Any sympathy for the travelers here?

[Ununoctium]

For those of you who haven't been following, the police have finally gotten around the arresting thousands of self-proclaimed "travelers" which is their polite way of saying that they are gypsies. They've been illegally loitering at public parks in Britain for years now, claiming that they are waiting for armageddon. My take? I don't really care, they broke the law and now they're paying for it, they shouldn't get any more special treatment than you or I would if we did what they're doing. So what's everyone here's thoughts on the gypsy problem?

[Darkmoon]

I don't agree with travellers being on sites illegally. It's, well, illegal. I am irritated that they don't have many other choices - there was supposed to be a fair whack of cash going towards creating sites for them, a minute amount of which was apparently spent before being used to fund other projects. There's nothing wrong with how the gypsies live, if that's what they choose, and part of the whole agreement to stop them trespassing (as I understand it) was that the official sites would be created. But there aren't enough.

I don't agree with them breaking the law. Equally, though, I'm not sure what other choice beyond giving up how they wish to live they had. Hopefully the huge legal battle at Dale Farm will convince the Government it's cheaper to just do as promised and provide the pitches.

Still, it's not as though prison will be much than a catered holiday, given our current prison system.

P.S - Your poll is kinda...suggestive. My wife laughed at it and said her professors would have had her shot if she'd tried using that during her course.

[Ununoctium]

I don't agree with travellers being on sites illegally. It's, well, illegal. I am irritated that they don't have many other choices - there was supposed to be a fair whack of cash going towards creating sites for them, a minute amount of which was apparently spent before being used to fund other projects. There's nothing wrong with how the gypsies live, if that's what they choose, and part of the whole agreement to stop them trespassing (as I understand it) was that the official sites would be created. But there aren't enough.

I don't agree with them breaking the law. Equally, though, I'm not sure what other choice beyond giving up how they wish to live they had. Hopefully the huge legal battle at Dale Farm will convince the Government it's cheaper to just do as promised and provide the pitches.

Still, it's not as though prison will be much than a catered holiday, given our current prison system.

P.S - Your poll is kinda...suggestive. My wife laughed at it and said her professors would have had her shot if she'd tried using that during her course.

I don't care if they want to make a commune and do this stuff on their own commune property, but they are leaving trash and everything else all over British national and local parks, plus they're breaking the law. And yep, I'm not one for political correctness, I just say it how it is.

[Alexia_Ashford]

By the way.. your poll is wrong. We don't have "dollars", we have "pounds".

[Vogue_Dirge]

England has gypsies?! Why am I not there?

[Darkmoon]

I don't care if they want to make a commune and do this stuff on their own commune property, but they are leaving trash and everything else all over British national and local parks, plus they're the law. And yep, I'm not one for political correctness, I just say it how it is.

Doesn't work. Just because you own the land doesn't mean you can do what you wish with it - apparently in 90% of the cases where travellers do buy and apply to create pitches the planning permission doesn't come through and the land is useless to them. Hell, Dale Farm? Owned by travellers. Yes, really.

The government is supposed to be creating legal pitches for them. We need about 4000 more, I understand. They have something like £80 million to spend on it, but that cash keeps getting diverted.

[Ununoctium]

England has gypsies?! Why am I not there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanichal

[Rombie]

If they are there illegally on grounds that they don't own then yes. But I know that a large number of UK councils in different areas have also cracked down on numerous people living on large sections of land that one of the people in the group actually own and pay all their required rates and such for, and if that's the case then I don't agree. The excuse generally is they have structures on the property that are not council approved, but often there are none anyway. They just want to get rid of them from their area and move them down to the next town or county, and make it "someone else's problem"

[Mr. Spencer]

England has gypsies?! Why am I not there?