Rwanda

Chocolatelovinggran

BJ seems very happy there. Perhaps he'll stay. I understand it's a really good place - Mr Johnson says so...

?

Think hes happy to be out of the way fir the next 10 days hoping it will all be peace and calm when he returns,

BJ seems very happy there. Perhaps he'll stay. I understand it's a really good place - Mr Johnson says so...

He has moral disengagement amongst other problems.

Whitewavemark2

I see Johnson has said that Ukrainians will be sent to Rwanda if they arrive in the U.K. “illegally”

Wrong on so many levels.

Cor!

I wonder if he's told his bestie Zelensky that...

I see Johnson has said that Ukrainians will be sent to Rwanda if they arrive in the U.K. “illegally”

Wrong on so many levels.

MawtheMerrier

(Perhaps they are first of Priti Patel’s deportees as she moves into attack as the next PM?)

????

All four of them?

(Perhaps they are first of Priti Patel’s deportees as she moves into attack as the next PM?)

sweetpea

Why, oh why has our ‘esteemed’ PM gone off to Rwanda today accompanied by his wife? What useful purpose is he, and indeed is she, in the scheme of things?

It's for a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. Prince Charles is there, too, on behalf of the Queen.

Why, oh why has our ‘esteemed’ PM gone off to Rwanda today accompanied by his wife? What useful purpose is he, and indeed is she, in the scheme of things?

When I think of Rwanda the words genocide and massacre come to mind. It wasn’t long ago. How on Earth can this ever be seen as ‘ok’.

Disgraceful. Rwanda is barely a democracy. The whole thing is an attempt to whip up public support for the Tories based on immigration fears. Why isn't Johnson putting the healthy young immigrants into the 1.3 million job vacancies with suitable training. Many of them are well educated and have a can do attitude. They are not scroungers. It's another dead cat on the table.

I fine it all deeply despairing. But there is no way of stopping this that I can see, except via the ballot box - and look where that has got us.

I know many delightful people who vote Tory - kind, philanthropic etc. - but they just cannot see what is happening.

Thank god my Tory MP has laid his cards on the table as to what he thinks about BJ and is equally appalled by all this. A small step in the right direction.

Good post, DaisyAnne ?

Worthy of its own thread...

volver

Question Time audience member last night: Labour have no policies.

Thangam Debonnaire lists half a dozen policies.

Same audience member: But Labour have no policies.

The problem is that people can't seem to see when they are being led by the nose. This Tory party - the same thing that happened in Australia and the US - will treat the electorate like pigs with rings through their noses. Does anyone really think the people reaching our shores in boats are our biggest problem? Of course, they are not.

We have a lying PM leading a government corrupt enough to let him play with their policy for his own reward. A government with no real plan to do the things they promised, such as "levelling-up" or "Brexit". Has anything real happened with these catch-alls?

So they find the nose ring they can pull on. It could be xenophobia; racism or even the fear the Conservatives have built up about our "boarders" being breached. Do they use the normal ways - that work - of dealing with these lesser problems? Of course not. They need the ways that will grab the headlines. In Australia, they made people so fearful of their borders being breached that the electorate agree to exclude their own citizens from returning home.

And now the man who made this happen in Australia is attending Johnson's morning meetings. He is using the same playbook. Has Johnson done anything to make things better for the citizens of this country - No! Are there better, less contentious ways to deal with people claiming asylum? Of course, there are. But they don't put excitement into boring lives, do they?

But this is not about what is best for the country. It is the dictator's move to find what people fear most - not the poverty of others apparently - and pulling on that ring. They only want power and they know those who respond to the pull on the ring will not ask what they want to do with it.

We got rid of Domonic Cummings. The Australians got rid of Lyton Crossby (and the Prime Minister he was running). Now it seems we have a swop and Australia have sent us their Domonic Cummings. Is that really who we want to lead the country?

Russ Jones on Rwanda

A number of things have subtly changed since the Rwanda plan was first announced by Priti Patel, a smirking, razor-faced ghoul with all the warmth and tenderness of a Klingon backstreet abortionist. I will now describe them...

Patel had promised she’d only deport asylum seekers after they’d been vetted by an independent watchdog

The watchdog hasn’t been set up

She had promised children would not be deported to Rwanda

Her policy treats children the same as adults

She had promised people would be processed in Rwanda and, if accepted, could return to the UK

Deportees can’t return to the UK under any circumstances

And in April she promised “tens of thousands” would be resettled. Oh is that right, Priti?

By May the promise had dropped from tens of thousands to “about 300”, and at that rate it would take Patel 34 years to meet her original target

Then the promised number of deportations dropped to 50

Then to 30

Then to “fewer than 10”

A govt source said “we will operate the flight even if there is just 1 person on it”

Patel said the policy was “about securing value for money”

She paid Rwanda £120 million, hired a jet at £500,000, and by this week was deporting just 7 people

Patel said the policy “would act as a deterrent to people crossing the channel”

The day she announced the deterrent, 116 crossed the channel in boats

On Tuesday 260 people crossed, an increase of 124%. Excellent deterring, Priti!

Ethereally wrong Thatcher cosplayer Liz Truss said people criticising the policy hadn’t suggested any alternatives

The UN said this was “categorically untrue”, and they'd offered “many, many suggestions”

The UN said UK policy “violates fundamental principles”

The Church of England said the policy is “against God’s laws”

So ministers talked openly about expelling bishops from the House of Lords

And then Prince Charles called the policy “appalling”, so monarchist Tory columnists began talking about scrapping the monarchy
It’s all terribly, terribly sane

In the end we deported exactly (let me check my maths) zero people for our £120 million, because the European Court of Human Rights – which Churchill helped to set up – stopped the flight

I gave up on QT after 5 minutes. It had started to be watchable again. I saw a young girls question being ignored (not sure if they did, as promised, come back to it later) then saw someone say what a great job Johnson was doing under the circumstances ( ie no one could have foreseen the pandemic) at which point I switched off. Watched various WhoDo You Think You Ares’ which tend to focus onracism, xenophobia and talk of processing people and upset me greatly realising that we still haven’t learned from the past. It doesn’t take much for us to become the people being processed. (I’m so beginning to loathe that word).

I know concrete plans are for a manifesto, but in order to get back traditional Labour and other voters (who voted Tory last time), Labour do need to lay out their direction of travel.

Have you tried looking on their official website, DiamondLily?

I know it's a bit naff sounding, but try 'Stronger Together'.

volver

Question Time audience member last night: Labour have no policies.

Thangam Debonnaire lists half a dozen policies.

Same audience member: But Labour have no policies.

This.
I suspect that audience member was a plant, her job to repeat the nonsense that Labour has no plan. My fear is she’s a momentum supporter, not even a tory

Diamond lily. Can I just point out my post yesterday 21.52?
Posters have been temporarily banned several times (for less)and got over it

Yes, but I think Starmer is being called out as someone that criticises the government (rightly), but when Johnson turns the question around (as he always does), as to what Starmer would do, he's left floundering a bit.

I know concrete plans are for a manifesto, but in order to get back traditional Labour and other voters (who voted Tory last time), Labour do need to lay out their direction of travel.

DiamondLily

Yes, but the Tories are using Labour's indecision about what to do, as a stick to beat them with.?

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the opposition only had to come up with alternative plans to government policies when they wrote their manifesto. I thought the opposition was there to oppose ( or, at times of crisis eg covid to support when necessary) the government. Also Labour would be able to have a working relationship with European countries when it came to refugees etc because they don’t prefer to stir up hate against our European neighbours. Yvette Cooper, when interviewed yesterday did point out what Labour would do to resolve the situation but it wasn’t headline grabbing in any way.

Question Time audience member last night: Labour have no policies.

Thangam Debonnaire lists half a dozen policies.

Same audience member: But Labour have no policies.

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