Quote Originally Posted by Tellos Athenaios View Post
Well, may I be allowed to channel a call for “bollox! etc.” here and point out:
(1) Schengen is for members of Schengen countries. I.e. those immigrants got nothing to do with that: they are a different problem. (One of housing and some sort of supervision so they don't go “missing”.)
(2) Schengen further lowers barriers among Schengen members which means the cost of doing business that involves crossing borders on a routine basis is lowered substantially. Time is money, remember?
(3) And purely subjectively it's plain awesome I can just go where-ever I want to in Schengen countries without being interrupted by some bored and short-tempered sod in a high visibility jacket. You might never leave the shores of the UK, I would not know, but I can trivially step on a train to visit Hussar or Louis should I chose to without somebody asking for my passport then handing it straight back to me without even looking at me. (Which is what it is like when you exit the ferry from Calais in Dover; the French don't even bother asking for anything.)
i'm afraid the bollox is all yours.

schengen's primary benefit of no internal borders only 'works' if the external border functions. it doesn't.

because we do not share schengen then people inside who shouldn't be cannot jump on eurostar or a plane and end up in britain.

as to my travel, i will be spending:
1. xmas in poland
2. next week in nuremburg
3. fortnight in poland back in august
4. week in berlin a year ago
5. fortnight in poland in july 09
6. weekend in spain in march 09

shall i go back any farther? and no, none of those border crossing was a real inconvenience.

so bollox indeed.