From tomorrow a visa centre for Ukrainian refugees will be set up in Lille. It will be a ‘pop-up’. It will not offer appointments or walk-in access for those seeking to come to UK. The most vulnerable cases in Calais will be taken there for biometrics checks. The Home Office will NOT publicise its location and capacity will be small.
Anyone turning up at Calais will be told to go to Paris or Brussels to fill out the correct forms - if you can get an appointment
In Brussels, Ukrainians seeking UK visas will find the embassy has outsourced this work to a private company (a mate of a Tory MP??) and it closes at 3pm. First find it - it is at the back of the station!
Families with UK visa biometrics checks done in Rzeszów (Poland) are being told to travel 200 miles to Warsaw to collect their visas stamp for their passport.
Meanwhile Patel is contacting the Irish to oppose their refugee policy with the abject fear that some of those Ukranian refugees might make it to UK.
All this being allegedly to stop Russian terrorists entering UK. Don’t worry - such terrorists don’t need visas - they come in as tourists and do their worse - evidence Salisbury poisoning.
In the words of James O’Brien (LBC): you - the UK - voted for this and this government intends to make it as difficult as possible for ANY refugees to enter UK!
From what I read frequently on here maddyone I believe you are right.
Breaking news - Roman Abramovich sanctioned.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60690362
Just coming back briefly having been unjustly battered last night and told my hatred of fellow countrymen was “vomit inducing”. to say i never said I was ashamed to be British, ever.
I thought people voted for this government to ‘get Brexit done.’
I voted remain before anyone piles in on me, but the above is why people voted Conservative in my opinion.
vegansrock
Michael Gove taking over the responsibility of Ukrainian refugees. That says volumes about the competence of Patel.
I haven’t heard that, but assuming it’s correct, I think we might see an improvement in the situation, well I hope so anyway.
It is called populism. It is how this sort of government behaves. Remember Trump? Just the same.
I am hoping very much that the traditional Tory party grows a spine and takes on the right wing. I am sure that many, many Tories would breath a huge sigh of relief if they could be got rid of.
They voted on the basis that faced with two unpleasant parties you vote for the least unpleasant.
Wait, what? People looked at the Conservatives and decided they were the least unpleasant of the two main parties? The Conservatives? 
I'm sad to say that I expected exactly this from the current bunch of clowns we have in government. Shame on everyone who voted them in!
Sarah Vine in the Daily Mail has a strongly worded article saying how ashamed she feels. She also sets out the difficulties Ukranians have to go through in order to apply for a visa.
The Mail editorial is also calling on the government to open up the process.
The Mail on the right side of history for once.
Maybe, the government might start taking notice if even the DM is saying how badly and cruelly this is being handled.
What a government. I am deeply ashamed.
Zoejory does you friend know that she can go on Wikipedia and delete the article that says she is deceased?
That's how it works.
Or you could do it for her.
I am proud to be British as a rule but the way we are treating Ukrainian refugees makes me ashamed. These poor people have had no choice but to leave their homes, jobs, families, friends and communities behind. They are in a very uncertain world. They desperately need help. Last week a news item showed Germans at one of their major train stations waiting for trains full of refugees. They were there to offer a roof and safety to those people. The number of people offering support was greater than the number of needy refugees. Shame on us that we cannot do the same. Patel and the Home Office are not fit for purpose. They are a shambles.
But he also says that they fled, MaizieD
It's a rather flattering article to Priti Patel and her family.
Anyway, it's just a word and it means that much to you I'll not mention it further.
Zoejory
MaizieD
Zoejory
The child of Gujarati Indian parents who fled to the UK from Uganda just before Idi Amin’s decision to deport all Asians,
The Guardian thought they'd fled, MaizieDWikipedia says differently:
Patel was born on 29 March 1972 to Sushil and Anjana Patel in London.[3][4] Her paternal grandparents were born in Gujarat, India, before emigrating to Uganda, and running a convenience store in Kampala.[5] *In the 1960s, her parents emigrated to the UK and settled in Hertfordshire*[6][7] They established a chain of newsagents in London and the South East of England.[8][9] She was raised in a Hindu household.[10][11] Her father Sushil was a UKIP candidate for Hertfordshire in 2013.[12]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priti_Patel
Idi Amin didn't become president until 1971. Moving to the UK a few years before he became president is not 'fleeing'.
I'm afraid the Guardian Journalist is just repeating a myth. They're not infallible.Thanks for that MaizieD.
I have yet to meet anyone who believes all that is written on Wiki though.. It is filled with urban myths, fake news and, on a personal level an old school friend of mine is listed as deceased. Which she's not.
I'll stick to a Guardian journalist thanks
Try this journalist, then, Zoejory. From 2013 (actually one of the Wiki citations)
www.ibtimes.com/priti-patel-mp-new-face-britains-conservative-party-1000142
I haven’t heard that yet, thanks vegansrock
I really hope and pray that we’ll see some sort of improvement.
Michael Gove taking over the responsibility of Ukrainian refugees. That says volumes about the competence of Patel.
M0nica Priti Patel is a shame and embarrassment. Who runs the Home office, her or her civil servants?
You seem to be assuming that her civil servants are not doing exactly what she is telling them to do.
When I see the lined up prams on the station in Poland for Ukrainian mothers with babies and the German families at airports willing to take refugees in it makes me sad and angry that we are just putting obstacles in the way of these poor people.
This is a humanitarian crisis on our doorstep and we are doing nothing.
Peter Brookes today
MaizieD
Zoejory
The child of Gujarati Indian parents who fled to the UK from Uganda just before Idi Amin’s decision to deport all Asians,
The Guardian thought they'd fled, MaizieDWikipedia says differently:
Patel was born on 29 March 1972 to Sushil and Anjana Patel in London.[3][4] Her paternal grandparents were born in Gujarat, India, before emigrating to Uganda, and running a convenience store in Kampala.[5] *In the 1960s, her parents emigrated to the UK and settled in Hertfordshire*[6][7] They established a chain of newsagents in London and the South East of England.[8][9] She was raised in a Hindu household.[10][11] Her father Sushil was a UKIP candidate for Hertfordshire in 2013.[12]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priti_Patel
Idi Amin didn't become president until 1971. Moving to the UK a few years before he became president is not 'fleeing'.
I'm afraid the Guardian Journalist is just repeating a myth. They're not infallible.
Thanks for that MaizieD.
I have yet to meet anyone who believes all that is written on Wiki though.. It is filled with urban myths, fake news and, on a personal level an old school friend of mine is listed as deceased. Which she's not.
I'll stick to a Guardian journalist thanks
Those who are proud of this country’s government - goodness only knows why- imagine family with young children and elderly parents plus luggage and pram, have travelled for a week , coming to be with U.K. family - get to Calais- told to turn round and get themselves back to Brussels, find the British embassy in a big city, to wait in queues for hours if not days, fill in endless forms and hand over cash - why oh why can’t they apply for visas in the U.K.?
The only Ugandan Asians I know were young teenagers when they left, at least one unaccompanied, so I don't, sorry.
I do have relatives and friends who left Zimbabwe (and some who didn't) and some did manage to get money out, others had to just forfeit it.
Callistemon21
Similar to S Rodesia (now Zimbabwe) annodomini.
People were leaving over years, but were not allowed to take any money or goods out with them.
I'm not so sure about that, Callistemon
This is from a contemporary article (1968) on the subject
The panicked exodus of Asians trying to beat the deadline dealt the Kenyan economy a severe blow. Demand has dropped sharply along with heavy capital losses-- an average of 5000 pounds follows every Asian family that leaves Kenya
www.thecrimson.com/article/1968/4/24/asians-panic-pbkbenyas-asians-are-caught/
Obviously, £5,000 in 1968 was worth considerably more than now, 54 years later. Its equivalent value today would be about £75,000.
Do you have information that contradicts this story?
Similar to S Rodesia (now Zimbabwe) annodomini.
People were leaving over years, but were not allowed to take any money or goods out with them.
Sorry, MaizieD, I stand corrected. However, before the Amin régime, there was quite an unpleasant atmosphere in Uganda. We were told to be careful when we spent a night of our honeymoon in Kampala. We understood that tribal rivalries were being exacerbated.
Interesting.
The Ugandan Asians we know who fled here from Idi Amin's regime were very glad of sanctuary, though.
Allsorts
I take it you’re happily living in a country that does share your views Maisie, can you tell me where please.
Where on earth has that come from?
What might my 'views' be?
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