Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[mongers]

Perhaps a place for:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand
https://www.asa.org.uk/

to have their authority expanded to.

Indeed.

Currently on-line political 'advertising' is a wild west environment.

[The Brain]

I fail to be upset by people getting targeted information from Russia. As Tampax said that's old news.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/09/brexit-ireland-peace-good-friday-agreement-irish-border

Don't let Brexit undermine Ireland's peace
Hillary Clinton

Twenty years ago, the Good Friday/Belfast agreement helped bring an end to decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland. It was a watershed moment – the result of diplomatic efforts within the halls of government and extraordinary actions of ordinary women and men who reached across longstanding and bitter divides.

Today, the agreement stands not only as a local framework for shared understanding, but as a shining example of what's possible when citizens come together to demand peace, and preserve it across generations. As the world celebrates this significant anniversary, we must also remain vigilant in protecting the agreement in the face of our current challenges – from the uncertainties heralded by Brexit to the hurdles posed by the impasse in devolved government in Northern Ireland – and do all we can to deliver on the unrealised aspirations of human rights and equality that were espoused that day in April 1998.

Even now, I can picture clearly my husband's first trip to Northern Ireland as president. On a cold winter night in 1995, Bill and I joined thousands of people at Belfast city hall for the lighting of the Christmas tree. As Catholics and Protestants alike came to that spot from their deeply divided neighbourhoods, there was no guarantee that violence wouldn't break out; yet they came with a sense of hope, after so many seasons of darkness.

It was on that same trip that I first met some of the women whose names are too often forgotten, despite their vital role in the agreement. One of those women was Joyce McCartan, a Catholic mother whose 17-year-old son had been shot dead by a Protestant gunman. Joyce invited me to join women from both traditions at the safe house she had set up in a local fish and chip shop. We sat around a small table, drinking tea out of an old aluminium teapot, while the women told me how they had first reached across their divides to band together to stop the price of their children's milk from going up. Along the way, they discovered that the deep-rooted causes of the violence – the terrors of sectarianism, the burdens of poverty, the despair of unemployment – touched all of their lives. In the end, for them and for so many women across Northern Ireland, love of family ran deeper than calls to hatred.

Though they may not have made the headlines or the history books, those kitchen-table conversations were essential to the peace process. So were all the women who came together to form a coalition and claim a formal seat at the table – women like Avila Kilmurray, Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, May Blood and so many more who moved mountains to help negotiate the Good Friday agreement years ago at Stormont.

There are some who argue that the agreement has outlived its usefulness. They are wrong. Countless people in Northern Ireland are alive today, rather than in early graves, because of it. The last thing we can afford to do is become complacent, or delude ourselves into thinking our work is finished. In fact, 20 years later, crucial components of the agreement still have yet to be implemented. An integrated education system and support for community development, the promotion of the representation of women, and a bill of rights for Northern Ireland are all promises that have yet to be realised. The fact that the Civic Forum has fallen by the wayside is especially tragic, since it would offer a venue to discuss many of the urgent issues facing Northern Ireland today, including the possible outcomes of Brexit negotiations.

These are difficult times for Northern Ireland, and for our world. As the Brexit debate rages on, I continue to believe in the value of the European Union, and of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. But no matter the outcome of these discussions, we cannot allow Brexit to undermine the peace that people voted, fought and even died for. Reinstating the border would be an enormous setback, returning to the "bad old days" when communities would once again be set apart.

Two decades ago, it was acknowledged that just as the Troubles didn't start overnight, peace was never going to come overnight. Now, as the world celebrates this significant anniversary, the principles the agreement represented in the first place are more important than ever: a commitment to peace, prosperity and healing as the people of Northern Ireland build a shared future. As Avila and Monica recently wrote, if short-term interests take precedence over solving the long-term challenges that still exist in Northern Ireland, "then it is clear that the hand of history will be both heavy and unforgiving".

[garbon]

Home Office at it again

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/11/woman-accused-of-faking-illness-to-avoid-uk-deportation-died-five-days-later

Woman accused of faking illness to avoid UK deportation died five days later

A South African woman who collapsed during an attempted removal from the UK was accused by immigration officials of faking illness to avoid being put on a plane but died five days later, the Guardian can reveal.

The Home Office has referred the case of Nancy Motsamai, 35, who died on 12 March, to the independent prisons and probation ombudsman for investigation.

Her husband, Fusi Motsamai, also 35, has condemned the Home Office's treatment of his wife. He also said: "We repeatedly asked the Home Office to release Nancy's passport to allow her body to be transported to her home country for burial but they did not."

His distress was compounded when the Home Office sent a text to his wife's phone on 30 March, more than two weeks after her death, warning her of penalties if she did not attend an appointment at a Home Office reporting centre on 5 April.

The Home Office has confirmed that the text was sent after they were notified about Motsamai's death and said it was "working urgently" to pass her passport on to the South African authorities. A spokesman said the texting error was caused by an automated system that had not been updated.

The couple's barrister, Linda Appiah, had advised the government's legal department of her client's death in a letter dated 16 March. The Home Office said it was not notified until 23 March, a week before the text was sent.

The couple had been living and working in the UK for more than a decade, but ran into difficulties when they applied to renew their visas. Both were ordered to report regularly to Eaton House, a Home Office centre in Hounslow. When they attended on 7 March, they were told they were to be forcibly removed from the UK that day and put on a plane to South Africa.

Appiah said she had filed a judicial review claim on 5 March over the Home Office's handling of the couple's visa application. The Home Office, however, insists there were no legal barriers to removing the couple two days later.

"Nancy said she felt unwell while we were at Eaton House," said Fusi Motsamai. When the couple were taken to Heathrow airport several hours later she collapsed in a corridor.

"An immigration official at the airport accused Nancy of faking her collapse to avoid being put on a plane," her husband said. "He told Nancy that he would handcuff her hands and feet and make her walk to the plane like a penguin, and that he would put her onto the plane even if he had to carry her."

Officials then decided to put the couple into detention instead.

"We were detained separately, but after we were released Nancy told me that a nurse at the detention centre told her she was too ill to be detained, but the nurse was overruled by a superior and she was held overnight," said Fusi Motsamai.

The next morning both of them were released, but she collapsed and died of a pulmonary embolism five days later.

Nancy's body was eventually flown to South Africa on 5 April after the country's high commission agreed to provide an emergency travel document.

Fusi contrasted his wife's treatment with her attitude to others. "Nancy was the kind of person who would light up the room with her smile," he said. "She loved helping others and volunteered to help at the church with different youth programmes. She believed in justice and used to get cross when injustice happened to others and no one was held accountable for it."

Rev Lucy Brierley of Woking United Reformed Church, which supported the couple and continues to support Fusi, condemned the UK's immigration removal system as a travesty and an embarrassment. "This case is an indictment of the administrative chaos in the UK visa and immigration system, " she said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our thoughts and condolences are with Mrs Motsamai's family at this difficult time. We take our responsibilities towards detainees' health and welfare seriously. When there are claims that the highest standards have not been met these will be investigated thoroughly."

[Tamas]

What a nasty little island this is becoming. 

[garbon]

What a nasty little island this is becoming. 

We picked a great time to come.

[Josquius]

It HAS been downhill since Tamas moved in

[Tamas]

 

[celedhring]

Every country Tamas lives in goes retard. Must be an ancient Romani curse

I hope you haven't been holidaying in Barcelona. 

[Tamas]

While the evidence seems clear, in my defense I'd mention that the number of countries that haven't gone retard the last few years is shrinking rapidly.

[Tamas]

What a nasty little island this is becoming. 

We picked a great time to come.

We did, didn't we?!

IIRC you arrived before me, so you should get yourself citizenship. You are going to save yourself from a lot of possible trouble, it'd seem.

[garbon]

What a nasty little island this is becoming. 

We picked a great time to come.

We did, didn't we?!

IIRC you arrived before me, so you should get yourself citizenship. You are going to save yourself from a lot of possible trouble, it'd seem.

Not eligible with my current visa. Past 3 years count toward squat.

[celedhring]

So your visa prevents you from starting the clock for citizenship? Seems a bit draconian.

[garbon]

So your visa prevents you from starting the clock for citizenship? Seems a bit draconian.

Well it prevents clock from starting on permanent residence so yeah in most cases thus delays citizenship (bar things like marriage). Also, as far as I can tell, I'm due to be booted from the UK in 2 years time for at least a year, unless I marry, become a student, have a large amount of venture capital or start getting paid over £120k a year.

[The Brain]

Whoever he is he'll be a lucky guy.