I thought the worst spin had seen a more or less quiet death with Bliar leaving office, but now it seems the current PM is all for it too.
Gordon, when I wondered if it weren't the ship that should be left to sink while you led the country with a different party, I was joking. I wasn't seriously implying that you should join the BNP. Honest!
There's something called the "Housing Act 1996". It makes quite an interesting read but I'll sum it up briefly here.
To get council housing you need to be a "qualifying person". To be a "qualifying person" you have to meet these criteria:
1 - be homeless or threatened with homelessness
2 - not be intentionally homeless
3 - be in priority need
4 - be eligible for public assistance
5 - have a local connection
As you can see the "local people" are already being taken care of (also by extra points being awarded to children of local residents), but what you might not be aware of, Gordon, is that a person who is subject to immigration controls is not eligible for public assistance (with very few exceptions). Therefore, your very nice words about giving more houses to "local people" (and out of curiosity, would these "local people" be white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants?) are really just a load of bulls, unless of course you want to breach every equality rule in the book.
It's true that there is a "perception" that the current system is unfair, but a government is there to lead, not to react hysterically when they see a few BNP voters. Maybe it went completely over your head, but those seats they gained weren't due to an enormous increase in votes they took, just to the fact that Labour voters stayed at home 'cos they're sick and tired of your crap.
The current perception is due to the fact that there is a dearth of social housing. I don't for a minute profess to know the solution to that, but surely stoking up racist flames isn't it.
In other news: shame that Mr Weaver can't claim the costs on expenses. I almost feel like starting a whip-round.
And relatedly: don't you feel sorry for the Keens? Nor do I.
I have a business suggestion for AEG Live: for anyone who chooses to keep the ticket instead of getting a refund, why not throw in a free MUG, with one of those tacky mirrory thingies stuck on the side?
Finally, for the "You Don't Say!" series: having a lot of sex increases your chances of getting pregnant. And for when I have a headache, please meet Ms Palm.
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Maybe they'll build new accommodation for the non-locals. Little huts in cheery little camps sounds in keeping with the direction this is going in.
The very sad thing is that there seem to be some people who are out to paint scary pictures on purpose.
The other week I had a heated debate with someone who claimed to work within the immigration field. She didn't say it directly, but she strongly hinted that she worked for the Home Office, and kept quoting various international agreements and laws that cover immigration. She said it to back up her claim that she probably had a much better insight into immigrants than most people. She tried her best to paint most immigrants as scum.
Then she said: "Well, there are some legitimate refugees...".
Well, I'm sorry, if you work for the HO and you have such a good insight, you should know that there is no such thing as an *illegitimate* refugee, as the international agreements she quoted herself make it very clear that "refugee* is a legal status. In other words, if you use the word "refugee" and you work in the field, you should know that it refers to a person that has been internationally, legally recognised as legitimate.
She was either lying about working in the field, or she was deliberately using misleading terms to convince the average joe that refugees are scum.
I hope it's the first I said, because if we have people of that calibre working for our immigration services, it's no wonder they're so crap, and they'll be getting worse.
I knew a guy that worked in immigration (including the "front-line" response at airports. He basically loved kicking them out. Fair enough, some of them are trying to get in illegally without refugee status - but it was the very obvious pleasure he took in kicking them out that worried me. Not someone I thought highly of.
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