TM Trotter

Basically this. I'm a millennial. I won't be getting a state pension til my late 70s, hurrah! I'm relying upon wave upon wave of migrants from Albania, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Mozambique to prop up our economy for the next 40 years so I can claim my free bus pass 👍

I didn't use boomers as a pejorative fella - it's a genuine economic issue that's only just beginning to bite. Hell of a lot of people needing pensions, far more than ever before due to the population spike, and without immigration, there's not the workforce to fund it. ------- From the point of the UK, immigration *was* being controlled rather well. I went stats hunting, and found this: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-relating-to-the-illegal-migration-bill Within the most recent spreadsheet, there's a record of the numbers of migrants detected crossing the Channel on small boats. I've included a screen grab, which shows the point when the numbers of migrants really escalates. An average of about 300 people a quarter in 2018 and 2019 suddenly becomes a whopping 2,028 in Q2 2020. Two things happened in the lead up to those stats: Covid lockdown and Brexit. We could perhaps attribute the former to some of this (reduced policing in France, for example), but take a look at how the numbers rise even more dramatically as Covid restrictions start to ease (mid to late 2021)... leaving our European neighbours to wave through thousands and thousands of people desperate for a better life. Under the EU, the British border was essentially on the beaches of Northern France. The safety net the UK had, the obligation for EU countries to not allow migrants to move on to other EU countries, has gone away, and boy, how the people-traffickers have taken advantage. I'd love to see a Venn diagram of the most passionately vocal people in favour of "stopping the boats", overlaid with people who voted to Leave. The sad irony is, it wouldn't shock me if the diagram was a great big letter O. Britons were lied to.

I back immigration, and anyone with a basic understanding of economics should. Someone needs to work to fund the baby boomers' black hole pension pot, the NHS, social care, etc. And we've got a decreasing birth rate - even with stats including births of people who have immigrated here. Someone needs to backfill the underpaid menial jobs that our capitalist society demands. British people don't want them, and Europeans can't get them because of Brexit. See: fruit picking, abattoir work, as an example. Someone needs to backfill the skilled jobs that British people are leaving as countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and those in the EU will pay much more. See: doctors, engineers. Revisit the (government figures sourced) tweet Cheese posted. Processing asylum claims properly would enable those with genuine need to stay here, pay tax, and contribute to the economy. Letting them stay in limbo does nothing for the economy, and simply serves to drive a wedge in society. It's a political choice made by those in power the past 14 years. Meanwhile you have groups blaming Starmer for the whole shitshow over the past week, while those same people say "this has been building for years". And they don't see the link.

I'm mostly curious why Casino calling them "daft cunts" just wasn't enough for Mounts. It's a passing comment, a fair enough one - but he's leapt on it. Pretty foul behaviour, for certain, but come on, it's the behaviour like you see from yoof on away days across the country. Pathetic billy big'uns trying to look hard in front of their mates. See, if I were going to suggest someone upgraded a description to include the word "scum", I'd reserve it for mobs of people who pull strangers out of cars and beat them up because of their skin colour, or try to set fire to hotels with people stuck inside due to the baying crowd surrounding them. Or maybe that's the kind of thing daft cunts do?

"Scum" based on what - expressing a political opinion, loitering in groups, wearing masks and criticising the media? Even a naughty word or two on camera, oh my! At its most base, (and ignoring for one second the arson attacks, the looting, the kicking Asian women in the face), isn't that exactly what the beered-up gammons in Our Tommy's cult have been doing all weekend? So go on, why are the people in this particular video "scum"? Be honest.

It might have been said on here before - but i get the impression bringing in Arfield is to help with exactly this. I could be wrong, he might be completely spineless. But I see the logic in getting an experienced, vocal presence who can actually play (sorry Cameron, that was never you).

Interesting , that's the first prediction table I've seen that puts us above moneybags Birmingham. Although, we came very close last season, are improving the squad smartly to fit alongside the a core group - while Birmingham have spent big, it is a lot of new players to 'bed in' to a group of players accustomed to losing. As an aside, I cant see Stockport or Charlton finishing that low - I think both will provide serious competition around the top 6.

The rhetoric used across social media and in videos at protests suggests that there is a common group of people who expressing their concern about immigration. The "indigenous English", the "British patriots", etc. Define it however you want, but if that group of people doesn't fall under the word "community", then if nothing else, it makes a complete fallacy of everything the protesters are saying. The language very much implies an us vs them mentality; telling people to go back home, that England is for the English, that people from other countries aren't welcome to live here, live here in "our" community. I've got a horse in this race - I'm a third generation immigrant with a very un-English name. A bit like a lot of those Asian blokes running through Bolton today shouting God is Great, probably because they're fed up of being scapegoated for everything wrong in this society. Across Southport, Sunderland, Rotherham, and even moreso on the anonymous car crash that is X and TikTok, their culture/choice of sky fairy is being linked with the disgusting actions of a British person with Rwandan heritage (and no links to Islam). I'd be fucking fuming too - the assertion is as downright ridiculous as claiming all blokes who were adults in the 70s are nonces because Jimmy Saville was one. The difference is, on a personal level, I'm not being told by large groups of people to go home, that I'm not welcome, that I'm not English. Neither were my parents - and while my grandparents were treated dismissively when they first arrived, it was never the outpouring of hatred that certain sections of society are chucking out at immigrants over the past few days. But then, my family are white...

I do appreciate your sentiment on the whole, and I'm not having a go at you specifically. But, perhaps if the 'vast majority' of people who are peacefully protesting their concerns about immigration are, in turn, concerned about reputational damage to their cause - they should be calling out/self-policing the extremist members of their community who are choosing to riot. After all, that argument is usually thrown at the entire Muslim community when one of their own does something vile.

To be fair to your mate, I can think of 115 reasons it could all go tits up! As an aside, I'm also in the flip-flop-every-5-minutes camp of tomorrow either being like the PJT, or a crushing, horrible disappointment.

Baffling, just seen. Why hold these back when Wembley were on about flogging North to South (presumably for the TV cameras)? Can't see there being a rush for £86 tickets from people who are undecided with a couple of days to go??

Enjoyed the little change to Randell Williams last night. He's not quite got the cult status Wilbraham has, but his name does scan quite nicely!

Phewwww. Never easy is it?! Love football, love this club. Amazing atmosphere that, haven't seen anything of the sort in a loooong time. A privilege to be part of it. #ClappersIN

And there's me thinking that football terraces are just proving grounds for future Poets Laureate.

Well done to anyone who got one. No joy here, every seat I tried to pick was gone. Feel particularly sorry for the likes of Piemon who have done the miles and still got diddled by the fastest finger first lottery.

I'd love an early goal at Peterborough, just to set Derby panicking. There's no reason why the unthinkable can't happen. I'm a #shitfan sunning myself in Italy this weekend (booked after the Shrewsbury game with my football hating missus when all hope was lost). Am I getting on WanderersTV Saturday on the absolute miniscule off chance? Fuck yes I am.

Some howlers for Dion there today - hopefully he's got it out of his system now. If Nlundulu had missed those chances there'd be effigies burned in the street!

He's going to score the winner at Wembley. Got Wilbraham-level status all over him.

Hoooo boy. That's an amazing result. Roll on Saturday!!!

I agree. I do wonder, barring a minor miracle (which in my eyes, is still on), how they'd fare in the Championship. I see them doing more a Rotherham / Sheff Weds than an Ipswich, for example. I honestly believe, if we get there, we'd be better suited with opposition playing more open and attacking rather than what Stevenage and the like serve up at home. Derby? Shithousing plodders, nothing more, nothing less. But annoyingly good at this level.

Sickened

It's not officially over, but it's very close now. Gutting. Only positive from today is Barnsley and Peterborough both losing at home to relegation fodder. That said, I wouldn't fancy Lincoln in the playoffs, in the form they're in.

Superb, to a man. Lovely performance and result to take into derby. Evatt Out.

Long game, I'd guess. Collins, 26, fairly high ability ceiling: potential resale value. Gayle, 34, similar wages most likely, on the way down, no resale value. We've already got a couple falling into that bracket (Bod, Jerome), why get a third? As an aside, I'll plait shit if Jerome isn't given a coaching contract next year. The days of giving journeymen huge final pay days is hopefully long behind us.

Crumbs, another poor result, another time for meltdown on Wanderers Ways. Another late equaliser, and its still in our hands. KTF. We're going up... (Or summat. I went watching Bradford with my mate in the away end at Accrington so who knows. They were 3 up at HT, so I banished some demons at Accy at least.)