Dear West Country Voices, As I came through passport control at Edinburgh Airport last week, I saw a sign saying: “Welcome to GREAT Britain.” I had 40 minutes to look at it as we threaded our way slowly towards passport control. There had already been a 20-minute delay when the plane landed, because the right […]
In the wake of Steve Bray’s threatened arrest, this article counts the warning signs the UK has largely ignored. And shows what we can do about it. When Johnson first pulled together a cabinet of market fundamentalists, most people ignored the risk of a constitutional crisis. Most of us ignored Philip Hammond’s warning about “extreme […]
This is controversial, I know. I may have to take cover for posting this. However, in my view, some USA ‘rights’ are topsy-turvy. There is the right to bear arms, under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Citizens have the right carry a gun that only has one mechanical function: to kill or maim. Consequently, […]
The sky was overcast and the air felt dank when we emerged from the gloom of the underground at Regents Park station. My friends and I turned down a nearby street in the hope we were going in the right direction. There is a unique grandness to London’s maze-like streets that kind of makes you […]
Last week I did a talk on what it’s like to report on UK immigration and asylum. There’s been a bit of interest in it, so I thought I’d take you behind-the-scenes, too. Topline: it’s like navigating a minefield – and it’s getting tougher. Here’s how. I worked for the Home Office during the rollout […]
I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stop talking about the behaviour of Kevin Foster until we start getting some answers. Since the introduction of this new, disgraceful Rwanda policy, we’ve not heard any substantial justification from Kevin Foster. The facts are that Rwanda has: 1. Highly questionable political freedom. 2. A poor human rights […]
When you hear government spokespersons banging on about how dare a “European Court” rule against it, this is why it had to. The UK government, by its own admission, has no means of monitoring conditions for the asylum seekers it sends to Rwanda. Yet, despite the highly selective glossy tourist pics being put out by […]
Recent years have led many of us to question what we once felt about this country. But one thing I do believe is that most people, whether here or elsewhere, feel instinctive compassion for those in need when they are not being subjected to a drip feed of propaganda. But the drip feed of propaganda […]
Okay, let’s have the debate shall we? Let’s have the debate about who you would look in the eyes and say it is fine for them to be tortured or drown in the channel. Let’s have the debate about whose kids you think should be denied a parent. Let’s not pretend it is a “left/right” […]
We asked Emma to share her exchange of letters with her MP, Simon Jupp. Emma’s first letter: Dear SimonI have waited a couple of days since the news about offloading refugees to Rwanda broke as I was waiting for the government to realise that this utterly preposterous and immoral plan was a complete travesty. But […]
Wednesday 27 April Graham and Bear arrived at the border early this morning, after they’d driven though the night. After a little rest in the house we are staying in, the load they had brought with them brought was shared out amongst us medics at the border and a contact in the international battalion of […]
As the Chief Executive of Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Services, I am calling for a radical rethink in our approach to pornography after a Devon Conservative MP referred himself to the Standards Committee for allegedly watching porn while sitting in the House of Commons. I’ve heard many politicians say this week that ‘sunlight […]
It’s been a challenge to find anything to write in the latest edition of the Week in Tory. They’ve all been such well-behaved boys and girls. Only kidding: it’s absolute carnage. Don your biohazard suits, top up your breakfast absinthe, and let’s dive in. 1. Under Boris Johnson, 10 Downing Street now holds the record […]
The UK and Russia are two of the ‘sick men of Europe’ (the others being Hungary and Poland), bookending a continent that has been pursuing peaceful collaboration and exchange for decades – on the whole with positive results in terms of stability and prosperity. Both countries have lost their way, crippled by myths and ‘alternative […]
Tomasz is our ‘resident’ Polish writer. We preserve his unique voice in this challenging, thought-provoking piece on the reality of Putin’s Russia and the implacability of evil. In the first days of this war I was really hoping it’s true, that this is just a madness of one man, that those poor boys were lied […]
Maybe until this month, Boris Johnson could have got away with the dead cat speech of 14 April. A rousing play to the ‘Leave’-voting gallery, appealing to xenophobia and fear whilst making a rational-sounding case for deporting thousands of young men each year to what amounts to a penal colony in Rwanda. Except, he is […]
The partner of one of our readers has gone to Poland to help with the effort to rescue refugees from Ukraine. He’s a field/trauma medic with extensive experience having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had intended to go straight into Ukraine to join extraction efforts, but the attack on the Ukraine military base has […]
Insistence on complex visa requirements is in stark contrast to the outpouring of empathy for Ukrainian refugees by people in Britain. A government that promised it would cut ‘red tape’ is now using bureaucracy in the cruellest of ways, writes Tom Scott. When I was growing up in the 1960s, films and TV series set […]
Russ’s epic and epigrammatic summary of the madness and horror that is the current UK political scene. We’ve left the numbers in so you don’t get lost! Buckle up! I was going to do #TheWeekInTory, but try as I might, I can’t find a single thing they’ve done wrong this week. Only kidding. It’s been […]
I am sure that a lot of people, like myself, wrote to their Tory MPs urging them to support the Lords’ amendments on the Borders Bill. Clearly they did not, but voted to make it even harder for refugees to come here. MPs are supposed to represent their constituents. Maybe, just maybe, my MP got […]
Welcome to our latest edition. We champion social and climate justice, democracy, human rights and the rule of law and attempt to call out lies and corruption. As a result, we truly have our work cut out with Johnson’s mob. Despite the best efforts of the Lords, this government is still pursuing an agenda which […]
It’s day 8 for David Fox-Pitt and his team at the Medyka crossing point on the Polish/Ukrainian border and they’re working non-stop, 24/7, to feed the women and children arriving in their thousands from war-torn cities, towns and villages. I spoke to David via WhatsApp. Thank goodness for modern tech! ‘It’s like Groundhog Day,’ says […]
Already unpopular due to Brexit chaos, colossally corrupt covid contracts, ‘Partygate’, the raw sewage scandal and the cost-of-living crisis, our government is taking flak from all sides for its Kafkaesque response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Criticism is coming from the public, from a usually compliant press and even from some of its own back-bench […]
The government’s latest scheme to help Ukrainian refugees raises quite a number of concerns and even more questions. Yes, the UK needs to do something, but this really doesn’t seem like the answer based on the available information. After calls for the UK to move quickly and waive visas it may seem strange to criticise […]
This article is a timely reminder of the politics of hate and division at a time when our own government moves to remove or dilute our human rights and as the Home Office goes through endless contortions to dehumanise and avoid helping the refugees from conflict in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria; and, of course, as Russia […]
Dear Mr Parish, I wrote to you recently about the urgent need for Ukrainian refugees to be given safe passage and supported resettlement in the UK. You kindly replied, and in short order, which I appreciated. Thank you. However, the assurances you provided about the government’s response did not address my concerns about the shortcomings […]
Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, Kevin Foster , Liz Truss et al are gaslighting us on the generosity and accessibility of our visa ‘scheme’. It’s important to know what is actually going on and how the Home Office and the outsourced provider are making money out of misery. I apologise for the bittiness of the presentation […]
Reaching out across the seas Hold out our hands to refugees Make the world a better place To put a smile on everyone’s face Stop the bombing, join together International friends forever This poem by primary school children, read by Exeter’s Pete the Poet, opened a rally organised by Stop the War Coalition. More than […]
We have written many times about the seemingly endless resources of petty unkindness and more serious inhumanities employed by the Home Office. The Ukraine crisis has furnished Patel and her team with more opportunities thrown up by the human tragedy itself and the cover it provides for other actions. After concerted efforts to get the […]
Our latest edition has a focus on democracy and human rights. What follows is the rationale for putting this front and centre of our efforts to reach beyond the bubble and tell people what the mainstream media will or may not about the relentless undermining of these two vital pillars of a healthy society by […]