More Red Flags There Than A Communist Rally

It seems the 'Guardisn' for once, have found reason to be sympathetic to a small business owner. And being the'Guardian', they have of course picked the wrong one:

“He had a bank account, he was already working when he came to work for us, he’d had a university education and we were paying back the loan for him,” said Sullivan. “Where were the red flags for us?”

Well, Mark, apart from why someone with a university education wanted to work in a chip shop, a foreigner to boot, there is this: 

When the man was hired in early 2023, he provided the chippy with a national insurance number, proof of student loan payments and housing benefit receipts from the local council. He also provided a photocopy of his British passport and was paid via pay as you earn (PAYE) through HMRC.

Accepting a  photocopy, not seeing the original, which Mark describes as a mere 'clerical error'. 

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said there was widespread worry among small business owners about falling foul of complex Home Office rules, which could lead to potentially “fatal” fines for companies. It called on ministers to “accept that the size of employer now gets reflected in Home Office fines and systems”.

It's mostly small businesses, that don't have large HR departments, that fall for the chancers and scammers, so this isn't surptising. And it's only going to get worse:

Enforcement against illegal working, which has already ramped up, looks likely to increase further. Earlier this month, speaking after announcing an agreement with France over small boat crossings, the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the government was undertaking a nationwide crackdown on people working illegally, which he claimed was happening “on a completely unprecedented scale”.

It's about time. Maybe the Federation of Small Businesses should be campaigning to have illegals sent back straight away instead? 

A government spokesperson said: “Employers are responsible for carrying out right to work checks and there is comprehensive guidance and support on how to do this. The checks are free and take minutes to complete, with businesses able to utilise digital ID verification technology to support the process.”

So, no excuse Mark, you were caught bang to rights. 

Bye, Sweetie!

Don't let the door yp Heathrow hit you on the way out, and good riddance!

A Palestinian student who said she was 'full of pride' after Hamas launched its attack on Israel claims the Home Office has revoked her visa on the grounds of 'national security'.

Dana Abuqamar, 19, a law student at the University of Manchester, attended a pro-Palestine protest just one day after Hamas carried out its October 7 attack. During the demonstration, Ms Abuqamar, president of Manchester Friends of Palestine, was filmed saying she was 'really full of joy' and 'proud that Palestinian resistance has come to this point'.

Excellent news, and very gratifying to see that they don't always drop the ball at the Home Office.  

She has now claimed that the UK Government has 'violated her human rights' by rescinding her student visa on the 'baseless' accusation that she is a 'risk to public safety'. The Home Office told MailOnline it does not comment on individual cases and it remains unclear precisely what revoking the visa means for the teenager's future in Britain.

Hopefully that she doesn't have one.  

In a new video released this week, Ms Abuqamar confirmed she would be appealing the decision and said her remarks in October, which were publicly condemned by policing minister Chris Philp, had been misrepresented. 'My words were taken out of context and they were framed as me supporting harm to innocent civilians, which is completely false and completely untrue,' she told the Middle East Eye.

They didn't need to be 'framed' as anything, it's patently obvious what they were.  

She added: 'It's an outrageous claim that the Home Office is making by deeming me a national security threat. I am a 19-year-old who has done nothing but go to school and advocate for social justice and try and be an asset to my community. 'So saying I pose a threat to national security is a completely baseless claim.'

Whether it is or not, we don't need you here, we don't want you here, so home you go where you can spout racist rhetoric all day long, should you choose.  

But She Did Indeed So Choose….

A colleague supporting Kiguru’s appeal, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of Home Office reprisals with her own visa, said: “They imply Doseline chose to leave her daughter. The hostility of that reasoning, which can only come from a place of racism and misogyny, took my breath away.”

If she didn't choose to do it, who else did it for her?

She first came to Bristol in 2021 as a research associate on a £1.3m EU-funded project on literary activism in Africa. Her field work required her to spend large amounts of time in Kenya, so the family decided it was not necessary to uproot her daughter. However, when she was offered a permanent lecturer position, she committed to starting a new life in the UK with her daughter. Her husband, who is also an academic, cannot look after his daughter because he travels a lot for research, but hopes to move to the UK.

 Sounds like a calculated plan to get the whole family here to me, and perhaps to the Home Office as well.

Madhu Krishnan, a professor of African, world and comparative literatures at Bristol University, said: “The decision to separate a young child from her mother under such spurious grounds is an act of unthinkable cruelty, of which we have sadly become familiar in recent years.” She described Kiguru as a “world-leading scholar” and said her loss would be “strongly felt” if this drove her out of the UK.

I think we could live without a professor of world literature quite well.