[The Red Arrow]

That journalist has an extremely likeable and relatable way of speaking and putting his point across. Never seen him before but I'll be reading more of his stuff now.

Yes, must be a real effort to remain rational and not rant. More power to him.

The cost thing (if true, let's say it is) really gets my goat. So often cost is the ugly reason used to excuse people being shits: 'it costs too much, we need to spend for ourselves, charity starts at home' etc. But then emotively-powerful (in a negative way) policies, like the detention centres, end up costing more, ON TOP of being morally repugnant.

Just fucking OWN your hatred.

Do they know the difference between cost and paying the price?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Just fucking OWN your hatred.

This

[Safe_Timber_Man]

I guess it's the same sort of tactic used by The Sun et al when ranting about the Foreign Aid budget. Give the big scary sounding figure but don't give the percentage of GDP.

[cycloon]

I guess it's the same sort of tactic used by The Sun et al when ranting about the Foreign Aid budget. Give the big scary sounding figure but don't give the percentage of GDP.

Precisely, but there's also the real sneaky bit, which is 'don't explain the cost of a ruthless policy, especially one that makes people feel good about themselves'. To boot, you should also pivot from 'money is everything' to 'somethings are worth more than money' when queried.

The 'things worth more than money' are never principles (let alone principles to be universally applied), they're, despite claims otherwise, vindictive, closed-minded feelings of savage justice.

[bluebellnutter]

Plus the "charity begins at home" line tends to come from people who also believe you should cut benefits and stop actually doing stuff at home too.

[Andy McDandy]

It's dressing up not giving a shit as being all tough yet ultimately principled and making a hard choice.

[davidjay]

" Of course, I don't mind genuine refugees."

[cycloon]

What virtue drives them? What sense of positive human flourishing?

There has to be something there. People don't do things for fear, they do things to protect X against the feared.

So why are they so incapable of recognising the basic complexity of it all: of the specifics, the stats, the figures, but also the principles and the moral/historical contexts - I don't care if they think differently in a political sense, nor that nobody can truly grasp these things in their entirety without lots of study... I care that they don't see any complexity at all. It's terrifying.

[Andy McDandy]

"I got mine, fuck everyone else".

One could charitably say that the early Thatcherites had a well meaning intention - to empower people to break away from dead end jobs for life, to take risks, get into new technology, to take ownership. At a push, anyway.

That's all gone. The drawbridge is up and fuck everyone left outside.

[MisterMuncher]

Plus the "charity begins at home" line tends to come from people who also believe you should cut benefits and stop actually doing stuff at home too.

You can't help the Syrians, because there are children on the streets in London, ffs.
You can't help the children on the streets in London, because there's kids dying in Syria, ffs.

And thus, you too can not give a fuck about anyone.

[Kreuzberger]

In my own naive little way, I had quite hight hopes for this half of the decade. An increasingly unwired digital planet, democratised micro-finance putting fuel in the tank of the developing world, Paris having been signed and being voiced in national and international policy.

In short, I was optimistic. And, I don't for one second believe that I was alone in that.

Then the bad guys spotted our weakness. It didn't take much, did it?

[The Red Arrow]

Certainly not alone, old chum. Neither are we alone in not being the rolling over and dying type.