Jesus was an undocumented child refugee

I am in favour of the government plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda if they cross the channel illegally. I do this, knowing the hardships that those seeking persecution face. BUT, I am only in favour of this relocation where people are fleeing from nations where we have a safe and legal refugee route that is working to process applications quickly. That is if it is possible to have such a system in place in that nation. 

 

When I posted about this last year, I did mention that asylum seekers are coming to our shores from a safe nation where they can claim asylum and that no action would result in more deaths in The Channel. I was wrong to do so as I was not aware how hard it was for asylum seekers to access legal routes. In addition to this, forcing refugees to claim asylum in the first safe nation they enter creates a burden on those nations, as seen in Lebanon and Moldova. I would only be in favour of that if we had a system, as is in place with Ukrainian refugees, where they can apply for asylum from those nations 

 

It is silly really as we claim to be a Christian nation, and Jesus himself was an undocumented child refugee. There are some who disagree, but they forget how his parents fled The Massacre of the Innocents.  I do think it is important to act on the people smugglers but it is even more important to offer refugees more legal avenues to seek asylum here. 

With this in one, I am glad the plane which was to deport asylum seekers has been stopped from doing so.  I do not know how long this will be for, but I do hope those who are fleeing persecution find a safe refugee here.  I also hope we can create decent safe and legal routes for those wishing to come here as well. 

Keir Starmer and corruption

Keir Starmer is to be investigated for allegations of corruption. This is after he, unprompted, stated that he had not declared.  It is a considerable amount of money, this being a book fee for one to five hours’ work a week since March 2020 received in April (which he is apparently to pay to charity), and tickets for two football matches worth more than £2,000 received in March and April. 

This is more than the £17,800 that the Conservative Party was fined over the changing story of the £112,549 donation for the refurbishment of the flat of the Prime Minister.

The right wing media will try to equate the two, one were a party leader has apologised for a late declaration, and the other were the truth of the nature of the much larger donation changed with time.  Not the same to me…

Date night at the Church Street Tavern

 

My wife and I had a good meal here today. It was a relaxing end to a day where I was at work in the garden and she was busy inside the house.  

I had started the day with a drive with her and Leia to various shops during which time we talked and listened to Duran Duran. I later took Leia for a walk in Highwoods park.  She loves it there and whined when I did get her out of the car quick enough. 

Later, after a lunch cooked by my wife, it was garden work for me and housework for my wife.  My daughter is revising, something we are hoping that my son is doing as well.  And then it was date night l  while the food was good, most of it was not up to the very high standards that we expect there.  But it was still nice to have time together which was away from the children.  

Top gun Maverick & Love Island again

My back is almost normal, just the occasional twinge.  Watched Maverick again, this time with my daughter, and later, watched Love Island with Leia, my wife and daughter after walking Leia.  My daughter preferred Maverick to the original Top Gun which she hates.  Although she has yet to finish watching it, she was watched more of it than my son who refuses to do so.  I still loved it the second time, but not as much as the original.  I do think that it is best watched after watching the original, but the way the film is done, that is not compulsory.

As for Love Island, my wife got annoyed with me when watching it, so I kept quiet while doing so.  It will be interesting watching the group dynamics play out now that two of the men have opted to change partners (Davide had to change once his partner was taken away from him by another).  I cannot believe that my family have got me to watch it! 

My first experience of Love Island (this year)

My wife made me promise to watch this with my daughter today.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be. Watching the group dynamics was interesting. As for who I want to win? Who cares?

At least the plastic surgery and fillers are not as obvious this year.  I constantly moaned about the work done on the women of it last year.

PMQ’s, COVID and the NHS

In Prime Ministers Questions today, the comments of Nadine Dorries about how the nations preparations for a pandemic were “found wanting and inadequate” were brought up.  As discussed earlier in the week, the government had warning shots with Exercise Cygnus and Exercise Alice that the UK was not as prepared for a pandemic as we should have been.  Most Conservatives do not wish to bring this up, but Nadine Dorries did.

Yes, Boris Johnson did ensure that we got enough vaccines, but he was wrong to say that the UK got the first vaccine approval.  In June 2020, China approved a vaccine for emergency use in high risk occupations, Russia approving one in August for emergency use, this being the case in the UAE in September 2020 and in November, Bahrain. He was right to point out that the UK does not have the highest death rate in Europe (it is the 4th highest in Western Europe), but we do have the highest numbers of dead in Europe (not counting Russia which is both in Europe and Asia).  

The issue of the NHS was brought up with problems accessing a GP.  Cancer treatment times were also discussed, but the best performance from Starmer happened when he followed the example of Jeremy Corbyn and named people when it came to waiting for surgery along with also ambulance waits.  

Sadly, I did not get to watch the rest of PMQ's, even though I watched this after the show, so I do not know if there were any other highlights worth discussing.

On a personal note, my back is starting to improve and I only have pains on occasion.

Back pain

I have been off work with backpain today.  I had got up and was fine, but my back went before I got into the shower.  I have to say it was like a spasm on certain movements and when I first had it, it literally hurt to breathe.  My wife was amazing, but my daughter came up to laugh at me in the morning before heading off to her Maths exam.  My son has not been that supportive either, calling me old man.  Needless to say, I had to take the day off work but managed to do a little bit from home.

I have just got back from taking the dog for a walk and this appears to have helped my back.  Here is hoping it gets even better after a night of rest.