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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.

We don’t want to hear, we’re not interested

I don’t know how to start this really and, to be be honest, by the nature of what I am about to say, many have already lost interest!

Is it a modern thing I wonder?

More and more recently I see some in society less and less interested in anything outside of their small interest zone. Attention spans seem very short too.

I am aware of ‘cancel culture’ and I know what it is and, how I generally feel now is like that. Others feel an entitlement to shut up anyone who says anything at all that they personally have no interest in or, which makes them think even if they agree with the conclusion. Now, that said, anything more than two lines and the self same people have stopped reading and, that’s fine, leave it there, not interested, turn away, subject closed but no!

Not only do they not read the piece but without completing it they then feel compelled to make it public they’ve not read it. it’s the same ‘boring rubbish’ and they don’t feel it has any place showing up in their lives.

Now, we are talking ‘online’ here, most of these same people wouldn’t dream of being so rude face to face or so brazen but, online, anything apparently goes and is acceptable.

Back in the early web we had these people, back then they were called ‘trolls’ and their only aim online was to pretend to play devils advocate or to put an opposing opinion whether they had any interested in the subject or not, no comment about anything no matter how mundane would be left unchallenged by them. The objective, in truth, was to shut down online discussion for or by certain people they had decided shouldn’t have an online persona.

One of the scary parts now is this … if we are told to ‘shut up (because we’re boring)’ we are not permitted to complain about that in any shape or form else it’ll only get worse. Those people take it as a personal affront should someone dare challenge their right to say ‘we’ are boring.

Example at the moment would be the virus. Discussion on it has become a big no go area it seems. So controversial is any opinion on the subject. I’ve been told I best shut up commenting that anyone is breaking the lockdown because ‘no one wants to hear you go on and on about it. let other people live their lives how they want’ (the irony).

Politics, they’re not interested because ‘it makes no difference who is in power so, why bother?’ and as such, any political conversation is slammed as boring or a waste of their time.

My view all along is, the more they say we should shut up because they’re not interested, the more we shouldn’t. I have some historical precedent there in that so many in the Jewish community in the 1930’s didn’t want to complain, didn’t want to rock the boat they turned a blind eye and it came back and slapped them in the face.

In the USA just now, so many sat by not wanting to get involved that they very nearly got themselves a dictatorship out of it, one of the most democratic countries in the world almost lost their way because of their culture of not getting involved.

You see, and this is just my opinion, those telling others to shut up are the very ones who create the conditions for disaster either to cover their own wrong doing (in the case of the far right) or, to a smaller extent, to not wear a mask. I’ve even been slammed down for being critical of cannabis and I’d be forgiven for believing that anyone and everyone reading believes that we should all be wanting to spend our entire lives with cannabis use being everywhere and legal whereas the truth, most likely, is they just don’t want to get involved so, when it comes down to it, what is likely to happen with cannabis use? Of course, those with the loudest voice, the users, will win through because the others who don’t want it legal just didn’t want to upset anyone, didn’t want to get involved.

Anyway, the decision I have made, reluctantly, is to shut up, not get involved, leave them to it. My age is rapidly making me irrelevant anyway so, few will notice. My one personal decision won’t change anything for anyone, it’ll just give me an easier life as I take less and less interest in the world around me other than those things which directly affect me because ‘me’ is what society is now, all about ‘me’ and ‘they & them’ are the ones to blame for everything but no one knows who ‘they or them’ are so they just stick with ‘me’.

Well, good luck with that, let me know how that works for you long term!

Actually don’t. I’m not interested!