Windrush

[Dannyhood91]

Is there a thread here on what's happened?

The home office purposely destroying windrush documents is one of the most carelessly destructive and stupid things the government has done. I might have some bias being of a mixed race heritage but it really is absolutely disgusting and makes my blood boil. This and bombing Syria yet again makes me entirely ashamed of my government. These are people who came here as citizens, formed businesses, served in the military, built our buildings, gave the nation the gift of their culture through cuisine and music, raised children and grandchild (myself one of those grandchildren) it's clear out government cares very little for its own people and has active disdain for those outside its borders. An embarrassing state of affairs and it makes my fucking blood boil. I'd honestly weep if I wasn't so angry.

[bgmnts]

I'm the whitest cunt going but I also think it's fucking disgraceful.

But at this point does it even phase anyone? You'd be hard pressed to find someone who isnt so jaded by the last decade or two of government to not just go "Oh doesnt surprise me".

[BlodwynPig]

Heads will roll for this outrage!!!

"2018, mate.. Theresa may"

Oh

[Dannyhood91]

I'm the whitest cunt going but I also think it's fucking disgraceful.

But at this point does it even phase anyone? You'd be hard pressed to find someone who isnt so jaded by the last decade or two of government to not just go "Oh doesnt surprise me".

I get what you mean. Although I'm used to the government doing awful things. I do thing my heritage gives me a bit of bias though which is probably a bit silly of me tbh. Although I'm sure cunts of all shades are outraged by it.

It is astonishingly short sighted though that they didn't think this would get out though. How incompetent and boneheaded  can't they be!? (Stupid question)

[Rocket Surgery]

Not really relevant to what the thread is about, but I was reading about HMT Empire Windrush itself the other day and discovered amongst other things:

It was originally a German ship that was used to deport Jews from Norway to Auschwitz, before it was captured by the Allies at the end of the war.

The famous voyage that brought the West Indian immigrants to the Port of Tilbury was the only time it went to the Caribbean, and it was only there in the first place to pick up British servicemen on leave.


Anyway, reading about all this has really been the vomit icing on the shit cake this past week.

[newbridge]

It could always be worse; you could live in the United States instead.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Say for example, the Windrush generation were...Jewish. May would be gone, today, wouldn't she

The thinking at Tory HQ isn't just "whoa this is bad" but "thankfully its only old blacks".

[JohnnyCouncil]

No one is asking her "Oh so you're sorry about it all are you Terry? Then why did you do it. Go on. Why did you do it. Fucking tell me."

Surely there's some journalistic +rep for that sort of thing.

[tenmen]

Say for example, the Windrush generation were...Jewish. May would be gone, today, wouldn't she

The thinking at Tory HQ isn't just "whoa this is bad" but "thankfully its only old blacks".

I disagree. Crimes against black people by whites are always given a huge amount of publicity. Look at Stephen Lawrence for example.

[idunnosomename]

Say for example, the Windrush generation were...Jewish. May would be gone, today, wouldn't she

The thinking at Tory HQ isn't just "whoa this is bad" but "thankfully its only old blacks".

Fortunately for them old blacks don't have wealthy lobby groups to pay for billboards to drive London calling the party racist

[idunnosomename]

To be fair to Amber Rudd, last time I had Windrush I destroyed all evidence of it too

[Dr Rock]

Heads should roll. And by heads I mean Theresa May should step down. But I'm not surprised by the news as she was such a cunt as Home Secretary.

[Cuellar]

Officials said in a statement that the decision was taken on data protection grounds, "to ensure that personal data ... should not be kept for longer than necessary. Keeping these records would have represented a potential breach of these principles".

A likely story. And wrong.

[tenmen]

Fortunately for them old blacks don't have wealthy lobby groups to pay for billboards to drive London calling the party racist

And I'm the racist one?

[Fabian Thomsett]

As appalling as this is - this is the sort of shit many immigrants have had to go through for years. It's getting attention because it's Windrush.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the Tories are priming us for what they're going to do in stealth post-Brexit.

[idunnosomename]

And I'm the racist one?

Well they don't

[tenmen]

Well they don't

Either way the story has blown up immediately and caused huge problems for the government hasn't it? Compare it to the antisemitism in Labour story. It took over two years for it to get this much coverage.

[Norton Canes]

May claiming in PMQs that the move to destroy the documents was approved under Labour in 2009.

I'm on a fact hunt here. Approved, signed off, put into action, all under Labour? Proposed under Labour but signed off and implemented by May? Something in between? 

[jobotic]

Either way the story has blown up immediately and caused huge problems for the government hasn't it? Compare it to the antisemitism in Labour story. It took over two years for it to get this much coverage.

Funny that because the front of the papers today are all about the racism crisis in Corbyn's Labour, but you keep pretending that the poor old right get a bad deal.

[biggytitbo]

Corbyn was one of only 6 labour MPs to vote against the 2014 immigration bill.

[tenmen]

Funny that because the front of the papers today are all about the racism crisis in Corbyn's Labour, but you keep pretending that the poor old right get a bad deal.

But there have been many front-page stories about Windrush, as well as loads of news coverage, questions in parliament and a ubiquitous social media presence. How can you pretend that black people are a voiceless minority who nobody cares about? And again I repeat my point that all of this took a few days vs a few years for antisemtism to achieve as much concern

[Buelligan]

The British government, historically, has been extremely lax in its attitude towards citizens' documentation, not just those of the Windrush generation. 

I was born to British passport-holding parents in a country outside the British Isles and they registered my birth there - the British government, in its wisdom, decided that the best people to hold those records (vital records of British citizens born outside the UK, not just little old me) would be the government of the country they happened to be born in.  I don't think they were even given any money to maintain them.  Imagine how easy it has been to access my records and prove my "existence".  I'm years in and still not sorted.  Meanwhile, I continue to work and pay tax with no rights to unemployment benefit, sick pay, hospital treatment or anything else.

I also believe it's true that many many people who worked for the British in places like India - doing work for HMG - were left without any access to their pensions etc.  No arrangements made, nor civil servants responsible for looking after them.  Just swinging in the wind.

[Buelligan]

May claiming in PMQs that the move to destroy the documents was approved under Labour in 2009.

I'm on a fact hunt here. Approved, signed off, put into action, all under Labour? Proposed under Labour but signed off and implemented by May? Something in between?

Write to your MP and ask for a clear explanation of exactly what took place and when and who done it.  Doesn't matter what side of the fence your MP's on, it's a fair question and they'll be obliged to give you an answer.

[Norton Canes]

Write to your MP and ask for a clear explanation of exactly what took place and when and who done it.  Doesn't matter what side of the fence your MP's on, it's a fair question and they'll be obliged to give you an answer

That's a perfectly viable suggestion but given that May has just raised the issue in PMQs I'd imagine it won't be long before the true series of (unfortunate) events is researched and made available.

Call me cynical but I can't help feeling May is being a tiny bit disingenuous when she says something like "The decision was taken in 2009. As I seem to recall, in 2009, it was a Labour home secretary who was in position". Although equally if her statement is evasive and if Corbyn was clued up in advance, he should have immediately put the record straight. Big ifs though (especially the second one).

[Fambo Number Mive]

Even if the decision was taken in 2009, why didn't the Tories reverse it in 2010? Was there a vote on this? If so, how did May and other Tories vote?

[BlodwynPig]

Weasel May escapes again. How many more times. How many fucking more times. Get rid. Get RID! (Yes, I know its not the ultimate solution, but it will placate me temporarily).

[Buelligan]

That's a perfectly viable suggestion but given that May has just raised the issue in PMQs I'd imagine it won't be long before the true series of (unfortunate) events is researched and made available.

Call me cynical but I can't help feeling May is being a tiny bit disingenuous when she says something like "The decision was taken in 2009. As I seem to recall, in 2009, it was a Labour home secretary who was in position". Although equally if her statement is evasive and if Corbyn was clued up in advance, he should have immediately put the record straight. Big ifs though (especially the second one).

Purely a guess here but I'd guess a decision was made to move offices/streamline archives or some umbrella thing or other NOT an explicit instruction to burn all the Windrush documentation and that's where she's chosen to trace the responsibility back to.  If this is so, she must be banking on everyone getting bored and moving on before the truth gets out (and she's probably right, people do have a habit of remembering the first thing they're told rather than checking the back-story). 

[biggytitbo]

BBC reporting as their top story Windrush landing cards 'axed under Labour', which even though its paraphrasing what May said is a total lie, yet they reinforce it by making it their main headline.

[phantom_power]

It is very convenient for her that it happened just before she became Home Secretary. Is there any proof of what she says or is it just throwing stuff out there in the hope it sticks before anyone finds out the truth? If indeed the truth can be found

[Sebastian Cobb]

Docs were supposedly shredded in October 2010.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/04/generation-windrush-home-office-theresa-may-amber-rudd?amp