‘Tough job for people trying to keep us safe’
FIVE migrants died trying to cross the Channel this week. In 2023, a total of 12 people lost their lives attempting this crossing.
It’s hard to imagine what makes people take such risks – the dream of a better life in the UK, fleeing from wars, who knows?
The plan to transport illegal immigrants to Rwanda has finally gained approval.
The Government has now finally passed legislation declaring Rwanda to be a ‘safe country’, which will allow asylum seekers to be sent there.
The Government says the scheme will deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats. Many are sceptical that this will happen.
Stoke-on-trent is housing 1,277 asylum seekers, proportionately the 10th highest number in the country.
Home Office figures show that at the end of December, there were 924 asylum seekers in dispersed accommodation in Stoke-on-trent, with a further 353 in hotels.
Stoke-on-trent’s total equates to 49 asylum seekers per 10,000 residents, with only nine local authorities in the country having a higher ratio.
But the number is down slightly from the 1,329 who were staying in hotels or dispersed accommodation in the city at the end of September.
For years Stoke-on-trent has been accommodating proportionately more asylum seekers than most other parts of the country, with local politicians complaining that the city was being asked to do more than its ‘fair share.’
Having seen the recent news coverage, it seems clear that the boats will keep coming, unscrupulous people will get rich providing this supposedly ‘safe passage’
and yet more vulnerable people, including children, will die trying to reach the UK.
It’s almost impossible for anyone to be deported from this country because we are hemmed in by legislation that has little respect or sympathy for the victims of crime for example.
So it’s virtually futile to try to boot out illegal immigrants or send away economic migrants who arrive on our shores, mostly via Dover to Rwanda.
It seems that we have no way to get rid of those who ‘hate’ us but wish to live here.
This massive influx of immigrants is papering over what would otherwise be a crisis in our welfare state.
We have large numbers on the dole, but mass migration means we can continue whilst around 2.8 million are on sickness benefits, a figure which will undoubtedly rise. We have skilled affordable migrant labour, but we also have many poor, workless Britons.
Meanwhile, five Bulgarian nationals have been convicted of stealing £53.9m via fake benefits claims, the largest ever case of its kind in England.
The gang ran their operation from ‘benefit factories’ in Wood Green, north London, using forged documents to apply for Universal Credit payments.
In addition, the head of Germany’s air force has reportedly accidentally leaked British military secrets to Russian intelligence after using an unencrypted telephone line.
Kremlin spies intercepted a call in which the air force boss discussed Nato operations in Ukraine, including the previously unconfirmed presence of British ground troops in the country.
It’s a hell of a job for those people that try to keep us safe!
The world is full of contrasts and away from the problems that we encounter in the UK.
How many times do we hear ‘get in the real world, they have no idea of the cost of living’.
Well, for those who seemingly have no financial worries, America has a growing number of ‘luxury dog hotels’, where the guests sleep on queen-size beds and get spa treatments like ‘mud baths and blueberry facials’.
One franchise will even pick up dogs in a Lamborghini!
As if that is not enough, luxuries can include private suites with televisions and air beds, a bone shaped swimming pool, even ‘belly rub tuck-ins’ and bedtime stories.
Mind you, Even the tooth fairy is giving in to inflation these days. According to a poll last year, the average pay out for a lost tooth in the US is at a record high of $6.23, but more parents are going above and beyond the call of tooth fairy duty.
Some particularly jaw dropping returns include video games, a silver fairy necklace, a Louis Vuitton bracelet, a brand new iphone, and ‘a $100 bill decorated with glitter and tiny removable rhinestones’.
As for the luxury dog hotels, I’m not sure that will catch on in Stoke-on-trent. Every self-respecting dog would ditch the blueberry facial for an oatcake for a start!