WTF is happening in the UK?

[OFSO]

Home Office officials have admitted they do not know the whereabouts of more than 17,000 asylum seekers whose claims have been discontinued.
Asked whether some people had returned to their home countries, Simon Ridley, a senior civil servant in the Home Office, said he did not know.

(Spot the problem here:)

When an application is withdrawn it means it is no longer being considered and if the claimant remains in the UK they are here illegally and can be removed.

There are questions about how much the government has already paid Rwanda, after MPs were told it would be months before they would learn whether it was more than the £140m previously disclosed. The government minister said the figures are "known" but will not be disclosed until summer 2024.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The latest reports from people like the Pew Institute and Migrationwatch put the number of illegals at around 1,200,000
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/r ... opulation/

Going off consumption, food and utilities, the undocumented population was ten times larger back in 2007 - 12 million illegals.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 28454.html

Absolutely no one, anywhere, has had the courage to ask the utilities since then.

17,000 is just noise.

Another factor is that, for at least 10 years, government official migration figures represent the Net Migration, rather than the Immigration.
This is so that all the teachers, engineers and business execs leaving the country (professionals being 50% of permanent emigrants from the UK last time the government dared measure that - 2006), get their numbers cancelled by some of the welfare scroungers and petty criminals arriving by dinghy.
And the number of professional emigrants is higher than the government knows, because they don't even try to measure it properly. I would be one of them.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I note that the DT article about the two Royals being named contains, entirely peripherally of course, the names of only two Royals.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-famil ... rs-morgan/

That lecture I got at school from a media lawyer has proved amazingly useful since!

[Woody]

Anyone else watch Question Time last night?

[Boac]

Well, viewtopic.php?f=64&t=4694&p=380373&hili ... ds#p380373

We couldn't find a warship to spare so we have sent a bunch of junior 'Sunakers'

https://www.gbnews.com/news/falklands-l ... vier-milei

That will reassure the islanders.

I'm from the government - I'm here to help....

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Ooh, look.
The two Royals named by the BBC do just happen to be the only two Royals who were entirely peripherally mentioned in yesterday's DT article about the two Royals it wasn't naming.
What a coincidence!

p.s. Why has the government created a formal Cabinet post of Minister Without A F#cking Clue when this duty is already being performed by all other members of Cabinet?
What next? Minister of Corrupt Practices? Minister of Lying To The Public? Minister for Making A Crisis Worse?

[Woody]

p.s. Why has the government created a formal Cabinet post of Minister Without A F#cking Clue when this duty is already being performed by all other members of Cabinet?

Somebody had to replace Nadine

[Woody]

Tory deputy chair Lee Anderson says he will move to Orkney if UK reverses Brexit

I can feel a particularly interesting editorial in the next edition of The Stronsay Limpet

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Grand Total of all US politicians and celebrities who actually did Move To Canada when whatever condition was contained in their threat to happened: Zero

[Woody]

https://x.com/breeallegretti/status/173 ... 56243?s=46

[Boac]

Apparent quote from the 'Braveman'

"Tories face ‘electoral oblivion’ unless Rwanda flights go ahead, says Braverman"

Personally I think she wasted the last 5 words.

Judging by Jenrick's resignation letter, the job spec for the new Immigration Minister is for an MP who is happy to promise what he knows he cannot deliver. Certainly opens up the number of candidates.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

They say what they have to to get elected, then do what they want to get rich and powerful.
What they say and what they do are almost completely disconnected.

There are a-holes like this in just about every walk of life, but what's unusual about politics is that there's such a high proportion of them, and that the average voter still keeps electing them.
The problem is with the average voter, one's fellow citizen.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I note that Boris the former PM has been asked by residents not to wear his Grimsby Town bobble hat any more, as he is bringing the town into disrepute.

I have to admit that the kettle does appear to be blacker than the pot!

[tango15]

A little tale from the local Post Office yesterday. In the next village, there is a small retail development which includes a Tesco Express. One of the units remained unoccupied for some time and was then opened by a couple of Kurds as a fish and chip shop called 'Oh My Cod'. There is no shortage of fast food outlets in the area, and this one was uncalled for. I passed it a few days ago and noticed it was closed during normal opening hours. Apparently, there was a note on the door saying they were closed for holidays - yeah, right! Predictably, it didn't do very well, so they bypassed the electricity and stopped paying the suppliers. Of course, they are here on the business entrepreneur system. Invest in Britain and get a 'leave to remain stamp' in your passport. Welcome to Paradise Island!

[1DC]

Regarding Boris's headgear, the local tv station was abroad here in Grimsby asking the residents what they thought of banning Boris from wearing a Grimsby Town hat. The general opinion was that he can wear what he likes, who cares!They couldn't find anyone actually against it apart from the bloke who started the petition who was also interviewed and came across as a bit of a berk in my opinion..
If the weather down in London is anything like the Humber he would be better off with a sou'wester. Glad we don't live in a flood area.

[Boac]

Slightly stunned by the fragrant 'Baroness' Mone's comment broadcast on the BBC this AM that although she admits she had lied about her involvement in the ongoing PPE funding scandal she could not see 'what she had done wrong'............ She claims she and her husband were advised by a government 'person' to deny all involvement. Whoever that was would be good to know..........

I do wonder if the swirling silt around David Cameron will further choke Risky's waters. Cameron appointed her to a Conservative life peerage, which she still holds, although she has had the Conservative whip withdrawn (sounds painful?). Personally I look forward to seeing her de-frocked (or whatever happens to disgraced Peers) - with pictures...............

Cameron (our new favourite (cuddly, of course) Foreign Minister) was very active in the Greensill affair, lobbying hard with Risky and others for a company which 'funded' companies in, as it happens, the 'healthcare sector', and Mone's involvement turns around a Hong Kong based company in which her husband was involved which was given a large government contract for PPE. This is the subject of a current National Crime Agency's investigation. Cameron was also heavily involved in boosting relations with China (which is not far from Hong Kong....) and there is a marked undercurrent in the journalistic world seeking to find out more about Cameron's rumoured ?significant? investments involving China.

Will Risky be looking into the shrinking pool of minnows for a new FM?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I wonder if this will give some living in the UK an idea?

Fire destroys Irish hotel due to house 70 asylum seekers
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... -migrants/

[Boac]

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/what- ... ts-2810835

[Woody]

Another Government scandal

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67748301

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Police in Norfolk ignored a 999 call.
Family of 4 found dead when they responded to a second one an hour later.
Since the person who apparently made the first call was one of the dead, the lack of police response doesn't exactly look good.
They have, at least, referred themselves to the watchdog..for whatever that's worth. "Lessons Will Be Learned", obviously
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... ound-dead/