If virtue signalling Hannah is so keen to keep deported criminals in the UK, maybe she can pay for it
CAMBRIDGE-educated events co-ordinator Hannah Gaffey is feeling rather pleased with herself.
Why? Because, after boarding a flight to Jamaica and realising a convicted criminal was about to be deported, she staged a mini-mutiny to stop it.
“I explained to my fellow passengers that this man was being deported,” virtue signalled 26- year-old Hannah on (where else) X, formerly known as Twitter.
“There were some that shared a feeling of injustice that this was happening, and we were vocal about that.”
What’s the betting that the rest of the passengers were thinking, “Sit down and shut up, I want to start my holiday.”
But no. Hannah made a call to the charity Detention Action for support, then refused to take her seat because “the aircraft is not allowed to take off while people are standing. So we did that”.
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Taxpayers’ expense
Fearful she might be removed from the flight herself, she eventually sat down and the plane started taxiing towards the runway.
But when the deportee started to struggle violently against those restraining him, the pilot abandoned take off.
“The head of cabin crew came to speak to me again and I asked if it was a good idea to have six people physically restraining one man on a nine-plus hour flight,” added Hannah, from Salford, Greater Manchester.
Quite what the British Airways staff thought of this sanctimony in their midst is anyone’s guess, but Hannah said she felt “elated” when she realised the man was being taken off the plane and was “standing up and smiling”.
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I’ll bet he was.
Perhaps his lawyers had told him about Somalian gang rapist Yaqub Ahmed, whose deportation was also thwarted by a group of passengers on his Turkish Airlines flight and it took a further five years and £85k of legal wrangling at the British taxpayers’ expense to finally get him removed in August.
And only then on the understanding the UK pay for him to stay 14 weeks in an all-inclusive hotel with armed guards and personalised therapy package for his “mental health issues”.
Ahmed’s fellow passengers didn’t know the severity of his crime when they thwarted his deportation back in 2018, and nor does Hannah know the reason why the Jamaica-bound man spent time in prison.
Perhaps such detail seems trivial in the face of her stance against “injustice”, but what’s the betting that it won’t be her who ends up feeding and housing him while the legal merry-go-round picks up speed again.
Sigh. It begs the question why we don’t use military planes for deportations, then Hannah et al would be none the wiser and she’d have to find something else to boast about on her social media platform.
A see change for Rita
VOGUE magazine’s star-studded Forces For Change champions individuals “who are driving positive change within their fields”.
Among those being “enthroned” at this year’s event were England footballer Mary Earps, activist Munroe Bergdorf and boxer Ramla Ali.
Among guests invited along to spectate were TV presenter Maya Jama, model Lila Moss, and film director Baz Luhrmann.
Oh, and singer Rita Ora who, despite it being a freezing November night, pitched up in this creation, with her pants showing, a sheer balaclava and strategically placed plastic lumps to protect her, er, modesty.
As you do.
Where, pray tell, were the forces for “change into something that doesn’t pull focus away from those being celebrated”?
Rock on
ACCORDING to a survey by Sky Arts, the greatest guitar riff of all time is by Stoke-born Slash in Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns N’ Roses.
Hmm. One of the greats, no doubt, and all of these “best” lists are arguable depending on the music taste of who you ask.
But any “Top 20” that doesn’t include Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour is dubious.
And one suspects that even the mighty Slash himself would agree with that.
Squid Game no fun
CERTAIN contestants who took part in Netflix’s new reality show, Squid Game: The Challenge are suing over claims of serious injury and hypothermia.
They’re being represented by a Manchester-based “no win, no fee”, personal injury outfit called Express Solicitors.
Its CEO Daniel Slade says: “Contestants thought they were taking part in something fun and those injured did not expect to suffer as they did.”
Fun? Have they actually seen the original Korean thriller it’s based on?
Still Netflix’s “most-watched” series ever, it involves scenes where losers are killed, competitors murder each other and dead players have their organs harvested for the black market by a dodgy doctor.
Last time I looked, it wasn’t in the “comedy” genre.
Show some sense
MET Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has hailed the “common sense” of a jury after a police officer was cleared of dangerous driving while heading to the scene of a terror attack in South London.
Met firearms officer PC Paul Fisher was on his way to tackle a jihadi fanatic who was stabbing people at random when he crashed in to a cab.
Sir Mark added that he “could think of no other country where an officer rushing to the scene of a terror attack would be hounded and prosecuted over four years”.
Quite. And goodness only knows how much this protracted journey to an obvious conclusion has cost the British taxpayer too.
Lawyers working for the Crown Prosecution Service make the decisions on what does and doesn’t reach court.
Perhaps they need some ordinary people to join them in that process and instil that “common sense” at an earlier and less costly stage.
Band's laughs on tap
DIRECTOR Rob Reiner has announced the sequel to his legendary “rockumentary” This Is Spinal Tap.
Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about this news.
The original is one of my favourite films of all time and I’m not sure you can improve on perfection.
One of the highlights of my journalistic career was interviewing the band in full character when my real hair was dodgier than their wigs.
When I asked “David St Hubbins” why he and girlfriend Jeanine had never had children, he replied quick as a flash: “I don’t want to attribute blame.
“Let’s just say that one of us had a low sperm count.”
Iconic.
Boats still a worry
THE RNLI has once again rescued dozens of illegal migrants from the Channel and brought them to Britain.
It’s a rescue charity for those in peril at sea, so the crew’s actions make perfect sense.
But what’s puzzling is that the boat capsized in French waters and, while one of its navy boats was close at hand to rescue some of those in danger, others who “refused” to be taken back to perfectly safe France (which was nearer and has great hospitals) were given a lift here instead by the RNLI.
And all the while, the UK is paying France millions to supposedly control the number of people endangering their lives by coming here in small boats.
Sigh.
Illegal migration was a major concern among voters in the 2019 election, and it beggars belief that four years later, we are still no nearer to a solution.
Grim brothers
BROTHERS Muhammad Abdul Haleem Heyder Khan and Muhammad Hamzah Heyder Khan, from Birmingham, have pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorism.
They wanted to join Islamic State Khorasan Province, which is said to receive “support and direction” from IS, and encouraged others to “shed” the blood of non-believers.
How were they caught?
They filled out an online application form.
Duh.
And we thought the movie Four Lions was a spoof.
Epic fail
A NEW £450million computer system called EPIC is being tested in two leading London hospitals and a whistle-blowing midwife has revealed an alarming fact.
It only allows them to register the “gender identity” of a newborn baby rather than its biological sex.
For women’s rights campaigners who say the words “woman” and “mother” are being erased, this was a deeply worrying development.
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But NHS bosses have now said it was a system “error” and the word “sex” will be now be reinstated on birth forms.
Quite right too. I think that’s what they call an EPIC fail.