http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/3466471.stm

absolutely awful. this is the sort of thing that's going on up and down the country all the time. illegal and unofficial workers being exploited. A legal route for workers to enter the country would help stop this sort of human trafficking

Its not an issue of illegal immigrants etc, it is a case of criminally poor forethought and a total lack of appreciation for the dangers of being in a tidal area.

someone needs to be put on a murder charge for that

There already is a legal route for workers to enter the country. Problem is if everything was above board and legal they'd have to be paid minimum wage, which is what the 'employers' of these poor fuckers are trying to avoid in the first place.

Hans Off spouted:
someone needs to be put on a murder charge for that

Yeah, the bloody idiot who got them into the country.

Hans, it's a combination of both. If you're playing it above board you have to realise that there are safety issues and to look out for people. If you are going to pay people an income that somebody simply can't live on in Britain, the sort of pay that is easily available somewhere else for legitimate workers, chances are you don't regard them as real people and won't lift a finger to protect them.

The attitude of "plenty more where they came from" doesn't help, and nor does the relentless demonisation of these people:

Bogus News Report:
An illegal immigrant brushed a fly away from his face yesterday.

The Home Secretary, Mr Blunkett, condemned the practice as barbaric, and totally out of keeping with British tradition.

"The humble house-fly performs an essential role in the ecosystem of this country", said Mr Blunkett. "People who come to this country fail to understand this".

A rally will be organised this Saturday by Flying for Britain to support the role of flying insects in the lie of this nation. An estimated 345,000 people are expected to attend. "Keep your fucking hands off our flies", said Nick Griffin, one of the organisers.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Howard, failed to rule out a policy stance in favour of shooting illegal immigrants on sight. He dismissed recent studies indicating that brushing away flies does not harm the insects. "Absolute nonsense. It's time this government faced up to what is going on in Britain".

It's all very easy to mock, Cor_innit. And frankly these bogus news reports that lefites like you insist on putting up only make you look childish.

The facts are:-

1. there are plenty more of them, and there is a willing private sector only to willing to help them come here. This industry earns money for the country, and in my view the only question is how to regulate and tax the flow of illegal immigrants properly.

2. who will do these jobs if the flow of illegal immigrants is dried up? Can you imagine the workshy ethnic minorities doing this?

3. It's no good moaning on that illegal immigrants need a "legal route", Where the hell would that leave us? If they're legal they can't be blackmailed - the supply of prostitutes would disappear at a stroke once their fear is removed.

Come on Brausen,

1. Yes there are plenty of them. An industry which fails to factor in labour costs is ot much of an industry, frankly. What other "costs" are they cutting? I think they take more out of society than they contribute to it, hence my opinion that they are parasites. I'd love to see you quantify your claim about earning money for the country (esp. in nett terms).

2. If you are working in the country, surely you can get a visa (which gives you certain rights under law) or the nation will accept you as a citizen with full rights. Using illegal immigrants like this follows exactly the same logic, and equal ethical squalor, to the use of slaves.

3. Jurisdictions that legalise prostitution find that the full range of people take up this work, from athletic and intelligent to strung-out junkies who rent out what they cannot sell. This latter group operate from a different kind of fear, no less real for that I suppose. It's one thing to pay someone to fuck you, it's quite another to fuck someone who is scared of the consequences of not doing so.

I made my point far better in my Coventry post in flambe. I make no apologies for the any-man's-death-diminishes-me stance I took earlier, it reflects poorly on us all that such a thing could have happened.

do you care what happened to them?

just been listening to Gaunty on BBC London and his phone in today was about these poor people. it amazed me how many racist bigots phoned up saying they didnt give a fuck because it meant 19 less immigrants in the world.

what about regard for human life? imigrant or not they were human.

my friend sent me a joke about them on saturday, to be honest im disgusted that she did.

It's a shame.

If it was people from moorcoombe that died there woiuld be an uproar.

Pretty sad really

I thought this was about shoes :S

But no, its appalling, and it should make the government look at the way they do things to protect these people more.

Although i feel sympathy for the people that lost thier lives and i agree through being exploited. It was forecast many months ago by the morecambe fishermen who have been cockle fishers for generations that this would happen. It didn't hit national headlines because it was only some
" Locals " complaining about illegal immigrants stealing thier livelihoods.

I find it ironic that people claim illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are just here for the benefits system of this country. These were desperate people who got killed working for a pitance. People who claim they are scroungers should look at the number of local people who claim benefit whilst working on the beaches at the same time. They are the real drain on the economy.

Alex - The Sun won't attack it's own readership will it?

If they had not paid these people to come here illegaly they would not be in this tangle - people in a disadvantaged country were taken advantage of, which is a disgrace. I think the problem here is more "How were these people here illegally and how were they allowed to die?"

We need to have a serious thought about how we let peole into our country, this farce is going to cost a hell of a lot of money to put right - money we should not have to spend.

We should not be held responsible for the safety of people who should not be here, and although everyone has basic human rights - i believe they gave those up when they decided to live their lives on the run.

Whilst what happened to the imigrants in Morcambe was terrible on a personal basis, for them and they're families, it still strikes me as odd that people choose the UK as a base for asylum at all.

OK, we are softer in terms of acceptance (percievably if not in reality) and maybe pay more benefits, but due to the channel and passport controls, and increased distance, it must be a lot harder to enter the UK in comparrison with other - mainland european countries, especially if you are going to do it illegally.

I think we need to start at the very bottom of the problem and ask:- if people are going to try and enter a country illegally and live on the run, why do they choose the UK in the first place, and deal with that.

the chinese workers weren't asylum seekers
i know some people don't believe it, but the UK is not the no1 destination for illegal immigrants
of those who do get to britain i think most don't choose the UK, they just get dumped there without knowing that's where they are going to end up
also the UK has very lax ID regulations compared to most other countries in europe

We should not be held responsible for the safety of people who should not be here, and although everyone has basic human rights - i believe they gave those up when they decided to live their lives on the run.

Really? So because they are persecuted in their homeland, and choosing to flee that persecution, you would choose to heap more injustice and indignity on them by classifying them as 'sub-human'?

Don't you think that these are the actions of a cowardly bully with an inferiority complex?

Bit of a delicate issue this, but can anyone tell me why the vast majority of those seeking asylum are young men.

If I were living in a country where I and my family were persecuted for our beliefs, I'd make darn sure that I got my family out with me. If it weren't possible to get us all out at once then I'd send them first and stay behind myself. I certainly wouldn't fuck off and leave em behind to take thier chances with whatever regime I was fleeing.

But maybe thats just me.

64% are men under 35 (according to these stats (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb902.pdf))

i would say that this is because young men without families are likely to be more able to get away

(of course the chinese workers weren't asylum seekers though, economic migrants are also more likely to be young men)

hugo-a-gogo spouted:
i would say that this is because young men without families are likely to be more able to get away

Everyone's got a mother and father (well, unless they been killed/scarpered). Judging by the birth rates of most of the countries these people come from (far higher than in Western Europe) they've got plenty of siblings too.

So, are these people leaving their families behind, or are they economic migrants who are lying in order improve the chances of their applications being accepted?

hugo-a-gogo spouted:
...though, economic migrants are also more likely to be young men)
Is the correlation between the proportion of asylum seekers who are young males, and the proportion of economic migrants who are young males a coincidence?

IMO those with legitimate case for asylum should be allowed to stay, unskilled economic migrants should fuck right off (we don't need to import more neds, we got enough already)

that's hardly even worth answering is it "most of the countries these people come from"
which countries?
"unless they been killed" oh, that would never happen, surely?
also religious persecution isn't the only reason for fleeing a country

but anyway, back to the economic migrants, so skilled workers can stay? i agree
now how can these 'neds' be forced into working in low paid jobs with long ours such as picking vegetable or collecting cockles

harry007 spouted:
are these people leaving their families behind, or are they economic migrants
If you have fuck-all chance of doing anything with your life, why not go somewhere where you can make a go of it? Aren't those the very sort of values everyone wants to cultivate? If you come from a culture where you support an extended family (especially in an environment of fuck-all opportunities), do you support them or do you decide: oh no, I've got too many siblings, one of them will have to go.

If I were living in a country where I and my family were persecuted for our beliefs, I'd make darn sure that I got my family out with me.
Oh yeh? What's easier: I light out for Britain/wherever by sneaking across the border at night and send some money back, or I hang around and see if I can round up a truck big enough to carry 20 of my nearest and dearest across 15 national borders in areas where hostile military forces are the least of your worries. Bollocks to that. Read The Grapes of Wrath - that's difficult enough to do in 20th century America, in less developed societies it can't even be considered.

Is the correlation between the proportion of asylum seekers who are young males, and the proportion of economic migrants who are young males a coincidence?
In all countries, men get paid more than women. In all countries, men are less likely to be raped, drawn into prostitution or otherwise diverted from doing what they set out to do. In traditional societies, a woman whose every movement cannot be accounted for is suspect (i.e. virginity at marriage is highly prized), so a woman who sets off for the great unknown is taking a bigger risk for her life than a man in a similar position.

We are going to have to accept a world in which people move about more freely. Some of us relish such a world actually, particularly if we are white first-world people. There is a lot of moaning about neds/chavs here and personally I haven't quite decided if it's best to have people doing work who want to do it as opposed to leaving it undone when people couldn't be arsed.

Down this neck of the woods you have the world famous Leigh on Sea cockle beds. For the last 18 months gangs of fucking idiots are trooping out to harvest the cockle beds with total disregard for their own safety. I kid you not, the tides around here are fucking lethal and keep the local lifeboat crew very busy all year round. Some of the gangs are Chinese and have some very nasty looking bastards bringing them to and fro to the beaches. If local people taking a morning stroll know whats going on then surely the police might be able to open their fucking eyes and wake up to what everyone else knows around these parts. They even try to sell to one of the most establised cockle firms in the country and even he tells them to get stuffed.

das boot flicker i imagine on Smell Gibson's 'Puter.