8 hours ago, bolty58 said:

If you don't want to see dead people washed up on the beach then stop the fucking boats (or at least vote for someone who will).

Farage is like a Bolton right back. The longer he spends on the bench, the better player he becomes without being in Government, the better he is at stopping the boats.

1 hour ago, Jol_BWFC said:

Farage is like a Bolton right back. The longer he spends on the bench, the better player he becomes without being in Government, the better he is at stopping the boats.

I'd imagine Farage and crew have plans that much like his idol Donald Trump don't pay heed to such piffling things at the law and common decency.

16 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

I'd imagine Farage and crew have plans that much like his idol Donald Trump don't pay heed to such piffling things at the law and common decency.

Or reality.

16 hours ago, royal white said:

You didn’t. And if you want to go back before Farage and social Media were even a thing it was probably a lot worse

A fair point

Definitely seems worse than it has been in the past couple of decades

16 hours ago, royal white said:

You didn’t. And if you want to go back before Farage and social Media were even a thing it was probably a lot worse

I'm old enough to remember a time without social media, mobile phones and all day news channels (there was only BBC1 and ITV when I was growing up).

Yes there was racism, homophobia and wives being battered such the same as we still have today but it was all pretty much localised, you couldn't see or hear the instant videos and views you can today, there were no internet, Youtube, or GB News type influencers pedalling 'fake' or biased news to the masses, no Donald Trump behaviour for people to mimic, everything we knew was off the Telly, Radio (Radio Caroline was perhaps the only anti-establishment movement going back then) or you read it in the following days Daily Mirror (The Sun wasn't even a tabloid newspaper until 1969).

So news didn't travel that fast back then, wasn't presented in such a biased or inflammatory way, you couldn't arrange instant gatherings as no one had mobile phones or even pagers back then.

People probably had the same anger and hatred as they do today but it couldn't be harnessed. manipulated, focused and directed almost instantly as can be done these days, so people had the time to talk it out down the pub, hit the wife, kick the cat and calm down or whatever relieved there pent up energy, rather than go online and join their 'echo chamber' get stoked up even more, get told where the local refugees were being housed and rush out to set their local refugee hostel hotel on fire and chuck a few wheelie bins at the police.

So no, I certainly don't believe it to have been a lot worse at all.

Saying that though I am excluding the Irish lads blowing each other up in Northern Ireland.

Some off the comments posted on social media pages wouldn't be spoken in mixed company never mind broadcast for the entire world to see. They might appear on 4chan etc but not under a post from BBC news.

On 31/07/2026 at 11:32, Sweep said:

They do, I went once, it was fucking grim. I then clearly didn't learn my lesson, and went to Tunisia a few years later, and that was even grimmer. Most of the hotel went down with food poisoning (cryptosporidium) - I didn't start getting ill until I got on the plane home, and spent most of the flight in the bog, shitting out my intestines.

By the way, when back in the UK, the Doctor told me that cryptosporidium is basically caused by the ingestion of fecal matter. I was rough as fuck for about a month

It's put me right off North Africa, which is a shame as I always fancied Egypt, but no chance now

I got that in Turkey

Whole holiday got refunded. 18k

Nice

56 minutes ago, Casino said:

I got that in Turkey

Whole holiday got refunded. 18k

Nice

you spent 18k on a holiday?

23 minutes ago, Zico said:

you spent 18k on a holiday?

£8k on the family holiday, £10k on the hair and teeth.

12 hours ago, Jol_BWFC said:

Farage is like a Bolton right back. The longer he spends on the bench, the better player he becomes without being in Government, the better he is at stopping the boats.

And you're like last Conservative government. Fiddling whilst Rome burns. Time to give someone else a go.

11 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

I'd imagine Farage and crew have plans that much like his idol Donald Trump don't pay heed to such piffling things at the law and common decency.

Are these what have got us to where we are today? Invaded?

Still, it's only impacting your access to services, decent high streets and other things so why should I care?

1 hour ago, bolty58 said:

Are these what have got us to where we are today? Invaded?

Still, it's only impacting your access to services, decent high streets and other things so why should I care?

Issues to access to services are caused by years of underfunding and privatisation. And the high street has been fucked by internet shopping and the big supermarkets.

Nothing to do with your fellow immigrants.

I'm not sure we can blame the "fall of the High Street" on immigrants can we?

I know some pine for the 50s and 60s, when everything was wonderful, and you could pop to the local greengrocers for 3lb of Spuds (none of this foreign metric rubbish...) but the demise of the High Street is a totally separate issue to immigration - the main drivers being that the public fell in love with huge supermarkets, and decided that price was more important that quality, and then the final nail, being internet shopping

8 hours ago, bolty58 said:

And you're like last Conservative government. Fiddling whilst Rome burns. Time to give someone else a go.

Farage is doing enough fiddling already.

Worth bearing in mind you were the man advocate of the last Conservative Government on here.

7 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

Issues to access to services are caused by years of underfunding and privatisation. And the high street has been fucked by internet shopping and the big supermarkets.

Nothing to do with your fellow immigrants.

What fucking dogshit. Your head is in the sand. Were those beads silica based by any chance?

39 minutes ago, Sweep said:

I'm not sure we can blame the "fall of the High Street" on immigrants can we?

So you would contend that the high street has not been populated by illegal immigrants with criminal intent.

You're off your rocker along with plenty more on here it seems.

5 minutes ago, Ani said:

Farage is doing enough fiddling already.

Worth bearing in mind you were the man advocate of the last Conservative Government on here.

Absolutely. Always a case of better blue than red. Unfortunately they became a pale imitation of the red bastards.

Yet to see Farage found guilty of anything but I am sure they will concoct anything to find a way. They don't like it up 'em.

36 minutes ago, Sweep said:

I'm not sure we can blame the "fall of the High Street" on immigrants can we?

I know some pine for the 50s and 60s, when everything was wonderful, and you could pop to the local greengrocers for 3lb of Spuds (none of this foreign metric rubbish...) but the demise of the High Street is a totally separate issue to immigration - the main drivers being that the public fell in love with huge supermarkets, and decided that price was more important that quality, and then the final nail, being internet shopping

Do not forget the massive retail parks and how the High Street has moved out of town. Trafford Centre aline gets over 30m visitors a year. That has probably impacted city centres more than High Streets but all part of how towns and cities have changed.

Our little town has a decent thriving High Street no green grocers or newsagents but all the others seem to be going strong. Butchers, sports shop (school uniforms) travel agents, cafes, bookies, even a handy man shop selling all types of tat.

50 minutes ago, bolty58 said:

So you would contend that the high street has not been populated by illegal immigrants with criminal intent.

You're off your rocker along with plenty more on here it seems.

Currently in bury town centre it's mainly populated by chain stores and empty units.

You have no idea what the average British high street is populated with.

1 hour ago, Sweep said:

1 hour ago, bolty58 said:

So you would contend that the high street has not been populated by illegal immigrants with criminal intent.

You're off your rocker along with plenty more on here it seems.

I'm not sure we can blame the "fall of the High Street" on immigrants can we?

I know some pine for the 50s and 60s, when everything was wonderful, and you could pop to the local greengrocers for 3lb of Spuds (none of this foreign metric rubbish...) but the demise of the High Street is a totally separate issue to immigration - the main drivers being that the public fell in love with huge supermarkets, and decided that price was more important that quality, and then the final nail, being internet shopping

the high street in horwich has been infested with dodgy shops of various types

but only because they're empty and available

it's no coincidence that the largest retail park in the UK is also just down the road

thing is

the guy behind it all is a legal immigrant from Albania who's been here years

10 hours ago, bolty58 said:

And you're like last Conservative government. Fiddling whilst Rome burns. Time to give someone else a go.

Which were run by the Next Thatcher in May (your words) and the next Churchill in Johnson (your words)

Picked two shit horses there

Now you're saying Farage

More u-turns than Starmer

1 hour ago, Ani said:

Do not forget the massive retail parks and how the High Street has moved out of town. Trafford Centre aline gets over 30m visitors a year. That has probably impacted city centres more than High Streets but all part of how towns and cities have changed.

Our little town has a decent thriving High Street no green grocers or newsagents but all the others seem to be going strong. Butchers, sports shop (school uniforms) travel agents, cafes, bookies, even a handy man shop selling all types of tat.

Our local Town Council is very good at promoting it and regularly holds events to get people into the centre and it works

There's a beach for kids as its school holidays which is popular and they promote a street each week where the local businesses set out stalls and that's popular as well

The local MP is very active promoting businesses and the local football team, what you would want

But he's Labour and the local staunch Tories don't like it, accusing him of freebies, when people didn't like the previous Tory MP who got done for paying for speeding fines on the company credit card

2 hours ago, bolty58 said:

So you would contend that the high street has not been populated by illegal immigrants with criminal intent.

You're off your rocker along with plenty more on here it seems.

The High Street was on its arse before the Vape Shops and Barbers arrived. If it wasn't for them now, we would see pretty much nothing but empty units.

Granted the influx of such places hasnt helped, but it's not the cause, more a symptom I'd say

27 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Our local Town Council is very good at promoting it and regularly holds events to get people into the centre and it works

There's a beach for kids as its school holidays which is popular and they promote a street each week where the local businesses set out stalls and that's popular as well

The local MP is very active promoting businesses and the local football team, what you would want

But he's Labour and the local staunch Tories don't like it, accusing him of freebies, when people didn't like the previous Tory MP who got done for paying for speeding fines on the company credit card

Indeed, it's one of the better town centres around. I had a coffee next to the beach the other week.

15 hours ago, Zico said:

you spent 18k on a holiday?

IN TURKEY