Over the past couple of weeks, flags boasting the colours of ‘Great’ Britain have infiltrated our surroundings. One must only go on a five-minute drive to feel like they’re back in 2012, preparing for the Olympic Games. They’re draped over bridges and tied to lampposts. They’re even painted on roundabouts.

But…

Don’t be mistaken. The flags aren’t out to represent Patriotism, even if people try to frame it as such, but rather, racism… It’s a concerted effort to intimidate ethnic minorities, and a thin pretext for people’s anti-immigration prejudices.

The UK has always had a problem with the way the media frames refugees, but over recent months, the problem has intensified tenfold.

Despite the UK taking in far fewer immigrants compared to other countries around the world (as of 2023, the UK had approximately 448,000 refugees, compared to Turkey, which was host to nearly 4 million), as the far right is influencing politics more than it ever has, ‘stopping the boats’ has become the new token catchphrase.

Not just in the UK but across the world, people are buying into the misguided belief that refugees are dangerous, both to ourselves and to our economy…

Such beliefs are seeing people in their droves standing outside hotels housing asylum seekers to spew abuse at those within, arguing that the men within them are all rapists. ‘We need to protect our children.’

Such attitudes really serve to shine a light on how ingrained racism is, when one only has to cast their mind back a few years to the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme that was launched in 2022, to see the difference in attitudes that people held then compared to now.

It’s not a coincidence that we were happy to let people who ‘looked like us’ (See also: White) not only come to the UK but also stay in our homes.

The impact of colonialism, eh?…

It’s wrong on every level that we treat human beings as something illegal. What about their human rights?

Well, Nigel Farage has already thought about that one…

In his bid to win the next general election, Nigel Farage of Reform UK is proposing to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights and political freedoms, as part of a plan dubbed Operation Restoring Justice (how ironic. There is no ‘justice’ involved) …

When asked how his party intends to deport unaccompanied children, as well as the dangers of returning people to unsafe countries like Afghanistan, where they could potentially face torture or death, Farage’s response was:

We cannot be responsible for all the sins that take place around the world.

Again, quite ironic, given that the UK is singlehandedly responsible for the colonisation of a quarter of the Earth’s surface – 90 countries and over 400 million people. What could possibly be a bigger sin than this?

Maybe if the UK hadn’t been so power hungry then, we wouldn’t be in the mess that we’re in now…

The impact of the British Empire was severe, often leaving countries in tremendous debt and ruin. When you properly research this and understand just how much the UK sought to dominate ‘weaker’ countries, arguments surrounding migration and border control can be simplified.

‘No one is illegal on stolen land.’

It is our duty to treat migrants as human beings, especially given that out of the 20 most common nationalities of people applying for asylum in the UK, 64% come from countries with colonial links to Britain.

As with anyone, there will be ‘bad apples’ seeking asylum, but to suggest that every man who comes to the UK is a rapist is just ridiculous and wholly unfounded. It’s like implying that all British people are racist. They’re not; it’s just the minority who ruin it for the majority.

Alas, Reform UK seems oblivious to this, having suggested that, should they win the next election, they will deport 600,000 migrants over five years.

And send them where, exactly?

Under the plan, people would be arrested on arrival, detained at disused RAF bases, and, if agreements were reached, returned to their countries of origin, including Afghanistan and Eritrea, where a significant number of people on small boats come from, often seeking refuge from threats to their lives.

If you’re LGBTQ+ in Afghanistan, under Sharia law, you risk being dealt the death penalty. Similarly, if you’re a woman, you risk having all your human rights stripped.

‘No longer a person, you’re now a commodity.’

It makes me so sad that there are still people in the UK, knowing the above information, who sit by and say, ‘Stop the boats.’

Where has our humanity gone?

There is so much conflicting information out there, most of which is founded on absolutely no basis of truth. What is true, however, is that society is a mess, and the government is looking for scapegoats to shift the blame for it.

The housing crisis?

The broken system that is the NHS?

Let’s just blame it all on the refugees.

People’s main grievance toward migrants, aside from them all supposedly being ‘rapists’, is that they take money from our economy.

When only half a per cent (0.54%) of the UK’s total population is a refugee or asylum seeker, though, how much money are they really taking?…

In the UK, money goes to asylum seekers through weekly financial support for their subsistence, typically £40.85 per week per person. A further lump sum goes to the Home Office to cover the operational costs of the asylum system, including hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.

This money comes directly out of the UK’s aid budget, money that has been allocated to spend on hosting refugees in the UK for their first year of stay. The budget is set as 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income.

Refugees are therefore not ‘taking’ money when the money was already allocated to them in the first place…

Why does no one complain that the UK spends 4% of its GNI each year on killing people (defence), yet everyone feels so betrayed when less than 1% of it is spent on saving people (aid)?

The fact is that people are never going to stop coming to the UK, and nor should they; it is their human right to come here. What we must ensure is that they do so in a way that prioritises safety, both their safety and ours…

Unfortunately, however, this proves difficult given that all the safe routes of entry to the UK have been closed, therefore leaving people with no choice but to enter the UK through ‘illegal’ routes, like on small boats. It is because of this that there were more tragedies in the channel in 2024 than in any other year.

If we want people to stop making dangerous journeys across the channel, we need to restore the refugee resettlement programmes that have been so successful in the past. The only way to stop people from risking their lives on small boats is by offering safe routes for people seeking safety.

Because that’s all they’re seeking – safety.

Despite what the media likes to fearmonger us into believing, asylum seekers do not come to the UK for our benefit system, because asylum seekers are not awarded any benefits outside of the £7.02 a day they are given for food.

As for them being given free housing, the government does provide accommodation for people seeking asylum, but this is often single hotel rooms, or unsuitable housing infested with mould and rodents, not the luxury that the media leads us to believe.

So, what now?…

Ultimately, when the UK ranks 18^th in terms of asylum claims in proportion to the population (the UK receives 9 asylum applications for every 10,000 people, whereas Germany receives more than double that – 23 applications per 10,000), we can see what the problem is.

The problem is not with the number of people coming over, but with how the system is managed.

Instead of targeting asylum seekers, then, target the government.

And remember…

‘No one is illegal on stolen land.’

To end on a sentiment that I read in the Guardian today and find deeply ironic…

It’s great to see the Saint George’s cross flying everywhere. It was first adopted by Richard Lionheart, king of England. During his reign, he lived in France, barely visited England, and didn’t speak a word of English. Saint George himself was a Roman soldier, born in Turkey and martyred for his Christian beliefs. Such multiculturalism makes you proud to be British.
– Andrew Gould, Bosham, West Sussex.