Barlow's Beef: We shall fight on the beaches ..

vicbarlowmerlin

Sorry for my digression into national news but the sight of 3,000 migrants storming the Euro Tunnel in a frantic bid to get to the UK fills me with dread. This is more than a catastrophe waiting to happen...it's a disaster of our own making.

The massive number of desperate individuals swarming Calais didn't just materialise over night, this crisis has been building for the past 18 months. At one point our own immigration officers were so overwhelmed by the number of illegal migrants arriving in the UK they released them on condition they attend a local police station the following day. (I wonder how that worked out?)

The growing storm made no impression on the EU who snoozed on oblivious.

The French government warned Mr Cameron the UK had become the destination of choice for unscrupulous gangs and organised people traffickers. Thus creating the tsunami of chaos at Calais.

The British government prevaricated while the crisis grew exponentially paralysing trade and transport.

Last week that crisis became anarchy as thousands of immigrants stormed the Eurotunnel ignoring all attempts at restraint.

Considering the phenomenal cost to taxpayers of the European Parliament one would have expected some united strategy to deal with the situation. Agreeing quotas for member states to spread the burden of accommodating those in genuine need would have been wise.

Ensuring those admitted stayed within the boundaries of their host nation rather than wandering freely throughout Europe was clearly required.

A united strategy for dealing with traffickers was an absolute essential.

What the EU Parliament actually did was argue with itself leaving those countries on the front line struggling with an escalating catastrophe.

As Churchill once proclaimed the best decision to make in any crisis is the right one, the second best decision is the wrong one and the worst is to make no decision at all.

Well, my friends, The Lion has finally stirred. Mr Cameron has a plan to deal with this crisis. The French will not be left to stand alone while their ports and passenger terminals are overrun by traffickers and criminal gangs. Britain is made of sterner stuff.

The British Prime Minister has spoken and no foes shall stay His Might (sorry...I got a bit carried away there).

The Dunkirk spirit has been revived.

On this occasion we will not be sending an expeditionary force. But, in a show of strength and determination the British Government will despatch...wait for it... some fencing and a few dogs.

Criminal gangs around the world are quaking in their Timberlands.

And still the EU snoozes on.

(When's that referendum?)

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of wilmslow.co.uk.

Tags:
Barlow's Beef, Vic Barlow
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Simon Worthington
Tuesday 4th August 2015 at 12:15 pm
Not soon enough VIc. Just hope all those who believe the (fairy) story that we will lose 3 million jobs have come to their senses by then and we can rid ourselves of the european millstone.
DELETED ACCOUNT
Wednesday 5th August 2015 at 1:25 pm
Vic - the French have effectively relinquished Calais to economic migrants. They now want Britain to help. I am reminded that for much of our history Britain owned Calais - and for a very good reason.
Andrew Backhouse
Thursday 6th August 2015 at 7:47 pm
If any of us lived in a country like Syria or Eritrea, and spoke English, where would we want to go, given what is happening in those countries?
We may not like the migrants but we are short of people who want to be carers at low pay, and many of them have a good work ethic and often good skills too. (We have an ageing population needing more carers and less young with the interest or skills.) So maybe we need to do more to help their countries shape up (how?) or accept people with the numerous skills we need?

Other countries are getting far more - in Lebanon, 1/4 of the population are apparently refugees now, there are over a million in Turkey, yet we have problems with twenty thousand, who must be the most determined of the lot. I think I would agree with what Vic says about Europe wide quotas - we need to consider the wider picture and be more charitable. Once upon a time, we called ourselves a Christian country - and I think we have let that slip. Or have we forgotten we are the descendants of migrants, refugees, and conquerers?
Ryan Dance
Thursday 6th August 2015 at 9:17 pm
Vic - i thought you were more intelligent than this? Sensationalist clap trap gabbing headlines by the red tops!

Go and do some proper research from a reputable publisher (OECD etc) before you post one sided articles on wilmslow.co.uk

The so called migrant crisis is unlikely to be solved by a referendum Vic.............

Jackie - what a ridiculous statement to make!
Vic Barlow
Friday 7th August 2015 at 3:08 pm
I often believe people to be more intelligent than they prove themselves to be.

Disappointing Isn't it?
Ryan Dance
Friday 7th August 2015 at 6:29 pm
I quote "a disaster of our own making"......intellect and understanding at its best!
Lauren Houghton
Wednesday 12th August 2015 at 1:20 pm
We have far less migrants coming to Britain than most other comparable European countries. For example, around 12million people have been displaced since the conflict in Syria. Britain has given homes to a grand total of 187 of them at the last count. Germany has taken 30,000.

In the first three months of the year we had around 100 asylum applications for every 1m of the population. Germany had 905 per million. Hungary had 3,332 per million. "Agreeing quotas for member states to spread the burden" doesn't really seem like such a good deal for Britain if we're trying to keep out asylum seekers. Which is probably why when such a scheme has been discussed by the EU, the UK have refused to join in.

What is even more important to remember is that these are real people who are fleeing the horrors of war, poverty and persecution, and what are we, a supposedly forward-thinking, civilised country, doing? Putting up bigger fences and sending dogs after them...