Piers

Your views appear to spring from the wonderfully fluffy left-wing argument that "everybody has the right to be provided for". However, in the same way as every "freedom struggle" which has backfired at a later stage, the issue arises from the opinion of people demanding "rights" without realising there are certain "duties" and "responsibilities" which you also need to exercise.

If you are moving to a country on the basis of poverty or insecurity back home, surely you have to appreciate that you are going to have to go to lengths to integrate and respect the cultures and regulations of the country you are going to, before you will be provided for. If people do that, and actively seek work and work hard when they obtain work, then there is no argument that the country shouldn't support and stand by those people.

If a country's infrastructure and job market simply don't have the capacity to support an influx, then the country has the right, and in many senses the duty, to close up its borders to all but the most desperate of asylum seekers, since that country is not able to provide the shelter and support to those who are seeking it.