Your Summer Vacation

Top 5 Hotels in Israel | Danny The Digger
Continental Plaza Beach Resort, Sharm El Sheikh (updated prices 2024)

Did you imagine that, did you feel it?

This is what poor, unfortunate people waiting for their asylum claims are experiencing in the UK right now.

Let us be totally clear here, 70-80% of all asylum claims are approved. That means that despite exhaustive research, these people really did flee from persecution and very probably death in their country of origin. They came here because, Britain is the country where they know people, they learnt English at school, they love our legal system, our democracy, they want to feel safe and part of a World Leading Country.

The other 20-30%, when the asylum system is fixed, they’ll be repatriated to where they came from, where ever that might have been. Eventually, there won’t be asylum seekers living in British towns and cities, they will have all been processed and either becoming part of our future culture or, gone.

These are not ‘ILLEGALS’. Now, clearly understand this, illegal immigrants are those who’s asylum claims were rejected and somehow evaded the authorities or else, they never sought it in the first place, they came over, likely trafficked by gangs and slave workers. Often this gangs even come from the UK, they’re born here and see an opportunity to ship over vulnerable people from abroad often taking everything from them, including their passports on the threat that if they cause trouble they’ll face huge issues, at the very best of those is being sent back to what they tried to escape from.

Can we also clearly understand that the majority of immigrants which come into the UK are invited here. They are our doctors, our nurses, engineers, carers … a whole host of careers we just don’t have enough people here to do, we need them, desperately.

Under the Conservative government we asked these folk over here and told them, they have to leave behind their family, no, husband, wife or children can ever join them, they come here to work and when we don’t want them any more, they go home.

Another terrible thing the last government did was to change the thresholds under which couples can bring their spouse into the UK. This is British born men and women who, by an absolute fluke be it destiny, divine intervention or otherwise, met and fell in love with someone from another country. Go back a decade and bringing them here was reasonably simple. Forms had to be completed, the UK partner had to prove they had enough income and a home for the foreign partner to come here, not just for now but, for 5 years. They paid a reasonably small fee, under £1000. Once approved, their partner was allowed to work in the UK, pay tax and National Insurance contributions on their salary

These days things have been changed. Indeed, many couples excited to start their life together may end up never getting their dream because of Conservative changes.

For starters, the UK citizen must earn at least £29000 a year and they must prove that.

Visas are, at most for 2.5 years

The first two, presuming they are married, cost 1856. On top of those they have to find an additional fee of £1035 each year (half for 6 months) This means that the visa to bring a wife or husband are a total of £8887. That takes them to year 5 then there is the final visa, this costs £2885 and, they can stop there if they wish. They have the right to stay here indefinitely and claim benefits but, should they return to their birth country for say, an emergency and stay what the government feel is, too long, they lose their status and have to start again. BUT, they are not done.

After they are allowed to stay here as a foreign national they likely will want to become British, the total for that process is £1630.

What I did not mention is the tests. To get here initially they must take a language test, then another at 2.5 years and again at 5 years plus a life in the UK test. Most British people whose families have been here for generations cannot pass it. These are all added costs and rarely are these test centres local, applicants often having to do overnight stays.

I know, it’s all too complicated, you don’t care, they’re all foreigners what does it matter?

Hardly any of us born in the UK can trace our ancestors far into history without realising they come from a totally different country. We have in us a lot of Scadinavian, French, German, Italian and Irish blood to name but a few. Hell, we don’t have to go back far before many of our Royal Family were German, the Duke of Edinburgh (late Queen’s Husband) was Greek! That means our current King is half Greek.

Boris Johnson, an American Citizen
Born of both the Green and Danish Royal Families.
Spike Milligan, born in India
Rita Ora, born in Yugoslavia
Cliff Richard, India
Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar

Those are just a few we think of as very British, the very epitome of being British, everything about us which makes us British and yet, they were not born here, does it matter?

You see, this is the thing about immigration, being British relies on it. You know who really lost out, you know, lost their home after Brexit, apart from those who couldn’t afford their mortgage that is? No, I’ll tell you, Brits living in Europe who wanted to keep their British citizenship. They were simply told, we are very sorry but, you are no longer part of the UK, you do not have the right to live here for more than 3 months!

Asylum seekers are not illegal in any sense. Everyone, including us, have the right to claim asylum in another country where we will feel safe. The UK is becoming one of a unique set of countries now whereby, we have virtually zero safe and legal routes for people to claim asylum here. They cannot come by traditional routes of air and sea as those have been blocked to them.

What will change?

Sadly, there has been created such a right wing, racist culture here, I am not sure our new government can change much that the last lot brought in. They can and will get those numbers seeking refuge here down considerably, of that I am sure. They’ll win the war on the terrorists who are currently rioting in the UK under the banner of too many immigrants, some of them, and it makes me sick, are claiming to be doing it to support the families of 3 little girls murdered by a British kid, born in Wales.

Are there immigration problems?

Yes is the simple answer. The last government simply didn’t process applications and, as such, it’s costing the government (us), £billions.

Do we have an issue with integration? Very much so we do. Some nationals of other countries do come here, work here, have kids here and yet, they never make British born friends, they only mix with others from their birth country, they actively avoid British people. Eventually though, even they die out, their kids or their grandkids will be true British, they’ll follow British teams, have British accents, probably won’t even speak that original language so, right now, it’s their loss if they don’t want to integrate, they are a dying minority.

Please, if you get anything from this it might be that these attacks, these riots are wrong. They are based on social media lies, even the likes of Elon Musk is spreading nonsense because of his wealth, he feels he has the right to get involved in UK life, a damn foreigner telling us what to think and these yobs are too stupid to realise it because he’s not black or dark skinned!

I’ll leave it there.

Budget Day

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So, we have the ‘Let’s buy a whole host of gullible voters day’ with George Osborne. No doubt we’ll be told how employment is rising, how the deficit is falling, how we’re all so much better off now than we were (compared to what?). We’ll be told that there are still tough times ahead but that only a Conservative government can steer us through them. It will be pointed out how inflation remains low, how not raising duty on fuel has helped everyone as is seen by the current lower prices at the pumps (it’s going up again George). In short, I should listen to this budget later and decide to vote Conservative in May but, I won’t.

Labour certainly did nothing to avoid the mess the country got in but they didn’t cause it. They made the mistake of trying to be too conservative, allowing high finance the freedom to cause a catastrophic cock up for which they took zero responsibility. They made the mistake of allowing Gordon Brown to take the job of Prime Minister, one for which he is totally ill suited.

The Conservative party have only managed to achieve the level of deficit reduction Labour said was sustainable but they have done it in a way which made the lions share of the burden fall upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society whilst ensuring the rich got richer, that is morally unjust. Our level of borrowing is no less under this government than it was under Labour, most likely more yet, they call Labour the party of borrow and spend. Now, let’s look at some common sense here. When you take money away from the least well off they cannot spend (unless they borrow which caused the damn mess in the first place). If the majority cannot spend as they’d like then we have no need to manufacture as we did, no need to employ so many. Reduce the level of manufacturing and employment and the burden on the state increases from increased benefits and reduced tax revenue. Overall, there is less money to play with in the economy so cuts to vital services become essential. Benefits are hit first reducing income still further. Allowing such things as zero hours contracts (I do blame Labour for those) to flourish might make the employment figures look good but it still means more handouts both in direct benefits and in tax handouts. It’s curtains and kippers as my nan used to say, keeping up appearances to hide the fact there simply is no money flowing.

Even at a local level we see the Conservative party doing the same things. Here in Northampton we’ve had huge spending on totally pointless schemes to pretty the place up. We’ve had our ugly but working bus station reduced to rubble to be replaced by a new shiny one which is too small and doesn’t work, it causes traffic hold ups everywhere. We’ve got a shiny new station, it looks great but, we have no extra trains stopping, many just speed through on their way to London or the north. We are having new office developments being built despite us still having an office space surplus because these are prime sites and office blocks look better than gas holders. We’ve the promise of a new University campus in town replaces two of the existing sites bringing new revenue into the centre but … what shops are they going to use? Many of the familiar shops in town have closed and gone elsewhere. We cannot herald the new ‘Next’ or ‘Primark’, nice as they are because they are stores which simply moved from elsewhere. Their loss from their previous locations has caused more damage than what has been gained in the mall. We lost an anchor store, the ‘House of Fraser’ and we lost ‘The Disney Store’ … both should be seen as a consequence of the mismanagement of the town centre as I can’t imagine Milton Keynes losing either there. We’re becoming a town of coffee shops, 99p stores and charity shops with the occasional short lease store for good measure. Then we have the reintroduction of a road in Abington Street to encourage more shoppers to use that part of town which was completed just as the major retailer that end of town encamped in the Grosvenor Centre! There is barely anything down there, I can’t imagine H&M staying for too much longer as they are clearly isolated down there losing trade to the other end of town. We also have ‘quarters’ popping up around and about, art museums, who the hell, except the wealthy, would spend local tax revenue on art? This is the Conservative party though, totally out of touch with where spending needs to happen.

We’re no doubt going to see some handouts to the poor in this budget, increases for apprentices, a rise in the minimum wage, a 1% reduction in income tax for the least well off, a further freeze on fuel duty. I expect to see something for first time buyers and for small business to take some of them out of some business tax. Things which won’t cost too much and which can be balanced by further welfare announced cuts. I also expect to see an increase in inheritance tax and other concessions to the highest earners balanced with harsh words against tax avoidance.The argument that if we compensate them they might pay some tax. The key emphasise will be on stability, gently on the rudder and the assertion that these hard times must continue for the benefit of the hard working family.

So, let’s see how close I am, should be interesting though, I don’t expect to watch it live so will get the edited highlights later.