One of the south-west’s MPs has been in action on BBC Question Time, defending the increasingly expensive refugee exchange scheme officially known as the UK-Rwanda Migration and Development Partnership, or the Rwanda Plan for short. Johnny Mercer, MP for Plymouth Moor View, was given free rein to waffle on about what has become the current […]
Last year I wrote this on refugee policy: “This is what happens when you normalise the unthinkable. First it becomes thinkable. Then sayable. Then ‘desirable’, ‘the only option’, ‘common sense’. Once out there, it cannot be unthought, unsaid, unnormalised”. I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the past year, as Rwanda has entered the […]
On the morning of December 4, 2023, a group of Dorset residents joined about 500 others around the country holding signs outside Bournemouth Crown Court, as part of the growing public campaign Defend Our Juries. Their signs displayed the centuries-old principle of ‘jury equity’, which is the right of all jurors in British courtrooms to […]
This piece is probably going to be long and heavy because I’m going to detail exactly what it’s actually like to be me and all the things that I am reliant on others for that might not be particularly obvious from just reading my tweets. Here we go. I was born almost three months early […]
I see it took less time than usual – actually it didn’t – for client journalists to back the idea that human rights need to be destroyed in order to be defended. The options listed here are clearly false, and still don’t include the options needed. thetimes.co.uk/article/c9f6e0… Human rights treaties have had their dayJuliet Samuel: […]
All this talk about how “Sunak is waiting for the verdict on the Rwanda policy” before sacking Braverman isn’t quite the politically astute move some seem to think. Here’s my analysis of the pointlessness of the Rwanda policy and why Sunak’s best option is to fire Braverman before the verdict is out. First off, fairly […]
The Braverman story is developing by the hour and there is still a (remote) possibility that Sunak will discover a scrap of moral fibre and fire her but, to be honest, she should have gone for the homeless/lifestyle callousness. The Highcliffe Guy explains why. How Propaganda Works:Suella Braverman’s attack on homeless people is possibly her […]
Dear Editor, All war is terrible. For me, it’s all the worse when, in the face of human suffering, we stand by silently. As Bob Dylan said long ago, “Pretend that we do not see”. But then in this case, we know only too well that Gaza is under siege, with the debris and casualties […]
Boat people: glory … or infamy? “Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!” As a maritime nation, surrounded by sea, it is hardly surprising that boats and ‘boat people’ of one form or another have figured so prominently throughout British history … for better and for worse. We shall use the term ‘boats’ rather than ‘ships’, […]
News has broken that 136 asylum seekers are due to be transferred onto the Bibby Stockholm on October 19, now that the legionella has been dealt with (allegedly). The barge will have been empty for 68 days and is rumoured to have been costing £300,00 per week while empty. The Home Office signed up for […]
This is part two of transcripts of interviews conducted by one of our local readers with a local volunteer doing what they can to mitigate the challenges faced by those demonised by Suella Braverman and this government. We are not naming either the interviewer or the interviewee lest this lead to repercussions. It’s appalling that […]
This is part one of two transcripts of interviews conducted by one of our local readers with a local volunteer doing what they can to mitigate the challenges faced by those demonised by Suella Braverman and this government. We are not naming either the interviewer or the interviewee lest this lead to repercussions. It’s appalling […]
Suella Braverman is the kind of person who cuts corners and ploughs on regardless. Nothing gets in her way. Not our constitution. Not parliamentary sovereignty. Not the rule of law. Now, in her latest project, the Bibby Stockholm detention barge for asylum seekers, those behaviours have put the lives of people under her department’s care […]
We need to take a dive into some of the differences between “smuggling” and “trafficking”, and, before we start, both are bad and both can involve exploitation. Daniel Sohege explains: In the simplest terms, and we’ll get into why this isn’t simple in a bit, trafficking, more often than not, is a longer term form […]
You will need to be on top of the Tory horror show to get every reference in this thought-provoking piece from Richard Haviland, but even if you aren’t, you’ll soon pick up the theme: the casual cruelty, bigotry and hypocrisy of this government and its ministers. In another life, a man with a security fetish […]
This country is in a bad way, thanks to 13 years of Tory austerity. The metrics of our decline are unarguable: from NHS waiting lists to child poverty, from the cost-of-living crisis to the creaking criminal justice system, from record numbers of foodbanks to polluted beaches and ecologically-dead rivers… And Brexit has been an unmitigated […]
Dear Editor, The extract below is from the Holocaust Encyclopaedia. Just substitute the word ‘Jews’ and ‘Nazi’ for refugees and Conservatives and you have the basis of the Tory government campaign against the refugees crossing the channel. ‘The use of propaganda and laws to define the enemy as a cohesive group was a key factor […]
The other day I heard Sir John Hayes MP, close confidant of Suella Braverman, saying that the “culture wars” are an important aspect of politics because they are about values. The implication being that they are a good thing. I also heard him saying that – in any case – it was the “other side” […]
Jane wrote to her MP, Cherilyn Mackrory (Truro and Falmouth) to object to the illegality and inhumanity of the despicable ‘illegal migration’ bill. We are publishing the cut and paste letter she received in response and then her own final, infuriated and exasperated reply. She emailed us, saying: ‘Dear team, I’m so incensed by the […]
Dear Editor, Inured though many of us have become to the attitudes and values (or lack of them) embodied by this government, every now and then some public utterance from its policymakers is so utterly vile that it can still surprise me. On 4 July it was reported, by The Independent and other media, that […]
We read this on Twitter and felt people beyond the Twittersphere should know how people are treated by the Home Office and the monumental challenges faced by anyone legitimately challenging the life-changing decisions made seemingly on a whim by this incompetent and impenetrable department of government under Suella Braverman. Bobby Stuijfzand(the author) was very happy […]
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 […]