I have used this definition several times in the last few weeks, triggered by the government’s policy towards ‘Boat People’, the Rwanda policy, refusal to take appropriate action in respect of Afghans, the treatment of the Windrush people, and so on. Spending a few weeks in Spain (which is by no means a perfect country) […]
Green Party Baroness Jenny Jones has tabled a ‘Fatal Motion’ for 13 June to stop the government from using a ‘Ministerial decree’ to overturn a vote in the Lords. This is the first time ever that the government has tried to use secondary legislation to directly overturn the will of Parliament. The Government lost a […]
The government calls it “The Illegal Migration Bill”. But it should be simply shortened to “The ILLEGAL Bill”. Why? Well, first let’s understand what this bill is for and what it does. The bill was announced on 7 March 2023 without any public consultation. It aims to deter small boat crossings of asylum seekers attempting […]
When I was a civil servant, it was always drummed into ministers that – whatever they said about the arms trade – the answer should never be ‘if we didn’t sell arms to country A, somebody else would’. This is a piece about refugees. It’s a message that seems to have been lost today. But […]
In the most significant leap forward for all of those campaigning for public access to nature, the Labour front bench committed to replace a ‘default of exclusion [to the countryside and nature] with a default of access.’ Reacting to this news, Right to Roam campaigner, Guy Shrubsole, tweeted: Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, […]
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords on May 9 and is now in the final stages – consideration of amendments – before royal assent. The Trade Union Congress estimates about 5.5 million public sector workers will lose the right to strike as a result of this bill. They […]
As the Illegal Migration Bill – better described as the Refugee Ban – faces scrutiny from the Lords today, the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary have taken to one of their pet papers to spread yet more misinformation. Daniel Sohege examines extracts from their specious justification and debunks each. [Note captions – Braverman/Chalk article or […]
Dear Editor, A recent video released by members of Insulate Britain has chilled me to the bone. Young people protesting our national lack of action on the climate emergency are not only on trial for causing disruption but are now also being arrested on charges of perverting the cause of justice for stating their […]
I learnt two things about the subject of child grooming gangs on Monday’s edition of The News Agents podcast. Firstly, there’s no evidence of over-representation of any ethnic group within these gangs. Secondly, some allegations have indeed been ignored because of “cultural sensitivities”. It's right to be horrified by the latter while recognising the vitally important […]
I posted this tweet April 2 in response to what I consider to be the openly racist comments from the Home Secretary on child grooming yesterday: The deeply-political claims Suella Braverman made are summarised in the video in this tweet: In summary, Braverman’s argument is that there are grooming gangs; they are mainly Asian; they […]
When working at Love146UK we researched this. We campaigned against this. Biological age assessments are notoriously unreliable, and incredibly traumatic for children who have been through war and persecution. It is part of a pattern with this government to put immigration enforcement ahead of child protection, though. They are abandoning the very principles of safeguarding […]
Anti-fascists, including large numbers of local people, gathered outside a hotel in Newquay this morning to stand up to a far-right campaign that’s stirring up fear and hatred of asylum-seekers. Tom Scott reports from the scene. It was a lovely, fresh spring morning in Cornwall today, more than making up the hour of lost sleep […]
I get a few messages from lovely people asking for basic information to counter hostile anti-migrant narratives. So I’ve pulled this together to try and cover the typical points – hopefully it helps with those awkward dinner discussions or difficult family members. 1. ‘We can’t help everyone.’ This is often said by otherwise liberal people. […]
In 2002, Theresa May famously said to the party faithful, “Yes, we’ve made progress, but let’s not kid ourselves. There’s a way to go before we can return to government. … You know what some people call us: the nasty party.“ Since regaining power, however, it does not seem as though the Conservative Party has been […]
Hunt’s latest Budget shows the UK heading for a dismal future. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the UK is now facing two years with the sharpest fall in living standards since records began. The economy will contract again this year. The level of taxation is at the highest for many decades. Our growth […]
Thousands of words have been said in reply to Lineker. It interests me that hardly anyone has looked closely at what terms and phrases were being used in Germany in the 1930s to see if they match (or not) what’s said today by Ms Braverman. I offered a list, meant only as a starter. Originally […]
This week, under cover of darkness, 100 mature trees were felled in the centre of Plymouth, ripping out the green lungs of a city which had pulled itself up out of the ashes of WWII. In fact, these were the very trees planted to celebrate the city’s rebirth. This act of environmental vandalism has so […]
If it’s not three-word slogans, it’s multi-word lies and misdirection. Jeremy Hunt’s budget is full of the latter. Let’s start with the client press’s headline grabber: FREE CHILDCARE for one and two-year-olds! A friend messaged me: ‘Help me out here, because I’m struggling. They are going to give ‘free’ child care to 1 and 2 […]
The aim of so much of the ‘commentary’ which blights today’s UK is to persuade people there is no legitimate public conversation to be had about morality or compassion. To persuade them that there is only “virtue signalling”, “wokery” and “sanctimony”. Once enough people accept that premise, you are in deep trouble. Think about it. […]
Dear Editor, One after the other, political commentators have been lining up to express solidarity with Gary Lineker … “but”, they add, “I wouldn’t have used that language”. Why not? There is enough evidence out there to justify his choice of words, it’s just that it has been drip fed to us so slowly we […]
We all think we’re rational human beings. So let’s put that to a test in a little thread, with sources. This is for those who are in a terrible tizz right now, and think Gary Lineker is actual Satan. “We are taking too many immigrants” There are 281 million migrants globally. https://worldmigrationreport.iom.int/wmr-2020-interactive/ We took 90,000. […]
Cancelling Sir David Attenborough, Gary Lineker and the BBC Singers and reducing BBC orchestra numbers all in a single week does seem like a bit of an orchestrated PR campaign to get the BBC to self sabotage. To quote Ian Fleming: ‘Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.’ There has been a long-running campaign […]
Once again, the Conservatives are threatening to leave the European Convention on Human Rights. But they’ve been threatening that for many years – and never for good reasons, only spurious ones. Always. Today, the Tories seem ready to jettison our 70-year alignment with the European Convention if that gets in the way of their despicable […]
Traditional Conservative politics, as the name suggests, amongst other things, places a significant emphasis on the conservation of the tried and tested, the reliable, the traditional, and so on. Traditional conservativism prioritizes practical experience over abstract theorizing, and prefers gradual changes, organically developing and emerging from the local community, to sweeping changes imposed from above. For a […]
There is barely a day that passes where I don’t get more angry and more ashamed in equal measure about this so-called government. Their policies are like something from a dystopian novel. I am a straight, white cis man, so really I have nothing to fear from their political games. However, I actually take time […]
There was a moment recently when journalist Lewis Goodall made me cry. “The kind of crushing thing”, he said, “is what pulls them, like so many before them, to Britain. It’s the esteem they hold us in. They think Britain is different. They think Britain will treat them better”. It's poignant to think that, even […]
This is the horrible email Suella Braverman is sending to the Tory faithful. Make no mistake, this othering and demonisation of asylum seekers and those who defend their rights is a classic indicator of this country’s descent into fascism. Resist! Here is the email in full with my annotations. “We tried to stop the small […]
From today, the government has announced, “anyone crossing the Channel will be detained and removed to a safe country within weeks.” To be clear, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman MP, is not talking about those travelling from Calais to Dover with P&O, DFDS, or Irish Ferries. No, she is talking about desperate people, mostly genuine asylum […]
As readers will no doubt be aware, Shamima Begum’s quest to have her British citizenship returned to her has failed yet again. I’m not going to get into the details of why, and of what sort of threat she poses to our national security. Nor am I concerned with why she went to join ISIS […]
Dear Tobias Ellwood, I was a social worker before I had to resign to care for my son, who has additional needs and high anxiety, and I’m currently on Income Support and Carer’s Allowance, as he struggles with school attendance. I have encountered parent blame, particularly prior to my son’s diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder […]