I had to laugh when I read this BBC story (although I suppose it really isn't funny). Germany has managed to lose around 130,000 "asylum seekers" (we are not supposed to call them refugees).

When you remember that Germany is one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world ("Your papers are not in order!"), it is bizarre in the extreme that there are migrants who don't have papers at all, and others who apparently have more than one set of papers. Even so, losing 130,000 people is more than just careless.

I am tempted to contrast this present-day situation with last century in Germany, but I guess that would be politically incorrect.

There has been lots of news recently about the continuing migrant issue in Germany (and elsewhere, but that is for another day). This BBC report gives some useful statistics about migration.

There were the sex attacks in Cologne (Köln) and other German cities on New Year's Eve, in which migrants were implicated. There were riots at a migrant centre between different groups of migrants. There have been protests and riots at migrant centres, including fires, as Germans try to prevent migrants in their towns. There was an attack on pensioners on the Munich underground (captured on video) who intervened to stop a sex attack by migrants (in this Telegraph article). There have been heart-rending stories about the suffering of the migrants (being unable to bring their families to join them, being unable to find work, and having to deal with the cold weather when they have unsuitable clothing).

There was a report about the situation for migrants in Germany being so bad that many were deciding to go back home. One migrant said, in an interview, that he was going to go home to his family, but not tell them he was coming; just knock on the door and surprise them. This does not match the image in the minds of many Westerners, of people in Syria sleeping in bombed-out ruins, moving every few days to stay away from the battles, and having no food and water. This returning migrant was fully confident that his family would be where they had been when he left, and he was not the only one with this confidence.

The other thing that struck me was that the majority of migrants interviewed seemed to be planning to fly home. So, they are not broke then; they might have come to Germany via Greece or the Balkans, and walked a lot of the way, but that was only as a way of bypassing immigration controls, not because they were too poor to fly. This fits with the other strange fact: that most of the migrants are adult males. Although the press have highlighted the women and children amongst the migrants, there are actually not many of them. Photos of large groups of migrants show this clearly: the families stayed at home. This shows that the majority of migrants are economic migrants, not refugees, similar, for example, to the large numbers of Indians and Filipinos working in other countries and sending money home.

What bothers me about all this is the fact that the world's press is feeding us propaganda about the motivation and demographic mix of the migrants. I hate people trying to manipulate me with propaganda! It turns out that a lot of the stories about migrants in Germany are hoaxes, as described and mapped in this article from Deutsche Welle.

Let me be absolutely clear here: I have sympathy for the migrants, and do think that the West should welcome them, but my sympathy is reduced when they, with the collusion of our press, lie about their true motives and their situation in their home country.

Not surprisingly, the assimilation of large numbers of refugees into Germany is not without problems, as described in this BBC story.

Germany is busy doing the right thing regarding the refugees: allowing them in, members of the public welcoming them as the trains bearing migrants arrive, creating temporary camps and processing centres, finding long-term accommodation for the newcomers, organising collections of second-hand clothes and shoes (winter is coming, and already it is colder here than most of them will have experienced), finding additional funds for welfare and training, and finding them work.

The story above describes a "mass brawl" at a migrant camp, which took a lot of time and effort to bring under control. My reaction to this outbreak of violence is that it demonstrates a lack of gratitude and respect for their hosts. Some German politicians however, seem to think that it is somehow Germany's fault, and that we should segregate the different ethic and religious groups to prevent further unrest.

No, no, no! These refugees have come to Germany, and to other countries, with the intention of living here. That means that they are expected to integrate into German culture. In German society there will be an even more diverse ethnic and religious mix, including exactly those same groups as in the camps. This inter-cultural intolerance and violence is their (the refugees) problem, and it should not become our problem. If they can't demonstrate that they can live in peace with other refugees, then I guess that they are not going to fit in here, and should look for another home. I don't tolerate fighting between guests in my apartment, and I don't see why we should tolerate it between guests in our countries.

It is not that I do not welcome the refugees; I do, but I expect them to behave as responsible guests once they are here.