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Very well said.
Noted this from the Telegraph article:
The BBC said that the woman who brought Sir Mo to the UK was approached to give her account but did not respond.
Deserves a police visit, except that, as we know, it's much easier to go after the victims of trafficking/ms than the actual traffickers.
Yeah, well said poly.
Reminded me of the Ian Wright, Mr Pigden story.
"By importing builders, plumbers, electricians…"
And someone to wipe scoffcake's arse when his kids dump him in a care home.
As the nation ages disgracefully, the numbers of young people and those of working age aren't getting restocked, (supply chain issues related to brexit).
Immigrants also pay taxes, someone's got to pay for all that bog roll haven't they?
Are there double standards here between this and the recent Windrush scandal?
It's the home office, i have no doubt that if it was someone who hasn't won multiple gold medals etc they would be going after him now.
I think it is a great thing that he is able to speak about it now and hopefully will affect some people to change their views slightly.
On the other positive i am sure some gammons will be that little step closer to an aneurysm after reading that
Only stereotypical gammons (which are rare) are anti-immigration full stop. An open border is idealistic nonsense from people who bear no responsibility for the consequences. There is nothing wrong with limited immigration according to an immigration policy (which means border control).
The situations aren't the same. Mo has documented citizenship, the Windrush victims had no paperwork at all.
The situations aren’t the same. Mo has documented citizenship, the Windrush victims had no paperwork at all.
Right but we knew why they were here and that it wasn't really their fault that they were here.
I think anyone with common sense 'knew' that but technically or formally speaking the Windrush victims couldn't 'prove' anything because their landing cards had been destroyed.
There'll be some parly 'researchers' frantically trying to dig up some Salazar sleaze to discredit Mo....
That's nice Mo, now what really happened with Alberto Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project doping regime?
Only stereotypical gammons (which are rare) are anti-immigration full stop. An open border is idealistic nonsense from people who bear no responsibility for the consequences. There is nothing wrong with limited immigration according to an immigration policy (which means border control).
I couldn't agree more, however I also wish no countries had border controls cos I'd probably be living in Canada or somewhere equally less crowded.
Yeah like Wiggins and Armstrong – never failed a drug test 😀
Eh?
Yeah like Wiggins and Armstrong – never failed a drug test 😀
Off FFS he upsets your world view so you leap immediately to tarnishing his name 🤦♀️
Preconceptions? Like we should let anyone from around the world freely move here?
If they are fleeing conflict or are victims of political repression, or violence, then I don't see why not.
Nigeria alone, for example, will have about 400 million by 2050.
An open border is idealistic
Of course.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t aspire to it. Look to create opportunities everywhere and an open border will become a great thing.
The downside for governments is that it will become increasingly difficult to fight wars because it will become increasingly difficult to get people to join a national army. Police service yes, army no.
So it ends up a bit like the fact I could be born in Scotland, educated in Scotland and Italy (EU don’t you know), live in England (York), work in West Yorkshire, children attending a school in North Yorkshire - suddenly arbitrary borders put there to tell me what I can and can’t do stop mattering as much.
But it starts with creating parity of opportunity across ever larger land areas.
Now back to Mo - has anyone asked that nice Ms Patel for a comment?
There is nothing wrong with limited immigration according to an immigration policy
Cool. What do you propose that policy should look like?
I feel terrible for Mo and a cried reading his story but.. It doesn't excuse that he chose to maintain a very close relationship with a Salazar an appalling individual, Mo was in his inner circle. Salazar sexually and mentally abused young women and girls and pressured athletes to take drugs. The truth is that distance running is a house of cards when it comes to PEDs and it just hasn't had it's Lance Armstrong moment yet, IAAF and IOC will do everything to stop it from happening.
Defending Mo Farah wrt to Salazar is like my US colleagues in the mid 00 defending Lance was it so obvious he was cheating. I'm afraid he tarnished his own name and reputation.
Off FFS he upsets your world view so you leap immediately to tarnishing his name 🤦♀️
Before I actually read the story and learned of the whole sad affair I did wonder if he was trying to announce something to deflect further drug allegations.
I feel pretty dirty for thinking that and certainly don't believe he did release this story as a shield.
The truth is that distance running is a house of cards when it comes to PEDs and it just hasn’t had it’s Lance Armstrong moment
The interesting thing about the Lance fanboys in the 00s was that they could acknowledge the rampant use of PEDs (and blood doping) in cycling but someone Lance was a special case. Any number of absurd rationalisation would be invented to explain how Lance could beat the dopers on nothing but orange juice.
Cool story, bro.
What a story.
I read an article recently (whish I could remember where so I could link it) that proposed that heart-warming good news stories are just a mask to the reality of life. So the friends pulling together to fund one of their groups medical bills, the police officer who ends up adopting the parentless child he is called out to etc. They make us feel good about life without any action being taken to ensure good outcomes for the millions of incidents where that doesn't happen.
I can't help that this is how this story is developing, the celebrities and politicians praising his bravery in telling his story, the home office deciding to take no action against the knighted Olympic champion. Would that be the same outcome if he was working a minimum wage job struggling to feed his family, or is the more realistic outcome that the authorities would pile pressure into his life and try to break him.
Before I actually read the story and learned of the whole sad affair I did wonder if he was trying to announce something to deflect further drug allegations.
While this is a tragic tale with a sort of fairytale ending, I'm not sure, sadly, it'll actually impress the British public overall. Suspect half the country will recognise the adversity and root harder for him, and the DM half will double down on their 'doubts'.
So basically I don't think it would have the effect, overall, you're imagining.
If he wanted to do something to deflect attention, he'd set up athletics facilities for impoverished people in inner-city London or something that everyone can get behind.
If everything was as described in the programme (which was obviously edited) then someone in Social Services has some serious questions to answer. The "foster" parents he was placed with was the sister of the man he had been living with (the sister in law of the person who trafficked him to the UK). This seems to have been on the basis he called her his "aunt". Now it seems he got lucky and the aunt was decent, but neither he nor his aunt described any kind of process to establish suitability or mentioned reviews after that. I know it was a long time ago, but it wasn't that long ago, safeguarding wasn't an alien concept and likely some of those people are still working. Obviously, time, age, language barriers, perspective means that there might be another side to it that wasn't shown but it gave me zero confidence that if a teenager spoke out today that the council would act correctly.
Surely if Farah was doping, he'd have got some stuff that made him better at marathons we he gave that a go!
How is the UK going to find homes, infrastructure and jobs to absorb the potentially almost infinite number of people who could come here?
a lot of folk who live there would go somewhere else and make space for the newcomers.
id guess that not many folk who aren’t from the 3rd world dream of moving to the UK.
How is the UK going to find homes, infrastructure and jobs to absorb the potentially almost infinite number of people who could come here?
I could free up some space if this damp rock in the North Atlantic was to be overrun. NZ or Tasmania has always appealled.
Many people who fled to the UK have done very well and added to the fabric of our society.
Farrookh Bulsara is one, otherwise known as Freddie Mercury.
Now it seems he got lucky and the aunt was decent, but neither he nor his aunt described any kind of process to establish suitability or mentioned reviews after that
While (even apparent) family placements are always given priority, I can assure you that even back then, checks and reviews were expected to happen.
Assuming the social worker could fit it in amongst their other conflicting priorities, due to high caseloads resulting from vacancies and high staff turnover, as people realise that being wrong regardless of what you do isn't much of a career choice.
"How is the UK going to find homes, infrastructure and jobs to absorb the potentially almost infinite number of people who could come here?"
By building homes and infrastructure using the taxes they pay when they come over and fill all the job vacancies that are vacant owing to us kicking a million people out over the last few years.
Might even cause some economic growth.