OPINION – JJ ANISIOBI: One thing ugly is occurring contained in the UK asylum system, however the half that worries me most is the shysters instructing individuals to pretend a life
Some migrants are mendacity about being homosexual in an effort to cheat the system (Picture: Getty)
Think about my utter shock after I found final week that the BBC had truly finished some correct investigative journalism. Sure, actually. And whereas that alone practically knocked me off my chair, what they uncovered was, frankly, far much less shocking – yet one more instance of Britain’s asylum system being bent, stretched and exploited.
Based on the Beeb, migrants are allegedly making false claims about being homosexual in an effort to enhance their probabilities of being granted asylum. Why? As a result of sexuality-based claims can place candidates right into a protected class, the place refusal turns into harder. However right here’s the place it will get really astonishing. This isn’t simply people chancing their luck. The investigation means that some migration attorneys are actively advising shoppers on tips on how to current these claims. And never in a imprecise, “inform your story” sort of manner.
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We’re speaking step-by-step steerage: go to homosexual bars, take images as “proof”, and even method a GP claiming that your supposed sexuality is inflicting melancholy – thereby securing medical documentation to assist the case.
Learn extra: Migration fury as ‘sham’ attorneys ‘inform asylum seekers to faux to be homosexual’
Let that sink in. If true, and there’s no suggestion it isn’t, that is industrialising the asylum system, to cheat British taxpayers and make a mockery of reputable claims. I don’t say this flippantly, however any lawyer discovered to be teaching shoppers to manufacture asylum claims ought to face severe penalties. Not a slap on the wrist however actual, significant punishment. As a result of that is undermining the integrity of all the immigration system.
Whereas some may even see this as a intelligent loophole, the knock-on impact is deeply troubling. Real asylum seekers – individuals fleeing persecution due to their sexuality or faith or no matter – at the moment are prone to going through elevated suspicion. The very group the system is designed to guard find yourself being subjected to harsher scrutiny as a result of others have abused the method.
That’s the tragedy in all this. It additionally raises a broader query: how completely are these claims being investigated? As a result of if, as reported, some candidates had been beforehand married with kids of their residence international locations – and at the moment are presenting themselves as homosexual asylum seekers – clearly one thing isn’t including up.
Britain has a proud historical past of providing refuge to these in real want. However compassion with out scrutiny isn’t kindness – it’s negligence, and the British public can see that. At a time when belief in establishments is already fragile, tales like this solely deepen the sense the system isn’t working because it ought to. Equity issues. Integrity issues. And proper now, each seem like briefly provide.
Absolutely all of us need an asylum system that instructions public confidence and is strong sufficient to guard the weak – and powerful sufficient to weed out those that would exploit it. Something much less, and we’re not failing the individuals it was meant to assist.
Has Ms Markle misplaced her sparkle?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle trying very atypical Down Beneath (Picture: Getty)
Meghan Markle’s newest enterprise was meant to be a triumph – a shiny, £1,400-a-head wellness retreat in Sydney, full with celeb sparkle and a full-blown publicity blitz alongside Prince Harry. As a substitute, it’s changed into one thing reasonably extra awkward.
We had been instructed the occasion had “offered out” weeks upfront. An “intimate” 300 friends, snapped up in a flash. Besides… not fairly. First got here the quiet replace: a “handful of further rooms.” Then, simply days earlier than kick-off, a last-minute scramble to fill remaining spots. This needs to be taken as a large actuality verify for the Sussexes.
As a result of if Ms Markle can’t shift tickets with all that world consideration, what does that say? For somebody as soon as billed as the last word fashionable royal influencer, the shine seems to be fading. Mz Markle has misplaced her sparkle.
Sorry Jeremy, Your Social gathering is a useless duck in Scotland
So it seems that Your Social gathering in Scotland was each bit as chaotic as its London-based mothership. In case you missed it, all the Scottish management didn’t simply wobble, it walked. All 12 members of its interim government committee resigned in a single fell swoop, earlier than successfully declaring the social gathering north of the border “over”.
Not struggling. Not regrouping. Completed. And the explanations? Predictable.
Scottish members say selections had been being dictated from London, with complaints of a “dismissive perspective” and even “contempt” from the UK management. Key calls had been allegedly made with none significant Scottish enter. A lot for grassroots democracy. This can be a social gathering that claims to need to run the nation, but it may well’t even run itself. Infighting, energy struggles, and now outright disintegration – all below the watch of Jeremy Corbyn’s newest political automobile.
It raises a quite simple query: if they’ll’t organise a functioning committee of 12 individuals, how precisely do they count on to manipulate 67 million? As a result of proper now, Your Social gathering appears much less like a reputable political pressure, and extra like a short-lived political experiment that’s already gone badly improper.
An excessive amount of, Donald!
Not the Messiah however a really naughty President (Picture: Getty)
Donald Trump has a behavior of courting controversy, however this time he’s managed to wander into territory that even a few of his most loyal supporters will discover uncomfortable. When Trump shared an AI-generated picture of himself resembling Jesus Christ, therapeutic a person no much less, it was tone deaf at finest, deeply misjudged at worst.
The picture was finally deleted and Trump claims that he believed he appeared like a health care provider, not the Son of God. Come on, Donny. That excuse would possibly wash in your Oval Workplace surrounded by ‘sure’ males, however not within the courtroom of public opinion. Folks aren’t silly, and so they actually know the distinction between a stethoscope and sanctity.
For tens of millions, together with me, Christ isn’t a meme, a metaphor, or a advertising and marketing instrument – He’s sacred. Invoking that imagery for political theatre is crass, it trivialises religion and dangers alienating those that would possibly in any other case be firmly in Trump’s nook. If Trump desires to encourage devotion, he ought to keep on with politics and depart divinity effectively alone.
Sharon is Sharon, finish of
The backlash to Sharon Osbourne asserting she’ll attend the Unite the Kingdom march organised by Far Proper activist Tommy Robinson has been loud – however not precisely shocking. Talking as somebody who is aware of her, I’ll admit I raised an eyebrow.
Shocked? Not even shut. Sharon has by no means been one to bend to public strain. She says what she thinks, does what she desires, and lives with the results. That’s who she is, for higher or worse.
These now lining as much as model her a racist and clutch their pearls ought to know: it gained’t make a blind little bit of distinction. Sharon Osbourne isn’t altering course for anybody.
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