I am genuinely stunned that, following the competitive racism-fest that was the Tory Party conference, the Tories have gone up in the opinion polls.
I quite admit my judgement was completely wrong. I was feeling happily that the Tories had finally overreached themselves, and the implications of employers drawing up lists of foreign employees, or primary schools writing to parents demanding birth certificates, would be met with popular revulsion from the inherently decent British people.
Well, I was wrong. Racism pays, at least in England. After their Conference the Tories are up to 43%. The Tories and UKIP combined are up to 54%. I am afraid it is intellectually dishonest to avoid the grim truth. At present, you cannot be too racist for popular English taste. The underlying theme of the Labour Party conference was Blairite calls for Labour to join in the mood of xenophobia. Of the existence of that mood there can now be no doubt.
That Scotland has an entirely different political culture to England is now undeniable. I think the map of the EU vote by voting district is crystal clear.
The problem is, “Devolution” does not protect Scotland from implementation of this tide of xenophobia. As immigration is a reserved matter, the refusal of visas to attend non-Russell Group universities will impact harshly on some Scottish universities, even though University policy is theoretically with Holyrood. Similarly Holyrood cannot stop Scottish employers being ordered to draw up lists of foreigners by the Home Office, nor Scottish primary schools carrying out new immigrant checks ordered by Amber Rudd.
Theresa May has already sought to rub Scottish subservience in our faces by making plain Scotland will have no place in Brexit negotiations and Holyrood no veto on any outcome. Now we see the true limitations of our defences against Tory rule.
In the Independence referendum campaign Gordon Brown vowed that, if Scotland voted No to Independence, it would within two years be “as close to a federal state as you can be”. Instead it is as close to a fascist state as you can be.
There is a huge gulf between what is happening in the UK and what a great many No voters in the Indyref, particularly Labour No voters, believed would happen. The political circumstances are now entirely different to those prevailing or promised in 2014.
It is therefore very legitimate, indeed necessary, now to call a second Independence referendum to sort out the mutually conflicting votes of Scots in the Independence and EU referenda. Scots voted, democratically, to be both in the Union and in the EU. But they cannot be in both. It is vital, now, to discover which they want as a matter of democratic legitimacy.
The SNP really must stop havering. Now is the time for Indyref2. we must break free from the toxic culture of jingoism that has swept much of the UK. It is both a political and a moral imperative.
“Either fit in or fuck off.”
Goodness, if everybody else had said the same, Britain would never had an Empire ! 😀
Theresa May has said that women seeking maternity care in the UK will now be asked to produce their passport. If they don’t have a British passport they won’t get treatment. When challenged on this today at PMQs, May said that emergency care will still be provided.
The logic of this is that pregnant women who don’t have a British passport will be chucked out on the street (and maybe the ‘Immigrant Police’ can bayonet them, just to get rid of the problem), but then when they start giving birth on the pavement they will be treated as emergency patients (the newborn, of course, didn’t ask to be brought into this world and have no say in the matter).
You know it makes sense, folks.
The Daily Express are sponsoring an ‘Anglo-African Friendship Festival’ on 20th April in Calais. You can guess who will be the headline act…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLocKzC80gk
(the above clip was recorded at this year’s Conservative Party conference)
Robg; “The logic of this is that pregnant women who don’t have a British passport will be chucked out on the street (and maybe the ‘Immigrant Police’ can bayonet them, just to get rid of the problem), but then when they start giving birth on the pavement they will be treated as emergency patients”
It’s for logic like that that I call the Tories trolls, and Theresa the Troll will be lucky if she’s till PM by the time of the next GA.
There have been checks on users of NHS facilities for ages. Non-EU nationals are given emergency treatment, but expected to pay. If non-EU people want medical treatment they have to pay for it. This seems totally fair and reasonable to me.
This all seems a non-issue to me, whipped up faux horror from liberals like Craig, and whipped up by the Tories to demonstrate that they are taking action on immigration.
PhilW- these ‘checks’ as you call them normally involve being invited to sign a declaration to the effect that you are entitled to the treatment you are seeking gratis, and that the ‘no recourse to public funds’ conditions do not apply to you. They are, in other words, nothing more than an open invitation to lie thru your teeth and thereby easily evade a hefty re-charge bill.
As I stated on an earlier thread in relation to social housing applicants and the application of the ‘no recourse to public funds’ conditions there (an area where I have some experience and expertise), there is really no stomach on the part of the managers tasked with carrying out these duties to carry them out with any degree of thoroughness. The same sloth and apathy almost certainly also applies in the NHS.
As a suggestion, try sending in a FOIA request to your local NHS trust and ask them-
1. How much money they collected in the last 3 years from foreigners using their services but who, either under the ‘no recourse to public funds rule’ or because they were short term visitors, weren’t entitled to routine treatments on the NHS for free
2 How much officer time, in terms of the number of full or part time officer holders employed by the Trust, are engaging in recovering such charges
You’ll be amazed at the obfuscatory and mealy mouthed replies you receive I’m sure !
Old Mark, do you remember the debate about Syria in the House of Commons last December (which ‘bomber Benn’ finished off with a rousing speech)? The house voted for air strikes in Syria, but of course as a result of that vote there’s now even more British ‘special forces’ on the ground in Syria.
My point is, that shortly before that vote, prime minister *pigs are nervous* Cameron pledged an extra £178 BILLION funding to the UK armed forces…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12010688/David-Cameron-announces-5000-strong-strike-brigades-to-take-the-fight-to-terrorists.html
I do find it a bit bizarre that people like you – during times of so-called ‘austerity’ – appear to be quite happy with such a vast waste of money for killing people, whilst bemoaning the pittance spent on helping pregnant mothers, wherever they are from.
It just about sums-up Britain in the 21st century.
Rob G- yes I do remember the debate you refer to, and you are making incorrect assumptions about my views on defence expenditure.
FWIW I think the proposed expenditures on a new class of submarines to deliver our ‘independent nuclear deterrent’ , and on new aircraft carriers (to prove we still ‘punch above our weight, militarily) are wasteful vanity projects, supported by pipsqueak politicians with no military experience who wish to preen themselves on the ‘world stage’ as ‘Churchillian’ statesmen
Yes, but philw, we are talking about pregnant women here, not people who want cosmetic surgery.
The premise put forward by May & Co is that women seeking maternity care in the UK who do not have a British passport will be refused NHS/free care (and that includes EU nationals). I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that a large number of women who are British passport holders give birth in other countries (particularly in places like France and Spain). How’s the backlash from this going to effect them?
I won’t even bother with the moral arguement; ie, in what we are constantly told is the 6th richest country in the world we should not hesitate to give proper maternity care to women, whatever country they are from.
It’s quite depressing just how many people now buy into the propaganda (which is all about privatising the NHS) and actually want Britain to become some kind of Dickensian theme park.
I disagree with Dmitry Orlov about the origins of oil – he thinks it is a fossil fuel, but agree with him about almost everything else and even Chris Martenson about exponential growth..I can’t write or give lectures on anything like their scale…both these guys are incredibly talented…but it doesn’t mean to say I agree with them – though I can’t disagree with (most) of their maths or physics…but the human race given relative freedom and safety and security – does not expand exponentially..and the oil ain’t going to run out – cos it ain’t a fossil fuel – but anyway Dmity Orlov came out with this – This week – and it is completely brilliant…
http://cluborlov.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/oopsa-world-war.html
Small extract (for those of you who can only do text message lengths – or tweet) (its a paragraph)
“One reason to be cheerful is that any plan to attack Russia is bound to become mired in bureaucracy. Battle plans are developed by mid-rank people within the US military establishment, approved and forwarded up the chain of command by higher-rank people and finally signed off on by the Pentagon’s top brass and their civilian political accomplices. The top brass and the politicians may be delusional, megalomaniacal and inadvertently suicidal, but the mid-rank people who develop the battle plans are rarely suicidal. If a particular plan has no conceivable chance of victory but is quite likely to lead to them and their families and friends becoming vaporized in a nuclear blast, they are unlikely to recommend it.”
I can’t write like that.
Tony
Here’s an ominous first;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/10/11/isis-used-an-armed-drone-to-kill-two-kurdish-fighters-and-wound-french-troops-report-says/
Wonder where they got them ?
Amazon, by the look of the photo.
Racist attitudes amongst viewers have been blamed for the fact that the only two black contestants on Strictly have already been voted off. The BBC is also at fault for being so keen to appease the opinions of bigots (possibly for fear of losing ratings). If the recent racism revelations weren’t enough, the self-styled ‘People’s BBC’ are blatantly homophobic and sexist themselves by refusing to allow same-sex dancing couples on Strictly; worse still adding because it was one of their flagship, early Saturday evening “family shows” (*What, like Jim’ll Fix it?!!!) Once they had banned two people of the same sex from dancing together, I guess in retrospect it was only a matter of time before they prevented two people of different races from dancing with each other, too:(
Quite right Becky. The only sane way to deal with racists viewing the BBC is to take them outside and shoot them.
If that is not sufficient to change peoples attitudes or give solace to mixed race or same sex dancing couples then we should immediately move to all out nuclear war with Russia.
Becky if people want to see nancy boys prancing about, there are dedicated channels for that sort of thing, not on prime time BBc please.
You are an ugly bigot. You could at least knock off the vicious language.
John Spencer
I am not ugly
Your language is ugly. I would have thought that was pretty obvious.
Same-sex couples I don’t know, but I thought the BBC adequately defended itself on brown or semi-brown people by pointing to the number of such people who’d done well in the past.
This news report is apparently a hoax…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwMCUxhq9u0
… but none the less perhaps amusing for that. Amusing because it’s an example of how easy it is to get people to buy into anything that panders to their own prejudices. This one’s got everything: Hillary Clinton, the Libtard (so presented, but actually the complete opposite), Yoko Ono, the strange and somewhat menacing foreigner, and John Lennon, the peacenik and commie pinko bastard.
Gawd, they’ll be loading their shotguns down Texas way.
It is the uk workers past and present who pay for our NHS these people who fly in here to give birth have no right to do so and they know it .,it is just sheet cheek on their part they do not give a dam about us they think only of their selves and they have the added bonus of claiming their child was born in the uk so they are British born I want to see a stop to this fraud let the people who think it it is alright pay for them I mean where does compassion end and stupidity begin? O
Why carp at pregnant women when you can damn rich local bastards who’ve never paid a thing?
Neil Kinnock
(a repeat of what I said to Old Mark on the previous page. It’s amazing how one size fits all…)
The stupidity begins here: do you remember the debate about Syria in the House of Commons last December (which ‘bomber Benn’ finished off with a rousing speech)? The house voted for air strikes in Syria, but of course as a result of that vote there’s now even more British ‘special forces’ on the ground in Syria.
My point is, that shortly before that vote, prime minister *pigs are nervous* Cameron pledged an extra £178 BILLION funding to the UK armed forces…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12010688/David-Cameron-announces-5000-strong-strike-brigades-to-take-the-fight-to-terrorists.html
I do find it a bit bizarre that people like you – during times of so-called ‘austerity’ – appear to be quite happy with such a vast waste of money for killing people, whilst bemoaning the pittance spent on helping pregnant mothers, wherever they are from.
It just about sums-up Britain in the 21st century.
Oh, and I can’t even be bothered to get into those “70,000 moderate rebels” that the porcine lover spoke about under oath in the House of Commons…
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34986278
Lies, it’s always complete lies, but due largely to the media propaganda the public continue to swallow it wholesale.
Cameron just made that up, showing an almost heroic inability to learn a thing from the Iraq debacle. I doubt there’s even 7 moderate rebels, and 5 of them are US spies.
It was once said of Germany that the country was sick, but recovered. Well, the US is very sick indeed now, and that appalling freak show they called a POTUS ‘debate’ will be looked at by historians with some interest. It was like a town hall debate in Gotham City.
I do hope the US wakes up, and purges the neocons. It’s a hard task, and has to be done inch by inch, in the schools, churches, judiciary, and of course media-Government circles. But, happily, it usually transpires that they are a paper-tiger, and not as all-powerful as they like to project. They can start by putting Clinton in jail, there’s enough evidence already to charge her, and then some.
Sorry, but this is nonsense. It is certainly true that there are many, many very ‘immoderate’ rebels involved in Syria. (Like, on a par with the Khmer Rouge immoderate.) But not all the rebels are alike and not all of them are fighting on the same side or in the same way. Have a look at this map:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rojava#/media/File:Syrian_Civil_War_map.svg
The yellow part at the top is controlled by ‘Kurdish’ rebels and is called, by them, Rojava. I say Kurdish but these rebels also include many other ethnic and religious groups who are fighting together against both the Syrian dictatorship and Daesh. And not just ‘together’ as in, in the same place, or against the same enemy, but actually cooperatively. Many people have come to these region to seek protection from Daesh.
Rojava has established a democratic constitution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Rojava
They elect their leaders – not just ‘a leader’ – but many leaders, men and women, across the regions and in various roles. The constitution respects gender equality, religious equality, minority rights, human rights, and freedom of speech and association. To the maximum extent possible, given the circumstances they find themselves in, the constitution seems to be being implemented on the ground (that is, it is not just a paper wishlist). Notably, they have not declared independence, seeking instead a federal arrangement with a future democratic Syrian state, nor have they claimed any territory outside of Syria (i.e. no greater ‘Kurdish’ homeland including, say, parts of Turkey). But, yes, may of them are Kurds and will have an affinity with Kurds in other countries, including Turkey. And, yes, many of them will be adherents of Ocalan’s political ideas. And, yes, for many people their economics will be seen as too left-wing.
But, if there is any group or organization in the conflict that would seem to deserve – though I would say, rather, should be entitled to demand – the support of democrats, liberals and progressives in the rest of the world, then these people should. With very little outside help they have made significant gains (the yellow area has grown significantly – in fact it is, last I knew, somewhat large than indicated on the map above).
Claiming that all the rebels are as bad is each other (or the Syrian government) is just factually challenged.
Syria’s Secret Revolution
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKhjJfH0ra4
Constitution (full text, English)
– https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/charter-of-the-social-contract/
A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution
– https://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Key-Open-Large-Door/dp/193866017X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1476380089&sr=8-3&keywords=rojava
Rojava: An Alternative to Imperialism, Nationalism and Islamism in the Middle East
– https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rojava-Alternative-Imperialism-Nationalism-introduction/dp/1326454803/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1476380154&sr=8-2&keywords=rojava
Or search ‘Rojava’ on YouTube and you’ll find a lot more.
As far as i remember (without checking) the money spent on all such people is more than covered by the profit from people from overseas who actually pay for treatment on the NHS. In any case it’s less than 1% of the budget and so doesn’t really seem as massive a problem as it’s made out to be. Check and correct me if you can be bothered 🙂 anyway, there’s no shortage of wealth in this country so why not be generous? Little old Cuba with no money sends more doctors around the world for disasters than most other rich countries
(last post was to blair patterson)
Burt – The financial cost of illegal or quasi legal access to UK public services is only one side of the equation.
Public services need planning and the planning requires an informed estimate of the likely number of users of any given service. \by definition illegal or quasi legal users of a service tend to be difficult to count and hence complicates planning.
For a combination of reasons the UK trains an insufficient number of Doctors. It plugs this gap by effectively stealing Doctors from other countries. This creates a shortage of Doctors in the countries from which Doctors have been poached which in turn creates incentives for more people to seek access to the NHS which in turn leads the UK to poach more foreign Doctors. Exactly who does this help?
Burt- can you go back ,check and do your homework (c.Habba), reproducing the figures you discover here, if you wish your contribution in this discussion to be taken seriously.
The figures I recall,at least in relation to recharges within Europe under the auspices of the EHIC arrangements, show that our EU neighbours collect far far more from the UK government in relation to UK citizens treated abroad than the UK government collects from other European governments in relation to their citizens treated here under the NHS. Given how punctilious the French are about this (AND the fact that Brits there, like the natives, will have to pay something up front to get most medical treatments) this state of affairs is not surprising-
http://www.french-property.com/news/french_health/health_insurance_card/
Just on a point of clarification – is it being claimed here, by implication, that the UK government has been and remains [no pun intended] incompetent in utilising the available channels and processes for claiming back the cost of treating non UK EU citizens who receive NHS treatment in the UK?
If so [that means this is going to be what is known in technical circles a conditional sentence] does that mean the fault for this lies with:
a) EU Nationals who have used the service?
b) The EU?
c) The Scottish Devolved Government?
d) The UK Government in Westminster?
No rush.
Vimes- you are awarded the gold star for the most blatant rhetorical question posted so far on this thread.
Of course the answer is D; however several contributors here are getting very hot under the collar over the prospect of the UK government attempting to redeem itself in this area- by recent measures such as the ‘Immigration Health Surcharges’ being added to large groups of foreign visa applicants from April 2015.
In fact, as I stated in my earlier reply to Alcyone on this point (01.45 this morning) the introduction of these surcharges is in effect an admission of defeat by the government at the prospect of getting the NHS in any significant way to recoup charges from foreigners whilst they are in the UK- instead they are ‘advance fee collecting’ by covering some of the costs incurred by NHS freeloaders from abroad via applying a visa surcharge out of country, when the applicants visa is processed.
That still begs the question of why it is that within the EU rules and processes it is apparently, according to some commentators, possible for other EU countries to successfully bill the UK for the cost of treatment after it has taken place yet the UK, using the same processes and rules, is so inept at doing the same that it has to introduce specific legislation – costing yet more time and public money – to bill individual EU nationals at the point and time of delivery.
Forgive one for being aghast here given the amount of advice and assurances received from certain quarters that it was Europe who is inefficient and ineffective and the UK Government was and is a model of efficiency in all such areas. Given that the true source of this inefficiency is now being conceded I for one am looking forward to seeing a majority of citizens in this country actively arguing and campaigning for better democracy. Three and half months of silence and sitting back on laurels is not going to deliver the improved results of taking back democratic sovereignty.
That still begs the question of why it is that within the EU rules and processes it is apparently, according to some commentators, possible for other EU countries to successfully bill the UK for the cost of treatment after it has taken place yet the UK, using the same processes and rules, is so inept at doing the same that it has to introduce specific legislation
Vimes- stop being obtuse; it isn’t the ‘UK’ that cannot operate recharge arrangements along the lines of other EU countries, it is the NHS- which is built on a1940s model which was well fitted to the UK at the time- remember we had ID cards, rationing and near zero immigration back then, but which has demonstrably shown itself up to be not fit for purpose in the high immigration jet age we are now living in.
I don’t mind not being taken seriously. But i did have a go at retracing my mental steps before posting, to no avail – i was hoping someone else would have remembered the same article better than me. Oh well, say lavvy
(to old mark)
I only happened to skim through the discussions so please forgive me if i don’t capture the full context.
BUT are people here away that all non-EU students are required to pay annual ‘Immigration Health Surcharges’ before their visas are even considered?
I believe that applies to the category of all non-EU immigrants, investors, entrepreneurs, employees etc. They also do not have any access to other public funds, benefits etc,
In summary, they are all financial positive to the community.
Alcyone-
These surcharges have only been added to visa fees since April 2015, the surcharges added to the fee are relatively modest; and of course the reason these surcharges are applied BEFORE the non EU migrant arrives in the UK is that the government has effectively given up on persuading the NHS to get its act together on recharging such migrants once they are here-
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/internationalstudents/immigration/immigrationhealthsurcharge/
And as usual, a loophole remains- in this case visitors and students applying to stay for under 6 months are exempt from the surcharge
And consider this- the surcharge then entitles the immigrant to exactly the same free at the point of use access to the NHS as that enjoyed by a UK citizen- not a bad deal for a mere £150 surcharge !
To give you an idea of how much more rigorously these matters are handled in much of continental Europe, here is the testimony, from personal experince, of a UK immigrant living in Austria-
http://raedwald.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/three-reasons-uk-is-easy-touch-for.html
The £150 figure I quoted above is the amount of an annual surcharge- for a stay of 6 months only it is a piffling £75
At the concluision of proceedings today in the HoC, the adjournment debate was on the subject ‘Gypsies and Travellers’.
It gave many the opportunity to voice the usual prejudice and animosity expressed towards the travellers, Racism in another guise in other words.
http://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-10-12/debates/0A875213-1955-4FB5-AE62-508A70D22CBC/GypsiesAndTravellers
All states are fascist Craig, the differences are the lies they tell about the people they murder. Pretending that the exit vote was a racist vote is disingenuous, all the stay votes were racist.
If this is true, it marks the beginning of the end for the neocon crazies in Syria. Of course, being crazies, you wouldn’t rule out something stupid and deliberately provocative ! Let’s test how invisible those F22s really are…
Which reminds me, how is Killary these days? Any more flies chewing her fucken face?
Kinda biblical, that one.
https://southfront.org/negotiations-to-surrender-east-aleppo-under-way/
I haven’t yet had time to look into this one closely, but it now looks like they are trying to hit Assange with paedophile stuff…
https://archive.fo/b5CNT
I wonder why:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/786184297199702022
Here’s the skinny: Neocon war #4 was Libya. Why d’you think Killary had a private email server? Elements within the CIA and Pentagon went rogue in the 9/11 bloodlust and, as SoS, she was the enabler. Lots of nice black budget goodies for Islamic Proxies Inc and their handlers. Let’s see how thorough that Wikileaks cache is. I bet she don’t sleep nights for worrying, bless her. Trump the Grade A jock just won’t die.
Anyway, those rogue elements came back to bite Obama on the ass at Deir Ezzor when they fucked the ceasefire by killing 83 Syrian soldiers. What an unfortunately-timed mistake that was.
Mr Outgoing has done his hamstrung best, over the piece, but what we got here is the old state within a state. It’s specialism is regime change and permanent war. Sure, Mr Outgoing has thrown them some red meat, but the scraps weren’t enough. Not for the indispensable-nation, thousand-yard-stare whackjobs.
They got a noo world to make.
In Myanmar there are 0.6 Doctors per 1,000 people. In the UK there are 2.71 Doctors per 1,000 people or about 4.5 times as many Doctors per 1,000 people as there are in Myanmar.
There are currently 691 Doctors of Myanmar origin practicing medicine in the UK.
Does this point toward a future of a mutually beneficial multi cultural state of affairs or does this reveal the UK to be a predatory state busily hoovering up the most valuable human resources from generally impoverished societies.
Does this make opponents of mass immigration xenophobic racists or does it in fact make the proponents of mass immigration racists. Or is racism just a useful cover for avoiding recognition of the real problem – a problem of collective insanity?
Perhaps there would be fewer Burmese doctors in the UK if the Burmese govt paid its doctors better and/or said Burmese doctors thought more of the good of their country than of their wallets.
This is O/T,but anyone old enough to remember what happened to ‘terror suspects’ in German prisons in the 1970s would have felt a shudder on reading this news item-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37638631
For those of Craig’s readers who are too young to understand the reference I made above (or who are just ignorant- and you know who are!) here is what I was referring to-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stammheim_Prison
Panic and then corral the populace. But does it ever occur to these bozo’s that the opposition might not be on the same page. Governments are highly compartmentalised. Industry too. These fucks are playing high stakes poker for real money with our future as the stake.
War. War. Instead of seeking calm and peace, it is being ratcheted up. I like the bit about the US ‘enters Yemen war’.
US enters Yemen war, bombing Houthis who launched missiles at navy ship
Pentagon says radar sites were attacked after the destroyer USS Mason came under attack and notes ‘we will respond to any further threat’
13 October 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/13/us-enters-yemen-war-bombing-houthis-who-launched-missiles-at-navy-ship
What is USS Mason (which needs a coat of paint) doing there, in the ‘Bab al-Mandeb waterway between Yemen and east Africa’? Backing up the Saudi bombing campaign?
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Retaliating for days of attacks on a navy warship, the United States has launched its first strike on Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, becoming an active combatant in a brutal war led by Washington’s ally Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon announced late on Wednesday that it struck and destroyed three radar sites controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. The sites were described as being involved in two missile attacks over the past four days on the destroyer USS Mason, operating out of the Bab al-Mandeb waterway between Yemen and east Africa.
I see USS Mason was involved in Operation Enduring Freedom following some of the Shock and Awe tactic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mason_(DDG-87)#History
‘The Plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination. It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage. It calls for dominion over friends and enemies alike. It says not that the United States must be more powerful, or most powerful, but that it must be absolutely powerful.’ Vice-President Dick Cheney – lecture at West Point, June 2002
Quite so Dick.
It’s a wonder that Boris Johnson hasn’t yet called for the populace to demonstrate outside of the embassy of the United States of America,
for what they are doing to “control” the World.
Scotland Here We Go (Again)
Ms. Nicola Sturgeon to open Scottish National Party conference with attack on Tory XENOPHOBIA
I expect in Scotland it is a police imperative to clamp down on the hate crime of XENOPHOBIA
along with LGBTI crimes.
Add it to the list Mein Fuhrer Frau Nicola Sturgeon
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-37634338
SNP insiders are fearful Sturgeon has fired the independence starting gun too soon
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/720600/Nicola-Sturgeon-SNP-revolt-members-Scotland-independence-conference-Robin-McAlpine
After all, how many
once in a generation Referenda can you actually get away with?
More from the fascist state. I did not know that schools now have to record a pupil’s nationality.
School Census: Pupils’ Nationality
12 October 2016
The Earl of Clancarty
To ask Her Majesty’s Government for what purpose they intend to use the information ascertained from the newly introduced question in the school census on pupils’ nationality.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
My Lords, we will use information on pupils’ nationality and country of birth to understand how we can give all pupils a better education that caters to their individual needs. If there are people whose first language is not English, we will be able to see how well they are doing and how we can help their school to contribute meaningfully to raising pupils’ outcomes. These new data are solely for the DfE to use in research, statistics and analysis.
et cetera
https://goo.gl/f8RLx7
The Earl of Clancarty (CB)
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My Lords, is the Minister aware that parents are appalled by the introduction of these questions on nationality and place of birth, which have nothing to do with a good education? Is he further aware that a freedom of information request has revealed that the Home Office has frequently used the pupil database for immigration purposes? Does he not therefore agree that these questions are on the same level of intrusiveness as listing foreign workers, and should be removed from the census?
‘Is he further aware that a freedom of information request has revealed that the Home Office has frequently used the pupil database for immigration purposes?’
Sharp Ears- I’m shocked, shocked I tell ye!!
Now go away and find me a case of an illegal immigrant who has actually been detected and deported as a consequence of this latest Home Office bean counting exercise. I might then be convinced that you are not exhibiting the advanced stages of paranoia on behalf of these poor benighted immigrants (9000 and counting still stacking up at the Calais jungle, attempting to effect clandestine entry to the racist hellhole that is England in 2016).
“More from the fascist state. I did not know that schools now have to record a pupil’s nationality.”
Where did you get that from? You wrote:
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government for what purpose they intend to use the information ascertained from the newly introduced question in the school census on pupils’ nationality.”
Meaning that this information was specifically requested for a census of some kind, not by any schools.
The way I see it is the government obviously needs to know how many new English teachers are required for the future. What is fascist about that?
Obviously in your world the totalitarian spirit of Stalin resides, where everybody is compelled to think like Craig, or else face a barrage of rude names and accusations
O/T but take a look at this latest attempt by the Beeb subtly to smear Corbyn-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37634018
The writer of this article is dimly aware that the antecedents for this sort of thing, namely the ‘Red Wedge’ concerts of the 80s, were not so sneeringly dismissed by the Beeb as the present day reincarnation, hence the article includes this weassly caveat-
‘There have been plenty of music-based political movements before in Britain: Rock Against Racism in the 1970s, followed by the Red Wedge bands who toured together in the 1980s, opposing the policies of Margaret Thatcher.
Yet, while the latter may have spoken out against a particular prime minister, there was no individual opposition figure they explicitly supported, no Concerts for Kinnock.’
Never mind Corbyn, how about this, Dodgy Dave even more dismal than Gordon Brown?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3835927/Another-blow-David-Cameron-named-one-Britain-s-WORST-Prime-ministers-Brexitr-destroyed-government.html
“David Cameron has been rated one of the worst prime ministers in modern history by political experts after Brexit destroyed his government.
The Conservative came third from bottom in the table of post-war leaders but would have been classed as the biggest failure based on rankings for only his second term.
Mr Cameron fared worse than Labour’s Gordon Brown, the premier he regularly mocked while opposition leader, in the survey of academics who specialise in politics and contemporary British history.”
Neil Clark explains exactly why I often used the R word iro certain posters here, and it’s no accident that those with strong anti-immigration views also just so happen to be very keen on “humanitarian” wars;
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/362533-racism-war-west-imperialist/#
Oh yes, didn’t Craig admit to being a “liberal imperialist” a couple of weeks back? Or was it liberal federalist?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Imperialists
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalists_and_Liberal_Democrats
It describes the latter as “centre right” but what’s in a name? A Totalitarian State like Craig advocates these days is a real scary idea; you will be assimilated!
Macky- well you can count me out of the latter part of that equation; I may be a strong immigration restrictionist, but I have no time for ‘humanitarian wars’ or the dubious ‘responsibility to protect’ argument that the neocons have failed (on this occasion) to deploy in Syria.
I have been watching Boris giving ‘evidence’ to the Foreign Affairs Committee. Never has so little information been given by a Foreign Secretary in 90mins as he waffled away, umming and ahing throughout. He is a joke and a dangerous one at that. The only piece of information given was that a big meet to discuss Syria is taking place on Sunday but he couldn’t say who the participants will be.
Look at his hard and narrow set eyes. The jocularity and jesting of this ex Bullingdon Boy is contrived.
http://news.images.itv.com/image/file/906854/image_update_img.jpg
Tim Barrow and Simon McDonald follow him before the Committee. They are respectively Director General Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Permanent Under Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/foreign-affairs-committee/news-parliament-2015/sos-foreign-evidence-16-17/
See http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=simon+mcdonald for Craig’s previous references to Simon McDonald.
McDonald ‘joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1982 and served in Jeddah, Riyadh, Bonn and Washington, D.C. as well as in London. He was Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary 2001–03; Ambassador to Israel 2003–06; Director for Iraq at the FCO 2006–07; Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Overseas and Defence Secretariat at the Cabinet Office 2007–10; and was appointed Ambassador to Germany in October 2010.
In September 2015, McDonald became Permanent Under-Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, replacing Sir Simon Fraser. As of 2015, McDonald was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the Foreign Office, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_McDonald_(diplomat)
Quote:
“UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson has recently visited the White Helmet training centre in Gazientap. During this visit there, Johnson declares the UK Government’s intent to “remedy the Syrian crisis”…
… At the same time, Johnson is awfully enthusiastic about the Syria White Helmets who are “fantastically brave” humanitarians. They appear to have recently added another string to their bow as de-mining experts. Johnson is so enthusiastic, he is positively bouncing with glee as he announces the UK Foreign Office has awarded the White Helmets a further £32 million in NON-humanitarian aid, as part of a £ 65 million wider package to “remedy the Syrian crisis”.
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/09/30/we-saved-60000-bogus-claim-by-syrias-white-helmets-raises-even-more-questions/
I believe that Boris again praised the White Helmets during the Syria debate on Tuesday. It seems a tad incredulous that a Foreign Secretary, who gets regular briefings from the security services (don’t get me on to them!), wouldn’t know what the White Helmets are all about. Likewise with the Prime Minster, who when she was Home Secretary set-up a Keystone Cops inquiry into the Westminster child sex abuse scandal, an inquiry that has now fallen to bits (as it was intended to); all jollied along by the presstitutes.
I wonder if Tim Barrow still has that rather impressive beard which always reminded me of the young George V (and the young Tsar Nicholas II)?
Sharp Ears to investigate and report, please.
beard and moustache, I should have said.
This is “The Killing$ of Tony Blair” as Craig is obviously not keeping up:
http://internationaltimes.it/the-killing-of-tony-blair-3/
Err….
That’s Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953, the second son of Leo and Hazel (née Corscadden) Blair.
i.e. a Scot!
i wonder if Nicola read this post.. cos she’s just said she want’s a 2nd indyref.. fingers crossed she pushes for it hard.. ridiculous that scotland needs permission to hold a referendum tho, of course.
£ridiculous that scotland needs permission to hold a referendum tho, of course.”
Aye! The spirit of Uncle Joe Stalin presides over Scotland; resistance is futile; you will comply with the totalitarian state or face the consequences; “we” are the Borg; “we” have spoken; you will be assimilated!
Sorry, that should have been a “, not a Pound sign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8
A friend of mine called to see me on Sunday, he told me his sister’s husband had died Friday. He told me how they had fought to keep him alive till the ambulance arrived but the ambulance didn’t arrive, the ambulance didn’t arrive for well over an hour and by that time it was too late.
Yet they can find money for fucking referendums. Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear, fuck education, fuck health, fuck policing she has only one priority and that is forcing the Scots to have referendums till she gets the result she wants.
Yes Fred, that was like my wife; couldn’t be admitted to hospital until her GP came back from his holiday, but of course, by then she was dead. Many thanks to the nice Indian doctor who dared to say “F+ck the rules!” and got her admitted anyway.
Two from The Canary;
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/10/13/media-launched-new-smear-campaign-today-unite-us-disgust-editorial/
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/10/12/bbc-gets-caught-trying-bury-ultimate-screw-theresa-may-video-tweets/
(Quite liked the “Theresa May attempting to deliver a joke is like a buffalo trying to knit a scarf.” tweet ! 😀 )
One far more important from the Morning Star:
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-cac7-Virgin-Care-NHS-parasite
I mean, the NHS is something we all rely on, sooner or later?
But nobody laughed; nobody cried….
Yes, Theresa the Troll ducking questions yet again; highlights the hypocrisy of some who are so concerned that some immigrants may profit from NHS services without paying an adequate amount, yet don’t seem so concerned that privatisation means that not only are vast sums are being made for private profit, but very often as in the Virgin Care example, these companies paid no tax in Britain.
What about Tony, the biggest warmonger of the last century?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551087/Defiant-warmonger-to-the-last.html
Hey, that Scottish scum sure loves war, eh?
The extent of Branson’s Virgincare is well reported but the people do not seem to turn a hair. When the NHS has gone they might sit up.
For example, Devon’s children’s services are run by Virgin now as are Surrey’s NHS Adult Community Services. A little known fact is that its medical director is Dr Graham Henderson who is married to Anne Milton Con MP.
She was a health minister when Lansley put through Cameron’s Health and Social Care Act in 2012 which enabled further privatisation, following the work of Major, Brown and Blair in that regard. She is now Deputy Chief Whip.
A seamless move below.
Royal Surrey County Hospital
Accident & Emergency Doctor
May 2015 – Present (1 year 6 months)
Virgin Care Ltd
Medical Director (Surrey)
April 2012 – Present (4 years 7 months)
Surrey Primary Care Trust
Medical Director (Provider Services)
March 2007 – April 2012 (5 years 2 months)
East Surrey PCT
Director of Public Health
November 2001 – March 2007 (5 years 5 months)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-henderson-22461820
That is one example of what is happening to OUR NHS. The list of details of the takeover is extensive.
NHS For Sale?
Private Provider in Depth Profile
http://www.nhsforsale.info/private-providers/private-provider-profiles-2/virgin.html
That slimy little bastard loves that story of how he set up Virgin Records from a phone box in Oxford, while he was a “poor student struggling to make ends meet”, but Granddad was a judge of the High Court of Justice and a Privy Councillor and thus loaded. He never had to struggle for anything from birth, and now he is just another parasite.
If you’re implying that Mr Branson is an Oxford man you’re greatly mistaken. He’s as little an Oxford man as……. 🙂
‘She said: “Sadly the prime minister failed to promise any action at all. I will continue to expose the behaviour of Virgin Care in parliament, and I urge other whistleblowers to come forward.”
Virgin Care, which is part of the Virgin Group, has the contracts to carry out over 230 NHS and social care services, from running GPs’ surgeries to providing healthcare in prisons. Virgin bought up private healthcare provider Assura Medical in 2010 to capitalise on the fast-growing market in healthcare.
The prime minister replied that it was the last Labour government, not the Conservatives, that had significantly increased privatisation in the NHS.’
Patients forced to make appointments to boost profits, says Labour MP
Paula Sherriff says her former employer Virgin Care insisted on extra consultations at expense of taxpayer and patient safety
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/12/virgin-care-patients-being-forced-to-make-appointments-to-boost-profits-says-labour-mp-paula-sherriff
Another attempted two header equation from Macky bites the dust- why on earth do you assume that, because I object to foreigners freeloading on the NHS, that I’m quite blase about the NHS getting ripped off by dodgy privatisation deals ?
It is either because he is ignorant or deceitful, Old Mark. But you know that already, surely?
Oh dear, allow me to rephrase that as follows:
It is because he is either ignorant or deceitful, Old Mark. But you know that already, surely?
LOL@Gulity Conscience Old Mark !
Maybe because of the heated manner you employ iro anything to do with foreigners/immigration, and the frequency with which you bring this subject up, as opposed to zero time I have ever seen you complain about the zillions fleeced off the NHS by privatisations !
Macky- In reply to your post of 22.13 yesterday, when I post on immigration here I’m ‘going against the grain’ of most of the commenters here (and that of our host!)and I thus tend to get a hostile reception- which I then attempt to deflect and rebut, to the best of my ability.
On issues such as privatisation, the awfulness of Tony Blair and his legacy to UK foreign policy, the underhand tactics of the Israel lobby in UK and US politics, and some other issues, I’m usually uttering a world view shared by our kind host, and most of the regular commenters here. I don’t therefore have to keep coming back to respond to critical comments from others on the threads on these topics.
You can observe the same phenonenon when the defenders of Blairist foreign policy here (Habba, Res Diss, Kempe) post with high frequency when the topic of Craig’s post in some way impinges on that subject- but on other occasions they often keep a low profile.
The second Canary link that Macky posted exposes the BBC bias in promoting Teresa’s performance at PMQs when the general consensus was that Jeremy scored a knockout.
The BBC is aptly named the state broadcaster.
The BBC gets caught trying to bury the ultimate screw up from Theresa May [VIDEO, TWEETS]
OCTOBER 12TH, 2016
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/10/12/bbc-gets-caught-trying-bury-ultimate-screw-theresa-may-video-tweets/
If people want independence, then they could set up an organisation for that purpose rather than wait for the SNP.
This year is the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.
On that occasion, people simply ignored the do nothing approach of the Labour Party and the Communist Party and organised independently of them.
Something to think about!
“If people want independence”
They don’t. We had a referendum just two years ago to decide and they don’t. The opinion polls say nothing has changed they still don’t.
Well polls can be fickle, maybe after the debacle over immigrants, and the frightening of EU citizens, by das goosestepper party, and its move towards fascism, those who thought remaining in the Fatherland, was a good idea, might have changed their minds.
I mean the blood and soil nstionalism of das goosestepper party, would be enough to change most people’s minds, though not you, I’d imagine you thrive on it.
As the German for “party” is “die Partei” you should be writing “die Goosestepperpartei” (or “der Goosestepperpartei” were you to opt for the genitive case).
They may want “Independence”, much like teenagers always want independence, but when reality bites they come running home to Mum and Dad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/01/mapped-where-in-the-uk-receives-most-eu-funding-and-how-does-thi/
So while your children, and my children depend on us, Tony, to keep them afloat, Scottish kinda get EU money, which is really money that you and I paid in taxes, thus we are paying for not only our children, but for Scottish children to be independent as well, and our resident Scots feel no shame about this whatsoever.
So Frau May’ goosestepper party, is trying to knobble parliament by using some obscure ancient royal perogative, that doesn’t allow parliament an attempt, to block the triggering if article 50.
The wannabe fascists are pulling out all the stops, to make sure Brexit is pushed through, without a parliamentary debate, move over democracy, fascism here we come.
Maybe Frau May wants us all to rejoice in her vision of das Fatherland, by singing, I surrender to the Fatherland.
When RoS, are you going to admit that the fascism in Britain began with Herr Tony Blair, Scotsman through and through?
I’m sick of hearing about “Frau May”, who hasn’t even had time to get her fancy shoes under the table yet, while you Scots conveniently “forget” about Adolph Blair. Adolph Blair, the worst warmonger of the 20th century, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they failed to terminate him at birth.
And what does Herr Adolph Blair say about the SNP?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-snp-has-a-reactionary-caveman-ideology-tony-blair-says-10406795.html
Heck, for the first time ever, I find something Herr Tony says as being believable.
Alan.
Yes Blair is Scottish so is Brown, but both men carried out their action whilst head of the British governments. Do I need to remind you, that Hitler was Austrian?
Meanwhile the Goosesteppers rhetoric over Brexit has caused Sterling to go into freefall. That inturn has had a knock on effect, with supermarkets dropping goods from their shelves, too afraid to pass on the cost to the customers. Yes in a future das Fatherland, and its kaleidoscope of miseries anything negative will be possible.
Tell me, if Scotland can’t stand up to those “Anglo-Saxons” down south, how is cuddling up to those “Anglo-Saxons” in Germany and Holland going to go down any better? And then you get those “Vikings” in Denmark, Sweden and Norway; how exactly is this fantasy going to work? I guess the French might be sympathetic, but they aren’t exactly reliable are they; history alone shows that.
Bullshit.
Marmite is made in Britain from 100% British ingredients so Unilever putting the price up and blaming it on the fall in sterling is just a con, corporate profiteering.
Don’t you mean scheisse?
Anyway there’s a number of products not just Marmite, Ben & Jerry’s icecream is one I recall, anyway the point is, the lurch to the right by the xenophobic goosesteppers, has brought great uncertainty in das Fatherland.
Don’t you see? take of your Hugo Boss sunshades, and see that this is just the beginning of mass uncertainty, and we know the fascists masquerading as Tories, are good at spreading misery.
Das Fatherland, is heading towards a future pariah state, I mean who’ll want to come to das Fatherland for a holiday, from the EU? Unless of course you’re a jack boot salesman.
Spot on Fred- as everyone should know, marmite is a product derived from the leftovers of brewers yeast cultured in Burton on Trent, acquired originally from the many breweries that used to be headquartered there.
The idea that the raw material on which it is based is imported, and thus justifies a price increase because of the recent fall in the value of Sterling against the Euro, is pure bollocks.
ELIE
It is “das Vaterland”, not “das Fatherland”.
RoS
The first letter of German nouns is written with a capital latter. It is, therefore, “Scheisse”, not “scheisse”.
I’m going to start charging you for these German lessons. Please indicate your full name and address. Herzlichen Dank!
This for RoS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN7r0Rr1Qyc
This for RoS
Race and religious hate crimes rose 41% after EU vote
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37640982
1% were transgender hate crimes
However RoS you will be delighted to know that this horror only applies to Wales and England, so sleep safely in your beds knowing you are superior in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Tootle pip.
“A leaked Treasury report showed Brexit could cost a staggering £66 billion a year, UK Government advisors revealed there could be a £25bn bill for leaving the EU, an unnamed Cabinet Minister told the BBC “quite a lot” of the £350 million promised for the NHS might be spent retaining access to the single market instead and a report from the Resolution Foundation suggested weak wage growth could knock almost £800 a year from the annual wages of the UK’s poorest workers.”
http://www.thenational.scot/comment/lesley-riddoch-nordic-approach-could-provide-some-answers-for-post-brexit-britain.23503
By the looks of things, if the above is a snapshot of things to come, das Fatherland, is going to be a bleak, miserable, poor, and suppressed state to live in, where Frau May, and her goosesteppers call the shots, as they shape their twisted xenophobic society into some sort of deranged mass.
Hopefully indy ref 2 is not that far away, who wants to live in a island where the drawbridge is permanently closed?
“By the looks of things, if the above is a snapshot of things to come, das Fatherland, is going to be a bleak, miserable, poor, and suppressed state to live in”
Aw heck, you millennials sure are a bunch of softies, aren’t you? You didn’t play in the wreckage of WW2, as children, like we did. You’ve always had eggs, and milk, and chocolate and you take it for granted. You lose an election and you cry like babies.
So life sucks and then you die? So what’s new? I’m sick of hearing your whining.
Scotland is a bigger economic basket case than Greece: Country would have to double basic rate of income tax to tackle its public spending deficit.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3835447/Scotland-s-bigger-economic-basket-case-Greece.html#ixzz4MyQGHf00
Fred, I thought they had Coal, Oil and gas, Greece has none of that.
SNP ruled Scotland ran up a fiscal deficit of £14.8billion in 2015-16 – and has run a deficit every year since devolution in 1999. To force it down to 3 per cent of GDP, as the EU demands under its stability and growth pact, Scotland would have to increase the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 39p or double VAT to 40 per cent. Or the Scottish government could instead embark on massive spending cuts of £3billion a year to meet the EU’s deficit criteria.
Dacre’s Daily Mail, is vying for the top spot as the most prominent mainstream rag that hates Scots, but claims only to hate the SNP.
Meanwhile Frau May in a article for the FT, claims she and her goosesteppers need until next Spring, to trigger article 50, as das Fatherland isn’t sure what their stance will be yet. I’m surprised Frau May and her jack boot johnnies, don’t just blitzkrieg the EU negotiations, afterall the goosesteppers are more than used to Gish Galloping.
https://www.ft.com/content/736e0552-9139-11e6-a72e-b428cb934b78?tagToFollow=NDdiMzAyNzctMTRlMy00Zjk1LWEyZjYtYmYwZWIwYWU2NzAy-VG9waWNz
No doubt the sales of Segs, in das Fatherland will shoot up, as will boot polish.
Even the eternal clown of politics, Boris Johnson, admits that Brexit will be fraught with sturm und drang.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3835984/The-prophets-doom-wrong-Boris-Johnson-says-BETTER-deal-single-market-membership-warns-Brexit-stormy-stressful.html
The Foreign secretary, ( the face the world sees representing das goosesteppers) a man who ran away like a frightened child, after Brexit something he vigorously campaigned for was acheived, knows in his black heart, that das Fatherland is in the scheisse, when it comes to getting a good deal from the EU.
Like this, you mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bDY0DfEjmo
Emmaus says a large proportion of migrants in the camp who fled from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have no interest in staying in FRANCE, but hope to cross the English Channel to live in the UNITED KINGDOM.
Over a thousand live in the jungle, more each day.
http://www.france24.com/en/20161012-france-aid-groups-outraged-government-plan-close-jungle-migrant-camp-calais