In case you missed it, here are Orthodox Jews patrolling the Golders Green area of London (and the police don't like it):

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...y-1857591.html

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is now in Greece documenting the what is actually the world's refugee crisis:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-refugees.html

and if the police don't like it they can call them and in and discuss it, that is not a no go area.

Don't fan.

Lateday - did your "propaganda antennae" not start to vibrate when you read the huge headlines at the beginning of some of those clips?

they are largely undated, unattributed, and clearly biased. This for example is one of the subtitles:

<<Once dubbed the “Great Humanitarian Power” by its ex-prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden is on the edge of a brutal collapse due to a wave of entitled immigrants raping Sweden’s women at a rate of 53.2% and bleeding the economy of the country dry.>>

Really? Swedish women are being raped at a rate of over 50%? what does that even mean?

another dubious stat: "40% of british muslims support the imposition of Sharia law" - but upon whom? I suspect that even if reliable it means that they favour it being imposed on muslims - and of course it means that a majority of those asked didn't even want that.

I don't doubt that there is a small minority who want such things, but then Christians have for centuries gone abroad to spread the word, and used force to do so.

To return to the Op's query, none of this means that tourists [or anyone else for that matter] is going to encounter the slightest problem in the UK, or in the vast majority of Europe.

Is Calais a mess, yes.

Sweden, are we confusing levels of reported rape or rape activities. I suspect we are discussing reported rape, which is more to do with the fact that Swedish women will not put up with any nonsense and just report men rather than put up with it.

for heaven's sake, the OP asked a legitimate question about travel. I guess many folks on this thread have never read or heard the news because the refugees did have a big impact on train travel in certain places, as I recall reading (Germany and AUstria, I believe). Many stations were extremely crowded, and some roads and lines were closed. The OP was asking about the impact on travel, why morph that into the OP being a terrible person who is "afraid" of seeing a refugee.

But it is voodoo economics to claim that anything is "free" to citizens and thus they cannot be affected. Nothing is free, the govt and taxes pay for things, including "free" education. So massive spending in any area that is unexpected can indeed affect govt services and educational resources.

Odin are you referring to my post? I wasn't saying anything about Sweden or Calais because I know nothing about that. But calling our area of London a no go zone is ridiculous...it has been the same since we moved here 7 years ago. Police are present as they always are, the market is still on and I walk to my flat from transit at night very happily. And it's an area that has always been populated with all kinds of immigrants. Nothing has changed.

government never pays, only taxes pay for stuff, but good point Christina

I was in Istanbul in October, and there were quite a few families begging in the Sultanahmet region, most with signs saying they were Syrian. There are reportedly 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

When I see the images of Homs or Aleppo, I realise that most people who fled just want to protect their families from the madness around them.

It's not just madness. It's protecting your family from literally being torn and blown apart, physcially and the risk of death.

Christina, maybe some day you'll share with everybody the amount of taxes you paid in Europe that has caused you be so selfish but in the meantime, please realize that governments do print money and also have surpluses, lo and behold. I know this is going to make you gnash your teeth and screech, but Germany -- which can well "afford" it -- is going hire some 20,000 teachers just to help educate refugee children. How terrible, huh?


hello to the rest of you all in Europe???

I think some of you may not realize that there is a whole network of websites that ginned up in the US that circulate sensational stories about rape, baby kidnapping, strange rituals, no-go-zones. I know you are all aware of Fox and Donald Trump, who also dip into these websites and I am trying to talk down to you, just giving you a heads up that you are trying to talk to people who have marinated their brains in pseudo-factoid theories about the imminent takeover the Christian White World, and they are certain you are dangerously kidding yourselves, asleep, time to wake up, they're coming to get "us" all.

You might as well be telling a porn addict to turn off the computer and spend more time learning a foreign language. You really can't compete with the stuff these people are reading. It gets them off. You're helping to massage them by repsonding.

"silence is acceptance"

Lateday - in no way do I wish you to think that I believe as SL apparently does that everyone who is worried by the influx of refugees/migrants to Europe has the mindset she describes.

But I do think that it is easy to take at face-value the so-called news that is purveyed by the links that you provided which are nothing but anti-islamic propaganda.

In other words.. garbage.

Lateday gets the prize for the most infected internet user.

Of course the selection of sites provided is a very helpful one. Since when can people believe what anybody can post on youtube without looking any further ?

Makes Foxnews look like a credible source of info.

Now if one goes to far right internet sites, one will get even worse horror stories.

ANNHIG & others, thank you for your comments - hope you are all right.

Peace in the New Year...

>>>It has taken a great deal of effort over a long time to get something approaching equality for women in Europe, I don't want to see that lost. <<

While not minimizing the difficulties faced by a lot of women throughout the world in societies where there rights are not respected -- I would be surprised to hear any hullabaloo about Orthodox Jews or Evangelical Christians coming in large numbers to countries with "Western values." I see no reason to broad brush adherents of Islam as all failing to respect women's rights. Many women practicing Islam have more gender equality than women who are in various offshoots of Judiaism, Christianty, living in Mexico, Japan or Thailand.

Large numbers of Thai girls are forced into prostitution every minute. Likewise large numbers of girls throughout the Eastern Europe and Africa are tricked into migrating to Europe's capital cities where they are forced into prostitution by violent means.

Even in America, the record of gender equality does not match what has been achieved in certain parts of Europe.

It's a bigoted smokescreen against Muslims and Arabs (most people assume those are identical terms and they are not) to say that accepting them as refugees will undermine the West's supposedly shining record of gender equality.

If anything, if you are interested in the education and liberation of young women in the Middle East, accepting them into Europe -- really accepting them -- holds the greatest promise of their finding a path to fulfillment in ever way.

Wanted to add: I think many young women in Hindu India would obviously be much safer from rape and being burned alive in a Muslim country.

-- in case it wasn't clear: Many women in India would face less risk of being raped and burned alive if they were living in a Muslim country.

Women are second grade humans, everybody knows that.

It would have neede a concile to debate whether women had a soul... in 1545...

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A..._de_M%C3%A2con

Some say it is a legend. I agree.
Women have no soul. well known fact : ask D Trump about it.

India just had a law banning 'crimes of honour' I think, no ? In a few centuries, maybe...

Well, at least we made it to being regarded as human, if only second grade. Aristotle (or was it Plato) relegated us to the status of cows.