Plight of 'Illegals' On Streets Of London

The plight of the capital's illegal immigrants has been exposed again but few are willing to raise their heads above the parapet and offer sensible practical solutions, preferring instead to brush it all under the carpet in the hope they will go away. 

Meanwhile poor souls suffer with no status and no protection, at the mercy of ruthless exploitation, forced to eek out a squalid, meagre existence in the underbelly of a twilight world. 

A study for London Mayor, Boris Johnson, puts the number of illegal immigrants at around three-quarters of a million, with London home to an estimated two thirds of illegal immigrants in the UK. 

Burying its head in the sand and scared of a backlash for failed immigration policies and highly spun figures, the government would not comment on the estimates, preferring instead to hide behind the useless statistic that the UK border is one of the toughest in the world.

Illegal immigration isn't confined to the capital but, as with many western cities, that is where they are drawn, with the false hope and promise of a better life before they are left to rot in the shadowy, anonymous underbelly of any large metropolis. 

Wandering around in limbo-land, falling victim to exploitation, their lack of status makes them easy prey for the slave labour bosses in the hotels, restaurants, sweat shops and food processing factories. Or just living on the streets and off scraps of hand-outs. 

Sucked into society's underbelly, they are forced to live in squalid accommodation and work propping up the lifestyles of the better-off, doing the menial jobs and scratching a living, without any state protection, falling victims to brutal harassment and meagre wages.

Mayor Johnson's  suggestion for some kind of amnesty doesn't curry favour in all quarters but behind the idea does lie a solution to an every-growing and squalid problem. 

Send them home is the cry from some quarters but where is home? Home is where the heart is, where there's a glimmer of hope and where people can live with a sense of pride. And that's certainly not in the squalor of third world slums or refugee camps. 

This is one issue the government wants to sweep under the carpet for fear its previous lax immigration policies are exposed again for the sham they were, as a neat way of propping up the economy for the false boom years. 

The government totally misses the point when it admits it would be impractical to round them up and send them home, preferring instead to treat this  big issue as a lost cause and flagging up the strict border controls now in place. 

But how many illegal immigrants come through passport control waiving their visas? They are smuggled in, crammed in container lorries through the slave labour supply routes across Europe with the bosses making all the bucks. That's if they don't end up as dead bodies in the back of a lorry.

Immigration minister, Phil Woolas, is talking bollocks when he says that far from helping, an amnesty would just encourage more illegal immigrants to come. So is the solution to criminalise a whole bunch of people and let them rot in a metropolitan hell-hole?

Government posters put the frighteners up everyone just to show they're being tough. But without status, 'illegals' live in fear, looking over their shoulders, falling prey to blackmailers, with the threat of being reported if they don't toe the line. 

By giving 'illegals' some kind of status they would be taken in by the state safety net and afforded some kind of protection against ruthless exploitation. 

Sure there would have to be be some tough criteria. Obviously no serious criminals, a legal job and they should have been here for a reasonable period of time.

But leave things as they are and it would take decades and cost billions to clear the backlog of all the people who are currently in the UK illegally.

Johnson is just being practical, but with the whole issue of illegal immigration a political hot potato, both the Conservative Party and the government do not seem to want to grasp the nettle, living instead in a smug, self-satisfied world, instead of listening to Ralph McTell's poignant lyrics for 'Streets of London': 

Let me take you by the hand 

And lead you through the streets of London 

I'll show you something 

To make you change your mind 

Immigration - Time for an Amnesty? is the subject of BBC1 Panorama, 8.30pm. 

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Quick Now Knackered Of The Yard

The home secretary's favourite copper has been forced to make an unprecedented apology to the Tories, in a wake up call for the Met and the political police. Now the only question is how quick will Quick go?

A direct police attack on Her Majesty's Opposition had blown out of the water any pretence the Met is not a highly politicised arm of the current government.

Now assistant commissioner, Bob Quick, head of the counter-terror squad, has issued an "unreserved" apology to the Conservative Party after his outburst accusing the Tories of behaving in a "corrupt" way and mobilising the press against the Met.

Publicly the Tories have drawn a line under it, privately they must be seething.

Quick was clearly peeved with Mail on Sunday hacks sniffing around his wife's luxury car hire firm run from the family home but too quick to lay the blame. Absurd and churlish comments were to be expected. But to accuse Her Majesty's Opposition of behaving in a "corrupt" way was at best naive, at worse an inexcusable affront to democracy.

Only a fool would directly accuse the Tories of being in some way behind the Mail on Sunday expose without a shred of evidence. Mail journalists don't need Tory politicians to do their dirty work.

But the Conservatives are not a two bit political party that police can trample all over. They are officially Her Majesty's Opposition and, as such, parliament affords them rights and privileges.

Slowly the Met is having to wake up to the fact that the official Opposition has just as an important right and part to play in democracy as the government of the day.

But that of course is what is getting up the nose of the government and its pals at the Yard, which is no stranger to corruption claims against it. Accusing someone else of being corrupt is a bit rich coming from the Met.

To make matters worse, Quick's absurd and damaging outburst re-ignited the whole Damian Green affair which all key players now hoped will just go away. It called into question the political bias of Quick, a keen supporter of the home secretary's 42 day detention, who is also heading an inquiry into the alleged home office leaks which sparked off the Greengate scandal.

No politician wants Green's part in that affair to drag on for much longer. There's too much at stake for the government's credibility. Many are expecting any allegations against the MP to be dropped, leaving parliament and MPs to deal with the vexed questions of the unwarranted police raid on the sanctity of parliament.

The government's cosy relationship with the Met is so over the top it's almost laughable. But times when police could pander to politicians are changing and the Met should get used to it.

Mayor Johnson fired a warning shot over the bows, when Blair's poodle and namesake Sir Ian Blair was forced to quit as commissioner because he'd lost the confidence of the Conservative London mayor.

Top jobs in the Met will no longer be handed out as rewards and favours to faithful supporters who suck up to government and to keep them in line. The 'cash for peerages' scandal showed where that corruption can lead.

That, commander Quick, was corruption. What is starting to happen now is called democracy.

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Heathrow, A Runaway Runway Sham

Expect some delays but no cancellations as plans to further expand Heathrow come under the Commons spotlight. The government is still singing from the old boom years hymn sheet. Now the bubble has burst it's time to rethink the Heathrow monster. But that won't get in the way of a powerful lobby and short-sighted government.

Cheaper transatlantic air travel and the unhealthy emphasis on the City as the savour of the economy led the way for a huge European airport hub based at Heathrow. 

Expansion continued at a pace with a motorway infrastructure and new T5 as the government put all its eggs in the one basket, despite real environmental concerns. 

Heathrow isn't just huge, it's grotesque. Full to the brim and running on such a tight schedule, the slightest problem throws an huge spanner in the works and the whole beast grinds to a halt. A third runway will only add to the problem. 

A report commissioned by the City of London Authority claimed without more flights to reduce airport problems that could threaten the City. 

But in a few years time, that could be a road to nowhere as the world's financial centres continue to switch to the Far East. 

Heathrow is being developed purely for the lucrative transatlantic trade and business traffic in particular. An expanded Heathrow will require the huge Cross Rail investment direct to the City. And that requires billions of pounds more to be spent on dodgy financial deals.

The Orange Party doesn't believe any further Heathrow expansion is necessary at all. High speed rail links in and out of the Capital would be a better, realistic solution. 

But if there's an argument for a big London based European hub - then Heathrow is not the answer. 

Business leaders say thousands of jobs rely on Heathrow expansion. Jobs sure, but they don't need to be created at Heathrow. 

Heathrow is indeed "deeply unpopular" and many are fed up with delays, airport traffic and heavy security. But that doesn't mean a third runway is the "obvious" solution. 

The way forward is the credible Thames Gateway, argued so well by London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and with a mighty crusading effort by the Sunday Times. Apparently there's a proven working off the shelf model just waiting to be dropped in the Thames estuary at a fraction of the cost. 

But powerful lobby forces are at work here. BAA's Spanish owners, Ferrovial, may be trying to shed other airports but Heathrow is the overcrowded and lucrative jewel in the crown. It's main customer, British Airways is trying to sew up transatlantic trade. The whole issue of environmental impact has been spun away and buried. 

Conservatives, LibDems, many true Labour MPs and the London mayor all oppose plans for a third runway. 

MPs have a chance to voice their opposition today with a refreshingly alliance of often opposing political views. But that won't sway a pigheaded government bent on getting its own way with a powerful Heathrow lobby pushing behind the scenes. Conservatives have branded talk of consultation "a complete sham".

Transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, is expected to overrule MPs and say Heathrow should get a third runway. And what the government wants, Hoon will make sure the government gets, regardless of the arguments stacked up against them. 

Already expansion at Heathrow seems to be a foregone conclusion. The government's proposed new planning laws and planning quango will see to that and neatly side-step any objections. 

Heathrow and its further expansion is just one of the crippling legacies of those blooming booming years. Once again we are being forced to live with that legacy until the government catches up with the times.

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Boris's Jolly Olympic Gardening Jape

An Olympic scheme to turn the capital's wasteland into vegetable plots has been backed by Mayor Boris Johnson. But will this turn out to be a jolly jape with locals pushed out? Perhaps he should visit Cuba and Havana to see how it is really done and why. Or is that a tad too Red Ken for Boris's taste.

Londoners will be encouraged to turn derelict land into mini-allotments as part of a scheme to grow food on 2012 vegetable plots across the capital by 2012. The Capital Growth project is the brainchild of Rosie Boycott, chair of London Food. 

The Orange Party is sure both Boris and Rosie's hearts are in the right place. But we'll have to wait and see how many of these schemes actually get of the ground and how many will be run by locals rather than Monty Don wannabes. 

And why stop in London. Isn't this Olympics supposed to benefit the whole country? 

We used to have these plots here. They were called allotments. Now they are being gobbled up by greedy councils and developers. Anyone who fancies a potter has to wait years. In London apparently it's ten years. 

In Cuba, city-dwellers didn't have a choice. It was either find a plot of land or starve.

After going on for more than 20 years, Cuba now has more than 7,000 urban allotments or 'organoponicos', adding up to thousands of acres. 

More than 200 gardens in Havana alone grow more than 90 per cent of the city's fruit and veg.

Take a stroll through downtown Havana and they are everywhere. On tiny plots in the centre of estates (see picture above) and between houses. And with a chemical blockade, it's all organic. 

The danger with the London scheme is that it could turn into the latest lifestyle fad for the liberal elite. And true locals will be pushed out. Safeguards need to be put in place to make sure real people benefit.

There is a wider issue here. To encourage folk here to grown their own food on anything like a large scale takes a huge change in the mindset - and a willing labour force. 

Fat chance of that with a government happy to import cheap migrant slave labour to prop up the intensive agricultural industry. Or allow food to be grown in forced labour camps abroad to be flown thousands of miles to allow supermarkets to boast cheap food and farmers to grow biofuels.

Come the revolution we'll all be able to tend our plants while sipping a mojito. That's the good life. But over here, that isn't the real world.

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London Politics Health Warning For Boris

Mayor Johnson had better learn the game fast. Anyone entering London politics should be given a health warning - enter at you peril, it's a dirty business. This is not the cosy Westminster bubble, this is the street politics of a huge and diverse city. 

It's rough out there on the mean streets of London - it always has been. 

Livingstone was a political street fighter. Anyone who can survive Thatcher and Blair has to be. Johnson, on the other hand, is a member of the Westminster circle.

Serious allegations of financial and sexual misconduct surrounding Mayor Johnson's deputy Ray Lewis and his credentials have surfaced, but this is not the big issue. That will eventually all come out in the wash.

So far Johnson has behaved correctly. He called a hastily arranged news conference at city hall yesterday and stood next to Lewis, promising an investigation into the allegations. 

But what prompted the hastily called news conference? Obviously he got wind of a story about to break. Was this another story planted on the BBC? This time it was prompted by a list of questions sent by the Guardian newspaper the day before. 

The questions raised by the Guardian were serious and must be investigated and answered. And they were followed by questions raised by Channel 4 News. 

Apart from the allegations, they call into question Johnson's and for that matter Cameron's judgement in appointing Lewis as deputy. And that takes London politics to the heart of Westminster. 

UPDATE: Lewis announced his resignation at around 7pm this evening. Mayor Johnson is going to have to learn fast if he is to survive.

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Boris Bashing At The BBC

The BBC's On-line News 'Boris-bashing' knows no bounds. It's almost as if someone working there doesn't like the man. Or someone is pulling their strings.

Forget all the skewed stories and skulduggery that went on during the run up to the Mayoral elections. Three silly stories have popped up recently which the BBC reported with such glee. 

We had a BBC generated non-story about confusion over the existence of a report from Johnson's predecessor on the cost of the London Olympics. Johnson said a deal signed by Livingstone on cost over-runs was "far from clear" and he doubted its existence. Livingstone said the comments were "bizarre" as the memorandum of understanding had been published. 

Then the non-story over some remarks made by his political advisor buried in a very old and long-winded 'interview' posted on an obscure web site. When the advisor resigned, this was reported  by the BBC (again with more glee) with a 'Breaking News' flag (an over-used rolling news device designed to grab your attention). 

And to add more credence, the chap who posted the original interview was described by the BBC as an 'undercover journalist/reporter'. When he is nothing of the sort. He's a black activist with strong links to Labour. The 'undercover' bit was subsequently remove fom the next day's bulletin.

Now we have a picture on the BBC  On-line News bulletin of Johnson made to look silly wearing a fez and smoking a cigar, to accompany a story about a cigar case. Apparently the cigar case has been taken into police custody because it once belonged to someone in Iraq. It's a rehash of an old story. 

Today's splendid article by Johnson in the Daily Telegraph has little to do with a cigar case and everything to do with the lies, deceit and downright illegality of the Iraq War. But the BBC has chosen to show Boris in a fez, smoking a cigar. To try to make him look silly.

As usual, the people at the BBC have got their politically correct knickers in a twist. 

The photgraph of Boris was put there to make him look a figure of fun. But Johnson has Turkish roots and the fez is a traditional piece of headwear worn in many parts of the Muslim world. There's nothing funny about that.

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Boris, The Olympic Messenger

When the 2012 London Olympics go pear-shaped, don't blame Boris. But we can already start to thank him for forcing New Labour politicians and their big business partners to start to own up to this financial shambles.

His forensic examination of the spiralling Olympics costs are already unearthing some of the skulduggery that went on behind the scenes to secure the bid. And forcing the government's main watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), to finally crawl out of the woodwork and do its job properly. 

Today the NAO highlighted the lack of a deal for construction of the Olympic Village, which is expected to cost more than £1 billion. And reported that plans for individual venues, including the main stadium and security costs were yet to be finalised.

The London Olympics is set to become one of the biggest financial disasters in the world. Its shameful legacy and financial repercussions will be there long after the the last team has flown home with their medals.

The true London Olympic cost has been full of deceit and spin since the beginning. The original bid put the cost at around £4 billion. This was later admitted to be just a number plucked out of thin air to secure the bid. Nothing like the true cost which no one can yet put a figure on. Officially it's around £9 billion but unofficially around £14 billion. It's rising by the week and there's still four years to go. 

As Mayor of London, Johnson can only observe from the side lines. The real driving force is the New Labour Elite - pushing though this fiasco as part of Blair's legacy.

Announcing a free party in the Mall in August, to 'celebrate' the handover of the Games from Beijing, London 2012 Olympics chairman, Sebastian 'Lord' Coe, described it as: "Starting the narrative of what we want to be saying about ourselves." 

Oh my goodness. It's that word 'narrative'. NewLabourSpeak. A reminder of the empty  language used for the empty Millennium Dome. An omen of what is yet to come. As for the cost? Just think of the Millennium Dome - then multiply that mess by a few thousand.

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