..you have to have had a compassion bypass operation, be a complete uncaring incompetent tw*t or both!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60652914 If this is BoJo's or Patel's idea of being helpful to the Ukrainian refugees God knows what being obstructive would look like. That said I once had a run in years ago with a young, wet behind the ears over officious customs officer at Dover Port at 3 in the morning after a horrendous rough crossing with little sleep . Some of them have serious attitude problems like little Hitlers. he behaved without provocation in an unprofessional manner before I had even said a word to him. Fortunately an older experienced Customs officer took charge and sorted thing out for me. 'Welcome to the UK' my ar*e!
Pritti Patel is pure evil and the narrative suggests she bullies her staff into compliance. There’s not an ounce of empathy or compassion in the whole cabinet in fact.
If I had my way pritti Patel would be sent to Ukraine and forced to stand in the town square with a target in her back the evil cow.
I did 2 1/2 years at the HO recently. Massive organisation and some of the hardest working people I've known. Please don't lump the 95% of those staff in with the 5% who are in political positions there. It's akin to us saying BFC is a shambles and forgetting the folk like Whitey and Beth at the coalface .
I’m seriously embarrassed to be British. I don’t want to be part of a country this corrupt and selfish. Also Patel blatantly lied to parliament on this topic when asked by Yvette Cooper and we also accused Macron of Lying when he called us on it. I’m so angry to be represented by this mob of uncaring racist selfish yobs I can barely type
Hope we can find the space to house lots of Ukraines. I'm not holding my breath though as the Syrians who fled the Taliban are still stuck in hotels.
I did say senior management by which I meant decision makers in policy and implementation. I worked for a time in in IT Telecoms spent a few years of that on a major Govt outsourced project. Many of the civil servant middle management were fire fighting and having to make impossible demands from on high work, as did the customer facing staff, many of whom did so under extreme pressure. I know it is the Civil Service, but the hierarchical nature of the management structure and attitudes had to be seen to be believed and some of it seemed to be rooted in the 1930's.
I did over 5 years on techy programs at both FCO and HO, 2014 - 2018. Crossed multiple teams and junior, middle, senior management and directorate. Yes, civil service can seem stuffy and stuck in the 50s at times but it is still far removed from the political point you make in the OP. From an IT perspective there are 30k user accounts at HO, closer to 35k at FCO. Combined, I bet 500 of those are ministers and politicians. And they only exist as long as the government they serve in
Really? 'Far removed' Hmmm. As for the 'political point' in the OP (Not really political to put a link to a BBC article highlighting such incompetence and lack of compassion in the stated situation) but how do you explain the contrast between what the refugees in Calais are experiencing and what is coming out of The Home Secretary and PMs mouths? Security is important but how hard can it be to process the small numbers they have thus far been asked to handle compared to the 1.2 million that have arrived in Poland and transiting to other EU states?
Ok @Tekkytyke ill bite, but we have been here before. what’s happening here is utterly disgusting; but. it’s not ‘senior people in the home office’ to blame, this is straight up government policy. The fact that they’ll publicly lie about that to save face when cornered is another issue entirely. This is the result of years of government policy to close the borders to refugees, and indeed to the rest of Europe more generally. This isn’t an accident, it’s not incompetence, it’s not ‘unfortunate’. It’s exactly the policy that was advertised by the Tories for getting close to ten years. And it’s exactly what 52% of the population voted for in 2016. The fact it now feels so ‘wrong’ is frankly tough ****. When we created policy to remove routes into the country for refugees, this is exactly what the outcome was intended to be. There’s a lot of ‘talk’ from ministers about making a special case for Ukrainians, but nothing in law, or even policy to back it up. They know damn well that whilst short term some of their voters won’t be happy with this, whilst ever Boris lies and says ‘we’re doing more than anyone else’ eventually that’ll become what people remember.
I can't remember you speaking up when the Government consistently pursued policy which made it so hard for asylum seekers to pursue official routes that it forced them to risk small boat crossings. Or when the Government attempted to make it illegal to help anyone crossing the Channel, making it clear they'd rather have asylum seekers drown than reach our shores. What's different here? Is it that the asylum seekers are a defined group from one predominantly white country rather than the vague and nebulous idea of "sponging brown foreigners" sold by the government and media? Is it because their suffering is on the 6 o clock news it is somehow less abstract and harder to ignore?
Nice! A thinly veiled accusation that I am racist! I am unclear why you feel the need to draw comparisons between the ongoing migrant situation and the current dire Ukraine one and make personal comments along the way. Far to many emotive comments too in your post for me to respond to each one. Nevertheless........ There is a vast difference between asylum seekers from the War torn M.E. and other regions but who are in a safe zone (EU) many of whom are young men (irrespective of skin colour!!) and are, in spite of claims to the contrary, economic migrants with no direct connection to the UK, and the situation of Ukrainians fleeing hell on Earth where civilians are targeted by a ruthless invader. That said I am not disputing that there are many many genuine refugees who have found themselves in limbo and failed to get the help needed especially those with ties to the UK (the treatment of Afghan people who worked for the UK and military as interpreters etc. abandoned to the Taliban was disgusting) . For many others though, if they are in France, The Low countries, Germany, Italy etc. please explain to me why they feel the need to risk their lives crossing the channel to get to a tiny overcrowded island like the UK in the mistaken belief that it is any safer, more prosperous than where thy are currently located? Nevertheless I am not for one minute disputing (as per my OP) that current Govt policy is anything but heartless, inefficient and incompetent (intentional or otherwise) . The ultimate solution is rapid, fair and consistent processing of claimants with UK immigration based in Calais and other access points but with the current Home Secretary that isn't happening anytime soon. Blaming everything on racists in the general population is, frankly, a cop-out.
Two things here mate. You may not have wanted it to be a political post, but: a) the link was political. b) your mention of PM and Home secretary is about politicians, not senior management. HO staff can only work with policies put their way. Both you and I know that there should be dozens of staff working at Calais, not three. The fact there isn't will come from above. That is, Ministers
Worse It’s not about the number of staff. It’s actual government policy. The government ran a ‘buy a visa’ scheme for rich foreigners for years whilst at the same time closing every feasible route for refugees. It’s not sad or surprising that we’re protecting Oligarchs and their money whilst making it virtually impossible for Ukrainian refugees. It’s the policy working exactly how it was designed. And it’s precisely the policy they promised. So for those who voted Tory and won’t be responding to this thread, we’re blaming you, how are you feeling about that?
I didn't accuse you of being racist, but it's a valid question to ask why this is different. I agree that placing the blame entirely on racism probably isn't appropriate, but it's an even bigger cop out to ignore it. It's not really right to fall back on the "economic migrants" argument to justify tough laws. Even ignoring the fact that economic migrants are net contributors, they don't make up the majority of people arriving. The majority of people who arrive "illegally" are successful in their initial application for asylum, with a further tranche being successful on appeal. So why do we make it borderline impossible for them to apply before risking their lives? As for why asylum seekers choose Britain, it's not because we're a soft touch (despite the obvious benefit to the government selling you the line that we're just too caring). Studies have shown that for the vast majority it's either because they have family here, or speak the language. Both of which I view as reasonable justification. So I won't blame it all on "Racism" with a capital R, but I will blame it on a casual indifference towards the suffering of foreign nationals, deliberately fuelled by a government which is happy to misrepresent the reality.