How exactly does sending asylum seekers to Rwanda ‘stop the boats’?
In today’s MetroTalk, readers wonder how sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will stop the small boats they’re being sent on.
One reader thinks that for the criminal gangs sending refugees across, it’ll be business as usual, regardless of the bill, unless, Rishi Sunak has a plan to stop the small boat gangs.
And, following on from yesterday’s discussion on one head teacher’s proposition of a 12 hour school day to banish screen addiction amongst teens – aren’t teachers are under pressure it is? Is it time for to parents step up?
Share what you think about these topics and more in the comments.
Sending refugees to Rwanda doesn't stop the criminals
Can someone explain to me how the bill to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda will ‘stop the boats’ (Metro, Tue)?
These small boats crossing the Channel are run by criminals – all they care about is to put refugees in the boat and send them over. These criminals do not care what happens to the refugees.
The fact, therefore, that these refugees will be moved permanently to Rwanda has no impact on these criminal operations.
It is like an airline – an airline’s job is to take people from one point to another. What happens after they get there is irrelevant to the airlines. Pedro, Hammersmith
What would Sir Keir Starmer do?
Whether you agree or not with Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy, there is very little sign of an alternative coming from Sir Keir’s Labour Party. A flow of boats coming across the Channel cannot be left unchallenged. They simply must cease. What is your solution to this issue? Jim, London
How will teachers cope and who will pay them?
Regarding those who applauded the headteacher’s proposal for a 12-hour school day to prevent phone-addicted pupils going home to indulge in more harmful screen time (MetroTalk, Tue).
Why should teachers be loaded with a 12-hour day? And that’s to say nothing about who will pay for these extra hours? Michael Jones, London
Teachers already dedicate a lot of extra time to grading students’ work, setting out lesson plans, etc.
And this is before you take extra duties into account, such as being a head of a year group, or department within a school.
If the staff are expected to increase their working day, they will only have a few hours left in the day to do anything else. Matthew, Birmingham
Having spent decades in the education system, I have seen how online activities take over kids’ lives. It can make them over-tired and short tempered, damages social skills and has a dreadful impact on learning and life.
However, is the answer not in the home? Parents need to step up.
I often had parents asking me to remove phones and PlayStations from their homes. While schools can and do support parents, there is a limit. AH, Garforth
I’m a mum of a 13-year-old and I can see that his generation is growing up as apathetic, less responsible, less emotionally aware and self-centred, compared with us Gen X and millennials.
There is a digital detox mode in my son’s school, which means students cannot use a mobile in school unless asked, but they are often asked by the teacher in class to use their mobile to do research.
I’m horrified to see how, after school, the teens are engrossed in their mobiles while crossing roads and walking back home.
There should be a nationwide measure imposed by the government so it’s not left to one headteacher to help this generation become real human beings rather than just digital-world kids. Dr C, Birmingham
Animal cruelty and gender reveals
A dove is believed to have died after being dyed pink for a gender-reveal party, according to the RSPCA (Metro, Fri). Last summer while walking on Mitcham Common, my dog found and gently picked up a dove that was dyed pink. It was unrung, exhausted, hungry, dehydrated and disoriented.
I can only surmise it had been dyed for a selfish act of indulgence. Luckily, I had a bird-fancier neighbour who took it in and has since cared for it. So, to those of you who find a momentary pleasure from this cruel practice, please stop. Michele Key, Mitcham
Why the fuss about one bird? We inflict suffering and death on millions of animals to produce meat, dairy, eggs and fish. Everybody knows we can obtain all the nutrients we need from a vegan diet. Mark Richards, Brighton
Numbers added up for NHS until 2010
Alex (MetroTalk, Mon) attributes the collapse of the NHS to the increase
in population since it was set up.
Of course these extra 24million people will be paying National Insurance and taxes, so given this proportional increase in possible funding there seems no reason why the NHS should have become overloaded.
Alex does not mention the NHS was largely functioning well until 2010 when things started to go wrong. I wonder why that was… Martin, London
MORE : I found out about the Home Office’s Rwanda plan just before I crossed the English Channel by boat
MORE : The surprising reason why Zoom calls impact your mental health
MORE : 1,000,000 died in 100 days of slaughter. How Rwanda still bears the scars of genocide 30 years on