The UK and French authorities need to get their acts together and identity genuine minors in Calais, and allocate between countries accordingly. This country has the resources to transport them in, and those that come, should be allowed to do so in a calm and discreet manner without shining spotlights on the poor kids. This QPR move is too political for me, and reaks of Uncle Tony's PR gain.
Anyone who looks at the places these people are coming from will see that they're evading serious harm. Why not ask how much good can be done rather than obsessing about a few people two months into their 18th year getting through. There's always a bit of PR involved but this brings attention and publicity to an important situation. The more people pitch in the more people will feel comfortable to come out as supporters of the cause. You get a lot of flack for being supportive of any kind of immigration.
No doubt the club means well. Insofar as the UK wishes to help those in difficult positions across the world, it is hard to see how those in France should have priority. For all the fulminations of Hammersmith Council, France is not Syria/Sudan/Afghanistan. Any gesture made here is for the benefit of France, which would otherwise have the burden of caring for these young people (I overlook the possibility that they are 18 or over). I favour collaborating with France, including spontaneous assistance with her problems; it is sensible to work together on this issue. However, ways of helping the French that reward young people who have travelled illegally and spurned the option of an asylum claim in France (or the other countries through which they are likely to have travelled), giving incentives to others to do the same, may not be the most constructive ones. Sadly if understandably, relations desperate to improve their lot are likely to be using their under-age relations as a bridgehead through which they can later claim entry to the UK ahead of more deserving cases. Abetting this is misguided.
Perhaps he should have done it under the Air Asia banner. Or perhaps the gesture to Hammersmith and Fulham is about Old Oak......or perhaps we could just take something on face value. Even an inveterate cynic like me gets tired of looking for the angle and self interest in everything.
Right after losing at home to Brentford. Genuine U18's & Vulnerable adults need rehoming as do a portion of refugees, but the governments of the UK & France should be capable of sorting this as they are responsible through lack of action for the jungles very existence. Football clubs shouldn't need to use their assets there far more readily available, it also sets an unusual precedent that I'm not sure how I feel about. International law does state however that all "refugees" should register as such in the first safe country they flee to. So are we doing the right thing for the wrong reasons or the wrong thing for the right ones? All a bit of a distraction isn't it.
Good move by the club whatever their motivations. I take it at face value, humanity before everything else.
Well done QPR, there is always room for more compassion in this country, I hope that other clubs will follow suit. You should be rightly proud of your club.
Of course I'm a self confessed hypocrite. Still it might be a genuine, well intentioned gesture even if some don't like the intention.
It's a very good gesture by the club and probably something that is more easily done by a small group like our owners than the bureaucrats of government would muster quickly (it would probably take a few weeks to figure out how to get fleeced by some third party or another for similar transport). You could say that it's the problem for government to sort out but then you could say the same about all charitable donations.
Then they could of done it at anytime and kept it quite ... Not the uk way It's the French way on a daily basis they deal with this and have been for years I saw a nun just this weekend at my local chestnut festival with a group of Syrian children. She didn't seem to shout about anything nor was there demands to the public It's pure unconditional love and support I admire not a tailored Peres release for CSR
I guarantee that if this happens then a record of events will be recorded and used to gain public exposure for the club. How the reconigtion of good deeds is handled in the uk has become sick and in fact is underneath just an industry How many charity shops do you have in your town? Most serve as stores for people buying and selling in eBay We televise how many events each year? Think of the combined marketing bill for that How many charities donations are tax write offs I'll stick with my own methods and greatly admire those who do things unconditionally driven by pure love and righteous morals Most of any problem you soak up in the uk is solvable at the times it occurs Help and action means just in my book
I can see the logic in your argument but actually things are really not good for a lot of these refugees who have made it into Europe/France. Their conditions are awful, there's disease and malnutrition, mental health issues coming from what they've seen or from other parts of their lives and they cant access good medical care all because they're not able to settle in any way. On top of that, they may have had to leave behind documentation and so are 'lost' or non-existent on paper.
