Viv needs another day off. She should be back on the site tomorrow.
Illegal migrants
Telegraph
Ministers’ new £63 million Channel deal with France provoked a backlash on Monday after it emerged it will not enable migrants to be deported back to France.
The agreement – signed by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin in Paris – will involve the UK paying for a 40 per cent rise in French officers deployed on its beaches, British officers stationed in French control rooms, and extra drones, night-vision goggles and other surveillance equipment.
Rishi Sunak hailed it as a critical agreement in “getting a grip of illegal migration in small boats”, and said he was “confident” the number of illegal migrants would come down. However, he declined to guarantee that numbers would fall next year.
Mrs Braverman, who was due to make a statement on the deal to the Commons on Monday afternoon, said the deal represented “real wins”, although she admitted there was no “silver bullet” and “no quick fixes”.
Independent
French authorities told drowning migrants they were in British waters and to call 999 during the worst disaster of its kind in the English Channel, documents have revealed.
A dossier of evidence compiled by lawyers acting for the families of 32 people who died when their dinghy sank last November shows passengers made desperate calls for help for more than two hours.
Logs published by the Le Monde newspaper indicate that they tried to contact both French and English rescue services, but were not rescued before the captain of a private boat reported bodies floating in the water in the strait of Calais – 12 hours after the first mayday call on 24 November 2021.
Mail
British Government vessels and French Navy ships are colluding in the Channel to provide a ‘handover’ of traffickers’ boats bringing illegal migrants to the UK.
The Mail can reveal the extraordinary level of co-operation at sea between the two nations in ‘pass the parcel’ operations organised by Border Force officers and French warship captains.
In an astonishing series of maritime radio conversations, recorded on Sunday morning from a public maritime radio channel, the French warships and France‘s maritime police can be heard contacting the Border Force vessels Defender, Hurricane and Ranger to arrange the handover of boats carrying migrants, including five children, 12 miles off Kent.
The conversation between the vessels suggests the French Navy is routinely guiding migrant boats from the French coast to mid-Channel meet-ups with the British, who then put the passengers on board boats to bring them into Dover.
ITV News
More migrants arrived in the UK as the government signed a fresh multi-million-pound deal with France in a bid to curb Channel crossings.
The fresh agreement, hiking the figure paid to France by the UK to around 72 million euros (£63 million) in 2022/23, will see British officers stationed in French control rooms for the first time and a 40% boost in beach patrols along the country’s northern coastline.
It will be the first time British officers will be embedded with their French counterparts.
Rishi Sunak told reporters on Monday that he would look into imposing a cap on the number of refugees the UK accepts each year – but he would prioritise tackling illegal migration first.
The prime minister made the pledge on quotas during his first leadership race in the summer.
BBC News
The UK will pay France £8m more a year under a revised deal to try to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats.
The money will pay for increased surveillance of French beaches, while UK police officers will also be able to observe patrols within France.
It is thought French officers patrolling the coast will rise from about 250 to 350 over five months.
PM Rishi Sunak said he was “confident” the crossings could be brought down.
However, he warned there was no “single thing” that could “fix” the situation, promising “even greater cooperation” with France in the months ahead.
Times
Britain wants hundreds more French police officers to patrol beaches to “break” the business model of criminal gangs and stop small boat crossings.
The government has announced a £70 million deal with France to increase the number of police patrolling French beaches by 100 to about 300. No 10 and Suella Braverman, the home secretary, declined to say whether this would reduce the number of migrants crossing the English Channel.
The Times has been told that ministers have privately conceded that the deal will not be enough to significantly reduce the number of people making crossings. They want to increase the proportion of small boats intercepted before leaving French shores from 42 per cent to between 80 to 90 per cent.
Strikes
Morning Star
TEACHERS at sixth-form colleges in England have voted to strike over pay.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) backed action in response to a 5 per cent pay offer by the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), rising to 8.9 per cent for a small minority of teachers.
The ballot result paves the way for the first national strike in the sector since 2016, with the first planned walkout due on Wednesday November 30.
NEU joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: “The close of this ballot is well timed, as it is just a few days ahead of the Chancellor’s latest Budget statement on November 17.
“It is hoped that Gillian Keegan will quickly use her influence as Education Secretary to make the case for sixth-form colleges.
“The sector has suffered real-terms pay cuts in the region of 20 per cent since 2010.
“Further below-inflation pay increases are simply unacceptable to our members.
Mail
Nurses, paramedics and 999 call handlers could all walk out at the same time as union leaders try to co-ordinate strike action to cause maximum disruption.
Representatives from the six largest health unions held talks last night about launching a series of walkouts at the same time, the Telegraph reported, exacerbating fears that the already overstretched NHS will be brought to a standstill this winter.
Unite, GMB, Unison, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy gathered to discuss tactics ahead of a meeting with Health Secretary Steven Barclay today.
One union source told the newspaper: ‘Co-ordinating strike action is what unions do. If we are going to have a strike, it has to be effective or what is the point?’
BBC News
A deal must be found to end the NHS strikes ahead of the “winter onslaught”, health managers say.
NHS Providers interim chief executive Saffron Cordery said the “last thing” the NHS needed was prolonged industrial action as winter hits.
She said there was no doubt patients would lose out, with longer waits for hospital treatment.
Unions in England are meeting ministers on Tuesday after Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members voted to strike.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay is meeting RCN leaders along with representatives of the other major NHS unions, including Unison, GMB and Unite, which are all balloting over industrial action.
Guardian
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of health workers are to meet the health secretary for talks aimed at averting the wave of strikes set to hit the NHS in coming weeks.
Steve Barclay on Monday invited six unions to the “round table” at 10 o’clock the following day at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), near the Houses of Parliament in central London, “to discuss workforce issues”.
The invited unions are the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), as well as Unite, Unison and the GMB.
Evening Standard
Hundreds of security guards that work at University College London (UCL) are striking for three days, demanding better pay and an end to outsourcing at the university.
Picket lines of workers, employed by Bidvest Noonan, formed at the entrance to UCL on Malet Place on Monday morning, and further strikes are planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) members are calling for a base pay rate of £15 an hour for all outsourced workers at the university.
The current pay rate of £13 or 14 an hour was secured following strike action in 2019.
Outsourced security guards earn almost half of what directly employed security guards were paid 22 years ago prior to outsourcing, the union claimed.
NHS
Independent
The squeeze on the NHS’ finances will “without a doubt” compromise quality and access to frontline services next year, trust chief executives have warned.
More than three-quarters of NHS trust chiefs, responding to a survey by NHS Providers, have warned they expect this coming winter to be the worst their services have ever faced.
NHS trusts are facing increased efficiency targets this year and next with the majority warning they are unlikely to end the year in balance.
It comes as the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is due to set out the autumn budget this week, and follows reports of NHS A&E waiting times hitting a record low in October.
Hospitals and community services across the country are set to face unprecedented strike action from nurses, who voted in favour of industrial action last week, following a Royal College of Nursing ballot.
The Independent reported the NHS is likely to cancel thousands of operations during the nursing strikes.
However, trust leaders are likely to have to plan for further strikes as tens of thousands of NHS staff, such as those in non-clinical roles, are also being balloted on strike action by unions Unison, Unite and GMB.
ITV News
Fewer than half of NHS trusts will meet key recovery targets on waiting lists and cancer as services buckle under pressure, according to a new report.
A poll of health trust leaders for NHS Providers found nearly half (46%) strongly agreed or agreed they were on track to meet elective recovery and cancer targets by the end of the financial year.
A further 27% neither agreed or disagreed, while a quarter (24%) disagreed or strongly disagreed they could hit the targets, which were put in place after the pandemic.
It comes as NHS waiting lists for treatment in England continue to reach record levels, with 7.1 million people on the overall waiting list and a raft of cancer targets routinely missed.
In February, NHS England said the number of people waiting more than 62 days from an urgent cancer referral to starting treatment should go back to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023.
At present, just 61.7% of people (the average for 2022/23 so far) get cancer treatment within 62 days, compared with 77.2% before the pandemic.
Mail
Hospital nurses are being forced out of hotel rooms to make way for asylum seekers, it emerged last night.
The Home Office has given foreign nurses studying for UK qualifications – to help ease NHS staffing pressures – less than a month to move out of their accommodation.
The move threatens to deepen the staffing crisis at the trust affected, with a senior executive warning it will put its hospitals in a ‘very vulnerable’ position.
‘Triple lock’
Independent
Rishi Sunak has been urged to raise all benefits in line with inflation as he gave one of his strongest hints yet that “triple lock” protection for the state pension will be preserved in Thursday’s autumn statement.
Speaking ahead of Jeremy Hunt’s 17 November mini-Budget, the prime minister said that pensioners were “at the forefront of my mind” and promised that the chancellor’s tax-and-spend plans had “fairness and compassion” at their hearts.
As they welcomed his comments, one charity warned that the triple lock commitment could mean the difference between “frightened” pensioners using their central heating or not this winter.
But against the backdrop of a widespread cost of living crisis, Mr Sunak faced calls to commit to raising all benefits, including those for working-age people, in line with prices.
Social care
Mail
Hospital bosses should raid their NHS budgets to pay for care home places so patients do not remain stuck on ‘lobster trap’ wards, Labour will demand today.
Wes Streeting will praise ‘trailblazing’ trust leaders who have chosen to fund social care to ease ‘gridlock’ in their hospitals.
The party’s health spokesman will also tell executives gathered at the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool that more should do the same, while criticising the Government for failing to spend a penny of its promised £500million delayed discharge fund.
In yesterday’s Mail the country’s leading A&E doctor warned that hospitals are so full it is harming elderly patients.
Dr Adrian Boyle said he was desperate to keep his elderly parents out of hospital this winter because he fears they won’t come out again.
He compared hospitals to lobster traps after NHS figures showed more than 13,500 people are stranded in them every day due to the lack of available social care packages.
Council tax
Mail
Council tax is set to soar above £2,000 for the first time ever as millions of families face fresh financial agony under new Government plans.
Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are poised to lift the decade-long cap on increases, amid warnings that hundreds of local authorities could go bust.
Households will face an average £100 hike in council tax per month under the new plans to allow town halls to help fund social care.
Homeowners in the top Band H could even pay as much as £200 extra, with their bills surpassing £4,000, the Telegraph reports.
Rises of more than 2 per cent are currently banned unless they win approval in a local referendum. In recent years town halls have been allowed to raise an additional 1 per cent to pay for social care, making a total of 3 per cent.
But a government source said ministers were looking to relax the rules next year and let councils hike taxes by a total of up to 5 per cent. The source said that giving town halls more ‘flexibility’ to raise money would ease the pressure to increase central funding.
Warships
Mail
Rishi Sunak last night unveiled a multi-billion-pound deal for five new warships to boost Britain’s defences as he branded Russia a ‘pariah state’.
The Prime Minister announced that five Type 26 frigates will be built ahead of a showdown with Russia at today’s G20 summit in Indonesia.
More than £4billion will be spent on the advanced warships, which are mainly used for anti-submarine warfare, and will boost the fleet from the current three being built.
The contract, which was awarded to British firm BAE Systems, will sustain 4,000 UK jobs with construction of all eight frigates expected to be completed by the mid-2030s.
It came as Mr Sunak vowed to use the opening day of the G20 summit to attack Russia and president Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine. Putin, who has failed to attend the summit in Bali, has instead sent his foreign affairs minister Sergei Lavrov.
However, there was confusion yesterday about whether Lavrov would attend following reports he had been admitted to hospital with a heart condition. His aides later insisted the reports were false, posting a video of Lavrov in shorts and a T-shirt reading documents.
ITV News
Rishi Sunak has announced the construction of five new British warships designed for anti-submarine warfare, but declined to commit to boosting defence spending to 3% of GDP.
The prime minister is attending the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, which looks set to be dominated by the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As part of steps the UK is taking to strengthen its security in the face of increased threats from Moscow, Mr Sunak announced that defence manufacturer BAE Systems has been awarded a £4.2 billion contract to build five more Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy.
The latest additions to the fleet are on top of the three already under construction.
Mr Sunak said: “Russia’s actions put all of us at risk.
“As we give the Ukrainian people the support they need, we are also harnessing the breadth and depth of UK expertise to protect ourselves and our allies.
Eggs
Mirror
Brits have been warned of a possible shortage of eggs with some stores starting to ration how many shoppers can buy.
Supermarket shoppers at places like Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl have already noticed signs in stores, warning of supply issues.
In one Lidl branch, a ration of three egg boxes per customers has been put in place, according to a picture posted online.
It isn’t clear how many stores are implementing this same measure.
Meanwhile, pub chain Wetherspoon has warned customers that the “temporary supply issues” may mean its breakfast menu is altered in some boozers.
It comes as the price of a box of a dozen eggs has already risen by more than 22%, according to official figures.
Mail
Supermarkets are rationing eggs and Wetherspoon is offering breakfast substitutes as supplies of eggs run low across the country.
Shoppers shared photos of signs at Lidl urging people to limit the number of eggs they buy amid the country’s worst ever bird flu crisis.
Shelves were almost bare in a Sainsbury’s store, where a sign explained that the supermarket was experiencing shortages.
Meanwhile, breakfasts at some Wetherspoon pubs are egg-less as customers are instead offered hash browns, sausages or onion rings.
A Wetherspoon spokesman said the shortage was only affecting some pubs and it was a temporary issue.
The pub giant added the shortage was not specific to Wetherspoon and blamed the lack of supplies on Avian flu outbreak.
Earth
Express
The United Nations is declaring November 15 as the “Day of Eight Billion” as planet Earth hits a new population milestone.
The global population is now three times the size it was in 1950 and over a billion people have been born in the last 12 years. However, despite the celebrations, population growth is now at it’s lowest level in over 70 years.
Based on current population trends, the United Nations believes the population could grow to around 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and 10.4 billion by the end of the 21st century.
The biggest growth in population growth occurred in 1960s, but the pace of population growth has slowed down considerably.
What earthly point is there to this ludicrous G20 summit, where all and sundry despite all their hot air about climate change, have travelled by jets pumping out hundreds of tonnes of carbon etc. Various leaders getting up on stage to blame Russia for all the worlds ills, and basically all saying the same thing including Sunak who seems to be just going through the motions of being prime minister of this country. The cynic in me will say that Sunak and all the other leaders from other countries have gone primarily for photo opportunities to enhance their personal profiles, to eat sumptious five course dinners, quaffing expensive wines and champagne and staying in luxurious accommodation together with baths with gold taps and the like, all paid for at someone else’ expense. Why couldn’t this utter waste of time energy and money not have been subject to a zoom meeting?
The ‘world leaders club’ is probably seductive and intoxicating. Pictures of Sunak meeting Modi, Trudeau, Macron et al tell the tale. Clubs are insulating – that’s their point – and it must be tedious indeed to think about the lives of ordinary people once back home (wherever that is for Sunak) after mixing with other club members. Only Thatcher retained awareness of her primary purpose of standing up for Britain when at international shindigs (metaphorically swinging her handbag when necessary as the press liked to say).
In the midterm elections in the US, young single women were the highest group of new voter registrations, keen it is suggested to stop the the ban on abortions. This was less about wanting a state acknowledged right than expressing a view that private morality should be private a matter. Mitch McConnell had called for a nation wide ban on abortion even though the law had returned it to states to decide and he thereby, deliberately one suspects, raised it into a national issue that played a part in the democrats success in conditions when they should have been slaughtered. He did so, I think, because the GOP is torn between anti-populists and Trumpists, with the anti-populists happy to lose if it stopped Trump. While that has been known for some time, its extent took me by surprise. It is worrying.
When the sh*t show at home is as depressing as it currently is, one distracts oneself by looking at other people’s sh*t shows.
Illegal Migrants
The Government talks about illegal immigration but seems reluctant to take any action to stop it. Probably because it’s our major (and probably only) growth industry. The amount of money being made is astronomical. The many beneficiaries include, the immigrants, the French Government, Human Rights lawyers, the Hotel industry, and many out-sourcing companies, to name but a few. All paid for by the cash-strapped tax-payers. A one way transfer of wealth. Is this what they meant by levelling up?
The level of involvement of just one out-sourcing company can be seen in the link below;
Serco and Immigration
https://www.serco.com/sector-expertise/immigration
If I remember rightly, the last time British boats tried to turn back ‘refugees’, those on board threatened to jump out and drown themselves. Then they threatened to throw their children overboard, let them drown and blame the Royal Navy or the Coastguard, whoever was chasing them. Would they have done that? I don’t know.
If accommodation and benefits were withdrawn we’d see the spectre of gangs of Albanians hanging around street corners pestering young women – and worse. This is not a good prospect. And the children would suffer. We British are a generous lot – sometimes too generous, but would we really let children die of hunger in the dirt of our streets?
Debbie- drowning? If we did not escort illegals, maybe a few would drown. Betcha that would reduce numbers. Cant do it because we have a duty of something or other to bring em all in?
HSE is the answer. Wave height was more than six inches, hence unsafe for a naval minelayer to go into the Channel. Job done.
I understand what you are saying Debbie but I lost all sympathy years ago, there are almost no women and children, except as an occasional token gesture. The rescue boats could insist on women and children first and then just leave the rest to their own devices. Ultimately, they should not even be leaving the beaches of France but that is never going to happen. This whole thing has got completely out of control and drastic measures now need to be taken. Whilst these criminals are given first class accommodation and care all we can manage now is a couple of nights in a budget hotel in order to visit family before Christmas.
As far as the RNLI are concerned, I have now defunded them too despite being a life-long supporter and living on the coast. I will not put another penny in their coffers until this madness stops.
The Daily Mail quite rightly highlight the situation whereby the French Navy collude with the crews of Border Force vessels in the English Channel to take on these illegal migrants, but the fact of the matter is that Nigel Farage highlighted this major problem over a year ago before the Daily Mail and other newspapers were interested and believed it would be of interest to the British public. And more importantly if the Border Force which is part of the Home Office were involved in a colluding operation to take these people mid channel you can bet your bottom dollar that they were not acting alone and independently, but with the collusion of the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister. It is just another reason why this ruddy useless Conservative government has failed this country for years, and why we need to see the back of the Conservative Party on a permanent basis. That is why we are in desperate need of a new challenger right of centre political party to take their place in the political landscape, because at the moment we do not have one. And if that were to take place, then some of those right wing Conservatives who did not believe in this immigration policy can defect to that party. Although one could argue why any new right of centre challenger party would want to take on somebody else’ crap MP’s who hitherto had done nothing to stop this policy and were content to sit on their backsides and do sod all about forming a breakaway party of their own. The only Conservative MP’s that have had the courage to put country before party and their own political careers in recent years are Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless. The rest of them just talk about it behind closed doors and sit on fences, which is not good enough, not good enough by a long mile.
Ukraine – the reality- Post from Freenations:
https://freenations.net/ukraine-crisis-nuclear-weapons-and-mad-rhetoric/?utm_source=Freenations
And we all thought that the Conservative Party here in the UK were inept and incompetent, well the United Nations are in the same boat and like the Conservatives devoid of any common sense, idea or imagination. The United Nations have done bugger all as far as I can see to stop this war in Ukraine, and I thought that that was the main objective of the UN and the Leage of Nations before that to stop wars from happening. Instead, they have been concentrating their efforts on Climate Change, just like the Conservatives have. They should have got the two sides around the negotiating table ages ago and thrashed something out and at the very least organised a cease fire. Now all they and other are banging on about is Russia paying reparations to Ukraine. No, at the moment that is not important but what is important both sides see sense and stop this pointless war, and if our increasingly naive and useless prime minister cannot see that for himself, then we need to be rid of him very quickly as well. We need common sense politics at the moment, and that commodity is in very short supply both here and elsewhere.
Colin. 1.20pm. It is not that the UN are incompetant. The UN are at the heart of the the Agenda 21, or Great Reset. As for our politicians, many are probably ‘in the know’, but denying it of course. The world is heading towards something akin to Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World. What anyone can do about it is beyond me.
Pauline……the point I am making here is that the United Nations primary objective as far as I know it is to prevent wars from happening, and when a war does take place to get the two sides to a negotiating point and initiate an end to it or a ceasefire, not to get involved in other issues like Climate Change, Agenda 21 and Great Resets etc etc. So, in that respect the UN are incompetent, or I should say have an unmitigated disaster insofar as the Russia-Ukraine war is concerned. If the war had been in Africa, they would have been all over it,or would they, bearing in mind Ethiopia is always at war with itself. Whatever it is they are a damp squib and ineffective.
Can’t blame the French refusing to take back the migrants.
They have pleaded for years for Britain to reduce the “pull” factors such as generous welfare payments, housing and little chance of being refused asylum or immediate repatriation,
UN: Perhaps they would like to issue some detail about the way in which their population number is obtained? Direct counting is clearly an impossible / impractical task so what proxies are they using or, as we may expect, is it just another outright lie from them?
Warships: May we hope that the orders really go to what is left of our shipyards or will Sunak be supporting his Chinese friends? Let’s hope that the contract excludes the manufacture of any component in China or elsewhere we should not be supporting. Either way surely they can be delivered well before 2035 by which time they may well be obsolete.
Jack. 10.43am. Perhaps Neil Ferguson modelled it for them! I see his avian flu model has struck again.
JT- I have seen the South Korea shipbuilding in action. Now that is shipbuilding!
They have moved on a long, long way from Glasgow / Greenock with glowing rivets / hammers and the latest level of automation needs to be seen to be believed. That, and the size and weight of components being shifted about, lined up and welded, all without human intervention is more than impressive. And they deliver on time.
Such industry aint cheap. I cannot say for China and Japan, but from their output, technology has to be comparable.
British ships built by British shipyards? If it were my money, . . . oh it is my money.
Biscotte……..were you a ‘Red’ shop steward for the Boiler Makers Union in the Govan Shipyards then……..’everybody out’…..’why’?………….’cos I said so otherwise you get a thick ear, get it’.
Migrant crises
“No quick fixes” or “silver bullet” . I beg to differ! We are being taken for mugs.
Strikes
Would anybody notice? Certainly not those on full pay. Just pretend you’re working from home.
Strikes, Lisa. I think it is bin men striking that frightens me most. Though if the electricity goes off I shall die of either hypothermia or starvation with apparently no 999 ambulance service to save me!