POLITICS CORNER

[Whyperion]

I understand the quantity was UP TO 600 000 , which could be 1

Corbyns thing is bubbling towards policy in due course. best to wait for others to die the dust first.

Migrants. I see the UK is now preparing to allow Students from Gaza to the UK presumably under a student visa. Well i can see that working well.

Based on the 1951 Convention on Refugees, anyone who has a well-founded fear of persecution can claim asylum in the UK, be that based on their race, religion, nationality, sexuality or other reason. They must be in the UK to do so.
Probably as a result of war :
A record 111,084 people claimed asylum in the UK in the latest year to June 2025, the highest number in figures collected since 2002.
Around two in five - 41,870 - of those were made by people who arrived in small boats.
41,100, claimed asylum who initially arrived on a work, study, or other valid visa

The increase in claims has mostly been driven by people seeking asylum from countries in South Asia, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa

from 2002 to 2025, the top five nationalities of those claiming asylum were Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Eritrea.
Asylum claims from Middle Eastern countries were highest between 2022 and 2023, while asylum claims from Eritreans and Pakistanis have continued to increase in recent years.

The most common nationalities of those seeking asylum are often those from countries experiencing war and violent persecution, seen, for example, in the surge in refugees coming from Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover in 2021.

Increasing numbers of asylum seekers have arrived in the UK by irregular routes, mostly on small boats across the English Channel - with Afghans and Eritreans making up the largest proportion of small boat arrivals in the last year.


Of course assylum is not the only source of inward migration . Students , Ukrainians. Afgahns under agreed schemes cos the British Army went into Afganistan.others working visas or family members of persons already in UK

About half the Asylum numbers it seems have not been decided yet (inc appeals). So we need to work out what is going wrong in Eritrea mainly, I dont know how many people from Pakistan get granted leave of sanctuary but I dont think it should be that many IF again Pakistan can be sorted out climate and politics wise.
Iran and Syria might be ongoing problems but many are skilled , perhaps we should just put them to working and contributing.
I am dissapointed that places like Saudi Arabia wont take other islamic persons in, Qatar could too but they seem to want an ethnic/ wealth class purity in their country which seems a bit unfair.

[Stanley]

See THIS latest statement from Reform.....
Reform UK appears to have rowed back from the idea it could remove children from the country under its newly announced mass deportation policy. On Tuesday, Zia Yusuf, a key architect of the party's plan, suggested it could deport unaccompanied minors in the "latter half" of the proposed five-year scheme. But leader Nigel Farage has now said this was not currently part of Reform's plans for a potential first term in office. The party has suggested it would be prepared to deport 600,000 people under the policy, if it wins the next general election.
Could this have been judged a vote-loser?

[Tizer]

Trump wanted to meet Kim Jong Un again but he's having to stand behind Xi and Putin in the queue...
`Xi shows Trump who holds the cards as he sets up meeting with Kim and Putin' LINK

[Stanley]

I saw that report Peter and thought it demonstrated well how Trump's chaotic attempts to govern by disrupting world orders is failing. All that is happening is that the US is losing credibility. It could get much worse if his meddling with the economy starts to have a negative effect....
Looking at UK politics THIS is what grabbed me....
Sir Keir Starmer is replacing the top civil servant in his Downing Street office. Principal private secretary Nin Pandit runs the prime minister's team at No 10 and has only been in the role for ten months. She is the third senior staff member the prime minister has appointed and later let go, after chief of staff Sue Gray left in October and director of communications Matthew Doyle stood down in March. Ms Pandit's appointment had been announced by No 10 in the same press release that marked Ms Gray's departure. The BBC understands the prime minister had become concerned Ms Pandit was ineffective in the role, although No 10 contests this and allies of the prime minister said he retained trust and confidence in her. Ms Pandit will move into a new role leading on policy delivery at No 10. It is unclear whether she will head up the Downing Street policy operation. Government sources have previously complained that three other officials all consider themselves to be Starmer's head of policy.
The report implies a lack of clarity in the management of Downing Street and this demonstrates Starmer's ineptitude. This is the reason why he is prone to gaffes and subsequent U-turns and does not seem to be in control of the Party. I have always said it was a mistake to elect him leader and he seems to be hell bent on proving me correct.

[Tizer]

I saw that report Peter and thought it demonstrated well how Trump's chaotic attempts to govern by disrupting world orders is failing. All that is happening is that the US is losing credibility. It could get much worse if his meddling with the economy starts to have a negative effect....

According to the FT it already is having a negative effect. Also, he's ruining the reputation of the US around the world and I can't see any way that it can recover unless the US public quickly comes to its senses and gets rid of Trump and his gang. But there's no sign of that on the horizon. Trump's become more like one of those Nigerian evangelists, fabulously rich and and steeped in adulation from his followers regardless of depriving them of their money by getting them to give it to `The Foundation' or whatever.

[Stanley]

See THIS for more on Trump's disruptive policies....
Updated 1 hour ago
A US appeals court has ruled that most tariffs issued by US President Donald Trump are illegal, setting up a potential legal showdown that could upend his foreign policy agenda.The ruling affects Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs, imposed on most countries around the world, as well as other tariffs slapped on China, Mexico and Canada. In a 7-4 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Trump's argument that the tariffs were permitted under an emergency economic powers act, calling them "invalid as contrary to law". The ruling will not take effect until 14 October to give the administration time to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case.

Closer to home..... See THIS report on the asylum seekers.....
This afternoon, the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary injunction that would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex. Lord Justice Bean, leading a panel of three judges, found the previous High Court decision relied on a number of errors - including ignoring the "obvious consequence" with regarding to asylum seeker accommodation capacity more widely. Today's ruling means that asylum seekers no longer have to leave the hotel by 12 September - it does not however constitute a final decision with the case due for trial in October. The Court of Appeal has further allowed the Home Office to be involved in the case where the High Court had not. Political reaction swiftly followed - with Kemi Badenoch calling it a "setback", Nigel Farage suggesting the government had used the European Convention of Human Rights "against the people of Epping" and the Lib Dems and the Green Party criticising the "legacy" of the Tory government. Border Security and Asylum Minister Dame Angela Eagle says the Home Office launched its appeal so hotels like the Bell could be "exited in a controlled and orderly way," later adding that “nobody wants to close the Bell Hotel and all other asylum hotels more than me.” Our political correspondent, Harry Farley, writes that it is a technical victory for the government - but the use of hotels is politically unpopular.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report from the US....
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been blocked from attending the UN General Assembly session in New York next month, after he and 80 other Palestinian officials had their visas revoked, the US State Department has said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for seeking "the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state". The decision, welcomed by Israel, is unusual as the US is expected to facilitate travel for officials of all countries wishing to visit the UN headquarters. The ban comes as France leads international efforts to recognise a state of Palestine at the session - a move Donald Trump's administration has opposed.
It also coincides with the IDF declaring Gaza City a war zone as it starts what it says is the definitive blow to HAMAS.
Is this the final move before Israel annexes the land and opens it for settlement? We know that this is what Netanyahu has been pursuing all along. As far as he is concerned, the concept of a two state solution is political fantasy.

[Stanley]

See THIS opening gambit in the Autumn session of Parliament.....
1 hour ago
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is to announce details of a tightening of rules for migrants who have been granted asylum bringing their families to the UK. As MPs return to Westminster, Cooper will also set out reforms to the asylum appeals system. When a person is granted asylum in the UK, they can apply to bring their family too but Cooper believes changes to policies across Europe mean the UK is now out of kilter with its neighbours and restrictions are needed. In the Commons this afternoon she is expected to set out the criteria that family members will need to meet - including tougher English language standards and access to sufficient funds.

[Stanley]

I saw THIS BBC report....
Updated 49 minutes ago
The justice secretary will be able to veto any new changes to sentencing guidelines proposed by an independent public body, the Justice Department has announced. Under the new plans, the Sentencing Council will no longer be able to issue new guidelines without Shabana Mahmood's explicit approval, the department said. Mahmood said "policy must be set by parliamentarians, who answer to the people". The change comes after a public dispute earlier in the year between the Sentencing Council and the government over pre-sentence reports for offenders from certain minority groups. The new measure will be brought in as part of the Sentencing Bill, being introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Not sure about this. I am always uneasy when politicians assert control over the Judiciary.

[Julie in Norfolk]

I agree Stanley, it is always time to worry when politicians try to exercise power over the judiciary.

[Stanley]

Anyone who disputes that Julie has only to look at what's happening in America now under Trump. The Supreme Court is getting to the point where it is rubber stamping his policies....
Anyone who thought Sue Gray would go quietly can think again, see THIS BBC report....
1 hour ago
Sir Keir Starmer's former chief of staff Baroness Sue Gray has challenged the government's plan to limit a civil service internship scheme to working-class students. The Labour peer questioned the "evidence base" behind last month's decision to restrict a Whitehall internship to students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds". The government argued the change will bring in "more working-class young people" widening the talent pool for a civil service that will "truly reflect the country". But Baroness Gray told peers she was "from the most working class of backgrounds" but had "learned a lot from being around people from different walks of life". From October 2026, Whitehall's main internship scheme designed to attract university students to the civil service will now only be available for students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds" - judged by what jobs their parents did when they were 14. Those who are successful on the internship will then be prioritised for entry to the Fast Stream, the main graduate programme for entry to the civil service. But Baroness Gray said: "As a former civil servant from the most working class of backgrounds, and I'm sure there are very good intentions here, I would have found it really difficult when I joined the civil service to not have a wider group that I actually was exposed to, and I learned so much from that. "I would like to know what the evidence base is for actually reaching this conclusion, because I do think it's good intentioned, but I think there are other ways that the civil service can be opened up as well."

[Tizer]

`Clegg accuses Vance of 'hypocrisy' over free speech criticism' BBC
Former UK deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg has accused right-wing US politicians, including JD Vance, of "rank hypocrisy" for attacking UK speech laws while silencing dissent at home. Since coming to office this year, the US vice president has repeatedly criticised measures like the UK's Online Safety Act and claimed free speech in Europe was "in retreat". Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Sir Nick accused Vance of an "outrageous double standard" for attacking UK free speech laws while trying to "intimidate and bully" critics. The ex-Lib Dem leader, who until last year was Mark Zuckerberg's deputy at Meta, warned Silicon Valley's ties with the Trump administration were starting to look like "Chinese-style cooperation"...