Continuation General UK politics [2]

[Captain_Swoop]

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced the UK government has sanctioned 386 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, who support Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

[Carrot Flower King]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

In 1915, the exhibition buildings at Earls Court were turned into a refugee centre to accommodate up to 2000 refugees from Europe.

I’ve suddenly thought of a use for all those Nightingale hospital beds that must still be in storage somewhere.

That would be very sensible, but requires them to have existed outside of a DoH or Downing Street press release...Which a few of them may actually have done, but given how many were actually ever used one does wonder...

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced the UK government has sanctioned 386 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, who support Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The 'special licence' for Chelsea FC to carry on operating for now, although no tickets can be sold and games can only be attended by those who already have a ticket, is only until 31 May 2021, so I am not sure if this means that is also the date the sanction comes to an end, or up for 'review', or even if Chelsea is wound up, as it cannot even be sold until a special licence is applied for.

Re other sanctions, including the earlier seven:

Quote:

The Times has been told that the government will sanction 351 members of the Russian parliament. Legislation making it easier to sanction oligarchs takes effect next week. Ministers believe that the new laws will make it “very difficult” for oligarchs to appeal. They will be barred from claiming damages unless they can prove the government acted in “bad faith”.

THE TIMES


They are barred from travelling to the UK or doing any business with a British citizen or company. Their assets in the UK will be frozen.


These oligarchs' lawyers tried to make things very difficult, including trying to gag the press from quoting what was said about their clients under parliamentary privilege. Maybe these lawyers should also be referred to the Bar Standards.

Next, the oligarchs' children and various wives and mistresses enjoying the high life in England with expensive schooling and Belgravia mansions, need to also be sanctioned or be made to explain where they got their money from.

We know Abramaovich came from a modest background and it was his friendship with Putin that helped him clean up post-Soviet Union from privatisation of previously collectively-owned enterprises. A hundred years ago Russia was a nation of serfs and suddenly we have a ruling elite swanning around in fancy yachts and buying up £4.4m estates in Knightsbridge. It has to be dirty money.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

In 1915, the exhibition buildings at Earls Court were turned into a refugee centre to accommodate up to 2000 refugees from Europe.

I’ve suddenly thought of a use for all those Nightingale hospital beds that must still be in storage somewhere.

You mean a few hundred... Remember the only beds set up were those needed for photo opportunities - the Nightingale hospitals only had a potential capacity in the thousands.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

That would be very sensible, but requires them to have existed outside of a DoH or Downing Street press release...Which a few of them may actually have done, but given how many were actually ever used one does wonder...

Scurrilous lies! As I say above there were some beds setup - for the photo-opportunities...

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Vixen

The 'special licence' for Chelsea FC to carry on operating for now, although no tickets can be sold and games can only be attended by those who already have a ticket, is only until 31 May 2021, so I am not sure if this means that is also the date the sanction comes to an end, or up for 'review', or even if Chelsea is wound up, as it cannot even be sold until a special licence is applied for.

That coincides pretty closely with the end of the season (Champions League final is on 28th May).

[jimbob]

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...kremlin-russia

Quote:

With the erstwhile Chelsea boss sanctioned, many feign surprise at his links to the Kremlin. Oh come on, we’ve been turning a blind eye for years

And the killer quote

Quote:

But of course, the sovereign wealth fund isn’t the same as the Riyadh government. They just have a good relationship with it, same as Roman Abramovich just has a good relationship with Putin. “Which owner knows the guy who’s killed more babies?” is a question you won’t be seeing on any banners at Chelsea-Newcastle.

[Captain_Swoop]

Chris Philp Tory MP for Croydon claimed on the BBC Parliament channel that "The UK brought 25,000 people over from Syria, again more than any other country in Europe"

The city of Berlin alone took in more than four times as many Syrian refugees as the whole of the UK.

[jimbob]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-a7185336.html

Quote:

Dear Nigel,

I won’t give my name – my family isn’t even aware I’m writing this and I wish to protect them. But I have a funny feeling you’ll know who I am.

At school, at Dulwich College in the late Seventies, we were close friends in our teenage years. I stayed at your house once – your mother did do a fantastic great British breakfast for us.

snip

Quote:

But I also remember something altogether more alarming: the songs you chanted at school. In her letter Chloe Deakin mentioned reports of you singing Hitler Youth songs, and when you were confronted by that, you denied it.

But I do remember you singing the song starting with the words “gas them all, gas ‘em all, gas them all”. I can’t forget the words. I can’t bring myself to write the rest of it for it is more vile that anything the teachers at Dulwich would ever have been aware of.

ETA... YES it was 2019.

[Matthew Best]

I presume, without clicking on it, that this is an old story, because that is hardly news.

(I was also at Dulwich College, and it's always been one of the weirdest things thinking that Farage is somehow younger than me, when he's always, always, been an old git.)

[Captain_Swoop]

Downing Street put the brakes on Home Office initiatives to allow a bigger share of Ukrainians fleeing their homeland to settle in the United Kingdom, Sky News understands.

Sky News was told Number 10 convinced the Home Office to withdraw a "write round" - the formal government procedure used by ministers to seek authorisation from cabinet colleagues for new policies.

Sky News understands that Number 10 played a key role in reining in two initiatives from Ms Patel, which would have opened the system up even further.

Number 10 denied any disagreements and stressed the government was united and working at pace.

Two sources told Sky News that Mr Johnson, his new chief of staff Steve Barclay and Number 10 head of policy Andrew Griffith have been cautious about opening up routes for Ukrainians to come in large numbers without full checks.

"The problem is Number 10 - the PM and Steve Barclay - who are personally slapping this down," said a source.

A Tory source said that some people in Number 10 have been more hardline on migration issues than many expected, and it was unfair that Ms Patel was getting the blame.

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-w...tands-12563556

[Captain_Swoop]

French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly criticised the UK government for failing to live up to its "grand statements" on helping Ukrainian refugees.

Speaking at the end an EU summit in Versailles, Macron criticised the UK's visa policy which requires applicants to make them in person in either Brussels or Paris, the Guardian reports.

"Despite all the grand statements... the British government continued to apply current rules that meant they did not welcome Ukrainian refugees who wanted to reach British soil saying they have to travel hundreds of kilometres in order to apply for a visa," it reports him as saying.

"I would hope that the Ukrainian men and women who have lived through horror and crossed Europe to reach their families on UK territory will be better treated."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-60717902

[Captain_Swoop]

The "first safe country" gang have gone very quiet recently haven't they?

[Captain_Swoop]

Chris Bryant Labour MP for Rhondda tweeted

@RhonddaBryant
The EU has sanctioned Andrei Melnichenko and Italy has seized his yacht. He was one of the oligarchs summoned recently by Putin.
@trussliz guaranteed £50.94 million of credit for Melnichenko's company Suek and has failed to sanction him. Why?

[Captain_Swoop]

I’m worried the UK will be sanctioned at this rate.

[Captain_Swoop]

Chelsea and Newcastle United are about to play football.

As someone tweeted, a 'festival of human blood'

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

I’m worried the UK will be sanctioned at this rate.

It has gone mysteriously quiet on the Lebedev front. His uber-elite Carter-Ruck-style lawyers and super-injunctions, perhaps...?

How can Abramovich be sanctioned but not Lebedev.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Chelsea and Newcastle United are about to play football.

As someone tweeted, a 'festival of human blood'

Amusing cartoon in today's Times.

[Captain_Swoop]

This leaflet is given out by the authorities at Zosin crossing to ���� arrivals: “You will receive a hot meal, drink and accommodation…don’t worry about the formalities. Your further stay in Poland will be legal. You don’t have to submit any applications in the coming days.”

Picture in link
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/st...96706049789961

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

This leaflet is given out by the authorities at Zosin crossing to ���� arrivals: “You will receive a hot meal, drink and accommodation…don’t worry about the formalities. Your further stay in Poland will be legal. You don’t have to submit any applications in the coming days.”

Picture in link
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/st...96706049789961

UK leaflet being handed out:

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Chelsea and Newcastle United are about to play football.

As someone tweeted, a 'festival of human blood'

Maria Hyde's take. "Which owner onows more baby killers"

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by jimbob

Maria Hyde's take. "Which owner onows more baby killers"

Off the radar at the moment but, Saudi Arabia just beheaded 81 people today.

[zooterkin]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Off the radar at the moment but, Saudi Arabia just beheaded 81 people today.

Coincidence?

[Captain_Swoop]

That £37bn wasted on test and trace would’ve come in very handy right about now.

[jimbob]

Jonathan Pie on Russian Money

YouTube Video This video is not hosted by the ISF. The ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.

I AGREE

Invective supported by facts

[Captain_Swoop]

The Telegraph Newspaper is estimated "to have recieved many millions" from the Russian State News Agency - RIA Novosti - to run Russia reports from 2007 onwards.

Various media outlets such as the Guardian & Private Eye have reported on this.
According to some reports the figure was over 500 000 yearly for a decade.
The final figure may exceed 5 million.

During this time Boris Johnson became per word the highest paid journalist in Fleet Street for his weekly column

[Captain_Swoop]

UK households offered £350 a month for hosting refugees

Households in the UK will be offered £350 a month to open their homes to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The government's Homes for Ukraine scheme calls on people to offer a spare room or an empty property to a refugee for a period of at least six months.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News that 3,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war have now been granted visas.
At the moment, only those with family connections are able to make an application via the Ukraine Family Scheme. Other visas are available but application centres in Ukraine are closed.

Individuals acting as sponsors will be able to nominate a named Ukrainian individual or family to stay with them rent-free in their home, or in a separate property, for six months.
There will be no limit on the number of refugees who can come to the UK through this route, and they will be given three years leave to remain, with the right to work and access public services.

Mr Gove told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he anticipated "tens of thousands" of Ukrainians might be taken in by UK families and said local authorities would receive £10,000 in extra funding per refugee for support services - with more for children of school age.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60724111

They could have done this two weeks ago.

[Captain_Swoop]

Reclaim Party deputy leader Martin Daubney tweeted
@MartinDaubney
The British government spends £4.7 million EVERY DAY on hotels to accommodate illegals, asylum seekers & people resettled from Afghanistan
Now, in a genuine crisis, they expect ordinary Brits to house refugees - with a handout that wouldn’t even cover food & heating. Ridiculous!

Anybody else sick of MPs & luvvies telling us we should take #Ukrainian refugees into our homes, when we’re crippled by the cost of living?
Boris, Gove, Lineker, Yvette Cooper, virtue signalling journalists, Twitter warriors - you go first!

[Captain_Swoop]

Gary Lineker reveals he is taking in another refugee to his home

Gary Lineker says he is about to take another refugee into his home after the “wonderful experience” of doing it before.
The Match of the Day presenter and former England striker welcomed a refugee into his Surrey home last year.
He told The Sun he could not “comprehend” people who criticised him for wanting to help “people who are being bombed, who are risking their lives jumping on dinghies”.
He said: “I was actually supposed to take another one a couple of weeks ago, but am just waiting on the paperwork. It wasn’t just a one-off like the public perception was.
“It’s genuine. I got a lot out of it, and it was just a wonderful experience.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/g...e-b964763.html

[Vixen]

Here in Finland we already have 2,400 Ukrainian refugees. Whole communities have clubbed together to provide clothes, foods and goods. (Ukrainians: sorry about the snow and thick ice still on the ground! Bring your skates and skis.) A tv telethon raised €5,800,000 last night.

[Captain_Swoop]

Laurence Fox Reclaim Party leader tweeted

@LozzaFox
Bully for @GaryLineker that he spent some of the £1.36 million/yr he fleeces off BBC license payers to pay for 2 Syrians to enjoy short stays at Chateau Lineker
Stick to crisps Gazza? Chicken Kyiv flavour? With an extra dollop of virtue signalling?

[Captain_Swoop]

Linekar is doing what they accuse him of not doing but it doesn't count because it is 'virtue signalling'

If he's actually doing it, how can he be 'virtue signalling'?

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Laurence Fox Reclaim Party leader tweeted

@LozzaFox
Bully for @GaryLineker that he spent some of the £1.36 million/yr he fleeces off BBC license payers to pay for 2 Syrians to enjoy short stays at Chateau Lineker
Stick to crisps Gazza? Chicken Kyiv flavour? With an extra dollop of virtue signalling?

Why do you give this silly person the oxygen of publicity he is so desperate for?

[Captain_Swoop]

These bloody do-gooders, going around the place doing good and setting an example.
Who the hell do they think they are?!

[Arcade22]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

UK households offered £350 a month for hosting refugees

Households in the UK will be offered £350 a month to open their homes to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The government's Homes for Ukraine scheme calls on people to offer a spare room or an empty property to a refugee for a period of at least six months.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News that 3,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war have now been granted visas.
At the moment, only those with family connections are able to make an application via the Ukraine Family Scheme. Other visas are available but application centres in Ukraine are closed.

Individuals acting as sponsors will be able to nominate a named Ukrainian individual or family to stay with them rent-free in their home, or in a separate property, for six months.
There will be no limit on the number of refugees who can come to the UK through this route, and they will be given three years leave to remain, with the right to work and access public services.

Mr Gove told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he anticipated "tens of thousands" of Ukrainians might be taken in by UK families and said local authorities would receive £10,000 in extra funding per refugee for support services - with more for children of school age.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60724111

They could have done this two weeks ago.

In normal countries the state does not outsource accommodation for refugees to individual households god dammit.

[Captain_Swoop]

remember, last week, Boris ordered his MP’s to vote to include clauses in the Economic Crime Bill which will allow Russian oligarchs to sell off assets & escape sanctions & even included a loophole which could allow some to be exempted.

[Captain_Swoop]

Boris ditches his pledge to ban big game hunters from bringing trophies home
He's ditched the Animals Abroad Bill.

Banning trophies was a key pledge in the 2019 Tory manifesto. The proposed new law was unveiled in last year’s Queen’s Speech.
But Westminster sources say pressure on Parliamentary time because of the war in Ukraine has scuppered the plan.

A Government spokesperson said:

Quote:

We are committed to strengthening animal welfare standards and protections.
Our Action Plan for Animal Welfare sets out our vision to introduce a wide range of ambitious improvements.

https://mirror.co.uk/news/politics/b...e-ban-26452413

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Boris ditches his pledge to ban big game hunters from bringing trophies home
He's ditched the Animals Abroad Bill.

Banning trophies was a key pledge in the 2019 Tory manifesto. The proposed new law was unveiled in last year’s Queen’s Speech.
But Westminster sources say pressure on Parliamentary time because of the war in Ukraine has scuppered the plan.

A Government spokesperson said:

https://mirror.co.uk/news/politics/b...e-ban-26452413

Blast that EU stopping us passing the laws we want!

[Captain_Swoop]

Sir Edward Leigh the Tory MP who said Lincolnshire had already "done its bit" for immigration re Ukrainian refugees, now says the West should “accommodate” Putin's occupation of Ukraine because it was “part of the Russian soul”

[dann]

Originally Posted by Arcade22

In normal countries the state does not outsource accommodation for refugees to individual households god dammit.

Normal countries?!

Quote:

* Sweden's Migration Agency said today that it expects between tens and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to arrive in Sweden over the coming months.
* At Nynäshamn's ferry terminal, up to 500 hundred Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are arriving daily on the Nova star ferry from the Polish port city of Gdansk. So far, it is mainly family and friends who are housing the Ukrainians, but reminiscent of the arrival of Syrian refugees in 2015, there are also Swedes who have offered homes to refugees they have never met before, with online groups co-ordinating help.
* Radio Sweden meets three Ukrainian sisters coming off the boat from Poland and the Swede who is opening up her family home to them.
The Swedes providing shelter to Ukrainian refugees (RadioSweden, March 11, 2022)

In the middle of a pandemic, it may not be expedient to concentrate a lot of people in one spot. And the percentage of Ukrainians who are vaccinated is even lower than in Sweden.