Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

And they are notoriously rough on even white American immigrants to the UK and we are supposed to have a special relationship and shit.

Are they?  I've never heard this.

It's funny/sad.

The UK is one of the toughest countries in the world for immigration. Insane hoops to jump through. Visas tightly tied to individual jobs and it costs you 2000 quid to change job and that sort of thing.

...yet the populist right keep beating the drum that we are a soft touch and have an open door policy and this is bad.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. Though it could be what DGuller termed "collateral damage" though. Sometimes your tough on immigrants policies end up also getting white people deported. Unless you marry somebody you are going to really have a rough time immigrating there...at least according to people who have tried to do it. I obviously have no first hand experience.

It's got easier in the last two years. I linked to a piece by Jonathan Portes a while ago on this - but basically there's been a considerable liberalisation recently. They've got rid of overall caps on numbers both overall and for each type of visa, reduced the salary and skills threshold, re-introduced the roll-over option for students to spend a couple of years in the UK after graduation to find work (and move onto a work visa) and made the points system a lot simpler. They've also consolidated loads of the visas into a few simpler broadercategories. And it apparently works pretty smoothly in terms of speed of applications being processed.

The bit that doesn't work is asylum - given that we know that applications are done quickly in other bits of the system all you're left with as an excuse on asylum is that it's deliberate cruelty. Even there 2021 had the highest number of applications and grants since 2003. But that's why the current Ukrainian scheme is an interesting model to expand - it's relatively easy, doesn't rely on the Home Office too much and there's no cap.

I think for someone like me who grew up in the 2000s when "bogus asylum seekers" were the biggest issue and then it moved into immigration in general it is very weird seeing net migration is higher than it was on average in the 2000s/2010s wth broad public support/indifference and politicians generally being behind public opinion (my theory is they learned politics in the 2000s/2010s so just don't get it - like a US politician doing 90s style debt politics now). There's been a fairly big increase in the grants of permanent residence too. I think something's shifted - and I think this crisis is going to shift it again/further - especially if we make it work.

The UK is one of the toughest countries in the world for immigration. Insane hoops to jump through. Visas tightly tied to individual jobs and it costs you 2000 quid to change job and that sort of thing.

The fees are absurd and designed to make money rather than just covering costs.

...yet the populist right keep beating the drum that we are a soft touch and have an open door policy and this is bad.

I feel like they've moved on to net zero (I don't think this'll work).

[Syt]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/15/black-girl-racism-police-strip-search-london-school-hackney

Racism cited as factor in police strip search of girl, 15, at London school

Black child's ordeal, which involved exposure of intimate body parts, took place without parental consent, review finds

A black child was subjected by police to a strip search at her London school that involved exposure of intimate body parts, according to an official investigation which found racism was likely to have been an "influencing factor" in the officers' actions.

No appropriate adult was present during the 15-year-old girl's ordeal, described by a senior local authority figure as "humiliating, traumatising and utterly shocking" and which took place without parental consent and in the knowledge that she was menstruating.

Details of her treatment in her secondary school's medical room have emerged in a child safeguarding review initiated by Hackney council after the incident in December 2020.

The child was made to bend over, spread her legs and use her hands to spread her buttocks while coughing, and she is now in therapy and self-harming, according to family members' statements to the inquiry.

The damning report said: "Having considered the context of the incident, the views of those engaged in the review and the impact felt by Child Q and her family, racism (whether deliberate or not) was likely to have been an influencing factor in the decision to undertake a strip search."

The report emphasised the importance of the question of whether the child was treated differently because she was black, adding this line of inquiry had been starkly reflected in several events that took place around the same time.

"Significantly, some six months prior, George Floyd was tragically killed in the USA and there were repercussions around the globe, including in the UK," it said.

Police were called by teachers who told the review that they believed she was smelling strongly of cannabis and suspected she was carrying drugs, but none were found during the subsequent search.

The school was visited by four officers including two women who carried out the search of the girl – referred to in the report as 'Child Q' – while teachers remained outside the room and her mother was not contacted.

"Someone walked into the school, where I was supposed to feel safe, took me away from the people who were supposed to protect me and stripped me naked, while on my period," the girl said in a statement, adding that she did not know if she would "ever feel normal again".

The Metropolitan police on Tuesday said they apologised for what a senior officer described as the child's "truly regrettable" treatment, which has been the subject of a separate Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation, whose report is nearing completion.

But senior members of the local council furiously criticised the force in the wake of the review, which concluded that Child Q should never have been strip searched, and found there was an absence of a "safeguarding-first" approach from many of the professionals involved.

One of eight findings includes school staff deferring to the authority of the police on their arrival at school. It added: "They should have been more challenging to the police, seeking clarity about the actions they intended to take."

Anntoinette Bramble, Hackney's deputy mayor and cabinet member for children's services, and the mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, said: "All aspects of this review have appalled us: the decision by police officers to strip search a child in her school; the lack of challenge by the school toward police; the absence of requirements of police to seek parental consent in the strip search of a child.

"But most stark: that racism is likely to have been an 'influencing factor' in the decision by police to undertake the strip search."

They added that the child's ordeal had been exacerbated by the fact the strip search had been carried out at school "a place where the child had an expectation of safety, security and care. Instead, she was let down by those who were meant to protect her."

The child's mother said in statements provided for the review that her daughter had been searched by the police and was asked to go back into an exam without any teacher asking her about how she felt, knowing what she had just gone through.

"Their position in the school is being part of the safeguarding team, but they were not acting as if they were a part of that team. This makes me sick – the fact that my child had to take her sanitary towel off and put the same dirty towel back on because they would not allow her to use the restroom to clean herself."

The child's maternal aunt said her niece had turned from a "a happy go lucky girl" to a "timid recluse" who hardly spoke to her. She was now so traumatised that she was self-harming and required therapy.

In a letter, the aunt added: "The family do not believe that the officers would have treated a Caucasian girl child who was on her monthly periods in the same way."

Those who carried out the review were in agreement, concluding that racism was likely to have been an "influencing factor" in the strip search, and that the child had been subjected to "adultification" bias – where black and global majority children are held to adult standards, but their white peers are less likely to be.

In a statement released by the Metropolitan police, the force identified the girl as a 15-year-old and said that the search had been conducted after her bag and outer clothing had already been searched by staff at the school prior to police arrival.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, described the case as "shocking and deeply disturbing" and said that he would be closely following the outcome of the IOPC investigation.

"I am extremely concerned by the findings of this report and no child should ever have to face a situation like this," he said.

The search took place in the same part of London where the Met apologised in January and paid compensation to an academic for "sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language" used by officers about her when she was strip searched.

So teachers think a 15 year old girl smells of weed and proceed to search her clothes and bags for any contraband. Is that standard in the UK?

And then, after not finding anything, they call the police. First of all, at this stage I'd expect parents to be notified?

Also, I could see police in such a case maybe seeking to administer a drug test and give a lecture about drugs and talk to the parents. But strip searching seems to be their first response? WTF? How many teens carry their weed or whatever in their butts? I guess it's a miracle they didn't go in for a full cavity search.

[garbon]

It's got easier in the last two years. I linked to a piece by Jonathan Portes a while ago on this - but basically there's been a considerable liberalisation recently. They've got rid of overall caps on numbers both overall and for each type of visa, reduced the salary and skills threshold, re-introduced the roll-over option for students to spend a couple of years in the UK after graduation to find work (and move onto a work visa) and made the points system a lot simpler. They've also consolidated loads of the visas into a few simpler broadercategories. And it apparently works pretty smoothly in terms of speed of applications being processed.

I haven't paid that much attention to articles about reform in past 2 years as I find them too triggering () but personally it feels like the process still isn't great. For myself, the only thing that has improved is having more money to access a better immigration attorney.

Streamlining the system had also meant overtime they got rid of 'easier' routes like the highly skilled migrant programme. I see in current rules they still have the punishment like Intra-Company Transfer visa which allows you to come to UK for 5 years, start making a life and then be told you'll need to leave for a year unless you become a poor student or marry. Which is different from how that pathway previously ran.

[Josquius]

[
The fees are absurd and designed to make money rather than just covering costs.

There's that.
Moreso though they help to keep out the riff raff and keep foreign workers in line.

Indian IT specialist found out you're underpaying him by a significant amount? Tough. He complains then find a reason to sack him and he has to uproot his life again to move home.
If he's smart and tries to find a new job under the table... Well good luck finding a company that will accept a foreign worker and better luck finding one that'll treat them fair. You better be sure the new job is good too as the consequences of switching are far graver than for locals.

It really does draw very close to the sort of seizing passports indentured labour stuff you read about in the gulf in some ways.

[Sheilbh]

I haven't paid that much attention to articles about reform in past 2 years as I find them too triggering () but personally it feels like the process still isn't great. For myself, the only thing that has improved is having more money to access a better immigration attorney.

I've no doubt it's still not great - but it is a lot better than it was under May and from my understanding than the layers of complications that have developed over the last 20 years.

Streamlining the system had also meant overtime they got rid of 'easier' routes like the highly skilled migrant programme.

I'm not sure - from what I could see that was got rid of in 2008.

But for example - just to give an illustration of what I mean by it being simpler and more liberal. The Skilled Worker Visa (which used to be Tier 2) has been made a lot more open. So it used to be that there was an annual cap, there was a "Resident Labour Market Test" (in most circumstances, you required a degree, the minimum salary for "experienced workers was £30,000, you were only allowed to stay in the UK for six years and there was a 12 month "cooling off" period before you could apply for a new visa and it was difficult to switch from another visa into a Tier 2.

Under the new system: there's no cap, the "Resident Labour Market Test" has been abolished (instead they need to be satisfied the job isn't "a sham" or made up), you only need to have completed high school, the minimum salary cap for experienced workers has fallen to £25,000 or the "going rate" in that occupation (it's about £20,000 for new workers and there's no salary requirements for certain sectors/qualifications such as healthcare, education, and certain subjects), there's no limit on how long you can remain in the UK or cooling off period (and, after 5 years, you can appply for a permanent visa) and basically anyone already on a visa can apply to switch to this one in the UK except for visitors, short-term students, seasonal workers and domestic workers (nannies/au pairs). It's all points based so you can "trade", for example, the salary requirements for qualifications etc.

That's easier and broader. In principal about half of the UK labour market qualifies for a skilled worker visa route now. Similarly they've re-introduced the two years period at the end of a student visa for international students to switch to a "new worker" version of the Skilled Worker visa. That was abolished by Cameron and May because they wanted to get the numbers down and students were a really easy target.

I see in current rules they still have the punishment like Intra-Company Transfer visa which allows you to come to UK for 5 years, start making a life and then be told you'll need to leave for a year unless you become a poor student or marry. Which is different from how that pathway previously ran.

For what it's worth for when I used to work with employment lawyers who did loads of visas for companies - my understanding was 99% of intra-company transfers should be on a skilled worker visa. The Intra-Company Transfer has higher requirements around pay etc, but doesn't have any English language requirement so - from what they said in some training I had a while ago - it was basically for very senior people who don't speak English before their transfer. Everyone else should just be on a skilled worker visa.

So teachers think a 15 year old girl smells of weed and proceed to search her clothes and bags for any contraband. Is that standard in the UK?

And then, after not finding anything, they call the police. First of all, at this stage I'd expect parents to be notified?

Also, I could see police in such a case maybe seeking to administer a drug test and give a lecture about drugs and talk to the parents. But strip searching seems to be their first response? WTF? How many teens carry their weed or whatever in their butts? I guess it's a miracle they didn't go in for a full cavity search.

That story's horrendous. And failures at every level from the school into the police.

No doubt none of the officers involved will be punished.

In terms of teachers searching schoolbags and coats (basically stuff they can take off a child not "pat-down" a child) that is allowed and definitely happened when I was a kid, but they can't touch you. From the report it looks like the police behaviour was just unlawful - a strip search needs approval of a supervisor and there's no evidence that happened, there's no "Appropriate Adult", the parent should have been contacted etc. As the mum says - she was treated as an adult when she shouldn't have been and it was treated as a criminal matter not a safeguarding issue.

[Sheilbh]

This is very good news - and Johnson personally bears direct responsibility for some of the treatment of Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori released from custody in Iran
News confirmed by Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lawyer in Iran and by her MP in the UK


Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, during a hunger strike in November. Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in Iran since 2016. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Reuters
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Wed 16 Mar 2022 11.22 GMT
First published on Wed 16 Mar 2022 10.18 GMT

The British-Iranian detainees Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have been released from custody, Iranian officials said on Wednesday morning. The news was later confirmed by Zaghari-Ratcliffe's lawyer in Iran and by her MP in the UK, Tulip Siddiq.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family in the UK had no official confirmation when asked to comment by the Guardian, but said they knew things were moving in the right direction.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who has faced many false dawns over her release, remained careful in his response, saying he would wait for official confirmation from the UK Foreign Office.

Iranian state media reported that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been handed over to a British team at Tehran's international Imam Khomeini airport and would be leaving Iran on Wednesday. Ashoori's position was unclear immediately.

On Tuesday Boris Johnson, who was in the UAE, said negotiations about Zaghari-Ratcliffe were "moving forward" but "going right up to the wire".

The apparent breakthrough will bring an end to the ordeal for Zaghari-Ratcliffe that began in 2016 when she was detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday visit to Iran where she showed her daughter, Gabriella, to her parents.

There had been signs of progress in delicate negotiations between the UK and Iran in recent days. A glimmer of optimism for 43-year-old Zaghari-Ratcliffe came on Tuesday when Siddiq said her British passport had been returned.

Johnson confirmed that a British negotiating team was working in Tehran to secure the release of dual nationals.

While details of the negotiations remain unclear, it is possible they are linked to a £400m debt dating back to the 1970s owed to Iran by the UK.

Iran's Fars news agency said Iran had received $530m (£405m) for her release. "$530m of Iranian blocked assets have been unfrozen before her release. She was handed over to the British side at 2.15pm local time. Her release process is ongoing," the agency said.

The UK government accepts it should pay the "legitimate debt" for an order of 1,500 Chieftain tanks that was not fulfilled after the shah was deposed and replace by a revolutionary regime.

The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told Sky News on Wednesday that it was a "priority to pay the debt that we owe to Iran". The government in Tehran remains under strict sanctions, however, which has complicated efforts to repay the money.

Redress, an anti-torture group that has campaigned for Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be freed, said it congratulated the UK government on "finally negotiating her release".

Its director, Rupert Skilbeck, said: "We are incredibly relieved that Nazanin will finally be reunited with her family in the UK after a horrific six-year ordeal. Nazanin has endured unimaginable suffering.

"Richard [Ratcliffe] fought day and night for his wife to be allowed to return to the UK and Redress is honoured to have supported them in securing Nazanin's freedom. Nazanin's detention in Iran was always illegal and her treatment by Iran amounted to torture.

"In celebrating her release, we must not forget the deep and continuing injustice perpetrated by Iran. Iran's systematic practice of holding foreign nationals hostage for diplomatic leverage cannot be allowed to continue."

Interestingly the local (Laour) MP who has been campaigning on this for years singled out Truss on this:

I've dealt with three prime ministers and five foreign secretaries, it's finally when I came to a woman who was foreign secretary who actually did something....We had such a difficult time with the other foreign secretaries speaking to them trying to convince them about this debt. In some ways, I would defend the government by saying they never really denied they owed Iran the money, because they went through the international courts... Ben Wallace did stand up in Parliament and say, it's a debt that we owe Iran. So, it wasn't a dispute about whether we owe the money. It's more about them not wanting to link the fact that we owe the money and the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, even though Nazanin was actually told by the Revolutionary Guards over and over again, when she was in prison, that the reason she was being held is because of our failure to pay the debt.
[..]
When we started speaking to Liz Truss from very early on, it did seem like she was making some sort of plan to pay back the debt. And if she's managed to make it happen, then it's quite an achievement.

I wonder if Russia's invasion means there'll be a broader Western rapprochement with Iran? Or how the two interact at all?

[Sheilbh]

I feel like there's a lot more to this story - there's just lots off

Dominic Cummings accuses Boris Johnson of lying in Lebedev row
Former aide says PM was told intelligence services had serious reservations about peerage plan

Evgeny Lebedev and Boris Johnson at an event in 2009. Photograph: Ian West/PA
Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent
@breeallegretti
Wed 16 Mar 2022 16.32 GMT
Last modified on Wed 16 Mar 2022 18.31 GMT

Dominic Cummings has accused Boris Johnson of lying over claims that intelligence officers' security concerns about giving a peerage to a Russian media magnate and son of a former KGB were overridden.

The prime minister dismissed as "simply incorrect" reports last week that he tried to intervene to hand Evgeny Lebedev a seat in the House of Lords and law-making powers for life against the advice of UK spy agencies.

While Johnson was on a trip to the Middle East, Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, stood in at prime minister's questions and dismissed as "sheer nonsense" concerns raised over the appointment process.

But Cummings said Raab had been "given duff lines" and that he, Cummings, knew that the suggestion there was no wrongdoing was false.

"I was in the room when the PM was told by Cabinet Office officials that the intelligence services and other parts of the deep state had, let's say, serious reservations about the PM's plan," Cummings, the prime minister's former chief aide, wrote in a blogpost.

"I supported these concerns and said to the PM in his study explicitly that he should not go ahead. He was very cross and as he does when cross he blustered nonsense."

Cummings claimed Johnson told him: "This is just ... You're just ... [pause] anti-Russian."

Cummings said the prime minister stopped talking to him about the issue and "got a stooge to creep into the Cabinet Office labyrinth and cut a deal", citing similarities with his behaviour over attempts to get donors to pay for his flat refurbishment.

The House of Lords appointments committee, which is meant to scrutinise the nomination of new peers, was given a "sanitised/edited/redacted" version of the security reports, Cummings claimed.

"I'm confident in predicting nobody would swear under oath the PM is telling the truth – including the PM," he added.

The controversy around Lord Lebedev's appointment was reignited last week with a Sunday Times story headlined "Lebedev got peerage after spies dropped warning", which followed previous reporting in the Guardian and Byline Times. Lebedev insisted in the aftermath that he was not an "agent of Russia".

Johnson also came under fire at PMQs when comments he made in 2015 – after Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine – resurfaced. The then mayor of London argued that the UK should continue to cooperate with the Russian leader on foreign policy, suggesting it was not "morally irresponsible" to strike deals with Putin.

In an article written in December 2015, soon after MPs voted to approve airstrikes in Syria to target Islamic State (IS), Johnson recalled having been in Paris and seen posters bearing Putin's face on billboards with the caption "our new friend".

"Many French people think the time has come to do a deal with their new friends the Russians – and I think that they are broadly right," he said.

Johnson said that while he believed the UK should work together with Russia to target IS, he was "no particular fan of Vlad", whom he called a "ruthless and manipulative tyrant".

"Does that mean it is morally impossible to work with him? I am not so sure. We need to focus on what we are trying to achieve. Our aims – at least, our stated aims – are to degrade and ultimately to destroy [IS] as a force in Syria and Iraq. That is what it is all about," he said.

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, said the Conservative government had long ignored the issue of over-reliance on Russia, forcing Johnson now to go "cap in hand from one dictator to another, on a begging mission for the Saudi prince to bail him out".

She added: "The government have had 12 years to end their reliance on foreign oil and invest in homegrown energy to secure our supplies. Their failure has left us all vulnerable, reliant on another murderous dictator to keep the lights on and pumps open."

Asked when Johnson's opinion about the wisdom of doing deals with Putin had shifted, the prime minister's spokesperson could not say. But he pointed to the recent acknowledgement that the west had "collectively made mistakes" in dealing with Putin. "We have seen by his actions that this is a corrupt state that is carrying out an illegal war," the spokesperson said.

I tend to be fairly relaxed on the Saudi thing - until we're off fossil fuels the reality is there's not enough in Canada and the US for us to avoid dealing with unpleasant regimes and I think the priority has to be cutting our ties with Russia. That'll be the Saudis, the Gulf states - probably working to get Iranian and Venezuelan oil back on the market etc. But it is just yet another reason to massively increase the spending on energy transition.

There's so many amazing stories/angles on the Lebedev story though - loads of gay rumours, owns the Evening Standard and the Independent with his dad (formerly of the London rezidentura), famous for throwing incredible end of the world style parties, huge sponsor of the arts/London's cultural scene. So many Gatsby comparisons in every profile about him

Edit: E.g. on the parties - one famous one was 2006 Russian Fantasia white tie party which cost £2 million (and raised £1.5 million for charity). One journalist (for a society paper) who got there said he saw a circle of Orlando Bloom, Gorbachev and Salman Rushdie dancing at one point

[Josquius]

Can't help but notice amongst the headlines that have constantly been popping up about this British Iranian lady imprisoned in Iran....

Today its also reported there was also a less photogenic elderly British Iranian guy released with her.

The media man.

[Sheilbh]

Although don't think I've felt such a surge of patriotism as when that less photogenic, elderly man was asked what he was most looking forward to after five years in Iranian captivity and replied "pints"

[mongers]

Although don't think I've felt such a surge of patriotism as when that less photogenic, elderly man was asked what he was most looking forward to after five years in Iranian captivity and replied "pints"

I got the impression he was a mechanical engineer before retirement, so that most likely would have been integral to his works culture.

[Josquius]

And I imagine he spent much of his years of imprisonment running through the best thing to say in the interview.

I've not seen that yet though does sound awesome. I guess he's just happy to be home but it does suck how little attention he got. Right up to the first hints of release it was only the lady got mentioned.

[garbon]

And I imagine he spent much of his years of imprisonment running through the best thing to say in the interview.

I've not seen that yet though does sound awesome. I guess he's just happy to be home but it does suck how little attention he got. Right up to the first hints of release it was only the lady got mentioned.

There has been articles about him in the past.

[The Larch]

Blue passports! Pint glasses with crowns on them!

P&O Ferries sacks all 800 crew members across entire fleet
Unions brand move 'scandalous' with jobs axed without notice and agency workers lined up to staff vessels

The leading UK ferry operator, P&O Ferries, has sacked 800 British crew across its entire fleet after stopping all its sailings on Thursday.

Unions called on the government to halt what it called a "scandalous betrayal", with P&O planning to use cheap agency staff to operate its ships.

The operator, owned by the Dubai-based DP World, earlier told crew to return to port and await a "major announcement" in a sudden move likely to cause serious disruption to travel for passengers and freight.

Security staff were preparing to remove crew from ships in Dover and Larne, Belfast, after unions instructed crew not to leave vessels. Coaches carrying replacement agency staff were reported to be standing by at Dover and Hull.

The RMT said that guards with handcuffs were seeking to board ships to remove crew so they could be replaced with cheaper labour.
(...)

Staff were told by video message that P&O "vessels will be primarily crewed by a third party crew provider ... Your final day of employment is today."

[Jacob]

That's pretty wild, re: P&O ferries. How does that line up with UK labour law?