for Boris Johnson.

...and donating to the Tory Party, Kense!

It's also weird how it was okay for Alan sugar to actually 'tell' his followers who they should vote for in the last election.

There's another way of deciphering Lineker saying the language was similar to that used in 1930's Germany.
At that time, the German government was using deflection politics. In other words, denying there were any problems in Germany, but if there were, it was the fault of others, ie other nations nor conceding to them.

Very much like this Government.
We have an increase i homelessness
An increase in poverty
A dying NHS
Striking underpaid Doctors, nurses and teachers
Energy prices going through the roof - while shareholders are pocketing more money than they will ever need in 2 lifetimes.
etc etc.
So what do the Government do? Point away from the state of the country, and blame everything on refugees.

I should think our infrastructure would be closer to breaking point if we took more immigrants into this country than we can cope with. Without a decent and fair policy we would see an even heavier burden on our NHS, more homelessness, more calls on energy, water and schools. It is not fair to allow illegal immigrants coming in on small boats to jump the queue as others more needy will then suffer, including citizens and immigrants alike.

Shareholders are indeed pocketing more but those are with shares in private companies and, as much as we may be repelled by it, our hands are tied because if government ups the company tax firms will relocate in a flash of the eye, taking income and jobs with them, leading to more poverty.

I's certainly not fair to allow illegal immigrants into the country - but we should be allowing refugees into the country.

The way to stop illegal immigrants is to process them before they get here - not stick them, along with legal refugees in hotels at a vast cost to us, while the government sits on it's hands moaning about it all.

If illegal immigrants were weeded out, and refugees were processed before arriving here - via border controls set up in countries they pass through, when they got here, they could start work.
This would also stop the slavery and people traffiking that's being built up in this country.

I'd also ask the question - why are the government happily housing Ukranians who are escaping war, but not those from Syria?

I’ve not read the original speech so can’t comment on the
rights or wrongs. BUT Lineker has had complaints about his comments before and he doesn’t seem to give two hoots. Is it because he believes himself to be untouchable ?

I thought the UK had taken in some Syrian refugees :-)

I can’t find the report/ article I read yesterday. But it was about people in the Calais camp putting off their ‘journey’. One was referring to his British lawyer. How does he a,ready have one of those?

At our family get-together yesterday, some felt that Ian Wright was better than Lineker on MOTD, but sadly he has come out in sympathy with Lineker.

Someone who said he was a friend of GL appeared on the news this morning saying that, effectively, football managers ought to be the ‘panel’ commenting on MOTD because they would have a better grasp on play than GL - he went on to say that he hoped GL would still be a friend. (What!)

I don’t watch much footy but (like the guy said this morning) I would like to see managers, retired and older, being given the chance of commenting in place of the current ‘on-strike’ trinity because I believe they would have a broader knowledge and insight into tactics and the game. But my knowledge of the game is not good - especially when compared with the players and coach in my family.

Will that happen? Who knows? But one thing for certain is that if the Beeb back down, the TV Licence ought to be abolished because its impartiality has become compromised. This was mentioned on yesterday’s news (see my post 23:46 on 10 March) and it has just been mentioned by another person this morning.

At the end of the day it has to be agreed by all that the UK can not carry on taking in so many people no matter where they've come from or for what reason they're coming. Saying as I believe he did that the UK isn't taking in as many people as other countries is too basic a comment. I have no idea how many people each country is taking in nor how well they can afford to do it. It is clear though that the UK can not carry on taking in anyone that wants to go there. To take in every one your taxes would keep on rising and your services for everyone would decrease it's not a bottomless pit. Yes it would be nice to be able to help everyone but in the real world.....
People coming across the channel are illegal no matter where they come from, instead they should be processed in the first safe country then apply to go to the UK, maybe the UK would help in the processing cost in that country.
Albanians coming across the channel are illegal full stop their country is safe but poor but they're not starving there or being attacked.
There's no easy solution but the current situation can not go on for the UK you can't afford it. You're making so many cuts to services already.
Overpaid TV stars; and he's not alone; no matter who they work for are not spokespeople or politicians. He's welcome to his opinion but just remember you have no choice but buy a BBC license even seniors again, to pay the massive pay cheque for people like him.

Why did the BBC initially say that no further action would be taken and the next day U-turned? Obviously because external pressure had been applied, presumably by some government department.

The argument that it has been compromised by Lineker is complete nonsense as other freelance broadcasters have made political statements without ay action being taken against them, examples being Jeremy Clarkson, Alan Sugar and Andrew O'Neil. The guidelines allow it except for news presenters and journalists.

It is well known that extreme right wingers are keen to have the BBC sold off. If that happens it will no doubt end up in the hands of another foreign billionaire.

The idea that the thirties Germany comparison was just about immigration is wrong, it was also about creating a one party state and controlling the media.