Letting migrant ‘minors’ in to the UK without age tests keeps real children out
Another 100 “minors” are due to arrive this week and it remains to be seen whether there are any children
HOT on the heels of all the brouhaha about “unaccompanied minors” in the Calais migrant camp being let down by the heartless UK, the first 14 have arrived on our shores.
Am I alone in having assumed that, at the very least, a couple of them would be noticeably young, vulnerable and possibly even clutching their favourite soft toy for comfort?
Instead, if the majority of them tried to catch a bus with a child’s ticket, they’d be thrown off by Blakey for boarding under false pretences.
But when it comes to allowing entry to all the, er, benefits of the UK, it seems that we demand little or no verification at all.
A Home Office spokesman has admitted that medical tests that might help determine age — such as checking teeth or wrist bone X-rays — can’t be carried out as they are deemed “too intrusive.”
Oh puh-lease. When holidaymakers want to leave the UK, they are subjected to “random” body searches that make a mouth check seem tame by comparison. So why the sudden coyness?
The truth, one suspects, is that continual pressure from the likes of Lily Allen and other celebrity luvvies whose gilded lives will never have to bear the brunt of mass immigration has forced the Government into making a rash, PR-based decision to allow entry now and ask questions later.
Another 100 “minors” are due to arrive this week and it remains to be seen whether — unlike the first arrivals — there are any obviously young children among their ranks, not to mention the girls and young women conspicuously absent so far.
As it stands, an aid worker based in the Calais camp has raised concerns that children in genuine need face being overlooked because those who push themselves forward are actually male adults wanting access to Britain.
The worker says: “It is a complete mess. Those at the front of the queue are not the most needy and vulnerable — they are adults pretending to be children.”
Whether that’s the case with some of Monday’s arrivals remains to be seen, but a betting person would wager that “vulnerable” they are not.
As a civilised country, it’s absolutely right that, along with other countries, we should offer help to any minors in genuine need — particularly if they already have family members in the UK.
And if they are who they say they are, no doubt those same family members would happily sign a consent form for an X-ray or dental check to establish that the “minor” isn’t a 25-year-old chancer.
But, be it through incompetence or political correctness, the current stance of failing to insist on compulsory medical checks means that those who need protecting the most may get trampled by the stampede of those who don’t.
FACE UP TO HILLARY'S PROBLEM
A NEW C4 documentary series called Your Face Says It All looks at how our facial features can determine whether or not we’re successful in life.
A study undertaken at Princeton University shows that it takes a stranger just one tenth of a second to make a judgement about us, particularly when it comes to our “resting face.”
This is said to present a problem for US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton who, following the first televised debate, was criticised by some as having a “resting face” of disdain.
I sympathise. Mine is one of seeming bored, even though I’m (mostly) not.
This has led people to assume that I’m – take your pick – hard/aloof/bored/snotty/disdainful.
Which, I hope, those who really know me will testify that I’m not. But try as I might, I’m stuck with it.
Because as it’s my “resting” face, that means I’m not thinking about what my face looks like because I’m, er, resting it and can’t therefore rearrange it into a more socially acceptable expression of unquestioning fascination.
Ho hum. Oops, I mean gentle, feminine sigh.
A GOLD RASCAL
BOB DYLAN has yet to respond to the news that he is being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, with some reports suggesting he may even neglect to turn up for the handover.
This would come as little surprise to those who have encountered him via the music industry.
Many years ago, after a gig, the then-boss of his record company arrived backstage to present him with a gold disc.
Tiresome it may be but, knowing which side their bread is buttered, artistes usually toe the company line by posing alongside the boss while gratefully clutching the framed memento that their mum will quietly flog on eBay at a later date.
And so the company chairman knocked on Dylan’s dressing room door and, hearing a muffled “What?” from inside, explained the purpose of his visit through the keyhole.
“Leave it outside,” came the terse reply.
It’s probably still there.
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SO MOVED BY HERO JOSH'S AMAZING DAY
JOSH BOGGI was just 23 years old when he stepped on an IED during his third tour of Afghanistan in 2010.
It was a miracle he survived, but the long, slow haul back to recovery involved the amputation of both legs and his right arm.
“I had to accept that my life had changed,” he said. “Yes, I did want to be a soldier. But now I’ll settle for just being me.”
He credits the charity (for whom I’m an ambassador) as “always being there for me,” be it funding a one-handed PlayStation remote or vital adaptations to his house.
Last Saturday, I was honoured to be one of the guests at the Holy Family church near Slough, Berks, as he walked down the aisle to marry Anna Shaw, whom he has known since he was ten years old.
Weddings are uplifting events anyway, but this one was in a league of its own as a triumph of hope over adversity.
It also serves as a timely reminder that the work of H4H – which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year – remains as vital as ever.
WHY NO SLURS ON SIMON?
WHEN Sharon Osbourne momentarily forgot the name of X Factor contestant Saara Aalto on Saturday night, the Twitterati went in to apoplectic meltdown.
Was she drunk, they demanded to know. Was she on drugs? Perhaps she’s still “tired and emotional” after a year during which, by her own admission, her personal life has been turbulent?
Nope. Like those of us who frequently forget the names of our own children at the end of a tiring day, she just blanked.
Meanwhile, in 2010, Simon Cowell forgot the name of One Direction’s Zayn Malik and called him “Olly.”
In 2013, he blanked on the name of an Xtra Factor presenter whose name now escapes me (that’s showbiz).
In 2015 he referred to Alien Uncovered as Alien Nation and in the same year he forgot the names of the girls in the group 4th Impact.
Yet no one suggested he was drunk, on drugs or emotionally bereft.
Presumably because he is considered to be a busy and important man and, consequently, such memory lapses are only to be expected.
TRINNY'S SECRET
FORMER What Not To Wear presenter Trinny Woodall has admitted she spends the national debt of a small country each month on beauty treatments such as vampire facials, Botox and skin peels.
I applaud her honesty.
But it baffles me that someone can be so dogged in their pursuit of youth yet continue to smoke – a habit that not only shortens your life-span but increases the chances of eye bags, skin problems, teeth staining and wrinkles.
BEST BEIB-HAVIOUR
POP brat Justin Bieber had to attend an anger management course in the US after throwing eggs at a neighbour’s house.
Now he has reportedly rented himself a large pad in a swanky area of North London famed for its champagne socialists with right-on principles.
So as long as the eggs he lobs are organic, it should be just fine.