Syrians brought to the UK under refugee relocation programme appear in court on child sex offence charges

Four Syrians who were relocated to the UK under David Cameron's refugee relocation programme have been charged with gang raping a 14 year old in Newcastle.

The four men were brought to the UK a few months ago after being plucked out of refugee camps in Syria. They are supposed to have been vetted to make sure they aren't terrorists or criminals.

Despite the alleged attack happening on May 10th there has been a conspiracy of silence in the media and the police who have reported any number of minor crimes but not this one. You would have thought they'd have learnt from Rotherham but it would appear not.

Tube passenger gets throat cut by extremist in revenge for Syria

A man has slashed the throat of a tube passenger and threatened others in London whilst shouting "this is for Syria".

The man reportedly stabbed a passenger multiple times, including slashing his throat and threatened other passengers before police tasered him. As he was being led away from the scene he shouted "This is what happens when you fuck with mother Syria, all of your blood will be spilled".

And so it begins ...

Eurostat says just 1 in 5 asylum seekers are from Syria

The EU's statistics organisation, Eurostat, has released statistics for the second quarter of the year showing that just 1 in 5 asylum seekers entering the EU came from Syria.

Whilst 21% of asylum seekers coming into the EU during the second quarter of the year were from Syria, 18% were from non-EU countries in Europe (Albania, Kosovo, Ukraine and Serbia). 19% came from Iraq and Afghanistan and 9% came from Africa (Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia). Another 4% came from Pakistan whilst 2% came from Russia. Less than half of all asylum seekers coming into the EU were from countries suffering conflict.

Statistics for this quarter probably won't be available until Christmas but should make interesting reading although how the authorities are going to count Syrians entering the EU is a bit of a mystery as the people coming over on boats throw their passports into the Mediterranean so they can't be sent back and their country of origin can't be proven.

Germany and Czech Republic reinstating border controls

The German and Czech governments have announced that they are reinstating border controls on their borders with Austria to try and stem the tide of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers making their way across Europe.

Angela Merkel's announcement that they would take an unlimited number of "refugees" has led to tens of thousands of people from the Middle East, north Africa and even as far away as Bangladesh making their way to Germany. The mayors of Germany's major cities have told the German government that they're full and any new arrivals will probably end up sleeping in the train station or on the streets.

The German government says that it won't open its borders again until the rest of the EU agrees to a "fair redistribution" of people claiming asylum. The message that they can no longer get to Germany will take a while to filter through to their countries of origin, creating a huge bottleneck in the rest of the EU and make the problem even worse for the countries on the migration route to Germany. It might even make things so bad in south and east Europe that the rest of the EU has no choice but to take them in for humanitarian and security reasons. Worryingly the German army is planning to house 1,000 Syrians in a barracks in northern Bavaria, putting weapons within reach of any ISIS terrorists that manage to smuggle themselves in with that group. You could almost believe that this was planned all along!

A new law comes into effect in Hungary tomorrow that will see anyone illegally crossing the newly-fortified Hungarian border put into prison.

Let's sort out our own problems before we start trying to sort out other peoples'

I've been challenged by a Labour supporting friend to make my views on Syria public in the hope that I'll be denounced as something unspeakable - probably a racist or a xenophobe as is the wont of those on the left - and so that when people vote for me in the next election in 2019 they will know "exactly what I stand for".

I am opposed to the EU policy of not turning back boat loads of illegal immigrants and instead helping them get to Europe. I am opposed to the reckless attitude of the Germans who seem determined to bring half of the Middle East to Europe to work in their factories without a care as to the impact on the rest of the continent. I am opposed to the selfish, politically and economically motivated propaganda campaign the media are running which is presenting an absolutely distorted view of what is happening around the Mediterranean. I am opposed to the response of the British government - and in particular, David Cameron - to the media propaganda campaign. I want the father of the boy who was found washed up on a beach in Turkey to be arrested and charged with reckless endangerment for putting his wife and children in danger unnecessarily with the consequence that they all died. I want the British government to sort out the homeless and hungry people who already live here before taking tens of thousands of people we can't afford to feed and house from another country.

A year or so ago there were relatively few boatloads of people trying to get from Africa or the Middle East to Europe. There has always been a problem with people trafficking across the Mediterranean and the activity has increased with the conflicts arising out of the Arab Spring but nothing on the scale that we're seeing now. The various coastguard services would intercept boatloads of illegal immigrants and tow them back into the waters of the country they came from, discouraging more people from making the same dangerous journey. There were a couple of incidents where overloaded boats sank and some people drowned so the EU, at the behest of the Germans far away from the problem, decided that its common approach to illegal immigration across the Mediterranean would be to send the coastguard to tow the boats to Europe or unload the boats and ferry the passengers to the mainland if they were overloaded. The people traffickers charging up to $10,000 per person to smuggle them into Europe must have thought Ramadan had come early - now they could not only promise to get their victims to Europe but they could promise them that a welcoming party would come to bring them to safety. Suddenly the trickle of refugees became a river of illegal economic migrants making their way to Europe not for safety but for economic reasons and the genuine refugees have been lost amongst them.

Germany is suffering from labour shortages and a new law making it easier for immigrants to live and work in Germany was mooted earlier in the year. Germany wants mass immigration and they don't care about the impact on the countries that are having to deal with the mass influx of people. In fact, the economic impact on the Mediterranean states actually works in Germany's favour, helping to cement German hegemony over the rest of the Europe.

The media have run a selfish and cynical propaganda campaign motivated mainly by the desire to sell more newspapers or gain extra viewers and in some cases such as the Guardian, Independent and Huffington Post, to further a political agenda. They have bombarded us with pictures of women, children and families in distress but rarely show pictures of hundreds or thousands of the young, single men who make up the majority of the people trying to get to Europe. Pictures of families in distress sell papers, pictures of thousands of young, fit men less so. Their actions have directly affected government policy by manipulating public opinion and using it to shame politicians into doing something - anything - just to be seen to be "doing something".

Forced to be seen to be "doing something" for the baying media, David Cameron has announced that the UK will take 20,000 people from Syria over the next 4 and a half years. They won't be allowed to work, they'll be provided with houses, they will get free health care and education and they will receive benefits. There are an estimated 185,000 homeless people already living in the UK, of which around 9,000 are ex-Forces and more than half are under 25. They're not a priority. Neither are people living in England with cancer who now have 23 fewer treatments available to them after the British government just announced that it is cutting funding for the English cancer fund by £100m. Coincidentally, the British government is throwing £100m at Syria in an attempt to be seen to be "doing something". Clearly the decision was made to cut the English cancer fund some time ago and isn't a direct response to Syria but if £100m can be found to be spent on who knows what in Syria, it could have been found to spend on cancer treatments in England? Like the rest of the International Aid budget, the British government has little or no idea what most of the money is going to be spent on or what the outcomes are expected to be.

Now for the boy who was found washed up on a Turkish beach, pictures of which were the straw that broke the camel's back and prompted the UK and other EU countries to throw open their borders and allow tens of thousands of mainly economic illegal immigrants to travel wherever they please. I saw the picture of the boy's body being carried up the beach and of course it made me sad. Anyone who wasn't moved by the image clearly has some emotional dysfunction. But as the story unfolded it made me angry because while the picture of the boy was used by the media to demand that the government "do something" they were less keen to tell people the circumstances behind his death. A Sky News interview with the family's relatives in Canada revealed that the boy's father had decided to come to Europe because he wanted dental implants. They could only send him the $14,000 it was going to cost to get it done in Turkey $1,000 at a time and he didn't want to wait so acting on their advice he piled his family onto an overloaded boat to try and smuggle themselves into Europe. It then transpired that rather than fleeing Syria for their safety as refugees, they'd already left Syria three years ago and had been living in Turkey. They weren't coming to Europe as refugees, they were coming as economic migrants and health tourists. On that totally unnecessary journey, the man's two sons and wife all died. He says he blames himself and so do I. He recklessly endangered his family's lives not for safety (which they already had in Turkey) but for personal and economic reasons. I want him arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and the manslaughter of his children.

Throwing money at Syria isn't going to solve anything. They don't need money, they need to stop risking their lives trying to come to Europe and they need to stop making people traffickers millionaires in the process. The Persian Gulf is full of stable, prosperous countries who have done nothing to help their neighbours in Syria or Iraq. The Gulf states are still importing tens of thousands of immigrants from India and beyond to work because they have more jobs than people but they refuse to take in their Arab neighbours. The solution is there, not in Europe where 23m people are unemployed, 4m are homeless and half of the continent is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. We can't afford to house and look after 20,000 refugees and economic migrants, nor can we afford to take the risk of freely admitting terrorists into the country posing as refugees. ISIS have bragged of smuggling 4,000 terrorists into Europe alongside refugees. It is almost certainly bravado and propaganda to claim such high numbers but if just 1% of what they claim have made it to Europe that's 40 new trained terrorists on the continent. A couple of wanted terrorists have already been found posing as refugees this year and arrested, the terrorist threat isn't just idle speculation.

We should continue to grant asylum to genuine refugees who make it to the UK legally (ie. not via a number of safe countries in defiance of international law) and to bring over some of the refugees from UN refugee camps in Syria but nothing like the numbers David Cameron has announced today. If we are to avoid the ghettoisation of the immigrant Syrian population in the UK then it needs to be on a scale that can assimilated by the communities they live in. We have a part to play in solving the problem but it's a bit part, not the main event.

Farage calls for UK to take in Syrian refugees

Nigel Farage has called for the UK to take in some refugees from the civil war in Syria.

According to the BBC there are an estimated 9m Syrian refugees and there has been agreement to house only 12,000 of them in various countries.  The Labour Party says it wants to accept between 400 and 500 refugees, the Tories and Lib Dems want to accept none and throw hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money at the problem instead.

Farage's comments have attracted both criticism and support from members and supporters. Most of the criticism seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what a refugee is. Refugees are not economic migrants looking for a better life in another country, nor are they people fleeing persecution wanting to settle in another country. Refugees are people forced to leave their homes because their lives are at risk who are expected to go home when it is safe to do so.

Some people have questioned the practicality or sense in accepting Syrian refugees when we are already short of houses, jobs and money and a popular suggestion is that they are sent to Saudi Arabia or another of Syria's Arab neighbours.

Refugees - like asylum seekers - can't work so they won't be taking jobs off people. I would expect them to go to a refugee camp and remain there for the duration of their stay (and by refugee camp I mean something like a disused industrial estate, not a tent city in some fields). They wouldn't be taking houses or jobs off people already living here because they would be living in the refugee camp and they wouldn't be working.

The British government has already pledged £525m in aid for Syria and has promised to give more to help the UN raise £4bn for Syrian refugees so there is clearly money available to help them. Rather than give that money to the UN or an aid charity that will eat up a big chunk of it in administration costs and wages, let's bring some refugees over here and give them what they need ourselves.

Sending Syrian refugees to neighbouring countries risks spreading the conflict to the wider Middle East and increases the risk of vulnerable people being radicalised.

Of course, it's highly likely that some of the refugees would claim asylum when the time came to go home but that's no more likely than would happen if they weren't already here as refugees. Being a refugee doesn't make you any more likely to be a successful asylum seeker - in fact it probably makes you less likely to be successful because your refugee status ends when your host nation's government deems your home country to be safe.

Nigel Farage has put UKIP's humanitarian credentials on the table for all to see today. While the LibLabCon want to throw money at the problem and at best allow a token handful of refugees to seek safety here, UKIP is saying that we should honour our moral and legal obligations to provide temporary safe refuge to people whose lives are in danger in their own country. Some UKIP members and supporters will be unhappy with this announcement but such is life. We are a broad church in UKIP and if you can't tolerate the party having policies you disagree with then you're going to be sadly disappointed wherever you make your political home.

Snow in the Middle East, scientists fear for their bank accounts

Snow has fallen in Cairo for the first time in over a century as wintery weather has brought snow to Egypt, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem and Lebanon.

There are some fake pictures doing the rounds (some good, some just using Google's new auto-awesome snow effect) but there are many verified pictures on every major news website showing snowy scenes in Cairo and Jerusalem and confirmed reports that two Egyptian ports have been closed because of the snow. Jerusalem experienced a blizzard yesterday which dumped 20" of snow on the city.

Children playing with frozen global warming in Egypt
Picture: Egypt Independent

Of course, when I say "every major news website" that doesn't include the BBC whose policy of suppressing stories that don't promote global warming has become so extreme that there is no mention of the freak event on the BBC News website which instead carries a story about how scientists think the Bar-Tailed Godwit will be able to cope with climate change and continues its blanket coverage of Nelson Mandela's death.

The news of snow falling in the Middle East will have the global warming propaganda merchants spinning for their lives at the prospect of losing their lucrative grants in the face of reality. We've been told for years that the earth is getting hotter and we're all going to die from global warming unless we start living like nomadic hunter gatherers yet the weather stubbornly refuses to do as it's told to back up their crazy, discredited theories.

There will come a point very soon where even the most stubborn politician will have to say "sorry, we were wrong" and a lot of the snake oil salesmen who've been masquerading at scientists are going to have to readjust their lifestyle when the propaganda slush fund suddenly dries up.

Syria: A Crushing Defeat For The Political Class

The wonderful and unexpected news that the government was defeated over military action in Syria has yielded a number of fevered interpretations by the commentariat:

A victory for parliament!
True.

A humiliation for David Cameron!
Yes, but not so grave as many think - whatever Cameron may be, he is capable of a certain class in the way he deports himself, and his courtesy in recalling parliament in the first place and subsequent graciousness in defeat commands some respect. What the defeat did indicate, however, was just how badly he has run down his own stock of political capital through dreadful mismanagement of his party.

A victory for Ed Miliband!
No.

The End of The "Special Relationship"!
You can't destroy something that never existed. However, if it brings about the end of this pathetic delusion, then so much the better.

But long term, the biggest losers of all from the vote are the political class.

As we all know, in recent years ambitious men and women have increasingly used British politics not as a means of serving their country or even as a career on the national stage, but as a stepping stone for greater things. A number of ingenuous career paths have been mapped out:

• The Warmongering Path (patent holder: Tony Blair).  Join an American-led war on the basis of lies and distortions and become a 'name' in that country as a result. Grow extremely rich on the back of exploiting your new-found international brand recognition.
• The Corporate Path (patent holder: The Tory Party). The traditional way of acquiring riches post-politics for superannuated Tory politicians, this route long predates the rise of the political class and involves attaining a clutch of directorships on company boards from the personal network you built during your time in politics. However some of the abuses have grown ever more blatant in recent years.
• The Soft Power Path (patent holder: D. Miliband). Be an ineffectual and bland office holder in a position like Foreign Secretary or foreign aid. Leave British politics for an international charity on a well-renumerated salary.
• The Euro Path (patent holders: Roy Jenkins, Leon Brittan, Neil Kinnock, Chris Patten, Peter Mandelson). Another old favourite. After a spell in national politics go to the European Commission on a very fat salary and expense account. At one time this used to be regarded as a route for those who had failed at national politics but with the every growing power of the European Union it is increasingly regarded as a first-rank prize.  A variation of this route was piloted by one T. Blair who, after trying everything to get Britain to join the doomed Euro and dodge treaty referendums, fancied the job of President of Europe, mercifully without success.
• The Spousal Path (patent holders: Tony and Cherie Blair). Marry a high-powered spouse and once in office enact legislation very helpful to their careers and therefore to family finances. The recent European imposition of gender quotas is actually designed with this in mind, but that is a story for another day.

The rejection of military action in Syria has effectively closed the warmongering career path to the political class. Sadly, as you can see above, many other highly lucrative routes still exist.

However, the political class route to fame and riches amongst the new international elite has one central point of weakness: namely, the tiresome necessity of first getting elected as an MP for a constituency you have little affinity or interest in but is a rock solid safe seat you can ignore for your entire parliamentary career.

The rise of UKIP is rapidly choking off this starting point to political careers, and this is by far the most significant event to effect the Political Class. As Donna Edmunds of this parish blogged yesterday, the concept of the safe seat is becoming a thing of the past. Sitting MPs are beginning to notice, and it would be very interesting to analyse how many Tory MPs representing East Anglian constituencies rebelled yesterday, where the UKIP threat is strongest. Ed Miliband's vacillation was similarly motivated by the piling up of UKIP votes in Labour constituencies where previously the vote for that party was weighed rather than counted.

It is not only sitting MPs who will be deeply concerned about the ominous trends: in party research departments somewhere in London, smooth young things will be noticing their careers prospects no longer seem quite so rosy. Whether or not UKIP does win any constituencies at the 2015 General Election really is a second order issue: far more significant will be the rapid decline in the number of 'red monkey' or 'blue poodle' constituencies, where quite literally you could put up a monkey or a dog up as a candidate and it would get elected as long as it was wearing the right coloured rosette. Because of this enormous shift, MP's will be absolutely forced to represent their constituents rather than their parties or careers. Politics will once again be a very risky career to enter into, increasingly left to those who really believe in public service and go into it with passion and conviction.  The hated Political Class looks to be entering decline.

It is tempting for us in UKIP to congratulate ourselves on our undoubtedly major contribution in bringing this about, but we should not so complacent. Up and down the land, those bright and calculating young things will also be noting UKIP's rise and wondering how best to hitch themselves to our wagon. Sooner or later, we will become infected by the chancers, carpet-baggers and unsavoury careerists that have collectively brought down the other parties. Indeed, the process has probably already begun.

Government defeat on Syria? It's the UKIP effect.

Last night, for the first time since 1782, the Prime Minister lost a vote on taking military action. Much of the press and Twittersphere are presenting this as a Labour victory, but in fact the Labour leader’s amendment motion also fell. In other words, the leaders of the largest parliamentary parties lost control of their parliamentary members last night. This is no Labour victory – it is a victory for democracy.

The defeat of the motions has taken the leaders by surprise. British ships were already manoeuvring into position in the Mediterranean, alongside those of the US and Russia. The Parliamentary vote was to have been the equivalent of box ticking before military action commenced.

Yet only 25% of the British people are in favour of British military action in Syria. 50% are against. To those who believe in representative democracy, loss of the vote should have been no surprise at all. If our democracy was truly representative, the margin of defeat should have been much greater than the 13 votes it turned out to be.

It was a surprise because our democracy hasn’t been particularly representative as of late. Polls show that our leaders are on the wrong side of public opinion on a whole range of issues – immigration, climate change spending, Europe to name just three. This military action was to have been yet another issue to add to that list. So what has changed?

Simply, it’s the UKIP effect. MPs up and down the country are starting to realise that unless they represent the opinions of the people who put them in Westminster, those same people have the ability to remove them from that place in 2015. When there was just Lib, Lab and Con to choose from – a conglomeration of intermingled opinions – the public were relatively hamstrung. Many of course simply failed to vote at all. But now there is a credible alternative (and a string of very close defeats in by-elections, as well as wins at local level, have made us credible).

Thanks to UKIP, our Parliamentarians are starting to wake up to the fact that they need to listen to the people once again.