By Isle of Wight Observer
Do you ever remember seeing the LibDems flying the flag of St George above County Hall? I can’t. For the 17 years they were in charge, the Lib Dems flew the EU flag. Given half a chance, their current national leader, that woke bloke who refuses to dine with Donald Trump, would have us back in. Sir Ed Davey believes Britain is ‘too close’ to the USA, and that Donald should put more pressure on Israel and Russia. I’d wager he’s not really a fan of St George.
I just got into an online argument with a motorcyclist, who claimed the tiny bit of red paint that’s appeared on some of the Island’s painted mini roundabouts is “dangerous”. He reckoned the Highway Code says you can drive across them, and the paint makes them slippery. I agreed mini roundabouts are downright dangerous – but that’s only because you never know who thinks they have the right of way. On the Island, I also hesitate now because I’ve accepted that the rest of you don’t have a clue what the rules are. That said, in over 40 years of motorcycling, I’ve never taken advantage of the daft law that allows me to drive straight over them. That’s because, like drain covers and politicians, they can be slippery.
I quite like flags and always hoist a red ensign on the back of my boat. It’s mostly for aesthetic reasons, not national pride. The vessel was built in Sweden, so you might argue my small gesture is as daft as the Union Flag spare wheel cover I had on my Slovakian-built Land Rover. Unlike those woke lefties, I don’t think our national flag has been hijacked by the ‘far right,’ so I’m delighted to see them appearing everywhere on my travels. Up and down the highways of Britain, they’re now proudly flown from almost every bridge. The message is obvious: the English are thoroughly fed up with politicians and immigration.
The state has proven itself impotent when it comes to immigration; unsurprisingly, it’s the most significant issue in the country. Labour and the Tories are equally hopeless on it. Last week, when Nigel Farage revealed his repatriation flights plan, the government, civil service, and left-leaning judiciary instantly ridiculed the idea. Unlike them, the ordinary man in the street knows there has to be some disincentive to prevent people from coming here, and doesn’t see any. Those arriving from France perpetrate a huge fraud because they have already escaped persecution. In this terribly troubled world, potentially millions of people would rather live in Britain. We know we can’t take them all, can we?
I just heard a Home Office whistle-blower say the majority of Kurdish Iraqi applicants swear they’ve had an extramarital affair and fled in fear of their lives. Curiously, that doesn’t prevent them from popping back as settled status. The Home Secretary says that even while waiting for that precious UK passport, many applicants cheekily apply for their families to join them here. Ms Cooper also says in some areas, migrant families now account for 25 per cent of council housing applications.
So far this year, 20,000 family members have applied to come, so it’s a shame she didn’t act to suspend applications last January. She has just managed to expedite visas for Gazan students in time for the new university term.
Governments should always remember who’s in charge, and it’s never really them. Australia’s government took tough action on immigration, and that worked. It would work here, too. The electorate are completely fed up with the unfairness of it all; if our current laws prevent Starmer and Cooper from acting, they must change the law. If Labour doesn’t stop the boats, our next PM, Nigel Farage, certainly will.