COVERAGE of the weekend protests outside “all-male” migrant hotels largely depicted two extremes of public opinion.
Those who were there to whole-heartedly support the new arrivals to our country and those who, faces contorted in anger and wrapped in the St George’s flag, were clearly there to stir up trouble.
PABrits demonstrating outside the former Bell Hotel in Epping last weekend[/caption]
GettyIf Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t get to grips with the small boats crisis soon, Labour’s defeat at the next election is a nailed-on certainty[/caption]
How many of the latter know that St George was a migrant from the Middle East? But I digress.
When it comes to the polarising issue of “asylum seekers”, the majority of the British public don’t subscribe to either of these extremes.
They hold a view that balances circumstantial compassion with a deep concern over how local communities are being changed with a sizeable influx of foreign nationals with varied cultural values that don’t always tally with our own.
This worry is entirely natural and doesn’t make them “far right extremists”.
In fact, most of them will have felt deeply moved by the palpable desperation of those photographed wading into the sea with their children at the weekend in the hope of a better life in the UK.
One man was shown neck deep in the waves with his distressed child on his shoulders.
Another, called Hamid, from Afghanistan, arrived on the beach with his wife and three young children but turned back because the youngsters were “too upset” by the depth of the sea.
His country, of course, is now ruled by the Taliban again after Britain’s disastrous role in the invasion that removed Saddam Hussein but failed to implement a plan for democracy going forward.
If my daughters were living under such an oppressive regime, I’d be fleeing too.
France, of course, is a safe country, but alongside Hamid and his family, 150 others were trying to board boats operated by smugglers who, unless they’d been paid, callously chucked people back into the water.
In other words, it’s a dog-eat-dog fight for survival and, with their strength and the fact they only have to pay for themselves, it’s perhaps little wonder that around 76 per cent of small boat arrivals to our shores are men aged 18 or over.
This is the statistic that concerns the ordinary man and woman on the street.
For if they were “fleeing persecution”, wouldn’t they — just like Hamid — have their mothers/wives/daughters with them?
Instead, it’s likely that many are economic migrants but, as official data doesn’t separate them from genuine refugees and they can throw away their passports to avoid detection, it’s hard to tell.
Criminal intent
What we do know is that housing largely young men of unknown origin in hotels at the heart of long-standing, integrated local communities is a recipe for genuine concern.
People feel that jobs are already hard to come by without importing competition, and that the UK’s strained infrastructure (particularly the NHS) is buckling under the pressure of a rapidly rising population.
In addition, given that they don’t always know the true identity of those living in their midst, it’s little wonder there’s a fear that a few might be coming here with criminal intent.
We have enough law-breakers of our own to deal with, without welcoming more. And those sharing all these concerns are Brits of all ethnicities.
But whatever your view on the rights/wrongs of the 50,000 who’ve landed here since “smash the gangs” Labour took power, we can surely all agree that people risking their lives in a flimsy vessel after paying thousands to a criminal is a desperate situation that needs to be stopped.
We need a proper deterrent, and yesterday Reform leader Nigel Farage declared that his party would provide one by “detaining and deporting absolutely anyone”.
Easier said than done, but this as-yet-untested promise will cut through with those who feel that the current and past governments have singularly failed to address their concerns.
And the PM’s latest round of confusing and easily manipulated initiatives won’t change that.
If he doesn’t get to grips with the small boats crisis soon, Labour’s defeat at the next election is a nailed-on certainty.
OLIVIA’S ROYAL SLIP-UP
AlamyThe Crown’s Olivia Colman has revealed she cannot walk ‘posh’[/caption]
OLIVIA COLMAN has revealed that, despite her success playing the Queen in The Crown, there was one characteristic she couldn’t nail.
“I can’t walk posh,” she admits. “As I was walking, the director did shout, ‘More Queen, less farmer’.”
I sympathise.
Having always imagined my gait was akin to Naomi Campbell sashaying down a catwalk, a recent holiday video has revealed it’s more reminiscent of Dick Emery’s “Ooh, you are awful, but I like you” character Mandy.
If you’re under 50, Google it.
NANNYING NONSENSE
RE-RUNS of TV classic Doc Martin are now carrying trigger warnings that viewers might see “medical procedures” such as, ooh-er, a mole removal.
Sigh. How soon before such nannying nonsense is seen on signs as you enter an actual A&E?
THERE’S LITTLE TO CHIA
THE second series of the Duchess of Sussex’s With Love, Meghan cookery show has dropped on Netflix.
And it’s been as critically panned as the last.
There’s the usual blindingly obvious tips mixed with celebrities digging deep to find their best expressions of wonderment as “Her Royal Highness” spouts forth on everything from chia seeds to how her life feels more authentic since she left the confines of Palace life where: “I couldn’t be as vocal.”
Could’ve fooled us.
KAURA’S JOINED McTRIBE
Missing Kaura Taylor, from Texas, was found living with an ‘ancient tribe’ in the so-called ‘Kingdom of Kubala’ in Scotland
WHEN 21-year-old Kaura Taylor went missing from her home in Texas, her family were understandably worried.
But turns out she’s living with an “ancient tribe” in the so-called “Kingdom of Kubala” situated in woodlands on the outskirts of . . . Jedburgh, Scotland.
And no, that’s not an April Fool’s joke. It’s August.
Kaura is living as “second wife” to the tribe’s “King Atehene”, a former PR agent and opera singer from Ghana.
Words fail me.
Kaura’s family say they are worried sick and hope that, because she allegedly flew here on a six-month tourist visa, she’ll be forced to go home (don’t count on it).
But failing that, her first Scottish winter should do the trick.
FELTZ’S WISE WORDS
ASKED about cheating former boyfriend Ben Ofoedu, Vanessa Feltz says she has zero interest in what he’s up to.
“I didn’t get rid of them to keep tabs on what they’re doing. Let them get on with it,” she says.
Wise words that Ben should heed instead of making unsubtle digs at his ex to propel himself back into the headlines.
CAGEY ABOUT CAGING
POLICE used facial recognition technology to look for 16,231 “individuals of interest” at the Notting Hill Carnival at the weekend.
It included those being sought for alleged criminal activity that would merit a sentence of “a year or more”.
Hmmm. While the knowledge that police are seeking to remove alleged criminals from our streets is heartening, what’s the betting that even if they’re caught and charged, the “justice” system will either let them out early or not put them away in the first place?
KIM’S KID OF 12 LOOKS NORTH OF 20
BackGridKim Kardashian pictured out in Rome with daughter North West, 12, who resembles a twenty-something[/caption]
Instagram/krisjennerNorth’s grandmother Kris Jenner might be knocking 70 but the latest face-lift makes her look 12[/caption]
KIM KARDASHIAN has been photographed in the Italian capital Rome with someone who, one might initially assume, is a friend or personal assistant.
But no. This corseted, platform-booted, blue-haired, bejewelled, designer-handbagged vision of loveliness strolling alongside her is none other than her oldest daughter North West.
Aged 12.
Cripes. Not yet a teenager and already resembling a twenty- something.
Meanwhile, her grandmother Kris Jenner might be knocking 70 but the latest face-lift makes her look 12.
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