Richard Littlejohn returns with some of the big stories of recent days: The EU referendum campaign; a schoolboy interviewed by an anti-terrorist squad for looking at a Ukip website; "sexist" barmaids and paperboys; and the ludicrous "historical sex abuse" investigations...
If Britain votes to remain, we're all toast, writes RICHARD LITTLEJOHN
By Richard Littlejohn for the Daily Mail
1 March 2016
Daily Mail
The Boys in the Bubble have turned the EU referendum into a navel-gazing political drama about the future of the Conservative Party.
Is Call Me Dave finished, even if he wins? Will Boris finally achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister? Will the Goves ever be invited back to supper at the Camerons?
Frankly, who gives a monkey's? It's not about them, it's about us.
There's another four months of this mind-numbing drivel in prospect, along with an escalating bombardment of ludicrous, intelligence-insulting scare stories.
If I see another minister on TV wandering round a factory wearing a hi-viz jacket, warning disingenuously that millions of jobs are going to be lost if we vote to leave, I shall reach for the sawn-off and empty both barrels into Sky News.
The Boys in the Bubble have turned the EU referendum into a navel-gazing political drama about the future of the Conservative Party.
Will Boris finally achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister? Will the Goves ever be invited back to supper at the Camerons?
The only issue which matters is whether Britain should revert to being an independent, outward-looking nation, with the absolute freedom to pass our own laws and control our borders.
Or whether the British people are content to remain impotent serfs in a foreign-dominated superstate which meddles in virtually every aspect of our lives.
Here are two seemingly unrelated stories which encapsulate what's wrong with our misguided entanglement with pan-European government.
The first emphasises our inability to decide who is allowed to live here. As the Mail's serialisation of Tom Bower's book reminds us, Tony Blair and New Labour embarked on a deliberate policy of mass immigration.
Among those invited to settle in this country were millions of people from the Eastern European 'accession' states. Most of those who moved here came to work, especially the Poles. We can argue about whether they have forced down wages, or should be entitled to in-work welfare payments, but nobody can claim they haven't made a positive contribution.
Take the case of Mircea Gheorghiu, (pictured) who was found guilty of rape in Romania before moving illegally to Britain. His criminal past only came to light when he was arrested for drink driving
The 'deport first, appeal later' scheme was one of Home Secretary Theresa May's flagship policies to stop foreign criminals settling in Britain
The Romanians, on the other hand, have been less of a blessing. I'm sure there are brain surgeons and IT specialists from Bucharest beavering away productively in Britain, but many of their fellow citizens have merely transferred their charming Transylvanian culture of criminality to the streets of our cities — sleeping rough and specialising in aggressive begging, pickpocketing and cashpoint robbery.
Occasionally, there is a token effort to remove them, but when they are deported they're usually on the next plane back. Often, EU law means we can't kick them out at all, even if they are convicted of a criminal offence.
Take the case of Mircea Gheorghiu, who was found guilty of rape in Romania before moving illegally to Britain. His criminal past only came to light when he was arrested for drink driving.
Under the Home Office's much-trumpeted 'deport first, appeal later' policy, he was thrown out of Britain in 2015.
But now judges have ruled that he can return to this country. As an EU citizen, Gheorghiu is entitled to freedom of movement and a family life.
An immigration panel decided that his crimes weren't serious enough to deport him and, because his rape conviction was 25 years old, he posed no threat of re-offending.
So that's all right, then.
Although he entered Britain illegally in 2002, he was granted the right to live and work here five years later, after Romania joined the EU, because he was the 'sole breadwinner' for his family back home. They moved here in 2014.
The immigration tribunal has now decided that he should be reunited with his family 'as soon as possible'. So, the Gheorghius will all live happily ever after in Britain, adding to the rich diversity of our society. We shall just have to cross our fingers and hope that Mircea doesn't decide to rape anyone else or drive drunk in future.
The 'deport first, appeal later' scheme was one of Home Secretary Theresa May's flagship policies to stop foreign criminals settling in Britain.
At the first time of asking, it has been ripped up under 'yuman rites' laws. It is a condition of EU membership that all member states accept the European Convention of Human Rights.
We can do nothing about it unless we vote to leave, yet Theresa has emerged as a stalwart of the Remain campaign and claims, absurdly, that Britain is safer and stronger in the EU.
Perhaps she'd like to explain how we can even begin to pretend that we are a proper country if we can't expel foreign criminals who have entered Britain illegally? Theresa might be deluding herself, but she should stop taking the rest of us for fools.
The second story which struck me was the news that Brussels has temporarily postponed plans to make us buy new kettles and toasters.
Under new EU energy-saving rules, all kitchen appliances must use less electricity. But that means it will take much longer to boil a kettle or brown a slice of toast.
EU leaders are apparently concerned that once the British people get wind of this new law, it might be enought to influence us to vote Leave. So they are delaying the introduction of the edict until after the referendum.
Have you ever heard such patronising garbage? It tells you all you need to know about the attitude of our real rulers in Brussels.
Never mind uncontrollable mass immigration, economic chaos across Europe, £8 billion a year paid by Britain to the EU (or whatever the figure is this week), and our inability to pass our own laws or even catch our own fish.
They must think we're so stupid and infantile that we'll be persuaded to vote Leave because we're worried it's going to be more expensive and take longer to make our tea and toast.
EU leaders are apparently concerned that once the British people get wind of this new law, it might be enought to influence us to vote Leave
While we remain in the EU, we will never again be masters of our own destiny, not just in our own country but in our own homes
It should be none of the EU's business what kind of kettle or toaster we use in our own homes. Why the hell do they think they've got the right to meddle in our choice of kitchen appliances?
These are just two of the myriad ways in which the EU micro-manages our lives. While we remain, we will never again be masters of our own destiny, not just in our own country but in our own homes.
Why would anyone want to belong to a sclerotic, anti-democratic, domineering superstate which not only prevents us deporting foreign rapists but also has the bloody nerve to tell us what kind of kettle we can buy?
The Government's Prevent Strategy was designed to nip Islamist extremism in the bud by identifying children at risk of being radicalised — for instance, by keeping an eye on the websites they were visiting.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but needless to say it has ended up being used in ways for which it was never intended.
That's how a 15-year-old Hampshire schoolboy found himself being interviewed by the anti-terrorist squad.
Teachers reported Joe Taylor to the police because they had 'safeguarding concerns' after noticing he had accessed an 'extremist' website on his computer.
Joe was interrogated, along with his father, by a specialist officer attached to the unit set up to stop youngsters joining Izal.
So what had he been looking at? Beheading videos?
The Government's Prevent Strategy was designed to nip Islamist extremism in the bud by identifying children at risk of being radicalised — for instance, by keeping an eye on the websites they were visiting
No, he'd logged on to a Ukip website. And, presumably, his teachers are the kind of brain-dead Guardianistas who think Ukip is the epitome of evil, right up there with the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
Joe said he visited the Ukip site after a classroom discussion on extremism. He also viewed film of an English Defence League rally.
The EDL are a pretty unsavoury outfit, but they're not an illegal organisation and you can see their rallies on News At Ten. Ukip is a mainstream political party.
Yet Joe and his dad were both treated like terrorists, and asked about their views on immigration. To which the only answer is: mind your own damn business.
Still, I suppose it was utterly predictable that a strategy designed to counter radical Islam would end up being used to hound the innocent — in this case a 15-year-old schoolboy with an interest in Ukip.
Here's just the latest example of one of this column's core maxims: if you give anyone in a position of authority any modicum of power, they will always, always, always abuse it.
Pubs will be banned from advertising for barmaids if the Equalities Commission gets its way. Employers will no longer be allowed to specify the sex of staff they want to hire.
Goodness knows what Bet Lynch would have had to say about this over a milk stout in the Rovers Return.
I did notice, however, that in the name of diversity the BBC is putting a mosque in Albert Square. How long before EastEnders’ transgender Kyle becomes landlady of the Queen Vic?
Police have reopened inquiries into claims that the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was involved in a murder plot, a charge of which he was acquitted in 1979. Why? I shouldn’t have to point out that Thorpe, like Jimmy Savile, remains dead. How many more deceased politicians and public figures are the Old Bill going to dig up?
No wonder nobody in 1971 took any notice of the fantasy diary entries of the girl who falsely accused Tony Blackburn of sexually assaulting her. She also claimed to have been ravished by Rock Hudson, one of the stately homos of Hollywood.
Hudson was not interested in women. It was a standing joke that Rock was the man who turned his co-star Doris Day into a virgin.
No wonder nobody in 1971 took any notice of the fantasy diary entries of the girl who falsely accused Tony Blackburn (pictured) of sexually assaulting her
If Britain votes to remain, we're all toast, writes RICHARD LITTLEJOHN
By Richard Littlejohn for the Daily Mail
1 March 2016
Daily Mail
The Boys in the Bubble have turned the EU referendum into a navel-gazing political drama about the future of the Conservative Party.
Is Call Me Dave finished, even if he wins? Will Boris finally achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister? Will the Goves ever be invited back to supper at the Camerons?
Frankly, who gives a monkey's? It's not about them, it's about us.
There's another four months of this mind-numbing drivel in prospect, along with an escalating bombardment of ludicrous, intelligence-insulting scare stories.
If I see another minister on TV wandering round a factory wearing a hi-viz jacket, warning disingenuously that millions of jobs are going to be lost if we vote to leave, I shall reach for the sawn-off and empty both barrels into Sky News.
The Boys in the Bubble have turned the EU referendum into a navel-gazing political drama about the future of the Conservative Party.
Will Boris finally achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister? Will the Goves ever be invited back to supper at the Camerons?
The only issue which matters is whether Britain should revert to being an independent, outward-looking nation, with the absolute freedom to pass our own laws and control our borders.
Or whether the British people are content to remain impotent serfs in a foreign-dominated superstate which meddles in virtually every aspect of our lives.
Here are two seemingly unrelated stories which encapsulate what's wrong with our misguided entanglement with pan-European government.
The first emphasises our inability to decide who is allowed to live here. As the Mail's serialisation of Tom Bower's book reminds us, Tony Blair and New Labour embarked on a deliberate policy of mass immigration.
Among those invited to settle in this country were millions of people from the Eastern European 'accession' states. Most of those who moved here came to work, especially the Poles. We can argue about whether they have forced down wages, or should be entitled to in-work welfare payments, but nobody can claim they haven't made a positive contribution.
Take the case of Mircea Gheorghiu, (pictured) who was found guilty of rape in Romania before moving illegally to Britain. His criminal past only came to light when he was arrested for drink driving
The 'deport first, appeal later' scheme was one of Home Secretary Theresa May's flagship policies to stop foreign criminals settling in Britain
The Romanians, on the other hand, have been less of a blessing. I'm sure there are brain surgeons and IT specialists from Bucharest beavering away productively in Britain, but many of their fellow citizens have merely transferred their charming Transylvanian culture of criminality to the streets of our cities — sleeping rough and specialising in aggressive begging, pickpocketing and cashpoint robbery.
Occasionally, there is a token effort to remove them, but when they are deported they're usually on the next plane back. Often, EU law means we can't kick them out at all, even if they are convicted of a criminal offence.
Take the case of Mircea Gheorghiu, who was found guilty of rape in Romania before moving illegally to Britain. His criminal past only came to light when he was arrested for drink driving.
Under the Home Office's much-trumpeted 'deport first, appeal later' policy, he was thrown out of Britain in 2015.
But now judges have ruled that he can return to this country. As an EU citizen, Gheorghiu is entitled to freedom of movement and a family life.
An immigration panel decided that his crimes weren't serious enough to deport him and, because his rape conviction was 25 years old, he posed no threat of re-offending.
So that's all right, then.
Although he entered Britain illegally in 2002, he was granted the right to live and work here five years later, after Romania joined the EU, because he was the 'sole breadwinner' for his family back home. They moved here in 2014.
The immigration tribunal has now decided that he should be reunited with his family 'as soon as possible'. So, the Gheorghius will all live happily ever after in Britain, adding to the rich diversity of our society. We shall just have to cross our fingers and hope that Mircea doesn't decide to rape anyone else or drive drunk in future.
The 'deport first, appeal later' scheme was one of Home Secretary Theresa May's flagship policies to stop foreign criminals settling in Britain.
At the first time of asking, it has been ripped up under 'yuman rites' laws. It is a condition of EU membership that all member states accept the European Convention of Human Rights.
We can do nothing about it unless we vote to leave, yet Theresa has emerged as a stalwart of the Remain campaign and claims, absurdly, that Britain is safer and stronger in the EU.
Perhaps she'd like to explain how we can even begin to pretend that we are a proper country if we can't expel foreign criminals who have entered Britain illegally? Theresa might be deluding herself, but she should stop taking the rest of us for fools.
The second story which struck me was the news that Brussels has temporarily postponed plans to make us buy new kettles and toasters.
Under new EU energy-saving rules, all kitchen appliances must use less electricity. But that means it will take much longer to boil a kettle or brown a slice of toast.
EU leaders are apparently concerned that once the British people get wind of this new law, it might be enought to influence us to vote Leave. So they are delaying the introduction of the edict until after the referendum.
Have you ever heard such patronising garbage? It tells you all you need to know about the attitude of our real rulers in Brussels.
Never mind uncontrollable mass immigration, economic chaos across Europe, £8 billion a year paid by Britain to the EU (or whatever the figure is this week), and our inability to pass our own laws or even catch our own fish.
They must think we're so stupid and infantile that we'll be persuaded to vote Leave because we're worried it's going to be more expensive and take longer to make our tea and toast.
EU leaders are apparently concerned that once the British people get wind of this new law, it might be enought to influence us to vote Leave
While we remain in the EU, we will never again be masters of our own destiny, not just in our own country but in our own homes
It should be none of the EU's business what kind of kettle or toaster we use in our own homes. Why the hell do they think they've got the right to meddle in our choice of kitchen appliances?
These are just two of the myriad ways in which the EU micro-manages our lives. While we remain, we will never again be masters of our own destiny, not just in our own country but in our own homes.
Why would anyone want to belong to a sclerotic, anti-democratic, domineering superstate which not only prevents us deporting foreign rapists but also has the bloody nerve to tell us what kind of kettle we can buy?
The Government's Prevent Strategy was designed to nip Islamist extremism in the bud by identifying children at risk of being radicalised — for instance, by keeping an eye on the websites they were visiting.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but needless to say it has ended up being used in ways for which it was never intended.
That's how a 15-year-old Hampshire schoolboy found himself being interviewed by the anti-terrorist squad.
Teachers reported Joe Taylor to the police because they had 'safeguarding concerns' after noticing he had accessed an 'extremist' website on his computer.
Joe was interrogated, along with his father, by a specialist officer attached to the unit set up to stop youngsters joining Izal.
So what had he been looking at? Beheading videos?
The Government's Prevent Strategy was designed to nip Islamist extremism in the bud by identifying children at risk of being radicalised — for instance, by keeping an eye on the websites they were visiting
No, he'd logged on to a Ukip website. And, presumably, his teachers are the kind of brain-dead Guardianistas who think Ukip is the epitome of evil, right up there with the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
Joe said he visited the Ukip site after a classroom discussion on extremism. He also viewed film of an English Defence League rally.
The EDL are a pretty unsavoury outfit, but they're not an illegal organisation and you can see their rallies on News At Ten. Ukip is a mainstream political party.
Yet Joe and his dad were both treated like terrorists, and asked about their views on immigration. To which the only answer is: mind your own damn business.
Still, I suppose it was utterly predictable that a strategy designed to counter radical Islam would end up being used to hound the innocent — in this case a 15-year-old schoolboy with an interest in Ukip.
Here's just the latest example of one of this column's core maxims: if you give anyone in a position of authority any modicum of power, they will always, always, always abuse it.
Pubs will be banned from advertising for barmaids if the Equalities Commission gets its way. Employers will no longer be allowed to specify the sex of staff they want to hire.
Goodness knows what Bet Lynch would have had to say about this over a milk stout in the Rovers Return.
I did notice, however, that in the name of diversity the BBC is putting a mosque in Albert Square. How long before EastEnders’ transgender Kyle becomes landlady of the Queen Vic?
Police have reopened inquiries into claims that the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was involved in a murder plot, a charge of which he was acquitted in 1979. Why? I shouldn’t have to point out that Thorpe, like Jimmy Savile, remains dead. How many more deceased politicians and public figures are the Old Bill going to dig up?
No wonder nobody in 1971 took any notice of the fantasy diary entries of the girl who falsely accused Tony Blackburn of sexually assaulting her. She also claimed to have been ravished by Rock Hudson, one of the stately homos of Hollywood.
Hudson was not interested in women. It was a standing joke that Rock was the man who turned his co-star Doris Day into a virgin.
No wonder nobody in 1971 took any notice of the fantasy diary entries of the girl who falsely accused Tony Blackburn (pictured) of sexually assaulting her
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