THE supine and pusillanimous UK Labour Party has at last acknowledged sports presenter Gary Lineker’s criticism of government asylum policy in which he likens language used by the Home Secretary and depute chairman of the Tory Party towards asylum seekers as “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s”.
That the current Labour Party and its tiresome leader should tiptoe around the brutalising bombast of the party in power mirrors their timorous approach to all of their policies, terrified as they are of offending the electorate in any shape or form lest they be judged, God forbid, on their ethical principles.
I am not a particular fan of celebrity figures using their position as a platform to showcase their political views. However, it is clear Gary Lineker felt compelled to air his opinions in this instance from a purely humanitarian standpoint, despite the censures that he knew would come his way, formally or informally.
Suella Braverman and Lee Anderson hold senior positions in this Conservative administration, mainly because the Prime Minister needs to maintain party unity and placate the radical right wing of his government and membership.
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They represent the very worst aspects of the crypto-fascist wing of the Tories and their advocacy of an aggressive form of xenophobic English nationalism is designed to appeal to knuckle-dragging Sun readers whose ethnocentric racism is shared by the salivating political dogs who inhabit the ERG.
The overt racism inherent in the Tory asylum policy is lauded and openly incited by the usual suspects in the right-wing press who rejoice in fact-free, disgracefully prejudiced headlines and articles and whose owners are part and parcel of a Tory-dominated establishment elite.
They have, predictably, rounded on Mr Lineker for his compassionate and empathetic stance whilst engaging their increasingly ageing readership with stories of the danger of spiralling costs and the violence of refugees who dare to try and come to the UK. It is blatant propaganda truly worthy of Goebbels in the Germany of the 1930s.
Lineker has dared to speak for those with no voice and has had the audacity to contradict the government and indeed the opposition’s version of the UK’s asylum policy. No genuine attempt has been made to provide safe, legal passage for the majority of those fleeing persecution, crippling poverty or repression.
No realistic discussions have been carried out with France to re-introduce processing centres. The UK admits one of the smallest numbers of asylum seekers in Europe, many of whom may choose to come here due to family connections, empirical or language ties.
Yet Mr Sunak and his government are willing to consider breaking international law and the UN Convention on Human Rights and totally abandoning whatever shred of moral responsibility they may have once had, to treat desperate refugees like political pawns by returning them from whence they came or abandoning them in Rwanda, a country that continues to have a very questionable record on human rights.
As in the case of Brexit, the survival of the Conservative Party is the prime reason for government policy and action, asylum seekers are merely political detritus.
As Mr Lineker observed, Germany in the 30s witnessed a party that regularly weaponised scapegoating and utilised dehumanising rhetoric to achieve their aims. His sentiments are shared in a quote by George Santayana – “those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it”. In Westminster, the lunatics are now truly running the asylum.
Owen Kelly
Stirling
I WILL give you asylum application rules as of October 2022: “You must apply for asylum if you want to stay in the UK as a refugee. To be eligible, you must have left your country and be unable to go back because you fear persecution”.
So, it is not possible to claim asylum from outside the UK, and there is no visa which allows people to enter the UK in order to claim asylum. This means that most people have no choice but to enter the UK without permission. People may come hidden in vehicles, on boats, or by plane using a false passport.
It is obvious that the system has been made almost unworkable by Brexit, and now, instead of dealing with the source of the problem – that you have to be in the UK before you are allowed to apply for asylum – the Tory government is hell-bent on attempting to criminalise the main symptom instead of concentrating their minds on the actual cause.
Not being able to apply at an embassy? Surely reversing that alone would have a dramatic effect on the small boats. Breaking international law seems to be the norm for this crew, whether Johnson or Sunak, it makes no difference.
Surely an independent Scotland could, and indeed in my opinion, would do much better. This is a position that must be exclaimed loud and clear. We are much better than this.
Steve Brooker
Auchterarder
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