Despite it being an open secret in the Westminster Village for weeks, it was still shocking to see it played out.
A nasty racist squirrel was thrown to the Gammon hordes to distract them from the Partygate fines.
Yesterday I was contacted by an NUJ colleague who works the political beat in London.
Even this hard-boiled hack was doing a double-take that they were actually going through with it.
I’ve known this chap for close to 20 years, and we only meet at NUJ events like a conference.
Yesterday his opinions of the smirking Priti Patel would make fictional TV reporter Jonathan Pie take a breath.
In fairness, my NUJ buddy was responding to a WhatsApp message from me that wasn’t exactly measured:
The daughter of Ugandan Asians is sending asylum seekers to neighbouring Rwanda. 6000 fekkin miles from Britain! Beyond parody.
I then thought that such a back story would not get past my book editor.
That’s the challenge of writing fiction; it has to make sense and be believable.
In a novel, Home Secretary Patel and Rwanda would be all too contrived.
Since the announcement, various UK government stooges have been trying to portray Rwanda as some beacon of human rights best practices.
The historically aware immediately thought of the Madagascar Plan of June 1940.
Dear reader, this is one of those cases where you must ignore Godwin’s Law.
Essentially, this is a government with the Famine Song as background music.
Xenophobia and hatred of the other are at the core of their identity.
It is little wonder that they made me think of the Ibrox klanbase as Enoch Powell Tours was announced to appease the Tory base.
For the avoidance of doubt, the “migrant boat crisis” has become a thing because the British Government has cut off safe, legal routes for asylum seekers into the country.
Here John Crace in the Guardian utterly nails it.
The featured image is a bit of insurgent graffiti that appeared on my Twitter yesterday.
It is difficult to disagree with the observation.
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Fair enough to criticise the scheme on some reasonable grounds, but it is absurd to suggest “hatred of the other” is at the heart of the British Government.
Of the 23 members of the current British Cabinet, 5 are of Indian / Pakistani descent and 1 is of African ancestry. That is a ~26% BAME representation, well ahead of the ~15% in the general population. (and they are all there on merit, not due to quotas).
And so who is this “other” they are alleged to hate, exactly?
Personally I think the scheme is a great idea. We all know most asylum seekers are bogus, principally they are young male economic migrants. The asylum system has been reduced to a joke over the past 20 years.
The left really needs to get better arguments, than the 20-30 year old, tired “everything is racist” angle.
Boris gets a bad press. Alright, he is no Thatcher. Indeed, he is a liar and a dirty shagger, but he has his moments. Brexit, The Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the stand-out UK support of Ukraine – far eclipsing the likes of the EU, which actively and knowingly chooses to fund Putin’s war, through buying his gas – being great examples.
Boris seems to do well on the big, global issues, but errs on a personal level. To be fair, that is not too bad by the standards of politicians.
Sorry Bob, but it is people who don’t vote who are the problem. Think,Trump, think Brexit, think Johnson think Thatcher, even think Adolph Hitler – all successful on the say so of a minority of the electorate with something like 30% of the electorate failing to register their vote.
Remember, each vote counts twice – one more for the candidate/party you vote and one fewer for people you would never vote for under any circumstances. A non vote counts only once as everyone loses. By not voting you are giving free rein to the crackpots.The Tories are quite happy with this arrangement.
Yep made me think of all those white Ukrainians on the train, with the multi coloured all packed in on the next carriage, off to the port of no return. People of an Irish persuasion know all about that. Democracy is make believe, thought up by those in power to keep us plebs in dream land. Must go my boat awaits. Australia here we come. Oh forgot Aussies got their own democracy now, wait o could build a new colony on the moon, think of the job opportunity.
Keep at them Phil
TAL
This policy brings two pairs of wordsk to mind.
“Extraordinakry rendition” and “concentration camp”
BoJo, Patel, Sunak et al are not any worse than politicians before – of after – but perhaps just a bit more brazen than usual?
And that is not a criticism of the Tory Party: all parties disappoint eventually.
Democracy? What democracy.
It’s all boll*x, and probably always has been in the UK – ever since us plebs were ‘permitted’ the vote?
I now use my democratic right – and choose not to vote:
“None of the Above” is never a candidate… 😦
Couldn’t disagree with Bob more , choosing “not to vote” is a kick in the teeth for democracy and allows all the narrow minded political climbers to gain control. In my opinion, in a true democracy the only right you shouldn’t have is the one not to vote but be given the option to select ‘ none of the above’.
What a cop out merchant you are Bob. Too many people fought for the right to vote in the past for me not to vote. For you to state that each politician is as bad as the other is cynical and just wrong. The Labour politicians who set up the NHS in the late 1940’s are a good example of courageous politicians. Another set of politicians From Ireland, the UK and the US who worked hard to bring about the Good Friday Agreement showed both patience and courage. Recently I would agree the calibre of Politician who have been elected in Russia, the US and UK leaves a lot to be desired. Under Putin in Russia, Trump in the US and Johnston and the modern Tory Party in the UK greed, selfishness and hatred for minorities have come to the fore. The answer is not apathy by the people but the opposite and more decent people to get involved in the democratic process and not to lose hope.