EU and UK politics [OT]

[LurkerJ]

Tober said:

When it comes to civil unrest/uprising. I think we need to distinguish between the fuel and the spark.

Usually when something like this happens people zoom in on the spark. Media certainly does. In the UK situation it's pointed out that the cause is that populist made claims that angered people in such a way, that it got out of hand. In other words it's all the blame of the populist rhetoric.

But the rootcause is not the spark. The rootcause is that the tinderbox was fueled up. If this spark did not happen, another one would. Perhaps a week later, a month, a year. But it would have happened regardless.

Almost in every case it's that people believe they are disenfranchised and left behind by their (elected) government, is what is what is causing the tinderbox to fuel up. This usually takes years. People express their concerns. Government does not listen either by choice or ineptitude. Temperature is rising. This is a leadership problem.

And then a spark happens and it's chaos.

To address this in a meaningful way is to look at the fuel. Why is the temperature is rising.

I'm Dutch, strong population growth in the past years is putting a lot of stress on our systems. Most of that growth is from migration. Housing cannot keep up, especially in the affordable sectors. Making it more and more difficult for low/medium income groups to find a home they can buy or rent. Waiting list for social housing is getting out of control.

Migration centers to handle asylum request are overburdened, making any procedure take ages. Many more are build throughout the country for economic refugees to wait for those procedures to happen, often against the will of the local residents. Small crimes, like theft are increasing in these areas where these migration centers are located. Residents feel less safe.

There is nothing Xenophobic or racist to point out the causality between these problems and the strong influx of population growth through migration. To address these problems is to have an adult conversation, not to label people with genuine concerns Xenophobic or racist. To deny the people to be listened to and refuse to take action is what fuels the tinderbox. Again, this is a leadership problem.

Over a decade of voting for less migration policies but no one gets what they voted for. Fanciful people on the left seeing no problems with this and have no solutions to offer, just follow Angela Merkel's "we can do this" nonsense without actually telling us how we can actually do it. (even though I am not really sure if these people actually mean what they say or just being partisan, Biden's "right wing" border policy was endorsed by the same people who lectured us on open borders for 10 years now). 

Take housing for example, we need millions of new homes to keep up with the current demand without accounting for the ridiculously high net migration. Let's look at Labour solution, 1.5 million new homes by 2029, so 300k homes every year. Simply not enough. But if you realise the pressing need for much higher numbers for new homes and you can't build them or force anyone to build them, then you have to acknowledge the consequences of this in the context of accommodating over 500k migrants a year.

Hey, the left is in power now, by all means, tax the rich and solve the issue your way and show us how "we can do it". The 300k target a year is the same one the Tories' set out but never achieved, net migration for 2022 and 2023 was over 700k per year, simply any narrative about Labour's housing plans solving any issues is a total lie because the numbers don't add up. Don't get me wrong, much better than what we had under the tories but still totally disingenuous. With how expensive housing is bankrupting the young and depriving them the chance of living a decent life no matter how higher the wages go, the dismissive attitude towards these concerns is incredibly selfish.  

Couple this measly target of new homes with Labour's plans to move illegal migrants from high end hotels and barges to rented houses around the country paid for by the government (aka tax money), and soon enough, the locals looking for rent will have more competition from the government that's trying to house illegal migrants, as if renting right now isn't a nightmare, soon you'll add 50k illegal migrants a year to the competition (without accounting for the ones already housed in hotels). 

Any rhetoric to accommodate massive number of migrants that isn't coupled with clear plans on how those migrants will be provided with housing and NHS services is a fanciful "we can do this" attitude that is detached from the struggles of the improvised communities around the country, and a slap in the face for any discussion based on numbers and stats, aka facts. I would love for Labour to prove me wrong, but they're not going based on what they told us so far.